25As Simon Peter stood warming himself, he was asked, “You are not one of his disciples, are you?”
26One 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?” 27Again Peter denied it, and at that moment a rooster began to crow. (John 18:15-27 –NIV)
As I did last week and am planning on doing for several weeks, as we talk about Jesus’s trial, crucifixion and resurrection, I’m going to include some of the details from the other gospel accounts that John left out. (He didn’t leave them out because was careless, but because they weren’t important to the point he was making. But they are important for us to know, so I’m going to include them anyway.)
Now look at the first verse in today’s passage, verse 15. When Jesus was arrested, bound and taken to the high priest, Simon Peter and another disciple followed them at a distance. The high priest knew the other disciple, so the gatekeeper allowed him to come into the high priest’s courtyard, but Peter had to wait outside (verse 16). The other disciple later came back and spoke to the gate keeper, who was a young servant girl, and she allowed Peter to come in.
Now I want you to see what’s going on here. Maybe we can learn something about ourselves – and about God! This is Peter who said that he would never deny Jesus, that he would fight to the death for him. This is Peter who had drawn his sword when they were going to arrest Jesus and whacked off the servant of the high priest’s ear – and had done this in front of several hundred armed Roman soldiers. He was saved from being arrested or killed, not by luck, but by God’s sovereign power. You remember that Jesus had said to the people who had come to arrest him, “If you are looking for me, then let these men go.” (John 18:8) This was not a request as it may have sounded to us and to everyone there, but a command from highest heaven. That’s why Peter stayed alive.
This Peter, who had confronted the rulers of Israel and the Roman army, now had to have the permission of a servant girl to enter the courtyard of the high priest. God has a way of humbling us; but there was more to come for Peter. When the servant girl questioned whether Peter was one of the disciples, without even thinking, he denied it!
After Peter had entered the courtyard, he stood with some of the servants and officials at a fire they had made to keep warm. (These were some of the very officials that were there to arrest Jesus when Peter had cut of the ear of the servant of the high priest. Matthew says that he sat down to wait and see what would happen. (Matt. 26:58)
Now let’s skip down to verse 25. (All the time this was happening, they were questioning Jesus in verses 19 through 24.) In verse 25 John tells us that someone again questioned Peter about being a disciple of Jesus. John just says that Peter denied it. But the other gospel writers tell us that it was a servant girl and that he denied it with an oath.
Do you see what’s happening here? Peter is trying to sound as though he is angry because they keep asking him about Jesus, but really, he’s afraid. Do you remember that Jesus taught us in the Sermon on the Mount not to swear by anything, but to simply let our “Yes” mean “Yes” and our “No” mean “No.” He said that anything beyond that comes from the evil one! Peter was lying. Satan, the evil one, is the father of lies.
Finally (Luke says an hour later), Peter was confronted again (according to the other gospel writers) by those around the fire. John says in verse 26 that 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?” Peter again denied it. The other gospel writers say that he swore (that means he swore an oath) and began calling down curses on himself. I believe that means that he began to say things like, “May heaven strike me down if I’ve ever heard of that man.” You know, I don’t think there was anyone who hadn’t heard of Jesus. When Peter denied Jesus for the third time, Luke tells us that Jesus looked directly at him.
After Peter’s third denial, the rooster crowed, just as Jesus had predicted (“Will you really lay down your life for me. I tell you the truth, before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times!”). Then Peter went out of the courtyard and wept bitterly. He had denied Jesus, whom he loved and for who he had said he would lay down his life –and not once, but three times. You know, at this point Peter’s self-confidence was completely gone –absolutely wiped out. But now he was ready for God to do something with him.
This account of Peter’s denying Jesus is in all of the gospels, so it must be important. We can learn from this account that, regardless of what we may think, we have no real ability in ourselves to do anything for God. But we also know that Peter became a mighty apostle for the gospel, and that, according to extra-biblical history, Peter did finally lay down his life for Jesus – but not to “save” Jesus from going to the cross. Peter laid down his life to make sure that the message of salvation through faith in Jesus was carried to the ends of the earth.
But there’s one more thing that is encouraging about this story. Let’s look at Luke 22:31-34. This is Jesus speaking to Peter:
31 “Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift you as wheat. 32But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.”
33But he replied, “Lord, I am ready to go with you to prison and to death.”
