Failure

 Hello everyone.

We have going through Luke 22, and we have seen earlier how Jesus has told Simon Peter that Satan has asked to sift him like wheat.  Peter has pledged undying loyalty to Jesus, but Jesus has predicted that by morning, Peter would deny him three times.  Verses 54-62 follow Peter's journey, as Jesus is being led toward his crucifixion.  here is my translation: 

54 Having arrested him, they led him away and brought him into the house of the high priest, while Peter followed at a distance.  55 They built a fire in the middle of the courtyard and then sat down around it.  Peter joined them. 56 A servant girl saw Peter sitting by the fire.  She examined Peter and said, “This man was with him.” 

57 Peter denied it, saying, “Woman, I do not know him!”

58 Soon after this, another among them said, “You are one of them.” 

But Peter responded, “Man, I am not!”

59 About an hour later, another man insisted, “Truthfully, this man was with him, since he is a Galilean.”  

60 Peter responded, “Man, I don’t know what you are talking about.”  Right away, as he was speaking, the rooster crowed. 

61 The Lord turned and looked right at Peter, and Peter remembered how the Lord had said, “Before the rooster crows, you will disown three times.”  62 Then Peter went out and wept bitterly. 

Jesus has now been arrested and brought to the house of the high priest.  This seems odd to me, rather than taking Jesus to a jail to await trial, or even to a court, he is taken directly to someone’s house where he is put on trial in the middle of the night.  The legality of all of this is certainly suspect, but the powers in Jerusalem have to do all of this under the cover of darkness. 

Peter is following the whole thing at a distance. According to Matthew’s account, Peter followed to see the outcome. (Matt. 26:58)  It had to be very difficult and confusing to be ordered to put his sword away and allow Jesus to be arrested.  He was clearly ready to take on an armed mob, but he was not prepared for how this was all unfolding. 

A group that was present builds a fire, and Peter sits down by the fire to keep an eye on what is happening with Jesus.  There by the fire, he is recognized, first by a servant girl, then by someone else around the fire and then later by someone else.  All three times he denies that he knows Jesus.  Earlier in the night, Jesus had told Peter that this would happen.  Peter undoubtedly said in his own mind, at least, that this would never happen.  Yet it had.  

Both Matthew and Mark mention that after his denial, Peter relocates to the entryway or gateway. Luke doesn’t mention it, but merely records the passage of time. Peter wants to remain to see the outcome, but it seems that in fear he is moving closer to the exit.  That doesn’t really change the situation. He is still recognized and is forced to deny Jesus again a short time later.   

Peter’s third denial comes after an accusation that he must be with Jesus because he is a Galilean. Perhaps Peter had an accent that gave him away.  People could tell that he was not from Jerusalem.  Again, both Matthew and Mark differ a little from Luke on how this part was recorded.  In those two accounts, Pater begins calling down curses after the third accusation, then denies fervently that he even knows Jesus.  Luke leaves the curses out, and Peter’s response is that he doesn’t know what his accusers are even talking about.  

In John’s the accuser is a relative of the man whose ear had been severed by Peter.  This man was an eyewitness to action in the garden. He says, “Didn’t I see you with him in the garden?”  It is unlikely that an eyewitness to Peter’s maiming of his cousin would easily forget Peter within a couple of hours of the incident.  Yet Peter claims that he doesn’t even know what the guy is talking about. 

After the third denial, the rooster crowed, Jesus turns and looks at Peter, and Peter is reminded of Jesus' earlier prophecy, and he leaves the scene to a more private place, where weeps bitterly over his betrayal of Jesus. 

The detail of Jesus turning and looking at Peter is only mentioned in Luke.  We can only imagine the emotion of this scene.  Jesus could have given Peter an “I told you so,’ kind of look, but that doesn’t seem to be Jesus style to me.  Rather, Jesus, in the middle of all of this suffering, had to have to look of immense sadness regarding Peter’s denials. 

Satan is getting what he demanded.  Peter is being sifted.  Peter was armed with a sword, but that was not what he needed.  He had fallen asleep rather than pray, and prayer, not a sword, had been the need of the hour.  

Peter has failed here, and failed badly.  Fortunately, for Peter, his failure is not the end of his story.  It is only a part of his story. The rest of his story is marked mostly by faith, rather than failure.