After Jesus was made a prisoner, He was taken into the city to the house of the high priest, the leader of the temple. He should have led the people for God, and have been the first to know that Jesus was their promised Messiah. But, instead, the high priest did not believe God’s words written in the Scriptures, and had been very angry when He taught in the temple, because His words showed that he and the other leaders were doing wrong things.
Others who hated Jesus were waiting with the high priest, and when He stood before them bound, all mocked and spoke against Him. They allowed the soldiers to blindfold Him, then strike Him on His face and ask Him to say who had done it. Could He not have told the name of each person? Yes, we know He could, but He did not answer or defend Himself (Mark 14:6161But he held his peace, and answered nothing. Again the high priest asked him, and said unto him, Art thou the Christ, the Son of the Blessed? (Mark 14:61)).
Peter’s Denial
Two of the disciples had followed after the soldiers to the high priest’s house to know what would be done with the Lord, though at first they had fled away. One of these is not named but the other was Peter, and while Jesus was mocked and questioned, he sat with the crowd of servants and officers, but he did not want them to know that he was Jesus’ disciple.
The servant girl who kept the door told some that Peter was with Jesus, but Peter denied, saying he did not know Him. Later another said the same, but Peter again declared he did not know Jesus. After a time another servant said to him that he had been with Jesus, and for the third time Peter denied that he knew Jesus.
All this had been done in the night, but the dawn was just beginning, and a cock, or rooster, crowed, as is usual before daylight. Before the soldiers came to take the Lord, He had said to Peter, “The cock shalt not crow this day, before that thou shall thrice deny that thou knowest Me.”
It had happened, just as Jesus said; Peter had three times said he did not know Him. It would seem they were in the same large room, or in a hall close, where Jesus stood bound, and when the rooster crowed, Jesus turned and looked at Peter. Although He was in that sad place of spite and mocking, He did not forget Peter, and His look must have been kind, for at once Peter felt how wrong he had been to say he did not know Him, and he went outside to weep.
Peter loved the Lord and was a true disciple, but he had been so sure he would do better than the others, that he forgot the Lord’s words, to watch and pray.
The High Priest’s Anger
As soon as it was day the men took Jesus to their council room, for all the scribes and leaders to question Him and decide what charge to tell the governor. But there also all spoke falsely. At last the high priest asked Him, “Art thou the Son of God?” And He told him that it was true. That made the high priest most angry, and he declared Him to be worthy of death.
Further Meditation
1. How many times did Peter deny the Lord?
2. Where should our confidence be placed if we don’t want to sin? What resources has the Lord given to us to keep us from failure?
3. Simon Peter: His Life and Letters by W. T. P. Wolston gives an excellent, simple and lengthy discussion of Peter in his service for the Lord as well as the teaching in his epistles.