Matthew 26:31-35, 69-75
30 And when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives. 31 Then Jesus said to them, “You will all fall away because of me this night. For it is written, ‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.’ 32 But after I am raised up, I will go before you to Galilee.” 33 Peter answered him, “Though they all fall away because of you, I will never fall away.” 34 Jesus said to him, “Truly, I tell you, this very night, before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times.” 35 Peter said to him, “Even if I must die with you, I will not deny you!” And all the disciples said the same. [1]
69 Now Peter was sitting outside in the courtyard. And a servant girl came up to him and said, “You also were with Jesus the Galilean.” 70 But he denied it before them all, saying, “I do not know what you mean.” 71 And when he went out to the entrance, another servant girl saw him, and she said to the bystanders, “This man was with Jesus of Nazareth.” 72 And again he denied it with an oath: “I do not know the man.” 73 After a little while the bystanders came up and said to Peter, “Certainly you too are one of them, for your accent betrays you.” 74 Then he began to invoke a curse on himself and to swear, “I do not know the man.” And immediately the rooster crowed. 75 And Peter remembered the saying of Jesus, “Before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times.” And he went out and wept bitterly. [2]
As we come now in our study of Matthew’s Gospel to Christ’s sufferings and death, I want us to feel something of God’s mysterious craftsmanship and also to notice that the action in the great drama of the incarnation has slowed down. It has slowed down enough for each and every reader of this book to sense that something horrifically violent and yet strikingly beautiful is set before our eyes. The Lion of Judah is becoming the Lamb of God.
In 26:31–35, 69–75 we come to two scenes. One scene is set in the upper room at the Last Supper (vv. 31–35), and the other scene is set outside in the courtyard of Caiaphas’s house (vv. 69–75). Both scenes feature two main characters—Peter and Jesus. The focus of our text falls on Peter and his denials. However, I want us, as we look at Peter, never to lose sight of the one who calls himself a Lamb.
GOD’S PLAN IN CHRIST
In this sermon there are two primary points of application. The first point is to marvel at the plan of God in Christ. Let’s set the stage for the first scene. The Last Supper has just been served and the Passover meal eaten when Jesus concludes the celebration with three prophecies, two of which are his own and must have completely soured an already bitter dinner:
31 Then Jesus said to them, “You will all fall away because of me this night. For it is written, ‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.’ 32 But after I am raised up, I will go before you to Galilee.” 33 Peter answered him, “Though they all fall away because of you, I will never fall away.” 34 Jesus said to him, “Truly, I tell you, this very night, before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times.” 35 Peter said to him, “Even if I must die with you, I will not deny you!” And all the disciples said the same.
We often miss marveling at the sovereign plan of God in the passion of the Christ. So marvel with me now as we see part of that plan, revealed to us as three prophecies. The first prophecy comes in verse 31. Jesus predicts that twelve out of the Twelve will deny him. His language in verse 31 is, “You will all fall away”; then later in verse 34 he applies it to Peter specifically, “Truly, I tell you, this very night, before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times.” Jesus predicts they will all apostatize. Put differently, they will each deny him, each in his own way.
In verse 33 Peter protests against this prophecy. Peter is the church’s first possibility thinker! He is the first to advocate the victorious Christian life without the victory of the death and resurrection of Christ. That is why he bets his house against Jesus’ word. In verse 35 he even ups the ante. He’ll bet it all on his courageous faith. (He has such great faith in his faith.) But note that he is not alone. They all bet it all. Don’t overlook that final sentence in verse 35: “And all the disciples said the same.” They all echoed Peter’s “Even if I must die with you, I will not deny you!” The exclamation point in the ESV is correct. They are all emphatic about the assurance of their allegiance.
We chuckle because we sometimes sound like them. We also chuckle —a sad, sorry chuckle —because we know how these favored ones fared. Will we see the Twelve holding hands in a circle beneath the cross singing, “Lift High the Cross”? No, we will not. Look at the end of verse 56: “Then all the disciples left him and fled.” That’s an awful inclusio to verse 31: “You will all fall away . . . this night,” and that very night “all the disciples left him and fled.”
All but one, of course—Peter must have fled but then circled back. John will find his way to Calvery. After following “at a distance” (v. 58) Peter is “sitting outside in the courtyard” (v. 69) of Caiaphas’s courthouse or the house that was now serving as a courtroom for Jesus. Peter is still around, but not for long. Our text ends, saying of Peter, “And he went out [left Jesus] and wept bitterly” (v. 75).
That verse is the last word on Peter in the Gospel of Matthew. No more talking from Peter. No more great confessions. No more boasting. No more walking on water. No more drawing his sword. There is only silence and the unmistakable noise of someone scampering in the dark and the faint sound of a once mighty man crying in the night. There is only silence until the resurrection and the Great Commission, when Peter will hear the words from Jesus, “I am with you always” (28:20).
Jesus’ first prophecy is that all twelve would fall away. First Judas fell away, then ten more, and finally Peter. Jesus’ second prophecy is about his resurrection. It’s not all drab and dark in the upper room. In verse 32 Jesus predicts, “But after I am raised up, I will go before you to Galilee.” Jesus knows that he is going to suffer, die, rise, and meet up with them again. Whatever their falling away entailed, it would not last forever. He would meet up with them in Jerusalem first (as Luke and John point out) and eventually in Galilee (as Mark and Matthew point out). It is in “Galilee of the Gentiles” (4:15) no less that Jesus’ Great Commission would be given —to “make disciples of all nations” (28:19a).
Sandwiched in between Jesus’ two prophecies is Zechariah’s prophecy. Jesus is as sure of his word as he is of Scripture. Or perhaps better phrased, he is sure of his word because he is sure of Scripture and his Christological reading of it. Jesus quotes Zechariah 13:7 here in verse 31: “For it is written, ‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.’” It would be fair to call this Old Testament quotation part of and the reason for the first prophecy about the apostles’ apostasy: “Jesus said to them, ‘You will all fall away because of me this night. [Because] it is written, ‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered’” (v. 31). I have separated the two because the second part focuses specifically on another of Jesus’ predictions—namely, of his own death.
The “scattered” part fits with Jesus’ prophecy about the disciples all falling away. The “strike” part fits with Jesus’ prophecy elsewhere in Matthew about his cross. In 26:2b Jesus said of himself, “the Son of Man will be delivered up to be crucified.” What is clarified in our text, with Jesus’ quote and slight reworking of Zechariah 13:7,8 is that God himself will strike the Shepherd (i.e., his Son).
I want us to marvel at the plan of God in Christ. Part of that marveling involves seeing the sovereign hand of God in the death of his Son. “It is written”—in other words, it was planned in the mind of God long ago—that Jesus would die. How Jesus will die and why Jesus will die is about to unfold. For now we see the unfolding of the divine plan, a plan that is for us and our salvation, but is also a plan that is for God and his glory.
BOAST ONLY IN THE CROSS
As we have settled our eyes on the cross of Christ, let’s stay there for the rest of the chapter. We will now walk through the story of Peter’s failure, but let’s not remove Jesus’ cross far from our vision. The whole point of Matthew’s candid retelling of the chief apostle’s apostasy is to show all disciples everywhere and at all times the absolute need for the atoning death of Jesus.
The first point is to marvel at the plan of God in Christ. The second point follows: boast in nothing but the cross of Christ. The language is borrowed from Paul (“far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ,” Galatians 6:14a), but that same idea is illustrated in the drama of Peter’s denials.
However, before we turn our attention to verses 69–75, let’s first return our attention to verses 33–35. I’ve pointed out a few of the details. Let me point out one more. Before the cock crows at the end of the story, Peter hollers like a high-pitched peacock at the start of it. Not only does Peter boast in his courageous faith, “Even if I must die with you, I will not deny you!” (v. 35), he builds himself up by cutting everyone else down: “Though they all fall away . . . I will never fall away.” Peter says, “Jesus, I agree, you can’t trust this lot. But you can trust me.” And he says that with the other guys in the room. What bravado! Such machismo. Peter’s behavior fails in three ways: (1) in his condescension toward the other disciples, (2) in his confidence in himself as an exception, and (3) in his contradiction of his Lord’s word.
Peter again plays “you say, I say” with Jesus. The last time Peter contradicted Jesus’ word was when Jesus first talked about going up to Jerusalem to die. We read about that in 16:22: “And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, ‘Far be it from you, Lord! This shall never happen to you.’” What Peter had then was what Luther called “a theology of glory.” What he needed was what Luther called “a theology of the cross.” That’s why Jesus rebuked Peter, saying to him, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man” (16:23).
There is a similar issue here in chapter 26. However, here it is not that Peter disagrees that Jesus is going to the cross. That now seems to be a given. Rather it is that Peter doesn’t see his need for Jesus’ cross. “Who needs the cross when you have unwavering loyalty like mine?” is perhaps what was running through Peter’s hard head. When, at the meal, Jesus had raised a cup and said to them, “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sin” (26:28), one wonders if Peter was thinking, forgiveness for what sin? But Peter would learn for what sin. He would learn through his three denials his three-hundredfold state of sin. They would all fall. But his fall would be so deep, nearly as deep as Judas’s.
