“They led Jesus away to the high priest, and all the chief priests, the elders, and the scribes convened. Peter followed Him at a distance, right into the high priest’s courtyard. He was sitting with the temple police, warming himself by the fire… While Peter was in the courtyard below, one of the high priest’s servants came. When she saw Peter warming himself, she looked at him and said, “You also were with that Nazarene, Jesus.” But he denied it: “I don’t know or understand what you’re talking about! ” Then he went out to the entryway, and a rooster crowed. When the servant saw him again she began to tell those standing nearby, “This man is one of them! ” But again he denied it. After a little while those standing there said to Peter again, “You certainly are one of them, since you’re also a Galilean! ” Then he started to curse and to swear with an oath, “I don’t know this man you’re talking about! ” Immediately a rooster crowed a second time, and Peter remembered when Jesus had spoken the word to him, “Before the rooster crows twice, you will deny Me three times.” When he thought about it, he began to weep.” (Mark 14:53-54, 66-72 HCSB)
It’s so easy to tell a lie, especially when confronted by an uncomfortable truth. Believe me, I know. I suspect you do, too.
I was about eight years old, and we lived in an old two-story house near downtown Tulsa. I shared a large bedroom with my older brother, Jerry. His bed was on one end of the room at the front of the house and mine was on the other end at the back of the house. Our shared closet was in the middle, near the door into the upstairs landing. At the top of the closet was an access panel into the attic and an eight-year-olds curiosity got the best of him. I climbed up and stood on the clothes rod and tried to push that panel open. Suddenly, the clothes rod broke, and I came crashing down onto a pile of clothes. I knew I was in trouble.
When my mother found the broken rod and the pile of clothes, she wanted to know what happened and who did it? The first words out of my mouth? Well, they sounded a lot like Simon Peter’s: “I don’t know or understand what you’re talking about!” From that point forward, the lies of my feigned innocence just continued to compound. “It wasn’t me; I don’t know what you’re talking about.” After the first lie, the rest of them just came out as a natural progression to hide my guilt and escape certain punishment.
While the initial lie was convenient, the rest were expedient. As I denied my guilt, my brothers were pulled into the fray. My mother threatened, “Your father will get the truth out of one of you! Just wait until he gets home.” When my father got home from work, my mother filled him in on the situation. He pulled me, my older brother and my younger brother into the bedroom and demanded to know who broke the rod. My brothers, of course, knew nothing and loudly proclaimed their innocence. I was guilty, but proclaimed my innocence just as loudly as they did. Perhaps more so. I won’t go into the details of what happened next, just suffice it to say I was now more afraid of my older brother’s wrath than I was my dad’s. I maintained my innocence and continued to lie. Nobody would ever know. My lips were sealed.
As I mentioned last week, this is another of those instances where Mark takes two stories (pericopes – for the biblical scholars reading this <grin>) and sandwiches them together. He begins this section by telling us that Peter had followed Jesus after His arrest, but at a safe distance, right into the high priest’s courtyard. Mark then relates Jesus’ trial before the Sanhedrin that we considered last week. Mark then returns to the story about Peter and picks up where he left off. Peter is in the courtyard, warming himself by a fire when he’s confronted by one of the high priest’s servants.
The phrase, “When she saw Peter warming himself, she looked at him” indicates that she glanced at Peter, seemed to recognize him and then looked closer and more intently at him. She then said, “You also were with that Nazarene, Jesus.” Either she had seen Peter with Jesus in the Temple as He taught or else she was among the servants who had gone to the garden to arrest Him. Given the circumstances, it seems much more likely that she recognized Peter from and encounter in the garden as Jesus was arrested.
Peter response is swift and filled with denial, “I don’t know or understand what you’re talking about!” To me, the girl’s accusation and Peter’s response seems to imply that she had seen him “with that Nazarene” in the garden as Jesus was being arrested. The event surrounding the sword and Malchus’ ear, another of the high priest’s servants, would have drawn attention to Peter and given her ample reason to recognize him. Peter denies knowing anything about the situation or to even understand the source of her accusation. He then slips away and into the darkness of the courtyard entry gate. As he does so, a rooster crows.
