Resons Behind Peter's Denial: Really Peter, Really?!

Peter’s denial is seen in all four accounts of Mathew, Mark, Luke and John due to the Synoptic Problem with the first three accounts of the New Testament, and the obvious similarities between them. As I was reading Mark this week, I was torn as to why Peter would deny Jesus three times, especially since Peter had fair warning from Jesus on multiple occasions. (And because they were besties, if that’s what you want to call it). Also, I had a question on why Jesus would allow for Peter’s denial, since he knew it was going to happen. Why not spare him the embarrassment? I apologize for the many questions, but my curiosity in this subject often leads me from one question and onto a snowball effect of fifty more questions. With all that being said, I won’t keep you too long and I’d like to first go into more depth about who Peter was and the significance he had to Jesus as one of his closest disciples. 

Who was Peter?

            According to http://www.gotquestions.org/life-Peter.html Peter’s birth name was Simon. Along with his brother Andrew, they were both followers of John the Baptist. Andrew introduced Simon to Jesus and he renamed him in Aramaic a name that meant “rock”. In Greek the word rock was “petros.” Hence, Peter. Peter was outspoken and quickly became the spokesperson of the twelve. However, his tongue would get him into trouble on occasion. Jesus included Peter in the circle of his closest friends. We all know him for his denial of Christ three times during his trial, and after Jesus rose he assured Peter of his forgiveness.                                        

  Peter was crucified, but not in the traditional “Jesus way” He proclaimed he was not worthy to die as Jesus did, so he opted to be crucified upside down. Scary right? By now we have seen that Peter was a devout follower of Jesus, yet still struggled with his own pride and demons just as everyone else. When the time came and the rooster crowed, he had met his fate face to face. (Dun Dun Dun).  

Peter’s Denial

            Peter’s denial can be summed up in three easy points: Weakness, fear, and of course…Satan had something to do with it. According to  http://www.gotquestions.org/Peters-denial.html Jesus told Peter to stay up and pray for strength, because “although his spirit be willing, his flesh was weak.” He fell asleep anyways and by then it was too late. The soldiers had come to arrest Jesus and praying for strength was out of the question. As for fear, Peter followed Jesus after he had been arrested, but he kept his distance from him while he was being beaten and persecuted. Peter was at that time fearful of his own life.                                                                 

The next question is, why would Jesus allow Peter to mess up when he already knew that he would? He told Peter of Satan’s request to “sift Peter like wheat”. Let’s take a second to understand what Satan meant by this. According to http://www.oceanetwork.org/publications/article.cfm?id=37 when God mentions sifting wheat, he meant to say it as a terrible action someone could take upon another. The action was to separate the grain from the stalk and the chaff, tearing the wheat apart. So, therefore Satan wanted him in agony. Jesus allowed this because he wanted to strengthen Peter for the benefit of the other disciples, and to fulfill being the “rock” in the early church in Jerusalem.

The 3 Denials

            As Jesus was arrested, Peter uttered his first denial to a servant girl. Luke 22:54-57 explains. “Then they seized him and led him away, bringing him into the high priest's house. Peter followed at a distance and when they had kindled a fire in the middle of the courtyard and had sat down together, Peter sat down with them. A servant girl saw him seated there in the firelight. She looked closely at him and said, "This man was with him." But he denied it. "Woman, I don't know him," he said.” The second denial was to the same servant in Mark 14:69-70.  “When the servant girl saw him there, she said again to those standing around, "This fellow is one of them." Again he denied it.” The final denial was to numerous people at the time of Jesus’ trial, in Mathew 26:73-75. After a little while, those standing there went up to Peter and said, "Surely you are one of them, for your accent gives you away." Then he began to call down curses on himself and he swore to them, "I don't know the man!" Immediately a rooster crowed. Then Peter remembered the word Jesus had spoken: "Before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times." And he went outside and wept bitterly. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denial_of_Peter

Significance of Denial?

            By now we all have a pretty good understanding of the significance of Peter’s denial. Jesus was teaching Peter a lesson in humility, strength, passion, forgiveness and faith; all of which attributes Peter needed to become St. Peter, the rock, and one of the most famous and great apostles in history.