Luke 22:61, commentary and pictures

In the judgment hall immediately after Peter's third denial with cursing and swearing, as the cock crew, Jesus turned His face away from His judges and looked directly and fully upon Peter. That look held deep pity, compassion, love, forgiveness and pardon with no anger, yet it was sorrowful and reproving for the denial. It pierced Peter's heart and awakened his conscience, and with the crowing he remembered the Lord's word that he would deny Him thrice together with his own boast of loyalty even to death. He left the palace and went out weeping bitterly in brokenhearted repentance, and the anguish in Christ's face stayed vivid in his memory throughout his life. His repentance was genuine and converting, stripping away self-confidence and self-trust, and Jesus did not cast him off but forgave and restored him and entrusted him to feed the sheep and strengthen his brethren.

Judgment Hall Setting

The turning and the look took place in the judgment hall at the very moment of the third denial with cursing and swearing, just as the cock crew the third time. The degrading oaths were still fresh on Peter's lips and its shrill crowing still ringing in his ears when Jesus turned His face away from the frowning judges and looked full and directly upon His poor disciple. Though at some distance, their eyes met, and Peter's eyes were involuntarily fixed upon his Master.

Christ Himself heard Peter deny and swear while Christ was being mocked and abused, and that denial added to His anguish. It pierced Him more deeply than the insults and mockery of His examination. Peter had followed after the betrayal to see what would be done with Jesus, while all the other disciples forsook Christ and fled. At that time Christ stood condemned and humiliated in the judgment hall, wearing the shameful crown of thorns, at the very time when Peter could have shown bravery and fidelity.

To conceal that he was Jesus' follower from fear for his life, Peter denied being a disciple and pretended indifference. Inwardly he grieved over Jesus' abuse, and he was angry and surprised that Jesus submitted passively to humiliation. To hide his feelings he tried to join the persecutors' jokes, but his behavior appeared unnatural. He denied his Master with cursing and swearing and used impure speech to deceive his questioners and his accusers and to keep up his assumed character, because the disciples were known for purity of words.

What Peter then remembered was the word spoken in the upper chamber, the upper room, that before the cock crowed, before the rooster crowed, he would deny Christ three times.

Christ's Piercing Look

That look was full of deep pity and sorrow, compassion and love, forgiveness and pardon, with no anger in it, gentle even as it confronted Peter with what he had done. Peter's eyes met his Master's, and in that countenance he read pity and sorrow rather than condemnation.

It was sorrowful and reproving, a rebuke given in pity and sorrow for denying Christ, yet it was not hopeless and contained no act of oppression. It held sorrowful regret and pardoning love, dealing tenderly with one who had denied Him three times, and its grief and sadness broke Peter's heart without crushing hope.

That look pierced Peter's heart, melted him at once, broke his heart, awakened his conscience to his failure and falsehood, and saved him from further fall. Under grief mingled with compassion and love he understood his own sin and betrayal, and was brought to bitter repentance.

The look spoke pardon and hope, as if to say pardon for the transgression, and assured Peter of pardon. Jesus was watching Peter's painful and severe testing, having prayed that his faith would not fail, a testing Satan could bring only with God's permission, and Peter's fall exposed his natural character and traits under trial while his sincere repentance brought light out of failure and strength where he had been weak.

That tender look, holding sorrowful regret and pardoning love, reveals Christ living the law in spotless purity, copying no human model, and gives the pattern believers are to follow.

Remembrance and Bitter Weeping

At the crowing of the cock and under the direct look of his Master, Peter remembered the Lord's word that before the cock crew he would deny Him three times, and with it his own boast and promise of loyalty even to prison and to death. He saw that he had done exactly what he had vowed he would never do, he saw his sin plainly, and he was overwhelmed by the force of his betrayal. His eyes had involuntarily met the eyes of Jesus, and the look held deep pity and sorrow with no anger, yet it melted him at once and brought the warning back to his mind. In that moment the boasting, the warning, and the threefold denial stood together sharply before him, and he was broken by the plain recognition of his failure and falsehood.

