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Matthew 26:69-75
Peter Disowns Jesus
69 Now Peter was sitting out in the courtyard, and a servant girl came to him. “You also were with Jesus of Galilee,” she said.
70 But he denied it before them all. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said.
71 Then he went out to the gateway, where another servant girl saw him and said to the people there, “This fellow was with Jesus of Nazareth.”
72 He denied it again, with an oath: “I don’t know the man!”
73 After a little while, those standing there went up to Peter and said, “Surely you are one of them, for your accent gives you away.”
74 Then he began to call down curses, and he swore to them, “I don’t know the man!”
Immediately a rooster crowed. 75 Then Peter remembered the word Jesus had spoken: “Before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times.” And he went outside and wept bitterly.
It strikes me that the last week or ten days of his earthly ministry was a genuinely tragic time for Jesus. Even before his interrogation, torture, and crucifixion, Jesus went through three of the most agonizing experiences of human life.
First of all, Jesus had stood at the tomb of his dear friend Lazarus, and shared in the grief of Mary and Martha. It seems clear from the account in John that Jesus knew he would restore Lazarus to life. But even so, as he stood there at the tomb with his two dear friends, Jesus had done what his own suffering would not cause him to do: he had wept. I can’t help thinking that for the first time, God was experiencing grief and loss as humankind experiences those things.
Then a few nights later, on the night of his Last Supper with his disciples, Jesus had watched Judas Iscariot go out from the dinner, knowing that he would come back with the thugs who would lead him away to his death. So a few days after experiencing the heartbreak of grief, he experienced a different kind of heartbreak – the kind that comes from being betrayed by a friend.
And now, in today’s reading, Jesus suffers yet another heartbreaking human experience. Earlier that evening Peter had insisted that he would not “fall away” from Jesus even if everyone else did. In fact, Peter had said that he would die before disowning Jesus. Here is the man chosen to be the rock on which the church would be built, doing exactly what he swore he would not do: disowning Jesus. To save his own skin, denying he even knew him. It’s a tragic story – one that closes with Peter, this rock on which the church would be built, running into the night crying.
It’s a painful story to read. But it’s also a story that we followers of Jesus should think about from time to time. For a couple of reasons:
First of all, many New Testament scholars say Peter is meant to represent the rest of the disciples, and even us. He seems to say what the others think but are afraid to say, and to express what we think as we read the gospel accounts. Peter does what the others are afraid to do. He climbs out of the boat to walk on the water. He tries to defend Jesus from those who come to arrest him in the garden. He even tries to think of a way to help out when the ghostly figures of Moses and Elijah appear at the Transfiguration.
And Peter promises to stand by Jesus. Just as most of us have. I suspect that just about everyone reading these words has taken a vow at some point in their lives to follow and obey Jesus. Maybe it was when we were confirmed. Or when we were ordained or installed as a church officer. Or maybe just at the end of a youth retreat or a conference of some kind. Just about all of us have sworn our allegiance to Jesus just as Peter did. Some of us, multiple times.
But the truth is, just about all of us also deny Jesus in various ways. Maybe when we took pains to tell our non-believing friends that we’re not one of those “religious types.” It may have been a time when we kept silent while someone was bitterly criticizing other people of faith. Or it may have been a time when we allowed others to distort the teachings of Jesus to support some political or social opinion that we know perfectly well Jesus would never support. In all these ways and in other ways too, we deny Jesus.
That’s why we sometimes mention in our communion liturgy that Jesus washed the feet of those who would betray him and deny him and doubt him. Because if we’re honest, we have to confess each of us betrays and denies and doubts Jesus. So it’s a source of great comfort to us that Jesus loved and served his first disciples, even knowing the sin and weakness among them. It reassures us of his love for us.
The good news of the gospel is that God’s gracious love as it’s manifested in the person of Jesus demonstrates that he’s willing to forgive our betrayal and denial and doubt – just as he was willing to forgive Peter and use him in a powerful role for the building of his kingdom. So we can live with the joyful confidence of sinners who know what sinners we really are, but who also know that our sins – including our betrayal and denial and doubt of Jesus – are forgiven. And that we can still play a part in the great project of bringing his kingdom to fulfillment.
But there’s another important thing about this story, and we shouldn’t let the opportunity pass without stopping to think about it. This story and the others like it give strong support to the belief that the gospels really are based on factual history. By the time the gospels appeared, Peter was one of the three main leaders of the church. And this account in Matthew is identical, almost word-for-word, with the corresponding account in Mark, which we understand to be a record of Peter’s own eyewitness testimony.
So think about what that means. If this story were made up, Peter either made it up or at least repeated it publicly. And no leader of a movement in his right mind would make up a story like this if he was trying to attract followers to that movement. No one would make up a story that said that he was such a moral coward that he ran away crying when his master needed him the most. No one would tell a story like this about himself – unless that story were true.
Let’s pray. Lord, we thank you for the assurance that our sins are forgiven, even the ways that we betray and deny and doubt you. And we thank you for the unflinching honesty of the first leaders of the church, who boldly told the story of Jesus even when it meant confessing their own failings. By your Holy Spirit, make us willing to do likewise. Amen.
Grace and Peace,
Henry
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