Luke 22:55-58 55And when they had kindled a fire in the middle of the courtyard and sat down together, Peter sat down among them. 56And when a certain servant girl saw him sitting in the light and looking closely at him, she said, “This man also was with him.” 57But he denied it, saying, “Woman, I do not know him.” 58And a short time, when someone else saw him, he said, “You also are one of them.” But Peter said, “Man, I am not.”
The crowd moved from the garden on the Mount of Olives to the house of the high priest. Luke describes a scene that we can imagine. The house of the high priest was likely large, with its own courtyard. Peter had been able to blend in with the crowd because everyone’s attention was focused on Jesus. The intensity had subsided as the most important people went inside the house. Others gathered around to build a fire to keep warm since it was the coldest part of the night.
A fire would also provide some light so that people’s faces could be recognized. The high priest also had an entourage of servants. Servants are often quite observant and notice details that others may not pay attention to. In the case on this night, one of the servant girls recognized Peter’s face. Luke does not mention where or when this maid saw Peter, whether in the temple area, out in the crowds, or in the garden. She may have been one who was sent out regularly on errands. Jesus was becoming well-known among many people, so it would not have been difficult for her to recognize Peter.
It is difficult to know what was going on in Peter’s mind. A female servant would have been at the bottom of the social scale, and acknowledging Jesus would have been at the lowest level of the shame scale.
Peter’s second denial follows the same pattern as the first, but this time, the shame scale increases with a man recognizing Peter as one of the disciples. The second denial focuses on Peter’s association with the whole group.
The shock of the story is that Peter denied both Jesus and discipleship with such little social pressure. The test of his commitment grew more intense with each confrontation. As he sat by the fire with other onlookers and household servants, what was he thinking? Was he overwhelmed with emotion? Was he trying to figure things out logically? What he needed was to spend those moments in prayer, but that was likely not on his agenda. We should be slow to pass judgment on Peter because it often does not take much social pressure for us to compromise our convictions either.
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