Day 35 - Tuesday, April 4
The Denial of Peter
Scripture: Luke 22:55-62
And when they had kindled a fire in the middle of the courtyard and sat down together, Peter sat down among them. Then a servant girl, seeing him as he sat in the light and looking closely at him, said, “This man also was with him.” But he denied it, saying, “Woman, I do not know him.” And a little later someone else saw him and said, “You also are one of them.” But Peter said, “Man, I am not.” And after an interval of about an hour still another insisted, saying, “Certainly this man also was with him, for he too is a Galilean.” But Peter said, “Man, I do not know what you are talking about.” And immediately, while he was still speaking, the rooster crowed. And the Lord turned and looked at Peter. And Peter remembered the saying of the Lord, how he had said to him, “Before the rooster crows today, you will deny me three times.” And he went out and wept bitterly.

Poetry:
"The Look" 
by Elizabeth Barrett Browning
The Savior looked on Peter. Ay, no word,
No gesture of reproach! The heavens serene,
Though heavy with armed justice, did not lean
Their thunders that way! the forsaken Lord
Looked only on the traitor. None record
What that look was, none guess: for those who have seen
Wronged lovers loving through a death-pang ken,
Or pale-cheeked martyrs smiling to a sword,
Have missed Jehovah at the judgment –
‘I never knew this man’ – did quail and fall, call.
And Peter, from the height of blasphemy
As knowing straight THAT GOD – turned free
And went out speechless from the face of all,
And filled the silence, weeping bitterly.

A MOMENT OF FAILURE

I stood in the center of a cold dark pit. What would it be like to spend the night here?  I imagined myself shivering from both cold and fear.  I was visiting Jerusalem and our group stopped at the house of the chief priest, Caiaphas.  The pit was a waiting cell for those who dared to oppose the high priest.  Many New Testament scholars believe Jesus—during his trial—spent a night in one of Caiaphas’s pits.

What does this have to do with Peter and his denial of Christ?

A few hundred yards from this detention pit is where Peter uttered his infamous words, “I don’t know him!”  No doubt Peter—and surrounding inhabitants—knew of both Caiaphas’s cruelty and his isolation pits hewn in rock.  Standing in the pit gave me a brief glimpse of Peter’s all-too-human fear of darkness, isolation, judgment, and perhaps death.  One psychologist notes that solitary confinement "destroys people as human beings" and quickly produces loss of vision, uncontrollable anxiety, and hopelessness.   Peter’s denial only makes sense if we first understand his fear.

Sitting around a fire, Peter is noticed by a woman who accuses, “This man was with him.”  The Scriptures simply state, “But he denied it.”  One theologian notes that the word “deny” (arneomai) is used in the New Testament as “the polar opposite of the word ‘confess’ (homologeo).”  In other words, at the moment when Peter could have confessed his allegiance to Christ, he let his fear—and desire for self-preservation—get the best of him.  The rooster crows and we know the rest of the story—“he went outside and wept bitterly.”

Browning’s poem describes Peter’s act as the “height of blasphemy.”  What is your assessment?  We confidently declare, “I would never compromise!  I would have aligned myself with Christ!”  Yet, what if you had to choose between proclaiming Christ to non-Christian family members or keeping silent? What if you selected keeping the peace in the family?  You didn’t face a cold pit or psychological isolation, but rather, receiving a cold shoulder from a sibling.  If you did compromise, could you ever recover?

The story of Peter’s denial is both a cautionary tale against hubris and a powerful reminder of redemption. Peter came back.  Most importantly, he was welcomed back.  When the women went to the tomb to anoint Jesus’s body with spices, an angel unexpectedly announced Jesus’s resurrection, adding, “…tell his disciples and Peter” to meet him. The message is clear: Peter is still welcome among Jesus’ followers.

Indeed, he would go on to become a significant leader of the Church.

As you watch the video, you’ll see depictions of Peter’s denial inter-spliced with images of his looking up—often with tears in his eyes.  While forgiven, Peter still wrestled with being flooded by periodic remembrances of his public denial.  Yet he kept moving forward propelled by God’s grace—“and, Peter.”  Will we keep moving forward even when we fail to live up to our own convictions and public pronouncements of fidelity to Christ?  In moments of failure, we would do well to recite often one of the simplest prayers of the ancient church.

PRAYER
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the living God, have mercy on me, a sinner. Amen.

Tim Muehlhoff
Professor of Communication