He had said he would die for him. By morning he had denied him three times.
📖Based on Luke 22:61
He had been the first to say it out loud.
You are the Christ.
At Caesarea Philippi.
He had also said: Even if everyone else falls away, I never will.
He had said he would die with him before he would deny him.
Hours later, Jesus was arrested.
Peter drew his sword. Cut off a servant's ear.
Jesus told him to put it away. He healed the ear.
And then Peter followed from a distance.
That phrase. From a distance.
Not with him. Behind him. Far enough back to not be immediately associated.
He entered the courtyard of the high priest and sat by a fire.
Warming himself.
A servant girl looked at him and said: You also were with the Galilean.
He said: I do not know what you mean.
He moved to the entrance.
Another girl said to the people standing there: This man was with Jesus of Nazareth.
He denied it with an oath.
I do not know the man.
After a while, others came to him.
They said: Certainly you are one of them. Your accent gives you away.
He began to invoke a curse on himself and swear.
I do not know the man.
Immediately a rooster crowed.
Luke records the detail that cuts deepest.
The Lord turned and looked at Peter.
He was near enough to look at him.
Peter went outside.
He wept bitterly.
He had not planned to deny him.
He had genuinely believed he wouldn't.
Which is perhaps the most unsettling part.
We are often most wrong about the things we are most certain of.
Scripture — Luke 22:61
"And the Lord turned, and looked upon Peter. And Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how he had said unto him, Before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice."
Reflection
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The look did not need words. Peter remembered before any reminder was given.
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He followed from a distance. That distance became the space in which the denial was possible.