Jesus Taken to Annas
12 Then the detachment of soldiers with its commander and the Jewish officials arrested Jesus. They bound him 13 and brought him first to Annas, who was the father-in-law of Caiaphas, the high priest that year. 14 Caiaphas was the one who had advised the Jews that it would be good if one man died for the people.Peter’s First Denial
15 Simon Peter and another disciple were following Jesus. Because this disciple was known to the high priest, he went with Jesus into the high priest’s courtyard, 16 but Peter had to wait outside at the door. The other disciple, who was known to the high priest, came back, spoke to the girl on duty there and brought Peter in.17 “You are not one of his disciples, are you?” the girl at the door asked Peter.
He replied, “I am not.”
18 It was cold, and the servants and officials stood around a fire they had made to keep warm. Peter also was standing with them, warming himself.
The High Priest Questions Jesus
19 Meanwhile, the high priest questioned Jesus about his disciples and his teaching.20 “I have spoken openly to the world,” Jesus replied. “I always taught in synagogues or at the temple, where all the Jews come together. I said nothing in secret. 21 Why question me? Ask those who heard me. Surely they know what I said.”
22 When Jesus said this, one of the officials nearby struck him in the face. “Is this the way you answer the high priest?” he demanded.
23 “If I said something wrong,” Jesus replied, “testify as to what is wrong. But if I spoke the truth, why did you strike me?” 24 Then Annas sent him, still bound, to Caiaphas the high priest.
Peter’s Second and Third Denials
25 As Simon Peter stood warming himself, he was asked, “You are not one of his disciples, are you?”He denied it, saying, “I am not.”
26 One of the high priest’s servants, a relative of the man whose ear Peter had cut off, challenged him, “Didn’t I see you with him in the olive grove?” 27 Again Peter denied it, and at that moment a rooster began to crow.
You'll notice that the narrative in today's passage goes back and forth between Jesus' trial and Peter's denial of Jesus. The Holy Spirit could've put them in two separate stories, back to back, but He didn't. He intermingled them.
Having them intermingled like that gives us a huge contrast between Jesus' loving faithfulness and Peter's loveless faithlessness, between Jesus' holiness and Peter's (our!) sinfulness. And we see that despite Jesus being mocked, spit on, degrade, humiliated, condemned - He suffers through it with dignity out of love for us. And contrasting that scene with Peter's sinfulness, reminds us that no matter how low Jesus appeared to be from a human perspective, Peter was lower still.
Reflecting a bit on Peter's denial of Jesus, it seems that Peter may have been blindsided a little. He was likely thinking about what he was going to do if he got through the high priests courtyard and preparing himself for that, and then out of nowhere comes this girl at the gate who questions him and he's not ready for it, and he denies Jesus. That's how Satan operates. We can think we're ready for some big temptation and then something sneaks up on us out of nowhere and we're not ready for it - especially because we're often relying on ourselves to overcome temptation. Peter slept instead of praying in the garden. He was too self-confident.
And once he lied once, it was easier to just keep going, especially since he kept hanging around the scene of temptation. Another lesson for us. If we stumble because we've gone into the world before we're ready for it, we need to get out of there.
And then the rooster crows and Peter is reminded of what Jesus had predicted, and then, if he wasn't already feeling low enough, Luke 22 tells us that Jesus looked at Peter. He knew what Peter had done. How painful that must've been - both for Jesus to be betrayed by His friend, and for Peter to realize what he had done, how badly he had blown it.
MacArthur (emphasis mine).....
There's so many things that Peter teaches us. We learn that the believer is weak. We learn the danger of self‑confidence. We learn the consequence of prayerlessness. Peter should have been praying in the garden instead of sleeping, he might have been ready for this ... the danger of evil company. We learn the power of fear.All these things. We also see, as John wants us to see, the beauty and the majesty of Jesus Christ....
I'll tell you something, friends, if you've gotten to the place in your life where you're fooling around in the world and you just don't know it's wrong, it's just not like it used to be, self‑confidence and you didn't make it, you couldn't handle it, and you got shot down and now you're standing around with unbelievers most of the time. There's only one way out and that's to really look into the face of Jesus Christ and remember what it use to be and get back to it.
Later in the story we see that Peter was redeemed and God made him into the rock He wanted him to be. Hope is not lost. We can be restored too - when we look to Jesus.
Tomorrow's scripture focus: John 18:28-40
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