When Peter’s Threefold Denial Mirrors Our Own

Holy Week, culminating in Good Friday and Jesus’ death on the cross, follows a series of key events. Perhaps the most human occurs when Jesus’ closest disciple, Peter, openly denies knowing him—three times.

At this point, it is important to consider Peter’s circumstances. Had Peter admitted not only to knowing Jesus but also to being his follower, the same fate as his master likely awaited him. The horror of crucifixion, reserved for criminals, slaves, and prisoners of war, was perfected by the Romans to deter and inflict maximum suffering. So, despite Peter’s bold claim that he would never disown Jesus, in all candor, how many of us would have acknowledged being his disciple under such circumstances?

But denial is deadly because it is often insidious. It is rarely as dramatic as on that night after Jesus’ arrest. Instead, it quietly rejects in the background, often unnoticed.  Even as we profess faith, attend services, and strive to follow Jesus, denial lingers beneath the surface, eroding the connectedness God instilled in us. Its shadow reaches beyond our close circles, affecting those different from us—in appearance, culture, language, religion, and even the natural world itself.

Perhaps we are in our current mess because, like Peter, we unwittingly reject the very connectedness that God instilled in us from the beginning. The French Jesuit priest, Teilhard de Chardin, observed, “…every particle in the cosmos contains Christ. Since we are made up of trillions of them, we are truly immersed in Christ at all times.  In other words, we are saturated with God.”