John 13:36-38--Jesus Foretells Peter's Denial

John 13:36-38
English Standard Version

Jesus Foretells Peter's Denial
36 Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, where are you going?” Jesus answered him, “Where I am going you cannot follow me now, but you will follow afterward.” 37 Peter said to him, “Lord, why can I not follow you now? I will lay down my life for you.” 38 Jesus answered, “Will you lay down your life for me? Truly, truly, I say to you, the rooster will not crow till you have denied me three times.

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Jesus has just finished telling His disciples in verse 33, "33 Little children, yet a little while I am with you. You will seek me, and just as I said to the Jews, so now I also say to you, ‘Where I am going you cannot come.’  After this, He gave them a new commandment to love one another as He had loved them, but it seems that Peter missed that part as he was hung up on the fact that Jesus was going away somewhere and Peter didn't know where He was going.  From what we know of Peter in other places and later in this story, Peter probably fancied himself as not just Jesus' friend, but possibly also took some personal responsibility upon himself to protect Jesus and the other disciples as we see in other gospels that Peter is one of the two disciples that carries a sword and Peter is the one that will actually try to physically defend Jesus when the time comes.  Peter seems concerned that he cannot defend Jesus if he doesn't know where Jesus is going.  Imagine the head of the Secret Service's Presidential detail hearing the President say "I'm going away and where I'm going, you can't come with me."  I'm sure the head of the detail would say, "Sir, where are you going so that we can have security arrangements made for you?  (Especially if they are being told they can't be there with the one they are supposed to protect to keep him or her safe).  Remember, they still imagine that Jesus is the King of the Jews, and they know that His life is in danger, so this is not surprising that at least one of them is thinking about a "protection detail."

Jesus reiterates that He is going somewhere where they cannot follow, but they will follow afterwards.  By this Jesus means that He is going to die and that it is not yet time for them to die, but they will all follow after Him in death.  It also means that He is going to return to the Father in heaven shortly, and Jesus is making a way for all of them to follow after Him (remember that Judas Iscariot is the only one that was not one of the sheep that belonged to Jesus, but he is no longer with the Jesus and the disciples now--Jesus is only talking ot the Eleven that are part of the Elect).

Peter is confused about why he cannot follow after Jesus now, because Peter has sworn his complete allegiance to Jesus.  Remember his answer that he gave when Jesus asked if the disciples would also desert Him when so many others turned away at Jesus' hard teachings after the feeding of the five-thousand?  


John 6:60-70
English Standard Version
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The Words of Eternal Life
60 When many of his disciples heard it, they said, “This is a hard saying; who can listen to it?” 61 But Jesus, knowing in himself that his disciples were grumbling about this, said to them, “Do you take offense at this? 62 Then what if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before? 63 It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. 64 But there are some of you who do not believe.” (For Jesus knew from the beginning who those were who did not believe, and who it was who would betray him.) 65 And he said, “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father.”

66 After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him. 67 So Jesus said to the twelve, “Do you want to go away as well?” 68 Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, 69 and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.” 70 Jesus answered them, “Did I not choose you, the twelve? And yet one of you is a devil.”

This is a message that Jesus has been trying to share with them all along.  Then and now, Peter is committed.  In fact, we see in John 13:37, that Peter swears to follow Jesus wherever He goes, even if it means death.

Jesus then questions if this is actually the case, and we see in other gospel accounts that all the other disciples agree with Peter and swear the same kind of oath.  Jesus singles out Peter here though and tells him that the rooster will not crow until Peter had denied Jesus three times.  While this passage focuses in on Peter, Jesus knows He is about to be deserted by all of His friends, and it is weighing heavy on Him.  Here are some other parallel passages to show us that while Peter is being singled-out here (for a good reason that we'll see later), there is a lot more to this conversation.

Matthew 26:30-35
English Standard Version
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Jesus Foretells Peter's Denial
30 And when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives. 31 Then Jesus said to them, “You will all fall away because of me this night. For it is written, ‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.’ 32 But after I am raised up, I will go before you to Galilee.” 33 Peter answered him, “Though they all fall away because of you, I will never fall away.” 34 Jesus said to him, “Truly, I tell you, this very night, before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times.” 35 Peter said to him, “Even if I must die with you, I will not deny you!” And all the disciples said the same.




Mark 14:26-31
English Standard Version
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Jesus Foretells Peter's Denial
26 And when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives. 27 And Jesus said to them, “You will all fall away, for it is written, ‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered.’ 28 But after I am raised up, I will go before you to Galilee.” 29 Peter said to him, “Even though they all fall away, I will not.” 30 And Jesus said to him, “Truly, I tell you, this very night, before the rooster crows twice, you will deny me three times.” 31 But he said emphatically, “If I must die with you, I will not deny you.” And they all said the same.


Luke 22:31-34
English Standard Version
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Jesus Foretells Peter's Denial
31 “Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat, 32 but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.” 33 Peter said to him, “Lord, I am ready to go with you both to prison and to death.” 34 Jesus said, “I tell you, Peter, the rooster will not crow this day, until you deny three times that you know me.”

All of these passages are completely consistent with one another, but they all add an extra little bit as each person either remembers a bit of their personal experience or maybe even in Luke's case he found a few extra details through gathering all the facts.  I especially like Peter's account though given in the Gospel of Mark that Jesus may have been talking to Peter here but He was concerned for the safety of all of His sheep.  Peter may have been concerned about the safety and security of the King, but it is the job of the Shepherd to provide safety and security for the sheep, and Jesus is the one deeply troubled about who is going to take care of them in His absence.  Jesus is going to start heading toward the Mount of Olives so that He can pour His heart out to God the Father in prayer during His last hours, but He is not yet done teaching His final lessons to the disciples, and we're going to get to some of the most quoted verses from the Gospel of John in the next chapter--on of the final "I AM" statements--that people assume was said publicly to everyone, but it was said at this very private time just to His disciples, right before His death as one of the last things that Jesus wanted to make sure that they knew and understood.  We'll talk about that next time.