S. Michael Houdmann Supporter Got Questions Ministries

The story of Peter's threefold denial of Christ is found in all four Gospel accounts: Matthew 26:69-74, Mark 14:66-72, Luke 22:55-62, and John 18:15-18, 25-27. But why would the chief of the discip...

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July 01 2013 • 5 responses • Vote Up • Share • Report

Simplicius Pereira Education Trainer & Trading Enterprenuer from Mumbai

I am not exactly sure whether I could be right in my guessing. But I strongly feel that there is something more than the fear, suffering and torture that peter experienced when Jesus was dragged, beaten and produced before court.

When Judas came to arrest with the soldiers and betrayed Jesus with a kiss, Peter cut off the ear of a high priest servant in defense whereas all other disciples fled in fear. A feeble Peter can not do this courageous act single handedly facing the large number soldiers with weapons. But what perplexed and drove Peter into confusion is that Jesus counter questioning Peter why he did that and then healing the ear of the servant and surrendering himself to the soldiers. Remember, when earlier Peter had told Jesus that he shall not die and nothing shall happen to him anything like that, Jesus had rebuked him saying " you go away satan"

Now Peter was in a state of confusion, If he accepts that he is the disciple of Jesus then again he might cause obstacle in the self surrender of Jesus to the soldiers or they might even take him to task holding him responsible for cutting off the ear of the high Priest servant and complicate any plan of Jesus miraculously getting freed from the accusers and performing another
great miracle of putting his adversaries to shame. So he wanted to remain as quite as possible. But he could not resist himself seeing his beloved master being taken away like a criminal and being insulted and tortured. He was still hoping that Jesus would do some miracle and escape.

Peter wanted to accompany his master Jesus back to their place after Jesus could prove himself innocent upright and get freed. But presenting himself in front of the roaring crowd and reckless Jewish leaders and soldiers would not only endanger him but also would prove a setback for the release of Jesus

But all his hopes died down when the cock crew and Jesus looked at him reminding him what he foretold the previous night that he would deny thrice before the cock crew twice! And Peter went out and bitterly cried.

September 15 2017 • 5 responses • Vote Up • Share • Report

Todd Rushing

There is also something more to this situation that should also be recognized. Peter had no fear when facing authority. This is evidenced by his cutting off the ear of the chief priest. Jesus even rebuked Peter for his brushless. But when it came to peer pressure, Peter reacted the way we all do. Peter was worried about the opinions of others, so in less than 6 hours, he denied Christ 3 times. As humans, we are often more concerned about the opinions of others than with what matters most, which is why we often tell "little white lies."

November 03 2022 • 0 responses • Vote Up • Share • Report