This is an excerpt from my book “40 Moments From Christ’s Final Days.” Click here to get it from Amazon using my affiliate link.
Find this moment in: Mt. 26:69–75, Mk. 14:66–72
The disciples had seen Jesus do the miraculous and impossible. They heard the Father’s voice confirm Him at the Mount of Transfiguration in Luke 17:1-13. In the last few hours, Jesus had encouraged His followers to stay faithful. But when they arrived at Gethsemane, Jesus also told them something else would happen.
Then Jesus said to them, “You will all fall away because of Me this night, for it is written, ‘I WILL STRIKE DOWN THE SHEPHERD, AND THE SHEEP OF THE FLOCK SHALL BE SCATTERED.’ (Matthew 26:31)
Referring to a prophecy in Zechariah 13:7-9, Jesus says that they will all scatter, but continues that He will gather them back up again. At the time, everyone felt they could stand with Jesus through the worst situations. Peter, as always, was the first to open his mouth and say what everyone thought.
But Peter answered and said to Him, “Even though all may fall away because of You, I will never fall away.” Jesus said to him, “Truly I say to you that this very night, before a rooster crows, you will deny Me three times.” Peter said to Him, “Even if I have to die with You, I will not deny You.” All the disciples said the same thing too. (Matthew 26:33-35)
For all his boldness and bravado, Christ uses Peter as an example to the rest. They would all scatter, but Peter would eat his words before dawn. After Christ’s arrest, Peter proved His words to be true.
After the disciples scattered in Matthew 26:56, Peter tried to blend in and follow the soldiers as they took Jesus to one of several outrageous trials. As Peter lingers, He’s recognized three different times. And Peter, the one who would “never fall away,” immediately falls away. This isn’t hard to understand, but the way he proves that he doesn’t know Jesus may be lost on us today.
And again he denied it with an oath, “I do not know the man.” A little later the bystanders came up and said to Peter, “Surely you too are one of them; for even the way you talk gives you away.” Then he began to curse and swear, “I do not know the man!” And immediately a rooster crowed. (Matthew 26:72-74)
If we apply our modern understanding of “curse and swear,” we may assume Peter was proving He wasn’t with Jesus by using a potty mouth. However, Peter’s attempts to separate himself from Jesus are far worse than needing a bit of censorship.
The key to understanding his behavior is found in his response to the second accusation. He denied it with an oath, then proceeded to swear and curse after the third accusation. Like American courts making witnesses “swear an oath” on the Bible, this involved Peter swearing on something. As we read further, we see that he not only swore on something, but doubled down on it by inviting a curse on himself if he was lying.
We don’t know what exactly Peter said. But understanding the Jewish setting and Christ’s warnings against swearing oaths in Matthew 5:34-36, it probably looked something like this.
“I swear by Heaven and Earth, I don’t know… what did you say His name was… Jesus? No, really, may Yahweh curse me with baldness if I’m lying! Did I just hear a rooster?”
Peter’s swearing and cursing weren’t the offensive things we may assume they were. They were far, far worse. After spending so much time with his Savior, Peter abandoned Christ so fiercely that he dared God to prove him wrong in front of others.
Stop and think: Despite Christ preparing Peter for what would come, this bold disciple wasn’t prepared to stand beside Christ outside his normal “Christ-following” activities. Likewise, we can be surprised when we have an opportunity to identify with Jesus outside of church activities, especially when people may not know where we stand. How prepared are you to stand beside Jesus when allowed to reveal what you truly believe?
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