³³But Peter said to Him, “Even though all may fall away because of You, I will never fall away.” ³⁴Jesus said to him, “Truly I say to you that this very night, before a rooster crows, you will deny Me three times.” ³⁵Peter said to Him, “Even if I have to die with You, I will not deny You.” All the disciples said the same thing too.

One of the most gut-wrenching stories in Scripture, this one is about professed loyalty giving way to denial, self-preservation eclipsing commitment, and shame displacing approval. However, the end of the story cycles back, with forgiveness and power replacing cowardice and failure. What a story, indeed!

The apostle Peter, the frequent spokesperson among the twelve, was the one who confessed his belief in the true identity of Jesus when he proclaimed, “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God” (Matt. 16:16). He is the same one here confessing his loyalty to Jesus. In fact, Peter claimed an absolute fidelity to Jesus that surpasses any of the other followers of Jesus (despite the others claiming the same loyalty)! This came after Jesus had told the disciples in the upper room the night before His execution that they would all fall away from following Him. Imagine the gloom that settled over the group when Jesus undercut their protestations. How could Jesus think such a thing?

Not one to hesitate in arguing with the Lord, Peter would not let that prediction stand, at least not when it came to him; he flat-out contradicts Jesus, “I will never fall away.” Jesus shoots back at him with the specifics of how the professing loyalist to the cause of Jesus would, in fact, deny Him, not once, not twice, but three times! And just so that Peter would remember Jesus’ words (and his own words), the Lord gives him the time of day when it would happen—in the next few hours before dawn. Yet, Peter goes even further in his adamant assertion of allegiance and faithfulness to Jesus; he would give his life for Jesus! But he doesn’t know that the story about to unfold was about Jesus dying for him and not the other way around.

Jesus remained faithful to His mission and His love for His disciples and the whole world (John 3:16). Even though His closest followers would fail Him, the Lord would not fail them. He knew that they, even Peter, would be unfaithful, but Jesus would be faithful to them, even to the point of dying in their place. Peter may have had this in mind when he wrote toward the end of his life: “If we are faithless, He remains faithful, for He cannot deny Himself” (2 Tim. 2:13). No matter how far short we fall, even to the point of denying Him out of fear for our lives, He remains faithful to us.

“Your lovingkindness, O Lord, extends to the heavens, Your faithfulness reaches to the skies … How precious is Your lovingkindness, O God!” (Ps. 36:5, 7)