Peter Denies Jesus: Discipleship Failure and the Glory of God

[66] And as Peter was below in the courtyard, one of the servant girls of the high priest came, [67] and seeing Peter warming himself, she looked at him and said, “You also were with the Nazarene, Jesus.” [68] But he denied it, saying, “I neither know nor understand what you mean.” And he went out into the gateway and the rooster crowed. [69] And the servant girl saw him and began again to say to the bystanders, “This man is one of them.” [70] But again he denied it. And after a little while the bystanders again said to Peter, “Certainly you are one of them, for you are a Galilean.” [71] But he began to invoke a curse on himself and to swear, “I do not know this man of whom you speak.” [72] And immediately the rooster crowed a second time. And Peter remembered how Jesus had said to him, “Before the rooster crows twice, you will deny me three times.” And he broke down and wept.
(Mark 14:66-72 ESV)



There is a lot that can be said about Mark 14. It's a long chapter, with a lot of things to tell us about the Passion Week of Jesus. Yet today, due to what's been going on in my life recently, I feel inclined to study this passage. This is a prime example of discipleship failure, and I want to see what this passage can tell us about how God deals with our failure.


First off, what this passage means to its original audience. For this, let's go verse-by-verse.

66 - Peter is close to Jesus, as close as he can come. He doesn't want to abandon his Master. Yet Jesus is on trial for His life; this is not what Peter had expected at all. He had expected Jesus to ascend to the Throne, to take control of Israel, drive out Rome, and rule with Peter and the disciples at His side. Instead everything is shattered.

Peter now realizes how greatly he failed in the Garden of Gethsemane. He likely didn't appreciate the gravity of the evening; when Jesus said He wouldn't drink of the vine again until the Kingdom, Peter may have had delusions that they were on the cusp of initiating the second Golden Age of Israel, and within a very short time, they would be feasting and drinking wine in celebration of their victory.

Instead, Jesus was falling on His face in the Garden, begging the Father to spare Him this cup. Peter and the others failed to pray; they didn't see the horrors approaching for their Messiah. So they didn't pray, and their Master was taken prisoner.

What regrets are going through Peter's head, right now? Is he thinking that if he had prayed harder and better, Jesus could have been spared from the arrest? If Peter had been on his guard, could they have escaped? Is this all his fault?

And then, Jesus already told Peter that Peter would deny Him three times this very evening. So if Jesus knew, then Peter wasn't to blame. Or was he? I can imagine all of this going through Peter's head, with much more.

One of the servant girls came up to him, and

67 - seeing Peter, she accused him of being with Jesus. At any other time in this Gospel Peter would have been proud of this association. Yet now he's terrified. They just arrested his Master, his Rabbi, and might put Him to death. They could do the same to Peter, if they realize who he is. The disciples ran away from the Garden to save themselves, to keep themselves from being arrested. Peter came back, in a fashion; he wants to be close to Jesus, to see what will happen to Him, maybe to help Him. Maybe Peter isn't even thinking clearly, but just knows that he wants to be close by. Maybe he's already feeling guilty and wants to be see if he can do anything to help.

But here this girl is calling him out. She knows who he is. From the Gospel of John, we know that John let Peter in this close, and the servant girl at the door recognized Peter. This is why she says "also" in v67. She sees Peter with John, and knowing that John is a disciple, she accuses Peter of being one.

68 - But Peter denied it. This night, he doesn't want to be associated with Jesus. This night it could mean his death. This night, he puts himself higher than Jesus, in terms of importance. He still loves Jesus; he's still here, as close as he can get. But he doesn't want to give up his life for Jesus. Peter isn't there yet.

And for the first time, a rooster crows. It's almost hard to imagine Peter not remembering Jesus' words right now, but it he was still drunk / hungover from all the wine at the last supper, and he's been up all night. Further, his entire world has been turned around and he has no idea what's going to happen to next. I suppose it is believable that his mind was on other things, and he only barely registered the rooster's crow.

69 - But the servant girl really thinks she knows who Peter is. So she goes around and tells everyone that Peter is one of Jesus' disciples. Maybe she is just being a loyal servant, identifying someone she thinks her bosses/owners might like to arrest, because of his association to the man currently on trial. Maybe she's telling the courtyard guards, in case they might want to arrest Peter.

In any case, it's dangerous. If he is positively identified, he could be arrested and tried, then killed. So Peter denies it. He doesn't want to leave, but he also doesn't want to be known as a disciple of Jesus. Not now.

