Matt 14:66 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.

Many of us have heard the story about Peter denying Jesus. It’s sad and we can feel the disappointment that Peter had in himself. This is an example of how passion and good intentions don’t help you keep your word. Reality and fear have a way of causing the most passionate person with good intentions to fail at keeping it. But this is not the point I want to make.

What I noticed in this section of scripture are his responses.

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.”

First he denies it along with claiming ignorance of knowing what she is even talking about.

“This man is one of them.” ⁷⁰ But again he denied it.

Second he simply denies it again.

“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.”

Then he starts to speak a curse upon himself and swear that he doesn’t know him.

Denial is an interesting thing. It is essentially to refuse to admit the truth and to contradict what is actual. People use denial to overcome uncomfortable situations like when confronted with the truth of our behavior we may claim ignorance (I don’t know what you are talking about) then as we are pressed to admit the truth of what we’ve done, we may go as far as Peter and pronoun curses or swear that we do not do that or didn’t mean too anyway. Ignoring our sin and pretending that we haven’t done anything wrong always leads to brokenness and tears. God gives grace to the humble but pride goes before a fall.

Starla