Peter’s denial

Clive Ashwin offers an Easter meditation: from failure to redemption

Close-up of Rembrandt’s ‘St Peter’s denial’. | Photo: Via Wikimedia Commons.

The story of Peter’s denial and subsequent repentance is one of the most dramatic episodes in the Easter narrative. Jesus had been arrested and taken to the house of the high priest. He was being abused and ill-treated. It was dark and cold in the courtyard outside, so someone lit a fire. There were some onlookers, servants and Roman soldiers standing around. Peter was trying to see what was going on, at the same time as avoiding being identified.

A servant girl recognised Peter as one of Jesus’ circle and challenged him. Peter denied any connection with Jesus. When the girl persisted, he became rude and abusive to her, no doubt drawing upon the colourful vocabulary of oaths he had acquired during his days as a member of a Galilean fishing cooperative. On the third denial, he heard a distant cock crow to greet the coming dawn. As Jesus turned to look at him, Peter recalled the prophecy, which had been so precisely fulfilled, and wept bitterly. The moment is captured with moving intensity in Rembrandt’s painting.

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