The Denial of Peter. Mark 14, 66-72.
The first denial: V. 66. And as Peter was beneath in the palace, there cometh one of the maids of the high priest. V. 67. And when she saw Peter warming himself, she looked upon him and said, And thou also wast with Jesus of Nazareth. V. 68. But he denied, saying, I know not, neither understand I what thou sayest. And he went out into the porch; and the cock crew.
Beneath in the court Peter was; the session of the Sanhedrin was held in an upper room. He was sitting at the fire, where the light from the flames brought out his features very plainly.
Now one of the maids of the high priest, the janitress that had admitted Peter into the vestibule, walking past the fire and seeing Peter sitting there and warming himself, had a good chance to observe his features. She promptly pointed him out to the rest of the servants, accusing him of belonging to the party of this Jesus of Nazareth.
The matter rather took Peter by surprise; he may have thought himself secure, since he had been admitted to the court.
But he thinks himself quick-witted in feigning lack of understanding: I neither know nor understand what thou sayest.
It was a lie and a denial of his Lord, as Peter should have felt at once. As a matter of fact, his conscience seems to have been a little uneasy, for he now left his place by the fire and went out into the arched doorway, in the shadow of the portico.