TGBC Thursday, 11 Feb 2021. Mark 14:66-72 (plus the other gospels' accounts) Peter's Denial
Mark 14 Peter Denies Jesus
(Matthew 26:69–75; Luke 22:54–62; John 18:15–18, 25-27)
66 While Peter was in the courtyard below, one of the servant girls of the high priest came down 67 and saw him warming himself there. She looked at Peter and said, “You also were with Jesus the Nazarene.”
68 But he denied it. “I do not know or even understand what you are talking about,” he said. Then he went out to the gateway, and the rooster crowed. n
69 There the servant girl saw him and again said to those standing nearby, “This man is one of them.”
70 But he denied it again.
After a little while, those standing nearby said once more to Peter, “Surely you are one of them, for you too are a Galilean.” o
71 But he began to curse and swear, “I do not know this man of whom you speak!” 72 And immediately the rooster crowed a second time.
Then Peter remembered the word that Jesus had spoken to him: “Before the rooster crows twice, you will deny Me three times.” And he broke down and wept.
Remember, four evangelists are writing, so there's every reason why their reports of Peter's denying Jesus three times should be different. But I've copy and pasted all four here to show that they are not really different. With Mark only, the rooster is to crow twice. Only Luke reports that at the third denial, when the rooster crowed, Jesus turned and looked at Peter. That is shown in the film The Passion of the Christ, and the pathos of the moment is almost unbearable.
In the Gospel according to John, Peter is only able to get into the courtyard because he is escorted in by another disciple, one who is known to the high priest. Who might that possibly have been? I do not favor mixing your four gospel stories to come out with one you really like, because that yields yet a fifth gospel story. So let's leave Mark 14 for the moment and go over to John 18, the same courtyard scene:
why might one of Jesus' disciples be known to the high priest? Only because that disciple is a local, he's in the Temple often, probably is a prominent local donor to the Temple, the high priest knows him, and so do the temple sentries guarding the courtyard gate. Who might that be? We're in John now, not Mark. Again, this guy is a local. This has to be the disciple who was later at the Cross and Jesus, saying "Woman, here is your son; here is your mother," gave him Mother Mary and the disciple took her into his own home that very hour, so his home was not several days' journey away in Galilee, but right there, in Bethany.
Doubtless, that disciple was also at the Last Supper. Who do we know who is local, would likely have been at the Supper? And also, incidentally, later, himself penning the Fourth Gospel, obliquely refers to himself as "the disciple Jesus loved". Who? No, not John! Lazarus. Lazarus was local, from the Jerusalem suburb Bethany.
Go all the way back to John 11:1 where the story of Lazarus begins, "1 At this time a man named Lazarus was sick. He lived in Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. 2 (Mary, whose brother Lazarus was sick, was to anoint the Lord with perfume and wipe His feet a with her hair.) 3 So the sisters sent word to Jesus, “Lord, the one You love is sick.”
Lazarus dies, Jesus goes to Bethany and raises Lazarus from the dead. Only one disciple is marked with the ID "the disciple Jesus loved". Scan pericope by pericope all the way through the rest of the Gospel noting every time "the disciple whom Jesus loved" is mentioned, first identified as Lazarus being sick, dying, and Jesus raising him. That "disciple Jesus loved" is mentioned several more times. Including he's at the Last Supper. Then, because, being local, he's known at the Temple, he's able to get Peter into the courtyard where Peter's denial takes place.
Then "the disciple Jesus loved" is at the Cross, and finally he's there in the boat at the end, recognizes Jesus, and is present there on the beach for breakfast and Jesus' tense but reconciling conversation with Peter, "Do you love me? Feed my sheep." And closing, he claims to be the one who wrote the Fourth Gospel. He gives us hints, subtle clues to his ID several times from the moment of 11:3 but does not want to openly ID himself as the gospel writer, probably for reasons of personal security.
So, I'm saying it was Lazarus who, in the Gospel according to John, is the one who got Peter in to the courtyard. The rest of it falls in place (although my thesis does have a few holes, that I'm not disclosing, figure them out yourself).
