The baseball player settles in at home plate, waiting for the pitch. A blazing fastball right down the middle. Strike one. Next, a wicked curveball over the outside corner. Swing and a miss, strike two. One more chance. He crouches alertly, ready. The pitcher fires a low, hard slider over the left corner of the plate. The batter swings too high. Three strikes, he’s out! Head down, he heads back to the dugout.

That’s how Peter must have felt in today’s reading. He had been warned by Jesus, and with three opportunities to stand up for his Lord, he’d completely blown it. Three strikes, he was out! Thankfully, God does not give up on us so easily.

Skulking near the trial of Jesus, Peter was tempted to deny his identity as a disciple of Christ. Why? Fear. His Messiah was under arrest and in trouble with both Jews and Romans. Powerful people wanted Him dead. Very likely they’d come for His followers next. Peter wasn’t wrong. Humanly speaking, he had a solid grasp on the situation. But his fear was mixed with his lack of understanding regarding God’s plan. His failure lay in his choice of fear over faith.

For Peter, likely the main source for Mark’s account, this was an embarrassing but essential story from Passion Week. Jesus had given Peter a clear prophetic warning (Luke 22:33–34). In addition, Peter had three opportunities to choose differently—but his third denial was the most vehement of all (v. 71). To his credit, though, when the rooster crowed his immediate response was heartfelt weeping and sorrow over his sin (v. 72). The Greek in verse 72 literally means “wept deeply” or “wept bitterly” (see also Luke 22:61–62).

Jesus’ reinstatement of Peter in John 21:15–19 is often read as a bookend for today’s passage—three affirmations to balance the three denials. We can take hope from this!

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