70 - But the girl has caught the bystander's ears. Now they start to see the connection, and they hear his accent. They realize he's from Galilee, not Judea. He's probably the only Galilean in the courtyard at this hour, besides John. He stands out.

71 - But he's almost at the breaking point. He starts cursing himself and swearing not to know Jesus. He's making a scene desperately trying to deny any connection between him and the man on trial.

72 - And then immediately the rooster crows a second time, and Peter remembers. Jesus said this would happen. And Peter can't do anything but weep.




What does this tell us about us, about human nature?

Peter thought he was a disciple of Jesus' for a long time. He thought Jesus was his Master, and that he would gladly die for Him if the need ever arose.

Then Jesus was arrested, instead of ascending to the throne. Peter expected to march with Jesus to victory. Instead, association with Jesus can now mean an inglorious death.

So now, Peter denies Jesus with curses and swearing.

I don't think Peter's heart changed. I think the stresses of this situation revealed that Peter's heart had never been fully geared towards Jesus before. Peter loved Jesus, but he ultimately loved himself a bit more. When it came time to choose between death with Jesus and life with himself, he chose himself.

He was eager to go along with Jesus, to follow Him to victory. Yet this revealed that he was so eager, not because Jesus would be glorified, but because he himself would receive power, be in command, be recognized, etc. He likely wanted Jesus to be glorified, of course, and probably would never had said or even thought that what he was really after was his own glory. Yet this situation revealed how much he had been lying to himself, before.

Our capacity for self-deception is enormous. Peter was fully convinced he would die for Jesus, that Jesus was his highest priority. Then a few hours later, Peter can't deny how self-centered his heart is.

We should never think we know ourselves purely or perfectly. We often need others to show us our blindspots, to help us grow, to keep us accountable. We deceive ourselves far too easily. We want to be deceived into thinking that we are better than we are. We want to justify behaviors that are wrong. We want to cut ourselves some slack.

But without others in our lives to speak into our lives, to spot out this weaknesses, we'll be like Peter and realize after it's too late that we never really knew our own hearts. We thought we knew ourselves, but we were wrong. And now we watch our lives collapse around us.

We are far more selfish than we ever let ourselves realize.



What glory of God is this passage revealing?

In the first place, Jesus clearly knew the future. He prophesied exactly what would happen. Peter witnessed this many times before, and it was always a positive thing: my Master knows the future! How cool is that?

Yet now, it's painful. Jesus knew what was in Peter's heart, and He saw it coming with pinpoint accuracy.

Which reveals an even greater glory of God: He knew all of our failures before He ever called us to follow Him. Jesus knew He was calling a flawed, imperfect, impetuous, arrogant, selfish man when He called Peter to be his disciple. Yet Jesus still called him.

And after Jesus rose, He again called Peter. He didn't make Peter do penance, or do things to atone for his denial. Instead, Jesus simply re-states His love for Peter, and appoints him to care for His sheep.

God doesn't want us to atone for our failures. We don't need to hide ourselves from Him when we've failed. He already knew; He knew we would fail in that way long before we were ever born. And it didn't stop Him from calling us to be His.

We don't need to work to make things right between ourselves and God. We'll never be perfect; we'll always be stained by imperfection and failure. Yet Jesus already did the work to make things right with God. He already went to the Cross, taking our failures and sins and stains and imperfections on Himself, and dying for them, suffering God's wrath against them. He did this to make us clean, to make us perfect.

So when we fail, we don't need to beat ourselves up about it. We need only to admit it and move on. Jesus knows we fail; our failure can never surprise Him. That's the majesty of God: He works through us, despite our weaknesses. When we are weak, He is strong.

If anyone questions whether God exists, they have only to look at the frail, imperfect people God uses to change the world. Peter was not a genius, he wasn't uniquely talented, he was a standard blue-collar worker who was bold while being stupid and constantly missed what Jesus was saying. Peter is the biggest failure in the 12 disciples. And yet Jesus choses for him to lead them. Peter didn't accomplish these things by himself. All he can do by himself is fail and weep. Only by the grace of God can this traitor become the fearless preacher and evangelist of the book of Acts.

Perhaps Jesus elevates Peter to this office precisely because Peter has failed so much. Peter used to be stupidly bold, confident without cause. Yet here that implodes; the man who boldly declares he'll die with Jesus instead wets himself when confronted by a young servant girl. He realizes he's a fraud, and he weeps, knowing he has denied his Master, effectively ending his discipleship.

