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Copyright Sonia Halliday and Laura Lushington

“This man is one of them,” insists the servant girl (center) as she points out Peter, sitting in a courtyard, warming his hands above a fire. But Peter objects: “I do not know the man” (Mark 14:69). In this 20th-century stained-glass window by Hans Gottfried von Stockhausen in the Besserer Chapel in Ulm Cathedral, Germany, a cock crows from the wall above Peter’s head—in fulfillment of Jesus’ prediction that Peter would deny him: “Truly, I tell you, this day, this very night, before the cock crows twice, you will deny me three times” (Mark 14:30). In Mark’s gospel, which offers the least flattering portrait of Peter, this is the last time Jesus addresses Peter. Luke softens Peter’s portrayal by having Jesus further predict that Peter will repent and then will serve as leader of the Twelve; he will “strengthen [his] brothers” (Luke 22:31–34).