Peter's Denials Of Jesus

The four biblical accounts of Peter’s denials of Jesus collectively convey the same message of the troubled disciple that Peter was on the evening before Jesus’ crucifixion, while also highlighting key differences that exist between the gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Mark’s narrative describes a Peter who fails to understand Jesus and his mission up until the very end. Matthew and Mark through the use of redaction criticism of Mark’s gospel in their editing convey similar themes in their narratives but also contain key differences that emphasize the use of additional sources. John’s narrative takes a very different approach from the synoptic gospels, including both additions and omissions of details. As the creator of the Synoptic …show more content…
However, this narrative in particular of Peter’s denials highlights key differences between Matthew and Luke when compared to Mark. These differences are a result of redaction criticism or the editing of Mark that creates a different depiction of Jesus and the disciples in Matthew and Luke. Matthew’s narrative is definitely more similar to Mark’s than Luke’s. Overall, Matthew’s gospel takes 90% of the same material as Mark’s gospel. In Matthew, Peter follows Jesus just as he did in Mark and remains in the courtyard around the fire. Matthew mentions that Peter remains in the courtyard “to see how this would end” (Matthew 26: 58). Unlike in Mark where the disciples completely misunderstood Jesus, in Matthew, they understand but are greatly distressed because they know what is coming. Therefore, Matthew may be trying to portray that since Peter knows what is to come, he chooses to stay in order to fully believe that what Jesus has said is true. Just as in Mark, a servant-girl is the first to accuse Peter of knowing Jesus, but she is not identified as being one of the high priests’ servants specifically. Peter then moves out to the porch where a different servant-girl tells the bystanders that she saw Peter with Jesus, and he denies knowing him for the second time. The bystanders then say to Peter, “Certainly you are also one of them, for your accent betrays you” (Matthew 26: 73). This line mentioning Peter’s accent is unique to Matthew. The narrative ends the most similarly to Mark by saying, “Then Peter remembered what Jesus had said: ‘Before the cock crows, you will deny me three times.’ And he went out and wept bitterly.” (Matthew 26: