My God and My Country

The Gospel According to Mark

Chapter 14:66-72

66 And as Peter was beneath in the hall, there came one of the maids of the high Priest.
67 And when she saw Peter warming himself, she looked on him, and said, Thou wast also with Jesus of Nazareth.
68 But he denied it, saying, I know him not, neither wot I what thou sayest. Then he went out into the porch, and the cock crew.
69 Then a maid saw him again, and began to say to them that stood by, This is one of them.
70 But he denied it again: and anon after, they that stood by, said again to Peter, Surely thou art one of them: for thou art of Galilee, and thy speech is like.
71 And he began to curse, and swear, saying, I know not this man of whom ye speak.
72 Then the second time the cock crew, and Peter remembered the word that Jesus had said unto him, Before the cock crow twice, thou shalt deny me thrice, and weighing that with himself, he wept.


“And when he thought thereon; on the words of Christ, and on his sin in denying him, and on the aggravated circumstances of it. The Arabic version renders it, "he turned himself to weep"; he turned away from the company, he threw himself out of it, and got out of doors as fast as he could, and broke out into a violent fit of weeping. The Syriac, Persic, and Vulgate Latin versions, render it, "he began to weep"; this phrase is omitted in the Ethiopic version: some choose to render it, "he looked upon him", that is, on Christ: as Christ looked upon him; which produced true evangelical repentance in him, so Peter looked upon his dear Lord with concern, whom he so had shamefully denied; he looked upon him and mourned, he looked upon him with an eye of faith, and sorrowed for his sin after a godly sort: but the true sense of the word is, 'he covered himself'; he cast his garment over his head, he veiled himself as mourners did, who covered their heads, and their faces, and even their lips.


So Maimonides from whence, says he, is uncovering the head, forbidden a mourner? For, lo! it is said to (See Ezekiel 24:17 ) , "cover not thy lips" at all, for the rest of mourners are obliged to the covering of the head; the linen cloth, or veil, with which he covers his head, he covers with a part of it, a little over his mouth; as it is said, ( See Leviticus 13:45 ), 'He shall put a covering upon his upper lip': and Onkelos paraphrases it, 'as a mourner he shall cover himself'.

And thus Peter, through shame, and as a token of sorrow and mourning for his sin, threw his garment over him: and he wept; as Matthew says, 'bitterly': being fully convinced of his sin, and heartily sorry lot it.” - John Gill - Theologian