Finally, back to Mark, I'm also saying that the equivalent character in Mark's gospel is the young man whom Jesus raised in Secret Mark, and who broke loose and ran away naked when Jesus was arrested in Gethsemane, and whose mother Salome will appear at the tomb with the other women on Easter morning.
Matthew 26. Peter Denies Jesus
(Mark 14:66–72; Luke 22:54–62; John 18:15–18, 25-27)
69 Meanwhile, Peter was sitting out in the courtyard, and a servant girl came up to him. “You also were with Jesus the Galilean,” she said.
70 But he denied it before them all: “I do not know what you are talking about.”
71 When Peter had gone out to the gateway, another servant girl saw him and said to the people there, “This man was with Jesus of Nazareth.”
72 And again he denied it with an oath: “I do not know the man!”
73 After a little while, those standing nearby came up to Peter. “Surely you are one of them,” they said, “for your accent gives you away.”
74 At that he began to curse and swear to them, “I do not know the man!”
And immediately a rooster crowed.
75 Then Peter remembered the word that Jesus had spoken: “Before the rooster crows, you will deny Me three times.” And he went outside and wept bitterly.
Luke 22 Peter Denies Jesus(Matthew 26:69–75; Mark 14:66–72; John 18:15–18, 25-27)
54 Then they seized Jesus, led Him away, and took Him into the house of the high priest. And Peter followed at a distance.
55 When those present had kindled a fire in the middle of the courtyard and sat down together, Peter sat down among them. 56 A servant girl saw him seated in the firelight and looked intently at him. “This man also was with Him,” she said.
57 But Peter denied it. “Woman, I do not know Him,” he said.
58 A short time later, someone else saw him and said, “You also are one of them.”
But Peter said, “Man, I am not.”
59 About an hour later, another man insisted, “Certainly this man was with Him, for he too is a Galilean.”
60 “Man, I do not know what you are talking about,” Peter replied.
While he was still speaking, the rooster crowed. 61 And the Lord turned and looked at Peter.
Then Peter remembered the word that the Lord had spoken to him: “Before the rooster crows today, you will deny Me three times.” 62 And he went outside and wept bitterly.
John 18 Peter’s First Denial(Matthew 26:69–70; Mark 14:66–68; Luke 22:54–57)
15 Now Simon Peter and another disciple were following Jesus. Since that disciple was known to the high priest, he also went with Jesus into the courtyard of the high priest. 16 But Peter stood outside at the door. Then the disciple who was known to the high priest went out and spoke to the doorkeeper, and brought Peter in.
17 At this, the servant girl watching the door said to Peter, “Aren’t you also one of this man’s disciples?”
“I am not,” he answered.
18 Because it was cold, the servants and officers were standing around a charcoal fire they had made to keep warm. And Peter was also standing with them, warming himself.
Jesus before the High Priest
(Matthew 26:57–68; Mark 14:53–65; Luke 22:66–71)
19 Meanwhile, the high priest questioned Jesus about His disciples and His teaching.
20 “I have spoken openly to the world,” Jesus answered. “I always taught in the synagogues and at the temple, where all the Jews come together. I said nothing in secret. 21 Why are you asking Me? Ask those who heard My message. Surely they know what I said.”
22 When Jesus had said this, one of the officers standing nearby slapped Him in the face and said, “Is this how You answer the high priest?”
23 Jesus replied, “If I said something wrong, testify as to what was wrong. But if I spoke correctly, why did you strike Me?”
24 Then Annas sent Him, still bound, to Caiaphas the high priest.
Peter’s Second and Third Denials
(Matthew 26:71–75; Mark 14:69–72; Luke 22:58–62)
25 Simon Peter was still standing and warming himself. So they asked him, “Aren’t you also one of His disciples?”
He denied it and said, “I am not.”
26 One of the high priest’s servants, a relative of the man whose ear Peter had cut off, asked, “Didn’t I see you with Him in the garden?”
27 Peter denied it once more, and immediately a rooster crowed.