Jesus orchestrated the scattering of his apostles at his arrest to fulfill the words which he spoke, “Of all of them which you gave me, I have lost none.”
Jesus knew Peter would fail to follow his orchestration to scatter, so he orchestrated the denials to give Peter another opportunity to follow him.
Also, Jesus prayed to God that Peter’s faith in his (Jesus’) leadership would not fail.
Jesus was the Lord and Master of his apostles. Therefore, he was responsible for directing their behavior.
Because the apostles of Jesus were opposed to his arrest, Jesus was challenged to get them to deny themselves at his arrest—to suppress the behavior prompted by their love for him.
Also, because they were men who would rather die with him than abandon him, Jesus was challenged to get them to take up their crosses—to forego the honor of dying with him and to scatter like cowards.
Because Peter failed to follow the orchestration of Jesus to scatter, scattering was not the cross which Peter had to take up to follow Jesus. Instead, the cross of Peter became the denials of Jesus.
The legend that Peter was crucified upside down was derived from the fact that the cross which he took up to follow Jesus consisted of denying Jesus three times.
I say these things only in my own name.
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