In this video, Clint Loveall and Michael Gewecke discuss a pivotal moment in the Gospel of Luke – Peter’s denial of Jesus. They delve into the details of the story, exploring the emotions and implications behind Peter’s actions. As they analyze the text, they highlight the themes of fear, betrayal, and the complex nature of human faith. Join them as they provide insights and reflections on this familiar but profound narrative.
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Transcript
00:00:00:12 – 00:00:27:27
Clint Loveall
Everybody, thanks again for joining us. As we continue through the Gospel of Luke, the difficult section of the of the gospel, the different part of the story, as we see Jesus being arrested, as we now turn the focus, as Luke wants us to see what happens with Peter. So we are in chapter 22, verse 54. And just a recap.
00:00:27:27 – 00:00:56:58
Clint Loveall
Jesus has just been confronted. He’s been betrayed by Judas soldiers and priests and others have come out with swords and clubs and and they have are on the cusp of arresting him. And that’s what starts our far story here. So they seized Jesus. They led him away, bring him to the High Priest house. But Peter was following at a distance when they had kindled the fire in the middle of the courtyard and sat down together.
00:00:56:58 – 00:01:20:18
Clint Loveall
Peter sat with them. Then a servant girl, seeing him in the firelight, stared at him and said This man was also with him, but he denied it, saying, Woman, I do not know him. A little later someone else on seeing him said, You’re also one of them. But Peter said, Man, I am not. Then about an hour later, still another kept insisting.
00:01:20:18 – 00:01:46:21
Clint Loveall
Surely this man also was with them, for he’s Galilean. But Peter said, Man, I do not know what you are talking about. At that moment. While he was still speaking, the rooster crowed. The Lord turned and looked at Peter. Then Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how he had said to him before the rooster crows today you will deny me three times.
00:01:46:26 – 00:02:09:57
Clint Loveall
And he went out and wept bitterly. I, I think, not an unfamiliar part of the story, Michael. I think probably everyone who has walk through a Holy week or two is aware of this part of the story. Slightly different nuances in each telling of it. Here we don’t have a rooster crowing three times. We have, you know, the denial three times in other versions.
00:02:09:57 – 00:02:36:49
Clint Loveall
Peter Sometimes curses the crowd, but the takeaway of the story is all the same, that Peter, fearing for himself, the very one who said, I will go to death with you, I’ll give my life for you is proved has proved Jesus prediction right and denied it. And Luke gives it a a progressive feel maybe that’s built into a story with a three fold pattern.
00:02:36:54 – 00:03:02:58
Clint Loveall
But a woman. I do not know him, man. I am not man. I do not know what you’re talking about. And you could say, you know, ma’am or sir, in our language, that would probably be the the correct kind of grammar there. But in three different instances over the course of three different times, Peter denies being one of the disciples and denies his knowing Jesus.
00:03:02:58 – 00:03:32:13
Clint Loveall
And, you know, I suppose we have to give Peter a little bit of leeway here because you think, how could he miss what he was doing? Jesus predicted it not that long ago. How could he not realize this was happening? But he’s he’s distraught. He’s seen Jesus carried away. There was violence. There was threat of violence. He probably feels like he’s also in danger or there’s uncertainty.
00:03:32:18 – 00:03:55:03
Clint Loveall
And and to some extent, he’s probably just trying to preserve his hide. And and yet, you know, the chilling line in this for me is is at the end and I think Luke intends it that way when he remembered he went out and wept bitterly when he faces what he’s done and when he realizes Jesus was right in his prediction.
00:03:55:08 – 00:04:12:42
Clint Loveall
It guts Peter. And maybe that’s maybe that’s a difference between Judas and Peter. It’s hard to say exactly what Luke means by that, but certainly it undoes Peter and I think we’re left experiencing that almost with him.
00:04:12:46 – 00:04:34:08
Michael Gewecke
You mentioned at the start and I think it’s really helpful, and I’ll just reiterate that we’re aware that if you’ve been through any number of holy weeks before, that this is going to be a very familiar story. The danger of familiar stories, of course, as we know, is that we don’t give them our full attention. We just skip past them because we know what’s going to happen.
