St Matthew 26: 69 – 75
Now Peter was sitting outside in the courtyard. A servant-girl came to him and said, ‘You also were with Jesus the Galilean.’ But he denied it before all of them, saying, ‘I do not know what you are talking about.’ When he went out to the porch, another servant-girl saw him, and she said to the bystanders, ‘This man was with Jesus of Nazareth.’ Again he denied it with an oath, ‘I do not know the man.’ After a little while the bystanders came up and said to Peter, ‘Certainly you are also one of them, for your accent betrays you.’ Then he began to curse, and he swore an oath, ‘I do not know the man!’ At that moment the cock crowed. Then Peter remembered what Jesus had said: ‘Before the cock crows, you will deny me three times.’ And he went out and wept bitterly.
Reflection
Yesterday we reflected on integrity and duplicity, especially in those who give witness. Today we think about Peter – does he act with integrity or is he being duplicitous?
As the story moves from courtroom to courtyard, we encounter a bustling scene with servant girls, bystanders and (in Luke’s account) a bonfire. Peter is at first sitting down, but after being accosted, he moves into the shadows of the porch, eventually retreating into the street and making off.
On the face of it, Peter behaves like a coward – denying he knows his friend, cursing him and running away, metaphorically and physically. Indeed, William Barclay† sets the discussion of this passage in a section of his commentary entitled “The collapse of Peter”. But Barclay himself admits this is too simplistic. After all, Peter was the one who kept close to Jesus in and after the garden, sat with the guards, went into the courtyard and later re-joined the others in the upper room. He must have recognised the possibility of being recognised, and it is no doubt significant that it was servants who did so, those who had probably been attracted to Jesus as he taught.
It is not unreasonable that Peter was actually acting with courage and integrity until it all became too much for him when he realised that Jesus knew him better than he knew himself.
The story is an aside in the Passion narrative, showing weakness in one called the Rock, suggesting that the author of the Gospel wanted to tell the story of Jesus “warts and all”. If one accepts the ancient tradition (highly disputed) that the Gospels of Matthew and Mark both derive directly from Peter’s own memories, then the motive for its inclusion could be to demonstrate that no matter how Peter (and we) failed, redemption is always possible.
† W. Barclay, Daily Study Bible, Matthew v2, ISBN 0-664-24101-8
Prayer
God of compassion and succour,
when our courage fails
and we want simply to run away and hide,
just put your hand on our shoulder
and gently guide us
to where we should be. Amen
