Denied

Then Jesus said to them, “All of you will abandon me tonight. Scripture says, ‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep in the flock will be scattered.’ But after I am brought back to life, I will go to Galilee ahead of you.”

Peter said to him, “Even if everyone else abandons you, I never will.”

Jesus replied to Peter, “I can guarantee this truth: Before a rooster crows tonight, you will say three times that you don’t know me.”

Peter told him, “Even if I have to die with you, I’ll never say that I don’t know you!” All the other disciples said the same thing. (Matthew 26, verses 31 – 35)

Shortly after this, Jesus went to the Garden to pray. When He had finished and had rejoined His disciples, a crowd arrived, led by Judas Iscariot. Jesus was arrested and dragged off.

And His closest followers?  Then all the disciples abandoned him and ran away. (verse 56)

Even Peter? Peter followed at a distance until he came to the chief priest’s courtyard. He went inside and sat with the guards to see how this would turn out. (verse 58)

While Peter silently watched, the crowd demanded death penalty for Jesus. And then he must have walked out.

Peter was sitting in the courtyard. A female servant came to him and said, “You, too, were with Jesus the Galilean.”

But Peter denied it in front of them all by saying, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

As he went to the entrance, another female servant saw him. She told those who were there, “This man was with Jesus from Nazareth.”

Again Peter denied it and swore with an oath, “I don’t know the man!”

After a little while the men standing there approached Peter and said, “It’s obvious you’re also one of them. Your accent gives you away!”

Then Peter began to curse and swear with an oath, “I don’t know the man!” Just then a rooster crowed. Peter remembered what Jesus had said: “Before a rooster crows, you will say three times that you don’t know me.” Then Peter went outside and cried bitterly. (Matthew 26, verses 69-75)

Jesus is being led away to be handed over to the governor, Pontius Pilate, to be beaten, tortured, ultimately crucified. I picture Jesus turning His head for a moment to find Peter in the crowd. Their eyes lock for a second.

Bitterly. Desperately. Intensely. With great anguish. I can’t imagine the pain Peter experienced at that instant. Just as his Teacher, Leader, and Friend predicted, Peter denied that he even knew Him.   

Would you deny that you know Jesus? Have you already denied Him? And if Jesus was right in front of you now, how would that make you feel?

(Today’s picture is one which my daughter took when she was in Kenya for six months in 2010.)