As a side note, the inclusion of the statement regarding the first crowing of a rooster is not consistent among the Mark manuscripts. Some scholars believe that this may have been added later by a scribe as the manuscript was being copied to make the story consistent with Jesus’ prophecy earlier in the chapter (see v. 30). Others think that it may have been in the original manuscript and was removed by a later scribe to make Mark consistent with Matthew, Luke and John, which only include a single rooster crow reference in the story. Either way, it makes no difference. I tend to think it was in the original since Mark’s stories bear the mark of retelling Peter’s memories and the rooster crowing is so significant to this particular memory.
Next, the servant girl sees Peter again and she begins to tell those standing nearby that Peter “is one of them.” Peter again denies it. But after a few minutes, those standing there said to Peter, “You must be one of them, since you’re a Galilean.” Matthew tells us that Peter’s Galilean accent gave him away (Matt. 26:73). Apparently, Galilean Jews had trouble properly pronouncing some of the more guttural consonants common to Aramaic and Judean Jews didn’t. No doubt it is a bit like being able to identify the area Americans grew up in based on their accents or use of specific words or phrases. My father spent most of his adult life in Oklahoma, but his Bostonian accent never completely disappeared.
This insight and accusation triggered an outburst from Peter. He began to call down curses upon himself as he swore an oath, “I don’t know this man you’re talking about!” But his words were hollow and his false oath meaningless… and immediately a rooster crowed a second time.
But why? Why does Mark sandwich Jesus’ trial before false witnesses between the opening statement of Peter’s presence in the courtyard, the accusations by the servant girl and those gathered near the fire and Peter’s vehement denial of Jesus? Because of the stark contrast between Jesus’ response to lies and truth and Peter’s. Jesus responds to the lies of the false witnesses with pregnant silence. But Jesus’ truthful response to the High Priest’s question regarding His identity stand in stark contrast to Peter’s response to the servant’s accurate observations. When the lies of the false witnesses were given against Him, Jesus remained silent in the face of their lies. But when the truth of His identity was questioned, He couldn’t remain silent but incriminated Himself and sealed His fate. However, when Peter was confronted by the truth of his own identity and relationship with Jesus he lied and denied even knowing who Jesus was: “I don’t know this man you’re talking about!”
When the rooster crows the second time, Peter remembers what Jesus had spoken about him: “Before the rooster crows twice, you will deny Me three times.” Luke tells us that as this happened, “the Lord turned and looked at Peter.” There are two interesting words used in this story, understand and remember, that carry some significant weight. In Mark 8, Jesus had just fed a large crowd of some 4,000 men plus the women and children. Then they climbed into a boat and Jesus warned them to “beware the yeast of the Pharisees and of Herod.” The disciples began to discuss among themselves what Jesus meant, and they feared it was because they had failed to bring any bread with them. He then asked them, “Don’t you understand? Do you not remember? What happened when I broke the five loaves for the 5,000 and how many baskets full did you collect? How about when I broke the seven loaves for the 4,000 and how many large baskets did you collect? Don’t you understand, yet?”
Peter said he didn’t know or understand what they were talking about when they accused him of being with Jesus. When confronted again about being with Jesus, he again denied it. Surely, you’re one of them because you’re also Galilean. But Peter calls down curses on himself, “May God strike me down if I’m lying, I don’t know the man! I’ll swear an oath, I don’t know Him!” Ah, there he is… the false witness. Peter was willing to swear under oath that he didn’t know Jesus and wasn’t one of His disciples. He didn’t understand what they were talking about. Then the rooster crowed, Jesus glanced at him, and he remembered.
Understand and Remember
Peter and the others had seen firsthand the miracles Jesus performed. They had heard His words and been impacted by its incredible truth and power. They had felt the breath of God’s Spirit blowing through their lives, clearing their thoughts and solidifying their understanding of Him. Jesus had asked them, “Who do the crowds say I am?” They answered, “John the Baptizer, Isaiah or one of the other prophets.” He probed deeper, “Who do you say I am?” Peter responds for the group, “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God.”
