John 13:38Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

And now, when he heard, "You cannot follow Me now," he again says: "Even if all are scandalized because of You, I will not be scandalized" (Mt 26:33). Having thus become accustomed to contradict Christ, he could easily have fallen into pride.

For this reason Christ finally teaches him not to oppose Him. Luke hints at this when he says that Christ said: "I have prayed for you, that your faith may not fail" (Lk 22:32), that is, that you may not perish utterly.

Through all this He teaches him humility and shows that human nature in itself is nothing. Since great love moved Peter to contradiction, Christ finally brings him to understanding. He does this so that Peter may not suffer the same thing later, but, remembering what happened to him, may know himself.

And see how powerful the fall was. He underwent this fall not once and not twice, but became so afraid that in a short time he uttered the word of denial three times. Thus he might know that he did not so much love as he was loved.

Yet after such a fall Christ again says: "Do you love Me more than these?" (Jn 21:15). Therefore this fall occurred not from coldness, but because he was deprived of help from above.

Christ accepts Peter's love, but cuts off the contradiction arising from it. If you love, you must obey the one whom you love. He said both to you and to those with you, "You cannot." Why then do you argue?

Do you not know what it means to reject the words of God? Since you do not wish to understand from this that what I say cannot fail to be, you will learn it from the denial, though it then seemed to you far more unbelievable.

You did not even know about this, while you were conscious of the other thing in your soul. Yet what you did not expect at all came to pass.

"I will lay down my soul for You." Peter had heard that there is nothing greater than this love. Therefore, being insatiable and wishing to attain the very highest love, he immediately rushed toward it.

But Christ, showing that He alone can declare this with certainty, says: "The rooster will not crow," that is, even now. Indeed, little time remained, for He was speaking late at night, when the first and second watches had already passed.

Therefore, sparing him, He allowed him to fall, so that this would not happen to him later, when he would receive the divine economy of the whole world. Rather, he was to know himself.

And see how he fell: not once, but three times. Thus abandonment by God exposes our powerlessness, and whoever is attentive finds in this the greatest benefaction.

"Even against your will, great faintheartedness will be found in you. You will deny Me three times, and this will happen in one night." We should suppose that Jesus means to say something like this.

Yet here again the love for mankind present in Him is worthy of wonder. He foretold that the strength of Peter's soul would not match the strain of his zeal. He said Peter would weaken and fall back so far as to deny Him from fear of danger alone.

Yet He made no threat. He did not say that for this Peter might fall under divine wrath. For what reason does He not impose punishment on one who suffers something human?

He knew that nature was still weak and could not bear the threat of death. Death had not yet been abolished through His Resurrection. It weighed down the souls of all.

It was still able, by fear alone, to break even one who was very courageous and well disposed to daring. Nature, having been subjected to death contrary to nature, yields to death as to a conqueror.

More precisely, it still continued then to yield. But when our Savior broke its bonds, death became sweet to those who love Christ, even if it approached fiercely. Eternal life entered in its place and destroyed the dominion of corruption.

Here again, let no one think that Peter denied and grew weak because of Christ's words. Christ does not impose necessity or forcibly draw him into suffering. Rather, as God, He foretells to the disciple what He knew would certainly and undoubtedly occur.

Since what happened to the ancients was written for the instruction of those who came after them (1 Cor 10:11), here we find an occasion to speak of what should be useful in this passage.

I think one should not make hasty promises to God or undertake to accomplish what sometimes exceeds one's strength, as though we had power over events. I say this because failure brings reproach.

Moreover, I think it is not free from pride to say hastily, "I will do this or that." Rather, in everything anyone has resolved and desires to accomplish, he should proclaim what the all-wise disciple said.

"If the Lord wills, and we live" (Jas 4:15). Beneficial zeal, I say, should be present in the souls of those who love God. There should be a fervent desire to perform virtue with all one's strength.

But the way to this is to ask for favor from above and not rashly promise, as though the matter were in one's own hands. In this way we will keep every promise of good things truthful before God.

We will have feet free from blame, according to the Greek proverb. In other respects also, it is better for each person not to promise than to promise and fail to fulfill (Eccl 5:4).

Or did the Apostle Peter not deny Christ, as some try to excuse him with perverse favor? They say that when he was questioned by the maidservant, he answered that he did not know the man Christ.

The other evangelists plainly testify to this (see Mt 26:69-70; Mk 14:66-68; Lk 22:56-57). But as though the one who denies the man Christ does not deny Christ.

He denies in Him what He became for our sake, so that what He made us might not perish. If anyone confesses Christ as God in such a way that he denies the man in Him, Christ did not die for him.

For Christ died as man. Whoever denies the man Christ is not reconciled to God through the Mediator. For "there is one God, and one Mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus" (1 Tim 2:5).

Whoever denies the man Christ is not justified. For "as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by one man's obedience many will be made righteous" (Rom 5:19).

Whoever denies the man Christ will not rise in the resurrection of life. For "since by man came death, by Man also came the resurrection of the dead. As in Adam all die, so also in Christ all shall be made alive" (1 Cor 15:21-22).

For how is He the Head of the Church, if not as man? "The Word became flesh" (Jn 1:14). That is, God, the Only-begotten of God the Father, became man.

How can one be in the Body of Christ if he denies the man Christ? For if one denies the Head, how can he be a member of the Body?

But why should I dwell on many arguments, when the Lord Himself overturns all the devices of human reasoning? He did not say, "The rooster will not crow before you deny the man."

Nor did He say, as He often spoke to men with great condescension, "The rooster will not crow before you deny the Son of Man three times." Rather, He said, "The rooster will not crow before you deny Me three times."