00:04:34:08 – 00:05:02:11
Michael Gewecke
But I would argue there are many things in this story that are very, very interesting. And I think one thing to note is there’s only one disciple named as following Jesus. Peter was following at a distance. And so, yeah, I think it would be easy to maybe cast shade at Peter for denying Jesus three times, but Luke at least didn’t give us the information that there was even any other disciples doing that.
00:05:02:11 – 00:05:25:12
Michael Gewecke
So there’s a sense in which Peter is indeed sticking out his neck a little bit. He wants to see what’s happening. He wants to be part of that circle, and that’s what puts him in position to deny Jesus. And I would only add, speaking of that denial that Clint is is difficult for us maybe to catch the gravity of that.
00:05:25:12 – 00:05:56:51
Michael Gewecke
But for a moment, you know, remember, Peter is the first institutional leader of the Christian church. He becomes the lion. He becomes the one who is looked to as the mature, wise disciple. He helps guide the church in its earliest phase through some of the most tumultuous theology debates, and that is the individual who Luke records as denying Jesus three times.
00:05:56:56 – 00:06:18:52
Michael Gewecke
If we are comfortable with a text like this, we’re used to the way that this story goes. We say, Yeah, of course Peter’s the guy who’s brash and he’s out there and of course he’s the guy who denies Jesus three times. But that doesn’t totally, I think, catch the spirit of what Luke is recalling here. This is this is the man who every first generation Christian would have looked to as an inspiration.
00:06:18:52 – 00:06:43:51
Michael Gewecke
And and he’s the one who finds himself weeping bitterly. That that’s a powerful moving image. It is supposed to grip us. And there’s a reason why Luke splits Peter’s story from Jesus’s trial story. This this is contained. And I think it’s contained because at least in part, Luke doesn’t want to overshadow Jesus’s story. This is this is absolutely Jesus’s choice.
00:06:43:51 – 00:07:02:16
Michael Gewecke
And this is his night leading into the future darkness. But it’s also a short glimpse into Peter’s decision and what ultimately Jesus will do with Peter. I think that this story is well told. I think it has deep, deep layers of meaning, and we would be wise to slow down to see them.
00:07:02:29 – 00:07:40:21
Clint Loveall
Yeah, I think there are several things happening here first, but I think Peter is in real danger. I mean, the idea that there’s a mob that has kind of gathered, that there’s violence being done, that they’re saying, Hey, aren’t you one of them? I mean, this could easily and quickly turn violent or dangerous for Peter. And so I think there is a sense in which Peter is definitely trying to save himself, trying to, you know, keep himself from harm, possibly from arrest, maybe from just a mob violence.
00:07:40:26 – 00:08:05:55
Clint Loveall
Secondly, I think Luke, from a storytelling standpoint, is also helping us arrive at the point and I think we’ll see it in the next couple of verses, We look at where Jesus is alone. I think it’s important in the Gospels that the story delivers us to the place where we understand that Jesus really has been left on an island by himself.
00:08:06:00 – 00:08:38:22
Clint Loveall
All of his supporters have fled. They’ve deserted now. They’ve denied one even betrayed. And there is something there is something profound about Jesus aloneness in the way that the stories are told. And then the last thing I think I’d say keep in mind that this is the author of the Book of Acts, and there’s almost a very subtle sermon here, I think.
00:08:38:22 – 00:09:01:28
Clint Loveall
And I want to be careful because I don’t know if Luke meant that. And so I’m not telling you this is on purpose, but as I read it, I think it is perhaps is part of what Luke is trying to say is to show us a picture of Peter and what he’s capable of before the Holy Spirit, before the Resurrection and after.
00:09:01:33 – 00:09:37:10
Clint Loveall
Is there a sense in which pre resurrection this is a man who gives into his fear and his panic and his desire to save himself, and he is literally not the same person we will see in the continuing part of the story who will one day give his own life for preaching the gospel. And so I, I think maybe Luke wants to make sure that we don’t go into the Easter story with the idea that there are any heroes in Jesus circle.
00:09:37:15 – 00:09:45:42
Clint Loveall
And and Peter, having been the most prominent disciple, is perhaps the best example of that.
