And he went forth before the court, out of the gate, and the cock crew. And again another maidservant saw him, and she began to say to the standers-by: "This is one of them. This man also was with Jesus of Nazareth. Thou also art one of them." And again he denied with an oath: "O man, I am not. I do not know the man." And after a little while, about the space of one hour after, they that stood by came again and said to Peter: "Surely thou also art one of them, for even thy speech doth discover thee. Thou also art a Galilasan." And another man, one of the servants of the high priest, a kinsman to him whose ear Peter cut off, saith to him: "Did I not see thee in the Garden with Him?" Then he began to curse and to swear that he knew not the man, saying: "Man, I know not what thou sayest; I know not this man of whom you speak." - Matthew 26:71-74; Mark 14:69-71; Luke 22:58-60; John 18:26,27
1. Peter has been sufficiently disturbed by his first denial to become restless; it is with that restlessness which is peculiar to the first conscious sense of having done wrong. He has got up and left the group with an air of offended innocence, and the group has followed him with a leer of unaffected contempt. It has not been deceived by the denial; but it triumphs over both the denier and the Denied. He knows they are not convinced; and they are happy at the thought that this Jesus of Nazareth cannot, after all, be very much, since His followers so easily deny Him and betray Him. If these made so little of Him, others could not be expected to do more.
2. Meanwhile, Peter meets another maid, another of the type that is always on the side of the crowd, as is the worst of those who seek for notice at any cost. She has no respect for him. She has her own end to gain, and has only her tongue with which to gain it. So she stabs, and stabs, and thinks herself triumphant when her victim turns. And the poor victim, how he turns! First, to the tribunal: "Man, I know Him not!" And of what is he accused? Of being a friend of Jesus Christ! And what does he deny? "I know not the man!" The Man! Him whom but a short time before he had called "Christ, the Son of the living God"! And all this he confirms with an oath. He must con form with the usages of his surroundings and practise their speech. So strong is the silent influence of evil company on us, no matter who we be, no matter how carefully guarded. How often do we hear it said, "If others would leave us alone it would be easy to avoid evil doing."
3. It is an hour after. In a crisis such as this an hour is a long time. Did the trial of Our Lord, then, even before the spitting and the buffeting began, take so long? What could they have been doing with Him all that time? For Peter, too, an hour in that crowd was a long time. What had he been doing? He had not been standing there silent, that is clear. He had talked enough for the by standers to detect that he came from Galilee; his speech betrayed him. Perhaps he had said enough to remind the servant of him in the Garden; for Peter was always impetuous, and unguarded in his speech. The evidence was overwhelming. The poor man had gone so far, he could not and would not draw back. He would only repeat his crime; it was easier now than at first; having sinned twice, the third was almost spontaneous.
Summary
1. The effect of Peter's first denial, on the audience and on himself.
2. The second denial: its occasion, the temptress, its kind.
3. The third denial: the hour's interval, the occasion, the ease of the fall.
- from The Crown of Sorrow, by Archbishop Alban Goodier