In one conversation, Jesus went from, "one of you will betray me" (Mark 14:18) to "you will all fall away".   All the disciples were implicated in the betrayal.  They were all more interested in their own skins than that of Jesus.  We know that in the end, they all left Him (Mark 14:50) and Peter spectacularly denied that he even knew Jesus (Mark 14:66-72).  Again, their falling away was their own free will reaction: but Jesus quotes the 500-year-old prophecy from Zechariah 13:7 foretelling what would happen.  And it did!

The phrase, “It is written”, in one form or another, is important in Jesus’ ministry.  It is recorded from Jesus mouth 33 times in the Gospels, and once by Satan in the wilderness when he wrongly interpreted Scripture.  Although, like Satan,  there will be some who twist God's Word to their own advantage, creating danger for many (2 Peter 3:15-16), Jesus used the authority of Scripture to identify what He said with what the Holy Spirit had previously spoken through prophets (1 Peter 1:10-12) and as a divine witness to the truth.  

At the end of the Passover meal they sang a hymn together, praising God who keeps His promises.  As they walked out into the darkness of the Mount of Olives, Jesus clearly contrasts their weakest moment to come, with His strongest. "But after I have risen ...", is Jesus' promise to keep on leading, going ahead of them so that He would be ready to greet and welcome them.  Their falling away was certain and so was Jesus’ resurrection.  The mature Christian will hold the worst and the best together: our failure and Christ's triumph.  Although the disciples failed the test a few hours later, what Jesus said was memorable and great training for the embryo leaders of the early church - who often encouraged the Christians to keep looking ahead to Jesus, whatever the circumstances.

Whatever may have been in our past, the Lord Jesus is still ahead of us.  Unlike the heroes of the world religions, Jesus is not just a revered figure of yesterday; He has gone on ahead of us to prepare a place for us and to welcome us on the final day (John 14:1-6). That is the hope of every believer, and without that we can only descend into the squalor of a troubled world to cope as best we can. An English hymn says, "Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow, blessing all mine and ten thousand beside!" It is right. Even though you may have fallen away, Jesus is still ahead of you, and you can still come back to Him.  It's worth telling your friend that, too!