Let’s look next at the true state of Peter’s unwavering commitment to Christ beginning in verse 69:
Now Peter was sitting outside in the courtyard. And a servant girl came up to him and said, “You also were with Jesus the Galilean.” But he denied it before them all, saying, “I do not know what you mean.” And when he went out to the entrance, another servant girl saw him, and she said to the bystanders, “This man was with Jesus of Nazareth.” And again he denied it with an oath: “I do not know the man.” After a little while the bystanders came up and said to Peter, “Certainly you too are one of them, for your accent betrays you.” Then he began to invoke a curse on himself and to swear, “I do not know the man.” And immediately the rooster crowed. And Peter remembered the saying of Jesus, “Before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times.” And he went out and wept bitterly. (vv. 69–75)
We began this morning by noting something about the magnificent and mysterious artistry of God in the passion narratives. Here again there is artistry to be appreciated. Before we get to the theology of the cross, see something of the artistry in Matthew’s record of Peter’s denials.
Note the “now” in verses 59 and 69. The first “now”— “Now the chief priests and the whole council were seeking false testimony against Jesus” (v. 59) —takes us into Jesus’ trial. Jesus is standing on trial before the most powerful religious authorities in Jerusalem. The second “now”— “Now Peter was sitting outside. And a servant girl came up to him” (v. 69)—takes us outside to Peter’s trial. Inside, before powerful men Jesus fearlessly stands his ground. Outside, before powerless women (two slave girls), Peter fearfully falls on his face.
Somehow Peter, who in verse 51 drew his sword to fight a mob, now cowers under a few accusations from a few unarmed slaves. What happened? Was he not prepared for this—to move from spectator so suddenly to participant, from observer to defendant? Was he ready to stand up for Jesus if he was formally brought on trial before the Sanhedrin or Pilate, but caught off guard by this unofficial venue and politically insignificant accusers? Did he not learn the lesson of Jesus’ Gethsemane lecture— “Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak” (v. 41)?
Do you see the artistry here? We are to read the two trials as happening simultaneously—Peter’s “trial of discipleship” and Jesus’ “trial of messiahship” —and thus to see that as Jesus remains innocent of all charges brought against him, Peter grows in his guilt.
TRIAL OF DISCIPLESHIP
Peter’s first denial is, “I do not know what you mean” (v. 70). To the first servant girl’s accusation, “You also were with Jesus the Galilean” (v. 69), Peter gives this mumbled protest of ignorance. The sense of his sentence is, “I don’t know what you’re talking about” (so NIV and NLT). He sounds like one of our politicians, caught in a scandal, giving a press conference. The question is raised, “Do you or do you not know Miss Smith?” His reply is a weaseling of words. “Well, you know, there are a lot of Miss Smiths in the world, aren’t there? So, which one are you talking about? I’m not sure I get your question.” “I do not know what you mean” is how politician Peter puts it. And that’s all he says. It’s the end of the press conference, so he thinks. So he hopes.
He moves away from the microphone. Matthew says it this way: “And when he went out to the entrance . . .” (v. 71a). Note the body movement. Peter’s retreat (‘he went out’) tells in body language what is happening in soul language to Peter—he is getting farther and farther from Jesus. He’s looking for the closest exit. Ah, but it’s too late. The sharks smelled the blood in the water. Enter the second “witness,” if you will. We pick up the attack in verse 71: “Another servant girl saw him, and she said to the bystanders, ‘This man was with Jesus of Nazareth.’”
Notice the phrase “with Jesus.” It is also used in verse 69. When the Jewish Council in Acts 4:13 were astonished by the boldness and knowledge of Peter and John, Luke writes, “And they [the Council] recognized that they [Peter and John] had been with Jesus.” In Acts Peter’s face would be beaming to be accused of being “with Jesus.” But here in Matthew, and also in Mark, Luke, and John—all four record for us his demise—the words “with Jesus” turn his face bright red, we imagine. He is terrified to be associated with Jesus, the guy being sentenced to death just a few feet away.
With a solemn vow Peter gives his second denial: “I do not know the man” (v. 72). Here Peter takes some sort of oath— “I swear to God on the Bible that I’m not lying”—an action that is just dripping with irony. In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus warned about taking oaths to mask a lie (5:33–37). From Matthew’s point of view, Peter joins an unsavory set of characters whose oaths are signs of their undoing: Herod (14:7), the scribes and Pharisees (23:16–22), and Caiaphas (26:63).
In Matthew, only the bad guys take oaths. A further irony is present here. Considering who Peter is and what he has previously confessed, this second denial is shocking. We want to jump into the pages of Scripture and say, “What! Weren’t you, Peter, the one who answered Jesus’ question, ‘Who do you say that I am?’ with an energetic public announcement, ‘You are the Christ, the Son of the living God’ (16:15, 16)? But now what are you doing? Who are you? You have moved from pretended ignorance to contemptuous denial. What’s next?”
What’s next is his third denial. After Peter’s “I do not know the man” in verse 72, there is a pregnant pause. We catch our breath. It feels all too familiar to us. Then comes verse 73: “After a little while the bystanders came up and said to Peter, ‘Certainly you too are one of them, for your accent betrays you.’” Can you sense the increased intensity? First it was one woman one-on-one with Peter. Second it was another woman with a crowd present. Third it is the crowd (“the bystanders”) with their irrefutable evidence—his accent.