Maybe, just maybe they were beginning to understand.
Then He challenges them to beware the yeast of the Pharisees and of Herod. A little yeast can get in and then it will spread through the entire batch of dough. Beware! But they think He’s upset because they forgot to bring bread for the trip. Don’t they understand, yet? Don’t they remember what He did with just five loaves for the 5,000 or the seven loaves for the 4,000? This ISN’T about bread. This is about understanding WHO He is, remembering WHAT He can do and then living their lives in relation to those things.
Peter says, “I don’t understand what you’re talking about! I’m not one of them! May God strike me down, if I’m lying. I swear, I don’t know this man!”
Will Peter remember?
Listen to the last sentence of our focal passage: “When he thought about it, he began to weep.”
This last sentence is a bit difficult to translate. The word translated “when he thought about it” could be translated several different ways. It is a word (epiballo: epi – over, ballo – to throw) that basically means “to cast or throw over” something else. For example, it is used in Mark 11:7 to describe how the disciples threw their robes over the donkey for Jesus to sit on. It is also used in Mark 4:37 to describe how the waves were breaking over the boat during the storm.
In this instance, it could be translated as if Peter’s remembrance of Jesus’ prophecy regarding this denial knocked him down, washed over him and overwhelmed him. Some want to translate it as if Peter physically reacted and ran away when he remembered Jesus’ words. I think the memory washed over him like a huge wave, knocking him down spiritually, and overwhelming his mental defenses causing him to break down and begin weeping.
What would you do? If you had seen the things that Peter saw, heard the powerful, life altering words Jesus spoke and then watched as they arrested Him, convicted Him and now seek to sentence Him to death, what would you do?
Would you understand? Would you remember? Or would you also deny knowing Him?
Perhaps you’ve been there. Maybe doubts wash over you, at times. At critical times in your life. At times when you ought to believe. Ought to understand. Ought to remember.
I want to take you back in time, just a bit. Just a few hours before, Jesus had predicted that all of the disciples would run away. They would all scatter like sheep because God would strike down the shepherd. Then Jesus tells them, “But after I have been resurrected, I will go ahead of you to Galilee.” Peter insisted, “Even if everyone runs away, I will certainly not!” Jesus responds, “I assure you, this very night you will deny Me three times!” But Peter kept insisting, “If I have to die with You, I will NEVER deny You!” (emphasis is mine) They all said the same thing.
Jesus knew what they would do, but He had already forgiven them. He had already forgiven Peter, too. When Peter remembered Jesus’ prediction, those thoughts overwhelmed him, washed over him and knocked him down. Like a boat swamped with high waves, what happened next in Peter’s life would be critical. Extremely critical. Life and death critical. How would Peter respond?
When he thought about it, he began to weep.
Tears are a sign of remorse. When a guilty defendant stands defiantly before his accusers, before the judge and before those who have weighed the facts and found him guilty, then he is not likely to get much mercy from them. But when he collapses in tears, confesses his guilt and seeks the mercy and forgiveness of his victim and the court, he is much more likely to receive mercy.
Peter’s tears were tears of remorse, of confession and of repentance. But here’s the good news… we call it the gospel: Jesus died for our sins, our failures, our lies and our denials. But when we fall before Him with tears of remorse, of confession and of repentance, like Peter’s, then we find mercy, too. Before Peter denied Jesus, Jesus had foreseen his failure and was offering him mercy and forgiveness. You and I are no different… consider this:
“But God proves His own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us!” (Romans 5:8 HCSB)
Jesus knew we would sin, and He has already died for us and offers us mercy, love and forgiveness. Will you run away from Him or will you let His mercy, love and forgiveness wash over you and move you to tears of remorse and repentance. Fall before Him, the just and merciful Judge…
“Now I rejoice, not because you were grieved, but because your grief led to repentance. For you were grieved as God willed, so that you didn’t experience any loss from us. For godly grief produces a repentance not to be regretted and leading to salvation, but worldly grief produces death.”
Hilltop Baptist Church - Shawnee, OK 
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