Peter's Denial - Matt 26:69-75; Mark 14:66-72; Luke 22:55-62; John 18:17-27

While Jesus is inside Caiaphas’s palace being interrogated and beaten, Peter is outside of the house waiting. I imagine that this “palace” is set up similar to the temple in that there are several different buildings, each with their own areas for people to stand while waiting outside. It was probably a sprawling place with many different places for people to wait outside. I wonder just how many people were there awaiting the verdict for Jesus. There would be the members of the Sanhedrin, or at least those who wanted Jesus dead, which was probably most of them. There would have been the servants that had been accompanying those members of the Sanhedrin, along with those caring for the horses or camels that they rode in on, and any trainee or apprentice would have been there too. Looking at it that way helps me understand why it would make sense that there were so many people there in the middle of the night for Jesus. Plus, it was the night before Passover and with so many more people in Jerusalem than usual, there must have been a lot of people coming to see all the commotion.

We know that John had gone inside to the trial because he was known to the high priest and possibly because he was known kin to Jesus. But even with all that, John was only able to get Peter into the waiting area outside of Caiaphas’s house. I don’t know if that’s because Peter declined to come in, or because he wasn’t rightfully allowed, but whatever the reason was, Peter ended up waiting outside, in the dark of night and in the cold huddled around a fire trying to keep warm with everyone else. While he was warming himself, “a damsel cam unto him, saying, Thou also wast with Jesus of Galilee. But he denied before them all, saying, I know now what thou sayest.”  
I have heard so much speculation of why Peter denied Christ that most people seem to agree that the main factors were “weakness” and “fear.” I don’t necessarily think that that is true though because I think it had more to do with Peter’s confusion. I honestly think that from the beginning, Peter was willing to die for Jesus, surely just moments before, Peter had been the only one willing to instigate violence on behalf of the Savior, even though Jesus and the disciples were vastly out numbered by the guards of the chief priests and out weaponed. But he still fought, which is a logical solution to your problems in you’re him. But Jesus didn’t want Peter to fight, he wanted Peter to take over his life’s work, to teach the gospel, but Peter wasn’t there yet. Jesus had just predicted a few hours ago that Peter would deny knowing Christ 3 times before the rooster crowed to wake everyone up.
I personally feel like the Savior was planting seeds of “it’s not your time to die.” I personally believe that if Jesus had told them “don’t deny me, even if you think they’ll kill you,” then Peter would have done that. But because Peter was probably ready to die for Jesus, everything Jesus put into his mind about teaching the gospel after Jesus died and Peter denying him, I think Peter was just unclear of what exactly Jesus wanted him to do and was trying to be obedient in the staying alive portion in whatever way he knew how. I’m not saying that what Peter did wasn’t wrong, because clearly he felt some guilt about it, but the prospect of being crucified was daunting enough, but then when you add in fact that Jesus clearly didn’t want Peter dying with him, he probably didn’t know what to do when the situation arose, and defaulted to denial, like Jesus had suggested in a round about way.
Peter has moved to another spot, probably because he was recognized at the first place, but in the next place “they that stood by said again to Peter, Surely thou art one of them: for thou art a Galilaean, and thy speech agreeth thereto.” My understanding of this verse can come from two directions. The first way is that people were probably standing around talking about Jesus as he was the whole reason that they were there and Peter might have said some things defending Jesus, so his “speech” or words might have portrayed him as a follower. The second way is that perhaps as a Galilaean, Peter might have had an accent of some sort that might have given away where he was from, and the people put everything together that Peter and Jesus were both from Galilee, and therefore probably together. It would make sense for most of the people standing outside of Caiaphas’s palace to know each other. They each probably worked for a member of the Sanhedrin, and they probably met together just as often as their masters did. It would have been unusual for someone from Galilee to be in the place where the servants of the Sanhedrin hung out, and Peter was recognized as an outsider.
It’s unclear as to whether Peter went to another fire to warm himself, or if he just stayed at that one, but as he was there “one of the servants of the high priests, being his kinsman whose ear Peter cut off, said, Did not I see thee in the garden with him? Peter then denied again.” So one of Malchus’s relatives was also a servant for one of the high priests and apparently had been in the arresting party sent to Gethsemane. Surely he remembered the man who maimed his family member, but Peter must feel cornered now and again denies knowing Jesus, Matthew even goes so far as to say that Peter “began to curse and to swear, saying, I know not the man.” He’s getting desparate.
Immediately after denying a relationship with Jesus for the third time, “the cock crew. And Peter remembered the word of Jesus, which said unto him, before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice. And he went out, and wept bitterly.”  The kick in the face that Peter must have felt when he remembered what Jesus had predicted must have been crippling. JTC says, “Trembling in wretched realization of his perfidious cowardice, he turned from the crowd and met the gaze of the suffering Christ, who from the midst of the insolent mob looked into the face of His boastful, yet loving but weak apostle. Hastening from the palace, Peter went out into the night, weeping bitterly. As his later life attests, his tears were those of real contrition and true repentance.”
I feel like there are a couple of different ways that this could have played out. First we know that Jesus did not want Peter to die along with him because Peter was meant to preach the gospel and run the church in Jesus’ absence. But if Peter hadn’t denied knowing Christ, then he probably would have been crucified right along with Jesus. So this begs the question, why didn’t Jesus just tell Peter, “hey when the time comes, run away from me.” Well, I guess Jesus did do that when he told all of the disciples that they would leave him when he was arrested. But Peter didn’t listen, he followed Jesus even though it was incredibly dangerous. If that’s the case, why didn’t Jesus tell Peter, “when people ask if you know me, say no so that you can survive, it won’t hurt my feelings because I know how you really feel.” Jesus has just spent 3 years teaching his apostles to be strong in the face of persecution, if he were to say this, he would be setting a precedent that it is ok to deny the faith if you are in danger. But this perspective opens up such a can of worms, how convinced of the danger do you have to be before you can deny the faith? How serious to the threats need to be? What if instead of being unsafe, you’re just uncomfortable, does that count? Jesus never could have encouraged someone to deny their faith to save their physical lives.
So knowing that Peter was going to follow Jesus and knowing that he’d be recognized and then deny knowing him, Jesus took the opportunity to teach Peter a lesson. I love the quote “nothing cements loyalty like a betrayal,” and what happened with Peter is such a perfect lesson about that. Peter had the opportunity to feel the devastation that comes with selling out a piece of your soul for safety. He had the chance to realize that he never wanted to feel that way again, and he got to do it in a circumstance that really wouldn’t have made a difference at all. This is an amazing example of how the Lord takes our struggles and our mistakes and turns them for our good.