Luke 22 · Read 10 min · think and write 15 min
In the last lesson Peter said to Jesus, “I will lay down my life for you” (John 13:37). Jesus answered, “the rooster won’t crow until you have denied me three times” (John 13:38).
This lesson is the same night. Luke records something else Jesus said to Peter at the table, and what happened that night in the high priest’s courtyard.
31The Lord said, “Simon, Simon, behold, Satan asked to have all of you, that he might sift you as wheat,
32but I prayed for you, that your faith wouldn’t fail. You, when once you have turned again, establish your brothers.”
33He said to him, “Lord, I am ready to go with you both to prison and to death!”
34He said, “I tell you, Peter, the rooster will by no means crow today until you deny that you know me three times.”
Jesus went out to the Mount of Olives and prayed there. Judas came with a crowd to seize him; one of the disciples cut off the ear of the high priest’s servant, and Jesus touched the man’s ear and healed him. (vv. 35–53)
54They seized him and led him away, and brought him into the high priest’s house. But Peter followed from a distance.
55When they had kindled a fire in the middle of the courtyard and had sat down together, Peter sat among them.
56A certain servant girl saw him as he sat in the light, and looking intently at him, said, “This man also was with him.”
57He denied Jesus, saying, “Woman, I don’t know him.”
58After a little while someone else saw him and said, “You also are one of them!” But Peter answered, “Man, I am not!”
59After about one hour passed, another confidently affirmed, saying, “Truly this man also was with him, for he is a Galilean!”
60But Peter said, “Man, I don’t know what you are talking about!” Immediately, while he was still speaking, a rooster crowed.
61The Lord turned and looked at Peter. Then Peter remembered the Lord’s word, how he said to him, “Before the rooster crows you will deny me three times.”
62He went out, and wept bitterly.
To read the whole chapter: Luke 22, 71 verses.
Before the fall. At the table Jesus said to Peter, “Simon, Simon, behold, Satan asked to have all of you, that he might sift you as wheat” (v. 31). Then: “but I prayed for you, that your faith wouldn’t fail” (v. 32). When Jesus said this, Peter had not yet fallen.
When once you have turned again. Jesus also said, “You, when once you have turned again, establish your brothers” (v. 32). He did not say ‘if you turn back’; he said “when once you have turned again.”
To prison and to death. Peter said, “Lord, I am ready to go with you both to prison and to death!” (v. 33). Jesus answered, “I tell you, Peter, the rooster will by no means crow today until you deny that you know me three times” (v. 34). The passage does not say what Peter was thinking; it records only what he said and how Jesus answered.
From a distance. Jesus was seized and brought into the high priest’s house, “But Peter followed from a distance” (v. 54). A fire was kindled in the courtyard, and “Peter sat among them” (v. 55). Luke does not say here where the other disciples were; what he writes is that Peter came.
Three times. The first time was a servant girl: “This man also was with him,” and Peter said, “Woman, I don’t know him” (vv. 56–57). The second time, “You also are one of them!” and Peter said, “Man, I am not!” (v. 58). The third time, about an hour later, “Truly this man also was with him, for he is a Galilean!” and Peter said, “Man, I don’t know what you are talking about!” (vv. 59–60). From ‘I don’t know him,’ to ‘I am not,’ to ‘I don’t know what you are talking about’ — each answer went further away.
The rooster crowed. “Immediately, while he was still speaking, a rooster crowed” (v. 60). Luke then writes a sentence no other Gospel has: “The Lord turned and looked at Peter” (v. 61). The passage does not say what kind of look it was; it says only that “Peter remembered the Lord’s word” (v. 61). “He went out, and wept bitterly” (v. 62).
The story does not stop here. After Jesus rose, the young man in the tomb, “dressed in a white robe” (Mark 16:5), said to the women, “But go, tell his disciples and Peter” (Mark 16:7). The disciples also said, “The Lord is risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon!” (Luke 24:34). In the next lesson, by the Sea of Tiberias, Jesus will ask Peter three times whether he loves him.
Peter was not the only one who fell that night. After supper Jesus said to the disciples, “All of you will be made to stumble because of me tonight” (Matt 26:31), and quoted the Scriptures: “I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered” (Matt 26:31). Peter said he would never deny him, and “All of the disciples also said likewise” (Matt 26:35). When Jesus was seized, “Then all the disciples left him and fled” (Matt 26:56).
Peter was the one who followed into the courtyard, and also the one who denied him three times by the fire. The passage records both.
Perhaps you too have had a ‘rooster’ moment: in a time of fear, you said or did something that went against what you believe. Thinking of it afterwards, you only wanted to go out and weep.
This lesson does not ask you to make light of it, nor to keep condemning yourself with it. It lets you see two things: Jesus prayed for Peter before he fell; and Jesus said “when once you have turned again” (v. 32).
This week: Read verse 32: “but I prayed for you, that your faith wouldn’t fail.” Copy it out and put it where you will see it every day. If there is a ‘rooster’ thing in your heart, bring it before God this week and say it out loud — whether to God, or to someone you trust.
Scripture: World English Bible.