He recognized how fully Jesus had known his heart, more accurately than he knew it himself. He remembered both Christ's kindness and patience and the warnings that Satan desired to test and sift him, that Christ had prayed that his faith would not fail, and that after turning again he would strengthen his brethren. That prayer and that promise became a ray of hope and a stay to his soul, so that though foreseeing the fall Jesus did not abandon him to despair.

He left the palace and went out weeping bitterly, brokenhearted, repentant, remorseful, and in agony. The anguish in Christ's face remained vivid in his memory and stayed with him throughout his life. He carried a deep sense of that sin ever after, marked thereafter by repentance and humility.

With blinding tears he went alone to the Garden of Gethsemane and prostrated himself where he had seen Jesus prostrated in bloody sweat from great agony, shedding penitential tears on the sod stained by the sweat of the Son of God. He remembered that he had slept during Jesus' fearful hours of prayer, and his deep grief both over the denial and over sleeping while Jesus prayed humbled him. There in Gethsemane his repentance deepened into true conversion, preparing him to pity the tempted, sympathize with the weak and erring, warn the presumptuous, and help and care for other tempted and tried disciples.

His repentance was genuine, lasting, and converting, not mere ardent zeal like his bold claim that he would suffer and die with Christ or his hasty act in cutting off the servant's ear. He did not minimize his sin nor return to his former self-confident claims, for his boastful confidence was gone. Having thought himself the most devoted and zealous follower and having been offended at the word that he needed conversion, he now realized his weakness and his ignorance of himself, ceased trusting in himself, and trusted in God for strength instead.

Conversion and Restoration

Peter was converted and reconverted, giving himself afresh to his Saviour, and he left the garden a converted man, humbled and ready to pity the tempted, to sympathize with the weak and erring, to caution and warn the presumptuous, and fully fitted to strengthen his brethren and to help and care for other tempted and tried disciples. With blinding tears he went alone to Gethsemane and prostrated himself where he had seen Jesus prostrated in bloody sweat from great agony, remembering that he had slept during Jesus' fearful hours of prayer. His fall exposed his natural character under trial, yet his sincere repentance brought light and strength where he had been weak. Jesus' love for him did not falter during the denial.

Though the denial was great, Jesus did not cast him off but forgave and restored him, entrusting him with the high commission to feed the sheep and lambs and to care for the flock, drawing from him three assurances of love to show his repentance. Heaven knew his grief, and the angels' tender concern and solicitude in expressly naming him to receive the news of the resurrection confirmed that his repentance was accepted and his sin forgiven, giving comfort to him as wayward and sorrowing and most despondent of the followers. His failure humbled him and prepared him to care for Christ's flock.

Though forgiven and later honored as a faithful minister, he never forgot his fall or claimed anything in himself to boast about, knowing only Christ's grace could overcome the weakness that had led him to sin. He never forgave himself, and not even the agonies of his coming death lessened the bitterness of his sorrow and repentance over it. When condemned as a Jew and a foreigner to be scourged and crucified, his only thought was that he was unworthy of so great an honor as to die in the same manner as his Master, so as a last favor he asked his executioners to nail him to the cross with his head downward, a humility fitting for one who had denied his Saviour.

When he later stood trial before some of the same temple leaders and rulers in the room where he had shamefully denied his Lord, the memory came clearly to him and gave him opportunity to make amends for former cowardice and to honor the name he had disowned and exalt the dishonored name, removing the stain that had dishonored Jesus' name. Since his fall he was no longer proud, boastful, impulsive and self-confident, but modest, distrustful of self, firm as a rock, courageous yet modest in magnifying Christ, filled with the Holy Spirit, resolved to speak faithfully with the Spirit's help, and boldly acknowledging Christ as Lord. That bold acknowledgment brought Christ's approval and blessing with the Spirit's filling as its token. His betrayal had been so shameful and contrary to his former claims of loyalty that he needed to show sincere repentance before returning to apostolic work so that distrust would not hinder his usefulness, rebuilding his fellow disciples' confidence.

