Are you also with the Nazarene?
Mark 14:66-68
And as Peter was below in the courtyard, one of the servant-girls of the high priest came and seeing Peter warming himself, she looked at him and said, “You also were with the Nazarene, Jesus.” But he denied it, saying, “I neither know nor understand what you are talking about.”
The High Priest’s courtyard had become a court of public appearance. Accused by a young servant-girl, Peter denied following Jesus. He countered the accusation by implying that this girl was a fool. “I don’t know what you’re talking about” and by implication neither do you. He repeated his denial three times, an account so important to the narrative of Holy Week that it appears in all four gospels.
What was the apostle thinking? What was he afraid of?
Peter was not a coward. All three Synoptic gospels recount that one of the disciples struck a slave with a sword in Gethsemane and John identifies the assailant as Simon Peter (John 18:10). Peter asked to be let into the courtyard and could probably have slipped away in the darkness at any moment if he sensed the risk of arrest (John 18:15,16).
The potential physical threat was real. But Peter was facing a more immediate danger. “And Peter followed [Jesus] at a distance, right into the courtyard of the High Priest; and he was sitting with the officers and warming himself at the fire.” (Mark 14:54).
The High Priest’s courtyard had become a court of public appearance. Honor was at stake.
- The need for honor and the fear of being shamed and ridiculed.
- The need to be thought well of and fear of disdain and disrespect.
- The need to win and fear of being on the losing side.
- In a patriarchal culture, the shame of being accused by a woman in front of a group of men.
At that moment, Peter’s honor was more important to him than his allegiance to Jesus.
We have all had these moments where our need to be liked, to be accepted, to be considered a part of the in-group shapes our response to a question about Christianity or Christ. Though prompted by the Spirit, we suppress the sense to speak of Him or to speak up in another’s defense.
Peter knew dishonor. He had denied the Master. He wept as he heard the cock crow and He remembered Jesus’ warning (Mark 14:27-31). “We want to stay asleep, but the rooster’s cry is to wake us up. And part of what Peter had to hear is that he is not as strong as he thought he was. Neither are we. That’s why the sound of the rooster’s crowing—as painful as it is to hear—is actually grace” (Russel Moore, Christianity Today, March 2025).
Peter encouraged Jesus’ followers in his day and those who seek to follow still: “Therefore gird your minds for action, keep sober in spirit, fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 1:13).
And so we hope. For grace.