Peter is uniquely humbled by this experience. Jesus exposes his heart, and Peter sees the depths of his self-deception, his stupidity, his false confidence, his sin. And yet Jesus still calls him, still apoints him, still empowers him, still uses him. Peter, perhaps more than any other apostle, realizes that he is not being used because he's such a great guy. He doesn't deserve the position he's given. It is only by the grace of God, the completely undeserved gifting of Jesus, that sees Peter become anything more than a commom fisherman.

So after this night, and after the resurrected Jesus re-instates him, Peter lives and breathes humility. He realizes it's not about him.

It's all about Jesus.



This also means that Christians can never, ever view themselves as better than someone else. We did not deserve our salvation. We fail God constantly. The only reason we're saved is because God is giving us something we could never earn for ourselves.

The best of us are usually the worst of us. Peter because the leader of the 12 Apostles, yet he was the worst failure of them all. In human terms, he deserved that office the least. Yet God equipped him beyond himself, and Jesus called Peter to it specifically. Peter thought he had lost forever the opportunity to serve Jesus; that's why he weeps at the end of chapter 14. Denying your Rabbi meant that you were done as a disciple; your career in ministry was over from that point. Peter thought he would have to go back to fishing, which is why you find him fishing again at the end of the Gospel of John. Jesus restored him to the office he had forfeited willingly. He didn't deserve it, and he knows it. That's why Peter worships Jesus: Jesus is far better to Peter than Peter could ever deserve. The Master who forgives all sin and calls you to a life that transcends failure -- this Master is one worth serving!

This is how awesome our God is. He doesn't let our failures defeat us. He saves us, even from our imperfect selves.



And if I can interject a historical note, this passage is one of the reasons why we can trust that the Scriptures weren't editted and changed throughout the years. People often assert that the Bible was editted and changed constantly by those in power, to support their own power base.

There are many problems with this idea, one simply being that there is absolutely no historical evidence of it. The earliest manuscripts we have, dating all the way back to the 1st century, are the same as the rest we find throughout history. They haven't been altered in any substantial way (there are a few scribal errors, misplaced punctuation, etc., but those are easily spotted and fixed).

A second argument against this is to realize how often the disciples fail. Peter became a prominent leader in the early church, easily one of the most powerful men. Yet he didn't change these stories at all. He didn't use his position and influence to make himself appear better in these stories. He left the painful truth there for all to see.

It would be so easy to simply delete this passage, because the entire point of it is to show how Peter deceived himself and failed. You could just remove this part, remove the line about the disciples running away when Jesus was arrested, and suddenly you have a story where Peter doesn't fail so much. With a few careful deletions, you can make it seem like Peter knew what was happening all along, trusted Jesus, and after Jesus rose from death, it would make perfect sense why He would appoint Peter as leader, if Peter seems to be faithful through it all. Instead Peter appears as the worst of all the disciples.

This would be akin to a presidential candidate writing an autobiography describing how their life is nothing but a series of failures, and they are actually the worst qualified candidate in the race. That would undermine their position and destroy their authority. Yet that's what Peter does. He's not building a power base through politics. He's not creating a facade of him being a super Christian. If people know anything about him, they know him to be a failure, a bad disciple.

Yet Jesus still loves him. Jesus still calls him. Jesus still appoints and equips him. Jesus still uses him to lead the early church through some of its hardest times.

Not because Peter is amazing. Because Jesus is glorious. Because our God does not judge as humans do, and He calls us to be more than we ever could amount to, ourselves.

We know we can trust the Scriptures, because they're honest. These people aren't fake. They're exactly as real as we are, right down to their hidden sins and failures. So when Jesus loves even the worst of failures, we can have absolute confidence that He can love us.



What should we change in our lives?

If we don't have people like this in our lives, we need them. Find them, make sure they're trustworthy. Give them access to your life, to really know you, and to speak openly to you about your strengths and weaknesses. It might be painful, but it's necessary.

Also: when they speak, listen. Peter had this guy: Jesus. Jesus told him exactly what would happen, how selfish his heart really was. Peter didn't listen. It didn't feel right. They were on the cusp of victory, he thought; how could he possibly deny his Master, his King?

But Jesus was right. Peter's heart was still selfish. If Peter had listened, how much pain could he have avoided?

We should also stop trying to hide our failures, or pay God back for them. He already knows. He knew before He ever called us. And it didn't stop Him from calling us in the first place.

We should finally, fully trust in the Gospel of Jesus: He took ALL of our sins upon Himself, removing them from us forever by suffering their just penalty on the Cross. We'll never be stained by our failures again. Even when we fail, we can know that we are already washed clean and forgiven by the blood of Jesus. We don't do good deeds to pay God back for our sins, to make penance; we do good things in sheer gratitude for the grace that God has given us.