00:09:45:46 – 00:10:16:30
Michael Gewecke
I think that’s well. So I think that there’s a few other details worth pointing out as we’re in this story. It may strike us as odd or maybe not strike us at all, but in verse 59, for he is a Galilean that may miss us. But much like we even in the United States, have saw that those abilities of recognizing people when they’re not from here, whether that be dress or that may be custom or that may be accent being a Galilean, this is an insult that’s levied at Jesus.
00:10:16:35 – 00:10:44:24
Michael Gewecke
And ultimately, how is it that someone who can teach with such authority can come from that backwoods place and if you don’t know the geography or some of that culture, you might miss that. We are ultimately at the seat of the height of Jewish power here. I mean, this is though they are underneath Rome there. Rome tends to give a decent amount of latitude to those who at least will play game with them.
00:10:44:24 – 00:11:03:03
Michael Gewecke
And so here, the fact that Peter is picked out, I think that only goes. Clint, to your point to say that there may be real danger for him. He sticks out. He’s noticeable to those there and to people who are already whipped up. I think that only adds evidence to your point that he may he may be in danger.
00:11:03:03 – 00:11:40:30
Michael Gewecke
And also looking to your point that ultimately the same person writing the book of Acts is writing the Book of Luke. I think it’s worth noting that there are multiple kinds of confessions happening in this section of Luke. We we had Judas claim Jesus just a few verses ago. His claiming was betrayal. Here, Peter denies Jesus. He denies knowing him, and in that case, he he gives up the faith that he just a few verses said that he would hold to even into his death, that idea that he would be the one to claim Jesus.
00:11:40:30 – 00:12:05:38
Michael Gewecke
And I think that that shouldn’t be lost on us, that people can claim Jesus wrongly and to their own detriment. There are people who can reject Jesus, and that’s to their own detriment. And the question that I think Luke opens in the narrative that way is to ask us the reader. So as we turn into acts in two or three chapters, right, what will you do?
00:12:05:40 – 00:12:37:18
Michael Gewecke
Will you deny Jesus? Will you be one who will confess Him as Lord, as Savior, as part of your life? These kinds of teaching lessons? Maybe they’re not intended, but I think they’re deeply embedded in a text like this, especially when you remember the first people who received it. And I think there’s a kind of encouragement for us in that that both one of the lines of the faith did deny Jesus and that there was resurrection, redemption, righteousness on the other side of that, that Jesus can still forgive.
00:12:37:22 – 00:12:47:22
Michael Gewecke
And also that that’s a thing that we are called to practice, to have the courage of faith, to be able to give voice to that faith in the right moments.
00:12:47:27 – 00:13:11:42
Clint Loveall
I want to read the next couple verses in in a moment, because I think Luke does a really interesting thing. But before we get there, I’m not aware, Michael, of any other gospel. We kind of read over it this moment. It says at the moment a rooster crowed and the Lord turned and looked at Peter. I don’t know that we get that detail in any of the other stories.
00:13:11:42 – 00:13:35:57
Clint Loveall
If, if we do, I can’t remember it. That’s not I don’t have all of those things memorized. But that’s an intimate moment where Jesus looks at Peter as if to say, I told you so. And the reason that’s significant as we move into these next couple verses. Now, the men who were holding Jesus began to mock him and to beat him.
00:13:36:01 – 00:14:04:31
Clint Loveall
They blindfolded him and they asked him, prophesy, Who is it that struck you? They kept heaping many other insults on him. So unfortunately, this is the part of the story where people act as people do. Jesus is vulnerable and that brings out violence from those around him. But there is a subtheme here that is important. They tell him prophesy.
00:14:04:31 – 00:14:52:14
Clint Loveall
In other words, almost the key accusation of being a false prophet. And yet what has Jesus just proven in looking at Peter as the rooster crowed that he prophesied that he had prophetic knowledge that that would happen, That verbatim he told Peter what was going to happen. So we, the readers, know, again, in a very subtle reminder, this is a prophet, and yet he’s being mocked and beaten in the name of being a false prophet and, you know, to your point earlier, Michael, this is you can read these verses and because we know they’re part of the story, you can not let the weight of them settle on you.
