Peter’s Denial

During the last supper, Jesus warns Simon: “Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat: but I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not.” Peter says he is ready to go with Jesus “both into prison, and to death,” but Jesus tells him the rooster will not crow before he has denied three times that he knows him. After the arrest, Peter follows at a distance to the high priest’s house and sits down by the fire in the middle of the courtyard. A servant girl looks closely at him: “This man was also with him.” — “Woman, I know him not.” Another accuses him, and then, about an hour later, a third insists: “he is a Galilean.” Just as Peter denies him again, the rooster crows. The Lord turns and looks at Peter, who remembers his word; he goes out and weeps bitterly. Later, the risen Lord will restore him (John 21:15-17).