A Servant Girl Accuses Peter in the CourtyardBible World
14:69Mark 14:69
And a maid saw him again, and began to say to them that stood by, This is one of them.
A maid saw Peter again and turned to the bystanders standing by to repeat the charge that he was one of Jesus' followers, that he belonged to His disciples. This renewed identification took place in the judgment hall, in the palace of Caiaphas, while Jesus was enduring a mockery of an examination with coarse accusation, sneering questioning, insult, mockery, and reviling from the whole assembly. The renewed accusation was pressed with supporting claims, for his Galilean speech marked him and a servant claimed to have seen him with Jesus in the garden.
At that moment Peter was trying to conceal his allegiance and hide his faith by blending in with Jesus' enemies, and that course left him open to temptation. When thus challenged he denied his connection to Jesus with an oath, with cursing and swearing, as part of denying Him three times, and after the denial the cock crowed a second time. Jesus heard His beloved disciple deny Him in this manner, and that denial pierced His heart with a keener pang than anything His enemies could inflict.
After the third denial Jesus gave Peter a sorrowful, reproving look that recalled Jesus' warning and Peter's boast that he would remain faithful. The look melted Peter, he wept bitterly, repented and was converted, and was thus prepared to strengthen his fellow believers. Peter's repeated denials came from fear for his life, and they show that fear of scorn, ridicule, reproach, suffering, and shame can make even a disciple who would be bold and courageous in open conflict or active warfare turn coward and deny the Lord. Disguising one's faith from such dread is itself a denial of the Lord.
The setting warns that associating with people who tempt believers to hide their faith places them in the way of temptation and invites the enemy to tempt them to say and do what they otherwise would not. Those who yield to such pressure may then be despised by the very people who pressured them. For those who boast of freedom of thought and action and laugh at the scruples of the conscientious who fear to do wrong yet despise righteous persons when they are persuaded to yield their faith act as Satan's agents to tempt them to ruin.
A maid saw Peter again and turned to the bystanders standing by to repeat the charge that he was one of Jesus' followers, that he belonged to His disciples. This renewed identification took place in the judgment hall, in the palace of Caiaphas, while Jesus was enduring a mockery of an examination with coarse accusation, sneering questioning, insult, mockery, and reviling from the whole assembly. The renewed accusation was pressed with supporting claims, for his Galilean speech marked him and a servant claimed to have seen him with Jesus in the garden.
At that moment Peter was trying to conceal his allegiance and hide his faith by blending in with Jesus' enemies, and that course left him open to temptation. When thus challenged he denied his connection to Jesus with an oath, with cursing and swearing, as part of denying Him three times, and after the denial the cock crowed a second time. Jesus heard His beloved disciple deny Him in this manner, and that denial pierced His heart with a keener pang than anything His enemies could inflict.
After the third denial Jesus gave Peter a sorrowful, reproving look that recalled Jesus' warning and Peter's boast that he would remain faithful. The look melted Peter, he wept bitterly, repented and was converted, and was thus prepared to strengthen his fellow believers. Peter's repeated denials came from fear for his life, and they show that fear of scorn, ridicule, reproach, suffering, and shame can make even a disciple who would be bold and courageous in open conflict or active warfare turn coward and deny the Lord. Disguising one's faith from such dread is itself a denial of the Lord.
The setting warns that associating with people who tempt believers to hide their faith places them in the way of temptation and invites the enemy to tempt them to say and do what they otherwise would not. Those who yield to such pressure may then be despised by the very people who pressured them. For those who boast of freedom of thought and action and laugh at the scruples of the conscientious who fear to do wrong yet despise righteous persons when they are persuaded to yield their faith act as Satan's agents to tempt them to ruin.