Now Peter was sitting outside in the courtyard. One of the maids came over to him and said, “You too were with Jesus the Galilean.” But he denied it in front of everyone, saying, “I do not know what you are talking about!”
As he went out to the gate, another girl saw him and said to those who were there, “This man was with Jesus the Nazorean.” Again he denied it with an oath. “I do not know the man!”
A little later the bystanders came over and said to Peter, “Surely you too are one of them; even your speech gives you away.” At that he began to curse and to swear, “I do not know the man.” (Mt. 26:69:74)
Peter is in the courtyard just outside the room where Jesus is being tried. While Jesus, placed under oath, is declaring that he is the Messiah, the Son of God, Peter, who made that very profession of faith ten chapters earlier, is volunteering an oath that he does not even know Jesus.
The third denial includes not only and oath, but a curse. It may be that Peter cursed Jesus (people sometimes had to curse their own "god” to prove their allegiance to the Roman gods.) It seems almost unthinkable. But no sin in unthinkable.
There but for the grace of God, go I. And sometimes there, despite the grace of God, go I.
When it comes to sin, there’s no sense wallowing in self-misery – which can be an excuse to keep on sinning. Realism needs to kick in. We’re sinners. We can’t achieve goodness wholly on our own, which means we can’t be holy on our own. Let go. Let God.
Spend some quiet time with the Lord.
