Sifted (Mark 14:54,66-72)

Do you know what it means to be sifted? It’s a farming term, a process by which the wheat is agitated or shaken until the chaff is separated from the grain. Jesus told Peter that Satan, the prince of evil, had asked permission to have Peter so that he could sift him like wheat. This is reminiscent of a scene from the book of Job where Satan asks permission to test Job. With Peter, as with Job, Satan was given permission to sift them like wheat.

Those God has allowed to be sifted are forever changed; changed in how they see themselves as well as how they see God. At the end of Job’s season of testing he declared, “I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you; therefore I despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes” (Job 42:5,6). How was this true for Peter since his eyes did see Jesus, God incarnate? How was Peter’s view of both himself and Jesus forever changed after the prince of evil had finished sifting him?

On the night before His crucifixion Jesus had told His disciples, “All of you will run away, because it is written; I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered” (Mark 14:27). Peter was indignant. Hadn’t Jesus Himself changed his name from Simon, meaning “reed,” to Peter, meaning “rock”? Peter insisted, “Even if everyone runs away, I will certainly not” (Mark 14:29)! Jesus responded to Peter and said, “Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has demanded permission to sift you like wheat” (Luke 22:31). However, if there was one thing Peter was sure of, it was his love for and his devotion to Jesus, so he told Jesus, “If I have to die with You, I will never deny You” (Mark 14:31)! Peter’s understanding of who he was and his relationship to Jesus was forever changed that very night.

When the mob came with swords and clubs, from the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders, to take Jesus by force, just as Jesus had said, Peter and all the disciples deserted Him and ran away. However, Peter followed at a distance, right into the high priest’s courtyard. The predawn chill and the horror of what was taking place chilled Peter to the core of his being, and he sought warmth by sitting with the temple police by a charcoal fire. Jesus was being spit on, beaten and slapped by the very ones with whom Peter had been warming himself. What was Peter doing? He began to deny Jesus to a slave girl. The third time Peter denied Jesus he did it by cursing and swearing an oath. Immediately, the rooster crowed. At that moment the Lord turned and looked at Peter, and Jesus’ words flashed through Peter’s mind. Peter was shaken to the depth of his being, and he wept bitterly.

Jesus gave Satan permission to sift Peter but not to destroy him. After the resurrection there was another charcoal fire where Peter warmed himself. The sense of smell, probably more than any of our other senses, is closely linked to memory and can trigger emotions. It was here that Jesus asked Peter three times if Peter loved Him. Peter didn’t use the same Greek word for love that Jesus used. The experience by the charcoal fire where he had warmed himself with temple police and had denied Jesus had humbled him. Peter now had a clearer understanding of who he was and who Jesus was. It was here, with the smell of the charcoal fire in his nostrils, that Jesus redeemed the memory of Peter’s greatest failure. Peter had been sifted, now Peter could strengthen his brothers and shepherd Jesus’s sheep.