What was beneficial to them about saying the apostles all ran away on the night Jesus was betrayed, or that they were hiding in fear a few days after the crucif

What was beneficial to them about saying the apostles all ran away on the night Jesus was betrayed, or that they were hiding in fear a few days after the crucifixion? Or by saying that Jesus told Peter (who was recognized as the early church's leader), "Get behind me, Satan"? The sense I get from the gospels is that the apostles had a lot of embarrassing things happen to them, and yet the apostles were held up by the early Christian leaders as the Twelve. If anything, it seems like the early Christian leaders had to keep what they were given in spite of all the negative things that happened.