Christ's grace regulated his zeal, making him teachable and able to care for the whole flock, and remembering his own weakness he became patient, sympathetic, forgiving and conciliatory toward others in his care who failed. Even after his fall and restoration and his close acquaintance with Jesus with its instruction, knowledge, gifts and influence, he was not made safe from later dissembling and wavering under pressure from fear of people or desire for their esteem, which points to human helplessness and the need for God's help to remain faithful.

Causes of Peter's Fall

The denial laid bare the self-confidence, self-love, presumption and ignorance of himself that lay hidden beneath Peter's sincere promise to follow Christ even to prison and to death. He had affirmed a constancy superior to the other disciples and declared readiness to die for his Lord, although faithfully warned of his defection. When Christ gave the compassionate, friendly warning that Satan desired to sift him as wheat, Peter in self-sufficiency resented it and answered with confident protestations. That self-confidence proved his ruin and tempted Satan to tempt him, so that when the storm of opposition came like a sweeping tempest and Christ stood condemned in humiliation wearing the shameful crown of thorns, at the very time Peter could have shown bravery and fidelity he repeatedly denied his Lord. Self-trusting, self-confident religion is unreliable and fails under the test, for his earlier confidence did not withstand opposition and his boastful confidence was gone when he remembered the word of the Lord. Christ saw that those traits would overpower Peter's love unless he was brought to recognize his danger and to cease trusting in himself and trust in God for strength instead.

The immediate pressure that overcame him was fear of scorn, ridicule, suffering and reproach. Though he would have fought boldly and bravely for Jesus, ridicule made him a coward. By turning from Christ under pressure and denying Him he put Him to open shame. The example warns that scorn and ridicule can make people ashamed of Jesus and lead them to honor His persecutors.

To conceal and disguise faith from fear of suffering or reproach is itself a real denial of the Lord, even when one would be courageous in other circumstances. Associating with people one should avoid, and with those who tempt, places a disciple in the way of temptation. It can lead believers to say or do what they would otherwise reject and would not do apart from such company. Those who persuade the conscientious to yield their faith may then despise them for yielding.

He was overcome by the devil because he trusted in himself, and an evil spirit had taken possession of him so that he spoke the words Satan suggested. The same possession occurs when one links with worldlings, talks the language of worldlings, and denies before unbelievers the truth received, making statements that voice the sentiments of Satan. The Lord hears that denial, and such a course is exchanging leaders from Christ to Satan. One in this condition is forsaking God while feeling no need of grace, ignorant of Satan's devices and not knowing what spirit he is of. He must break the spell, die to self, cleanse the soul from defilement, and be reconverted, becoming meek and lowly and free in Christ, as Peter after failing to witness was later converted and became a bold witness.

He failed because he had not learned Christ's lessons and had not stood right with God, and because he had not yet learned to be jealous over himself and distrustful of himself and his own strength. Had he learned and stood firm, he would not have denied his Lord, but being overcome by temptation brought home the lesson he had not learned beforehand. The fall corrects wrong ideas of what constitutes Christian character. Those connected with Christ as co-laborers must constantly learn from the divine Teacher, never feel self-sufficient, self-important or fit in themselves, but realize they tread on holy ground and receive daily light and heavenly influence or be no more fit for the work than unbelievers. Peter was not perfect but improved every opportunity to learn, and his denial taught him self-distrust and the need to repress unfavorable traits and develop Christlike dispositions to the highest standard, while Judas had the same opportunities to learn yet remained a hearer only and not a doer and betrayed his Lord for failure to have his character molded after Christ's example. His failure did not prevent Christ from accepting imperfect disciples to learn from Him what a perfect Christian character is and to be shaped by His teaching.

