This passage anticipates the Last Supper, where Jesus, surrounded by the men he has loved and trained for years, is faced with the bitter realization that they are all untrustworthy.
At the hour when he needed them most, they ditch him and flee, “every man for himself”. Simon Peter, to whom he had entrusted the leadership of the Twelve, and whom he had called a ‘rock of support’ is the biggest disappointment. Peter was always fond of bragging how much he loved the Master, even to the extent of giving up his life for him. Jesus gently chides him: “Before cockcrow tonight, you will have disowned me three times !” And so it was.
At the moment of his reckoning, Simon Peter finds that he is a coward after all, afraid of the accusations of a petty servant girl.
When we meditate on the sufferings of Jesus during his passion, it’s the physical torture and pain of the crucifixion which come to mind. But there was another pain as well – the pain of being deserted by friends, the pain of being alone, of being disowned and betrayed. The pain of having trusted someone and finding that trust unrequited. This is by far, the greater pain – for the anguish of the broken heart pierces more deeply than the agony of a broken body.
All of us who have been let down in life know that Jesus was no stranger to such disappointment. That was also part of his passion.