What does "Me" mean, if not the One who He was? And who was He, if not Christ? Therefore, whatever Peter denied in Him, he denied Christ. He denied the Lord his God.

For Thomas, his fellow disciple, cried out, "My Lord and my God!" (Jn 20:28). He handled not the Word, but the flesh. He touched not the incorporeal nature of God, but the body with inquiring hands.

Thus he touched man, but recognized God. If Peter denied what Thomas touched, then Peter insulted what Thomas glorified. It is as though He says, "The rooster will not crow before you deny Me three times."

"Even if you say, 'I do not know this man,' and even if you say, 'Man, I do not know what you are saying' (cf. Lk 22:60), and even if you say, 'I am not one of His disciples,' you will deny Me."

If Christ said something like this, which it is sinful to doubt, and truly foretold Peter's denial, then Peter undoubtedly denied Christ. Let us not accuse Christ while defending Peter.

Let weakness acknowledge its sin, for there is no falsehood in the Truth. Certainly Peter's weakness acknowledged its sin. It acknowledged it completely. By his tears he expressed the measure of the evil he committed in denying Christ.

He himself refuted his future defenders. To refute them, he brought his tears as testimony. When we say this, we should not seek to accuse the first of the Apostles.

Rather, looking at him, we should train ourselves to think that no one among men should rely on human strength. What else did our Teacher and Savior wish to do for us?

He wished to show, through the example of the first of the Apostles, that none of us should be self-confident.

Therefore there happened in Peter's soul what he had supposed he would do with his body. He did, after all, go before the Lord, but not as he confidently anticipated. It happened otherwise than he thought.

For before the death and Resurrection of the Lord, he died by denying and rose by weeping. He died because he proudly trusted in himself. He rose because He mercifully cared for him.

Since Peter twice objected to Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ also twice bore witness concerning his denial. Matthew and Mark recorded Peter's first objection and Jesus Christ's testimony (Mk 14:29). Luke (Lk 22:33) and John recorded the second objection and testimony.

Then the Lord foretold his threefold denial of Him before the rooster would call, that is, before midnight.

The Knower of hearts knew this weak side of Peter. He knew what would happen within a few hours to this burning zeal. "Will you lay down your life for Me, and now? Little time remains until midnight, and in this time you will manage to deny Me three times."

As the Lord, who knows the mysteries of the spiritual world, sees, Satan asked God for permission to deal with the disciples in a way similar to Job. In the impending dangers to their faith, he sought not only to leave them to themselves, but also to hand them over to his influence.

He assured that he would completely destroy their bond with Christ and with one another, disturbing and scattering them like wheat driven across a field. "But," the Lord says, "I have prayed that your faith may not fail."

This means that Peter most of all needed this intercession of Jesus Christ. A particularly great danger of temptation lay before him.

Having said this, Jesus Christ further foretells Peter's denial, and at the same time his conversion, as the fruit of Christ's intercession for him before God. At the same time the Lord foretells temptation for all the disciples.

He says that they will need Peter's encouraging example, which will strengthen their faith (Lk 22:31-32).

Revealing this danger for all the disciples, Jesus Christ says directly that all of them will be scandalized because of Him that night. Then the prophecy about the death of the Messiah and the confusion of His followers over it will be fulfilled (Zech 13:7).

But at once He also consoled the disciples by foretelling His Resurrection and His appearance to them in Galilee: "I shall be struck. But before you return home after the feast to Galilee, whence you came with Me to Jerusalem for Passover, I shall already go before you there" (Mt 26:31-32; Mk 14:27-28).

Then Peter begins to assure Him that, even if all are scandalized, he will not be scandalized and is ready to lay down his soul for his Teacher. All the disciples said the same. In response, the Lord gives Peter a direct prediction of his threefold denial (Mt 26:33-35; Mk 14:29-31; Lk 22:33-34; Jn 13:37-38).

My listeners, we see that the Apostle Peter loved the Lord, and loved Him ardently. Out of love he promised much for himself. But why did he not want to believe the Lord, who said that he was promising too much and would not fulfill even a little?

It was because he trusted in himself, in his own firmness. Is there any difference between us and Peter? There is a difference in this, that we love the Lord far less than Peter loved Him. But there is no difference in this, as though we were less deceived by hope in ourselves.

Ah, every day and every hour we are captive to self-love. Otherwise, where is our awareness of our weaknesses? Where is sincere confession of sins? Where is prayer for heavenly help?

If we firmly remembered our guilt before God, we would not live as carelessly as we do. The fear of God's judgment would not be as far from our hearts as it now is. We pass hours and days satisfied with ourselves.

For this reason it happens that, when Satan begins to sift and shake us with a strong hand, and when calamities attack us like a terrible storm, our faith weakens. Then we find in ourselves neither hope, nor patience, nor prayer, nor contrition for sins.

O good and merciful Lord, save us sinners, as You know and as You will. Amen.

The Lord accepts this sacrifice of love, but not now. It will be when Peter, made wise and enlightened by the Holy Spirit, becomes a sacrifice worthy of God and fully ready to receive the crown of righteousness, prepared by the Lord for all who love Him (Jas 1:12; 2 Tim 4:8).

Peter and John alone did not flee from the garden of Gethsemane (Mt 26:56, 58; Jn 18:15). Peter tried not to abandon the Lord, but fear came upon him.

Only after receiving the gifts of the Holy Spirit did Peter become the man we know in the Apostolic history (Acts 2:14; 3:12-26; 4:8-31; 5:18-41, and elsewhere).