It's easy to stand up for your beliefs when you are surrounded by like minds. It's unbelievably more difficult when you are left alone. Christ told Peter that he would deny knowing Jesus three times before the rooster crowed, and Peter was immediately defensive. Peter, sitting a room of believers, told Christ that he was willing to go to death with Jesus if that's what it took. In fact, Peter did end up denying Christ, though, as Jesus predicted.
I wonder, though, where were the other disciples when this happened. The twelve were supposed to stick together. They've been through a lot with Christ, and when He is finally arrested they are nowhere to be found. At least none of them could be found except Peter who was following Jesus at a distance. I'm sure that they were all scared about what was going to happen to Christ and by extension what would happen to them. It just seems odd to me that they all ran and hid. What if they hadn't? What if they had all followed Jesus? What if Peter was surrounded by friends when he was accused of knowing Jesus? Would he have responded differently?
I think that he might have, but we'll never know for sure. I can say for sure, though, that standing up for what is right is much easier when you have the support of those that believe the same as you. I believe that the biggest lesson to learn here has less to do with Peter and more to do with the other eleven. Christ has put us all in a body of believers for support, and when we go out alone or allow our friends to go out alone, it makes it immensely difficult for them to succeed. We should all be more like Peter: following Christ wherever He leads. We should all be less like the other eleven: watching our friends go off on their own and not being there for support.
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