TRANSLATION MATTHEW 26: 69

Now Peter was sitting outside in the courtyard. A young female slave approached him saying, “You were also with Jesus the Galilean.”

He denied it in front of them all, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” He went out to the gate, where another slave girl saw him and said, “This man was with Jesus the Nazorean.”

Again he denied it with an oath, “I don’t know the fellow.”

A little while later, bystanders came up and said, “Yes, you too are one of them; your accent gives you away.”

Then he began to curse and to swear, “I do not know the fellow!” And immediately a rooster crowed. Then Peter remembered the word that Jesus had spoken, “Before the rooster crows, you will have denied me three times.” And he went outside and wept bitterly.

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The more the story unfolds the more it becomes clear that it has been polished by many tellers, and even here comparing Mark’s version with Matthew’s gently edited one, we can see the process of story-telling continuing with his removal of unnecessary details: every word counts.

Peter’s denial of Jesus has become in important element in the narrative if Jesus’ death. We are not being given a first-hand account but a quasi folk-tale version, which helps our understanding of Peter and Jesus, but also of ourselves and our own betrayals of what is most precious to us, not least our trust in Jesus, if we are believers.

It is a human experience that real challenges often come when we’re are not ready for them. If Peter had been thrown in prison then brought to answer for himself, he might well have acknowledged his allegiance to Jesus. As it is, he is unready, afraid and denies Jesus, as Jesus had prophesied.