Some lessons are learned only through failure, and Peter was a better man after his fall. The Lord permits His children to fall, and when they repent of wrongdoing He helps them to stand on vantage ground, purifying them by temptation and trial as fire purifies gold. If the heart has not been hardened by disregard of great light, temptation and fall bring repentance, and humble fervent prayer saves the soul from death while confession and restitution hide a multitude of sins. Its faithful recording as a sin that overcame a man favored of God and entrusted with great responsibility lays bare the faults and follies of believers and lifts the veil from the human heart. It stands as a lesson and warning to all following generations to avoid the evil and to know the need of God's pardoning mercy, even as people of the present day strive, waver and fall into error. It encourages desponding hearts by showing that through God's grace Peter could gain fresh vigor to rise above his evil nature, take heart again and conquer, so that those who have fallen under temptation as he did may renew the conflict, recover ground, be blessed of God, press on and surmount the obstacles in the way.

Warning for Believers Today

Peter's denial after confidently claiming he would remain faithful even to prison and death warns against trusting in oneself and shows the need to rely on God's wisdom and to learn distrust of self. Though faithfully warned of his coming defection of character, he affirmed a constancy superior to the other disciples and then denied his Lord when Christ stood condemned and humiliated wearing the shameful crown of thorns in the judgment hall. At the very time he could have shown bravery and fidelity, while all the disciples forsook Christ and fled, his earlier confidence did not withstand the test when the storm of opposition came like a sweeping tempest. Self-trusting, self-confident religion is unreliable and fails under test.

Denying Christ as Peter did is repeated when believers cling to old habits and practices, and those who so deny Him lose the blessing they would have at every step if they would follow on to know the Lord. The same denial occurs when someone knows the truth but refuses to live by it. It occurs when one links with worldlings and talks the language of worldlings and denies to unbelievers the truth received, making statements that voice the sentiments of Satan. Peter denied his Lord because an evil spirit had taken possession of him, and the Lord hears that denial, and He cannot give grace to one who feels no need of it, for such a course is exchanging leaders from Christ to Satan. One in this condition is forsaking God, ignorant of Satan's devices, and does not know what spirit he is of, and he must break the spell, die to self, cleanse the soul from defilement, and be reconverted, becoming meek and lowly and free in Christ.

Betrayal through confiding plans to unbelievers and discrediting God's cause repeats the failure, and acting like Peter means failing the Lord rather than helping build up and strengthen what remains. Jesus had foreseen Peter's failure, yet did not abandon him to despair. He watches, pleads for him, takes his sin, offers His righteousness, and works to win him back despite Satan's attempt to sift him. The promise that He had prayed for Peter and that Peter would later strengthen his brethren became a ray of hope and a stay to his soul. Peter's failure was great, but Jesus did not cast him off; He later forgave and restored him, and Peter's memory of his own weakness helped him become patient and conciliatory toward others who failed.

Peter's failure did not prevent him from being among the disciples through whom learners could receive Christ's instruction and learn what a perfect Christian character is. His example shows that Christ's disciples could be imperfect, yet be accepted to learn from Christ and be shaped by His teaching. He denied his Lord when overcome by the devil because he had not yet learned to be jealous over himself and distrustful of himself, but he was not perfect yet improved every opportunity to learn, and his denial taught him self-distrust. The fall corrects wrong ideas of what constitutes Christian character and teaches that those connected with Christ as co-laborers must constantly learn from the divine Teacher, never feel self-sufficient or self-important but realize they tread on holy ground, and receive daily light and heavenly influence or be no more fit for the work than unbelievers. They must repress unfavorable traits and develop Christlike dispositions to the highest standard, while Judas had the same opportunities to learn yet remained a hearer only and not a doer and betrayed his Lord for failure to have his character molded after Christ's example.