He began to curse and swear, “I do not know that man you are talking about.”
The third denial is the most severe. Peter not only denies, but also begins to curse and to swear in order to confirm his words. This shows how quickly the heart can fall when it moves away from prayer and gives itself over to fear. The phrase “that man” painfully distances him from the Lord, for whom he had been ready to die just a little earlier. Yet this very deep fall would later become the school of his humility. Peter’s sin is heavy, but it is different from Judas Iscariot’s evil betrayal, because Peter’s heart in the end would be broken with repentance.