00:14:52:19 – 00:15:21:54
Clint Loveall
But the night that Jesus endures is fraught with pain, full of of beating and, you know, just it is a terrible, mocking situation for Jesus that he undertook takes here. And and I think Luke uses it in a really interesting way there as he ties those stories together.
00:15:21:59 – 00:15:47:16
Michael Gewecke
Make no mistake about it. It’s striking, maybe even harrowing, that the people who blind Jesus are blind to the truth of who he is in the night, they come to hurl insults on him. And it is, of course, in the day, a few days later that they that it will be discovered that he is the son of God raised from the dead.
00:15:47:16 – 00:16:12:41
Michael Gewecke
We know as Christians this story so well that I think it’s easy to treat these characters who are doing this to Jesus as if they are some kind of required eventuality. Well, of course, they’re the people who have to do that. I think it’s far more difficult for us to apply these characters as lenses, for self to understand who Jesus is.
00:16:12:41 – 00:16:42:43
Michael Gewecke
In other words, they are fully human, doing what humans do to use that language that you shared earlier. And I think if we understand that, we share that humanity, we share the doubt, we share the insult, we share that kind of gleeful gloating that happens when we feel like we’ve got the one up on someone else. And the terrifying thought that the person that you might be gleefully gloating over, that you might be insulting and abusing is the actual son of God.
00:16:42:48 – 00:17:09:45
Michael Gewecke
That that’s an unbelievably unnerving image. And it’s only to get more unnerving as the story goes forward. Luke, Luke has transitioned away from the Jesus who always has the first word and who always upends his opponent, the one who has enraged these chief priests and and it can never be caught off guard. And now Luke is showing us a Jesus who submits to the worst of that humanity.
00:17:09:45 – 00:17:34:12
Michael Gewecke
And as reader, that’s such a jarring transition in the story and it’s only going to get worse. But we miss the emotional force of it if we expect what the story is going to say and if we’re willing to step into it. And here I think that this is a very emotionally heavy, a very, very personally significant kind of moment in the story, if we’re able to hear it.
00:17:34:17 – 00:18:08:09
Clint Loveall
Yeah. And again, you’d have to lay this out with the other gospels. My sense is Luke highlights the violence done to Jesus, maybe less than some of the other writers, but we would be we would miss a significant part of the story if we thought that the pain Jesus endures is specific to Friday and the cross. This it begins early and it continues.
00:18:08:09 – 00:18:30:43
Clint Loveall
Jesus is abused long before and in many ways before he actually gets to the cross. And I think, you know, it’s hard. Part of the story is that is we want to be aware of it because it deepens the idea of the one who suffers. For us, it’s not just the cross that Jesus faces. It’s all the rest of it as well.
00:18:30:55 – 00:18:54:54
Michael Gewecke
And it’s not just the body either. I think that’s a mistake that we also make that think that the gruesome realities of this week are somehow contained to Jesus’s physical beatings and the suffering of the cross. While that’s all true, and I think more true than what we even know, make no mistake about it, he’s also being attacked spiritually, being told that you’re a false prophet, or at least by implication.
00:18:55:08 – 00:19:16:57
Michael Gewecke
And then this idea of being insulted by these individuals, it’s mental, it’s spiritual, It’s it’s all of these things. And Luke Luke doesn’t need a lot of words to tell us this is true. Luke tells us that in an economy of words and if we are slow and careful and good readers, we’re going to see that that’s all in there.
00:19:17:02 – 00:19:35:25
Michael Gewecke
Yeah, well, thanks for being with us today. Friends. This isn’t an easy text, but certainly hope that if you’ve learned something new in it, you might give this a like that, helps others find it in their own study in the future. If you’d like to continue with us as we study into the Holy Week as it’s recorded by Luke, you could subscribe here.
00:19:35:31 – 00:19:48:11
Michael Gewecke
We’ll do that as we keep on going as this our pattern and just a quick note we are going to be taking tomorrow off. So the study will resume on Monday. Hope you have a blessed weekend and we will see you then.
00:19:48:16 – 00:19:49:01
Clint Loveall
Thanks, everybody.