Peter’s third denial is again “I do not know the man,” preceded by “a curse on himself” (v. 74). We wonder if Peter is calling down a curse on himself or on Jesus, for the word “himself” could refer to Jesus. I think, however, the “himself” refers to Peter, the sense being, “Let me be damned if I’m lying.” I say that because Peter intentionally never mentions Jesus’ name. The girls say, “Jesus the Galilean” and “Jesus of Nazareth.” But Peter does not say, “Oh no, it’s Jesus the Christ or Jesus the Son of Man.” He doesn’t even say, “I do not know Jesus.” Instead (twice), he says, “I do not know the man.” Here Peter only had one salvation in mind—saving his own skin. Instead of losing his life for Christ’s sake, he sought to save it (see 16:25).
Even if Peter felt safe at some point (“No, you’ve got me wrong. I’m just out here in the courtyard to have a smoke”), he must have felt dumb. He was from Galilee, not Jerusalem. His hick accent, as the bystanders pointed out in verse 73, betrayed him. Jesus was the most popular guy in Galilee. It would be like saying you’re from Texas, but you have no idea who Willie Nelson is. Peter says, “I don’t know the man” in his distinct Galilean dialect. Sure, you don’t. Don’t be dumb. Jesus is bigger than the Beatles in Galilee, and now he is the star of the show in Jerusalem. Everyone knows Jesus.
As soon as that rooster crowed its morning song, Peter remembered Jesus’ seemingly impossible prediction, “Before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times” (v. 34; cf. v. 75). Once? Maybe. Twice? Unlikely. Three times? Never! But it was one, two, three . . . and down and “out” went Peter the Pretentious. Again notice the geographical shift. He moves farther and farther from Jesus. From sitting just outside in the courtyard (v. 69) to going out to the entrance (v. 71) and finally to moving beyond that entrance—out the door, into the wilderness, if you’ll allow (v. 75). Yes, as Peter’s Lord and ours is being sentenced— “He deserves death,” and then being spit upon, hit, slapped, and ridiculed, “Prophesy to us, you Christ! Who is it that struck you?” (26:66–68)—the fearful symmetry of Jesus’ prophecy about Peter is fulfilled!
Perhaps Peter came that night to save the Savior. Instead he now knows that he will need this Savior to save him, for the curtain closes with humiliated and humbled Peter weeping “bitterly” (v. 75b). Are these tears of repentance? Yes, they are. It is the beginning of his repentance, a repentance that would lead to full restoration and a renewed call to mission. We know all that from the end of the story. The crowing of the cock is to Peter, instead of John the Baptist, the voice of one calling to repentance.
Notice that Matthew, unlike John in his Gospel, doesn’t record Peter’s restoration. The reason, I think, is because from here to the cross, I don’t think you can squeeze out one ounce of human virtue. What’s the reason for that? The reason is that there is this cosmic contrast at play: compare what all the fallen humans are doing —be it the high priest or the chief apostle— to what God is doing in his holy Son. And what God is doing in Jesus is bringing that Shepherd to be stricken, smitten, and afflicted. He is carrying his Son to Calvary where Jesus will die as the atonement for apostate apostles, blasphemous bystanders, taunting thieves, and even hate-spitting, flesh-whipping Roman soldiers. You see, the scene is spectacular, and the artistry is awesome. But more spectacular and the highest form of the highest art is the cross of Jesus Christ, that fearful symmetry of God’s grand design.
Our text clearly outlines Peter’s denial of the Christ. Here’s a question for you: how did any of the gospel writers, none of whom were there in that courtyard with Peter, come to know and tell this story? What we have here is Peter’s confession to someone in the church (Mark and then to Matthew, Luke, and John) of his most notorious sin. We have this story because Peter freely shared it with others. In turn those others, namely and especially the Gospel writers, far from suppressing the scandal, made it a part of their gospel stories, the good news!
But why did Peter share his fall, and why did Matthew record it? They did it to teach us the deceitfulness of human nature, the necessity of humility before God and charity toward other fallen Christians, the danger of presumption, pride, and trusting in one’s own strength, the expected trials of those who would seek to faithfully follow the Son of Man, the reality of past, present, and future forgiveness in the blood of the covenant, the promise of complete restoration for the truly repentant, the hope of future victory over our sin, and the glory of the forgiving love and cleansing power of Jesus Christ. Put differently, to teach us to boast in nothing but the one-way love of the cross of Christ.
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. 19 And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. 20 For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. 21 But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God. [3]
[1] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Mt 26:30–35.
[2] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Mt 26:69–75.
[3] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Jn 3:16–21.