34Jesus answered, “I tell you, Peter, before the rooster crows today, you will deny three times that you know me.” (Luke 22:31-34 –NIV)
You know, I’ve said a bunch of times lately that God always heard Jesus’s prayers. Jesus said that in John 11:42 when he raised Lazarus from the dead. When Jesus prayed for Peter’s faith not to fail, Peter’s faith was guaranteed not to fail. God always answered Jesus’s prayers. Jesus prayed for Peter’s faith not to fail. Do you think Peter’s faith failed? Jesus told Peter, “When you have turned back, strengthen your brothers,” not “If you turn back,” but “When you turn back!” Have you ever been where Peter was? I certainly have. Your faith has not failed! Be encouraged!
Now let’s look at verses 19 through 23. The NIV gives this section the title The High Priest Questions Jesus. This was happening while Peter was in the courtyard.
According to John, when Jesus was first arrested, they brought him to Annas. Annas was the father-in-law of Caiaphas, the high priest for that year. (John 18:12, 13) According to what I have read in commentaries, Annas had been high priest before Caiaphas. He was the one who held the real power. That’s probably why they brought Jesus to Annas first. John actually refers to him as high priest in verse 19. Verse 19 says that the high priest questioned Jesus about his disciples and his teaching. This was Annas. Jesus answered by telling him that he had taught everything publicly, and why not just ask the people that had heard him teach what he had taught. I think the Jewish leaders had done just that. And, in fact, most of them had heard Jesus’s teachings first hand. I believe that Annas already knew all that Jesus had been teaching – and that he had already decided that Jesus was guilty, and so had the other Jewish leaders.
After Annas had questioned Jesus, he sent him to Caiaphas. The other gospels tell us that the Sanhedrin, the high Jewish council, was convened. Caiaphas, as high priest, would have been president of the Sanhedrin. The other gospels tell us that they brought many accusers to testify against Jesus –many false witnesses –but that they could not get a consistent story out of them. They could not find any evidence to use to put Jesus to death. They even had people that testified that Jesus had said, “I will destroy this man-made temple and in three days will build another, not made by man.” (Do you remember that at the beginning of Jesus’s ministry, when they asked him for a miraculous sign, he said, “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it up again in three days.” They thought he was talking about the magnificent Jewish temple in Jerusalem. But he was actually talking about raising his own body from the dead.) Mark says that even these people that gave this testimony couldn’t agree on what Jesus had said.
During all this Jesus had said nothing. “He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth.” (Isaiah 53:7) When the high priest asked Jesus if he wasn’t going to say anything in his own defense, Mark says that he remained silent. (Mark 14:60)
Finally, the high priest asked him directly, “Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed One?” To this Jesus answered, “I am. And you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven.” Then they all asked Jesus if he was the Son of God. He answered, “You are right in saying I am.” Then they said, “Why do we need any more testimony? We have heard it from his own lips.” Then they led him off to Pilate.
You know, when you read about this trial, you might wonder why they only thought it was necessary to prove that Jesus had claimed to be the Son of God, but not prove that he wasn’t the Son of God. It seems as though they were just taking that for granted. But to really prove that he was blaspheming against God and was worthy of death, they would have had to have proved that he was lying when he claimed to be the Son of God. Although they all would have claimed that they were looking forward to the coming of the Messiah, they acted as though they knew it really couldn’t happen!
When Caiaphas had said that it was better for one man to die for the people than for the whole nation to perish, he was assuming that if Jesus lead a rebellion against the Roman government, their nation would be destroyed (and with it, their positions of prestige and authority). In reality, I think, they really didn’t want anything to disturb the status quo – even the coming of the real Messiah!
So let me ask you this. What do you think? Are you looking forward to the second coming of Jesus? Or is there something that you love in this world that would be interrupted or disturbed if Jesus came back. Just something to think about.
Jesus still had to appear before Pilate and before Herod and be scourged and beaten beyond recognition – and then be crucified for our sin –and then rise from the dead.
52:13 See, my servant will act wisely; he will be raised and lifted up and highly exalted.
14Just as there were many who were appalled at him–his appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any man and his form marred beyond human likeness–
15so will he sprinkle many nations, and kings will shut their mouths because of him. For what they were not told, they will see, and what they have not heard, they will understand.
53:1Who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
2He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.
3He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
4Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted.
5But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.
6We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
7He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth.
8By oppression and judgment he was taken away. And who can speak of his descendants? For he was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgression of my people he was stricken.
9He was assigned a grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death, though he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth.
10Yet it was the Lord's will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the Lord makes his life a guilt offering, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand.
11After the suffering of his soul, he will see the light of life and be satisfied; by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities.
12Therefore I will give him a portion among the great, and he will divide the spoils with the strong, because he poured out his life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors. For he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors. (Isaiah 52:13-53:12 –NIV)
[Prayer]
May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.