Peter Denies Jesus

While Jesus was on trial inside, Peter sat outside in the courtyard, watching from a distance. A servant girl approached him. "You also were with Jesus of Galilee," she said. But Peter denied it in front of everyone. "I don't know what you're talking about," he said, and moved toward the gateway.

Another servant girl saw him there and said to the people nearby, "This fellow was with Jesus of Nazareth." Again Peter denied it, this time with an oath: "I don't know the man!"

A little later, those standing there came up to Peter and said, "Surely you are one of them; your accent gives you away." Then Peter began to call down curses on himself and swore, "I don't know the man!" Immediately, a rooster crowed.

Then Peter remembered what Jesus had told him earlier that night: "Before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times." He went outside and wept bitterly.

Just hours after promising he would never abandon Jesus, even if it cost him his life, Peter had denied him three times out of fear. But his story didn't end in that courtyard -- his bitter tears were the beginning of a genuine repentance that Jesus would later meet with forgiveness and a fresh calling, restoring Peter to lead the very disciples he had once denied knowing.