Now Peter was sitting out in the courtyard, and a servant girl came to him. “You also were with Jesus of Galilee,” she said. But he denied it before them all. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said.

Then he went out to the gateway, where another servant girl saw him and said to the people there, “This fellow was with Jesus of Nazareth.”  He denied it again, with an oath: “I don’t know the man!”

After a little while, those standing there went up to Peter and said, “Surely you are one of them; your accent gives you away.”  Then he began to call down curses, and he swore to them, “I don’t know the man!”

Immediately a rooster crowed. Then Peter remembered the word Jesus had spoken: “Before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times.” And he went outside and wept bitterly.

Matthew 26:69 – 75

I recall Peter’s words, spoken an hour or so earlier, “Even if all fall away on account of you, I never will.” V 33 Now, in the High Priest’s courtyard, a girl saw him and said, “You also were with Jesus of Galilee.”  Peter, the spokesman for the disciples, lied.  He insisted that never knew Jesus.  In protest he got adamant, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”  

After he was so questioned three times, Then he began to call down curses, and he swore to them, “I don’t know the man!”  Poor Peter.  What happened?  He knew Jesus probably better than anyone else on earth.  His relationship with Jesus landed him in great personal trouble.  The only way out was to swear an oath that he did not even know Jesus, which he did – and then the cock, welcoming the morning, crowed.  Peter was an absolute mess.  His world crumbled!

Realizing what he had just done, “He went outside and wept bitterly.”

It is not easy to stand up for Jesus, and even more of a challenge to say that we know and love him!  This world is not a friend of God’s grace.  But it is the world we live in, every day.  Peter discovered that dramatically.

I wonder, where did Matthew get this story?  He was not there.  I believe, later on, Peter shared this with Matthew, who recorded it for us for our own edification.