NT Characters: The servant girl who challenges Peter

<p>For additional notes and resources check out Douglas’ <a href="https://www.douglasjacoby.com/servant-girl/" target="_blank">website</a>.</p><p><strong>Introduction</strong></p><ul><li>There are other servant girls in the Bible who play significant roles, like Naaman's (2 Kings 5:2-3) and Rhoda (Acts <a>12:13</a>).</li><li>Today we will look at the servant girl who exposed Simon Peter's cowardice--the time he was ashamed of Jesus.</li><li>She is anonymous -- yet still important.</li><li>The story is found in all four gospels. (Order: Mark, Matt, Luke, John)</li></ul><p><strong>Thefouraccounts</strong></p><ul><li><strong>Mark 14:66-70</strong>  And as Peter was below in the courtyard, one of the servant girls of the high priest came, 67 and seeing Peter warming himself, she looked at him and said, "You also were with the Nazarene, Jesus." 68 But he denied it, saying, "I neither know nor understand what you mean." And he went out into the gateway and the rooster crowed. 69 And the servant girl saw him and began again to say to the bystanders, "This man is one of them." 70 But again he denied it...<ul><li>Peter plays dumb.</li><li>The servant girl is smarter, and exerts far more effort identifying Peter than Peter does identifying Jesus -- what he should have been doing.</li></ul></li><li><strong>Matthew 26:69-72</strong>  Now Peter was sitting outside in the courtyard. And a servant girl came up to him and said, "You also were with Jesus the Galilean." 70 But he denied it before them all, saying, "I do not know what you mean." 71 And when he went out to the entrance, another servant girl saw him, and she said to the bystanders, "This man was with Jesus of Nazareth." 72 And again he denied it with an oath: "I do not know the man." <ul><li>Matthew doubles (blind man healings, demoniacs)</li><li>Some are troubled that the details in the four accounts don't match. Yet the discrepancies don't disqualify the testimony of the evangelists; they actually confirm it, since if they were fabricating the story they would have