Section 127--Peter's Denial

Section 127 
PETER THRICE DENIES THE LORD
(Court of the high priest's residence. Friday before and about dawn.)
MATT. 26:58, 69-75
MARK 14:54, 66-72
LUKE 22:54-62
 JOHN 18:15-18, 25-27

"Simon Peter followed Jesus, and so did another disciple. Since that disciple was known to the high priest, he entered with Jesus into the courtyard of the high priest, but Peter stood outside at the door. So the other disciple, who was known to the high priest, went out and spoke to the servant girl who kept watch at the door, and brought Peter in." John 18:15-16

My Summary: John's account differs in some aspects from the others. John doesn't that the disciples fled, but that Peter and another disciple followed Jesus and entered into the courtyard of the high priest.  The other disciple gained access and is often identified as John.  The number three appears again; Peter denies being one of Christ's disciples three times, and earlier he had been asked to stay awake and pray three times.

"And Peter was following him at a distance, as far as the courtyard of the high priest, and going inside he sat with the guards to see the end." -Matthew 26:58

I can relate to Peter--loyal enough to follow and "see the end" but fearful, not bold enough to admit affiliation and risk harm to himself.

"Then he began to invoke a curse on himself and to swear, “I do not know the man.” And immediately the rooster crowed. And Peter remembered the saying of Jesus, “Before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times.” And he went out and wept bitterly."  Matthew 26:74-75

"The calling of curses on himself was a legal way of seeking to affirm one’s innocence; if the calamities did not follow, he would be assumed innocent." -BKC

"...All this evil sprung simply from the fear of man." -Adam Clarke

"Exasperated by the repeated accusations, Peter loses his temper and begins to emphasize his denial by profanity. Desire to make good his denial is now supreme in his thoughts and the Lord whom he denies is all but forgotten...When Peter remembered the loving tenderness of Jesus manifested when he foretold Peter's crime it formed a background against which the sin appeared in all its hideous enormity." -Fourfold