Prevention is Better than Cure

³¹"Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift you as wheat. ³²But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers."


³³But he replied, "Lord, I am ready to go with you to prison and to death."
³⁴Jesus answered, "I tell you, Peter, before the rooster crows today, you will deny three times that you know me."

⁵⁴Then seizing him, they led him away and took him into the house of the high priest. Peter followed at a distance. ⁵⁵But when they had kindled a fire in the middle of the courtyard and had sat down together, Peter sat down with them. ⁵⁶A servant girl saw him seated there in the firelight. She looked closely at him and said, "This man was with him."
⁵⁷But he denied it. "Woman, I don't know him," he said.
⁵⁸A little later someone else saw him and said, "You also are one of them."
"Man, I am not!" Peter replied.
⁵⁹About an hour later another asserted, "Certainly this fellow was with him, for he is a Galilean."
⁶⁰Peter replied, "Man, I don't know what you're talking about!" Just as he was speaking, the rooster crowed. ⁶¹The Lord turned and looked straight at Peter. Then Peter remembered the word the Lord had spoken to him: "Before the rooster crows today, you will disown me three times." ⁶²And he went outside and wept bitterly.