Matthew 26:73-75

A third person, one of the high priest’s servants who was a relative of the man whose ear Peter had cut off in Gethsemane (John 18:26), approached Peter with some bystanders about an hour later (Luke 22:59). They accusingly asked Peter again if he was not one of Jesus’ disciples since he was a Galilean. Galileans had an accent that set them off as distinctive. [Note: Hoehner, Herod Antipas, pp. 61-64; France, The Gospel . . ., p. 1033.] This shows how thoroughly residents of Jerusalem connected Jesus’ ministry with Galilee since it was the site of most of His activity. Most if not all of His disciples were Galileans. The one who may not have been was Judas Iscariot, if "Iscariot" refers to the town of Kerioth in Judah. Peter denied that he knew Jesus a third time using more oaths to confirm his testimony. He may even have cursed Jesus. [Note: France, The Gospel . . ., p. 1034.] Immediately a rooster crowed. Peter heard it and remembered Jesus’ prediction that he would deny Jesus before the cock crowed (Matthew 26:34). Peter left the courtyard and wept bitterly over his cowardice and failure (cf. 2 Corinthians 7:10). This is Matthew’s last reference to Peter.

Matthew probably recorded this incident because it illustrates Jesus’ ability to foretell the future, a messianic characteristic. It also reveals the weakness of the disciples whom Jesus had taken such pains to prepare for His passion but without apparent success. Their concept of the Messiah and the kingdom was still largely that of most people in Israel then, though they had come to recognize Jesus as God. Only Jesus’ resurrection would clarify their understanding of His messiahship and kingdom program.

"The reader is invited to choose between two models of how the man of God behaves under pressure, the one who escapes death but with this spiritual reputation in tatters and the one who will be killed only to live again in triumph; so the reader is reminded that ’anyone who finds their life will lose it, and anyone who loses their life will find it’ (Matthew 10:39; Matthew 16:25)." [Note: Ibid., p. 1017.]