What a sad thing, after having laid it all on the line for their Master. He had called some of them, Peter, Andrew, James and John, to leave their fishing business and they did. Matthew abandoned his tax career. They all left family and homes to follow Him. He asked a lot of them, and in fact, challenged them to lose their lives for His sake. And they followed even though, “The foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head” (Matt 8:20). He taught them that, “Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13).

They dared to believe He was the “Christ, the Son of the Living God.” They trusted that He was the Messiah, the Son of Man, that He had the words of eternal life. He was the Great Shepherd who loved His sheep. They believed He was the Way, the Truth and the Life. He was the door to salvation. They understood Him to be the river of life, the fountain of living water and the manna from heaven that would nourish all those who came to Him.

They saw Him visibly transformed, talking with Moses and Elijah. They experienced Him walking on the water, hushing the raging storms, giving sight to the blind, healing the sick and raising the dead. They stood in awe as He cleared the temple, driving out the merchandisers and tossing over tables. They watched speechlessly as He shut down the hypocritical religious leaders who tried to catch Him in their religious word traps. They witnessed demons trembling in His presence, meekly asking permission to inhabit pigs rather than be destroyed in a watery abyss.

How many times had Jesus taught them about faith? How often had He told them to “fear not.” Had they not learned that things were not always as they appeared? Had they not many times been surprised by Jesus’ solution to their many dilemmas?

Yet, at this juncture, this fateful moment in their lives, in the history of God’s plan of salvation, for His glory–at this juncture in the Garden, theirs was not the faith that Peter later wrote about, “being more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire… [which] may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 1:7). After they could not pray with Jesus for one hour, they fled! They abandoned their Master to save their own lives, just when He was about to save theirs!