Six Trials

Six Trials
Luke 22:54-62

54 Then [de] took they [sullambano] him [autos] , and led [ago] him, and [kai] brought [eisago] him [autos] into [eis] the high priest's [archiereus] house [oikos] . And [de] Peter [Petros] followed [akoloutheo] afar off [makrothen] .
55 And [de] when they [autos] had kindled [hapto] a fire [pur] in [en] the midst [mesos] of the hall [aule] , and [kai] were set down together [sugkathizo] , Peter [Petros] sat down [kathemai] among [mesos] [en] them [autos] .
56 But [de] a certain [tis] maid [paidiske] beheld [eido] him [autos] as he sat [kathemai] by [pros] the fire [phos] , and [kai] earnestly looked [atenizo] upon him [autos] , and said [epo] , This man [houtos] was [en] also [kai] with [sun] him [autos] .
57 And [de] he denied [arneomai] him [autos] , saying [lego] , Woman [gune] , I know [eido] him [autos] not [ou] .
58 And [kai] after [meta] a little while [brachus] another [heteros] saw [eido] him [autos] , and said [phemi] , Thou [su] art [ei] also [kai] of [ek] them [autos] . And [de] Peter [Petros] said [epo] , Man [anthropos] , I am [eimi] not [ou] .
59 And [kai] about [hosei] the space [diistemi] of one [mia] hour [hora] after another [allos] [tis] confidently affirmed [diischurizomai] , saying [lego] , Of [epi] a truth [aletheia] this [houtos] fellow also [kai] was [en] with [meta] him [autos] : for [gar] [kai] he is [esti] a Galilaean [Galilaios] .
60 And [de] Peter [Petros] said [epo] , Man [anthropos] , I know [eido] not [ou] what [hos] thou sayest [lego] . And [kai] immediately [parachrema] , while he [autos] yet [eti] spake [laleo] , the cock [alektor] crew [phoneo] .
61 And [kai] the Lord [kurios] turned [strepho] , and looked upon [emblepo] Peter [Petros] . And [kai] Peter [Petros] remembered [hupomimnesko] the word [logos] of the Lord [kurios] , how [hos] he had said [epo] unto him [autos] , Before [hoti] [prin] the cock [alektor] crow [phoneo] , thou shalt deny [aparneomai] me [me] thrice [tris] .
62 And [kai] Peter [Petros] went [exerchomai] out [exo] , and wept [klaio] bitterly [pikros] . KJV-Interlinear

54 And having arrested Him, they led Him away, and brought Him to the house of the high priest; but Peter was following at a distance. 55 And after they had kindled a fire in the middle of the courtyard and had sat down together, Peter was sitting among them. 56 And a certain servant-girl, seeing him as he sat in the firelight, and looking intently at him, said, 'This man was with Him too.' 57 But he denied it, saying, 'Woman, I do not know Him.' 58 And a little later, another saw him and said, 'You are one of them too!' But Peter said, 'Man, I am not!' 59 And after about an hour had passed, another man began to insist, saying, 'Certainly this man also was with Him, for he is a Galilean too.' 60 But Peter said, 'Man, I do not know what you are talking about.' And immediately, while he was still speaking, a cock crowed. 61 And the Lord turned and looked at Peter. And Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how He had told him, 'Before a cock crows today, you will deny Me three times.' 62 And he went out and wept bitterly. NASB

The fall of Peter, the rock, who was brave (sort of) from his knee jerk reaction in the garden, and there demonstrated his inability to fight with a sword (he missed the head and got only an ear). Attacking an unarmed slave, no less.

He follows at a distance out of a sense of loyalty, out of a sense of fear, out of a sense of guilt. These events following Peter this night occur throughout the night. Remember that Jesus is arrested about midnight, and the rooster does not crow until dawn. So about five or six hours pass during this sequence.

Jesus is first taken to the house of Annas, then to the house of Caiaphas (this part we have not yet studied), then after morning, Jesus will be brought before Caiaphas officially for his daytime trial. A trial to which a decision of guilt and a sentence of death have already been made beforehand.

Now back to Peter. He is a smart guy, but here he does not demonstrate too much in the way of wisdom. First, he pretends to know how to weld a sword, but has had little practice, which he demonstrated in the garden. He is a fisherman, not a soldier.

Second he follows at a distance to see where Jesus is being taken. Remember that there is quite a large group who went out to make the arrest. So following them shouldn't be too difficult.

At both houses, Peter tries to 'blend in' with the officers and servants. Now remember that it is the wee hours of the morning. Just who would you expect to be at each of these homes? The chief priests, the officers, the servants of the respective homes, some of those who were involved in the arrest, would be there. Now would you expect some stranger to be there, at this early hour? Peter would clearly have been out of place, and noticeable, which he was. Yet he tries to 'blend in' with those who were standing beside the fire.

Jesus is the obvious topic of discussion. He is the focus of the arrest. The chief priests would be strutting their stuff for all to see, obviously they have just arrested public enemy number one. They had 'important' matters to attend to this night.

Peter should have been at Jesus side rather than mingling with those who arrested Him (Jesus), and some servants.

Peter is challenged three times this night. He is challenged by servants (slaves), not higher ranking officials. Peter is within eyesight of Jesus at least he was when the rooster crowed. Jesus has already suffered abuse, ridicule, exposure to the cold, taunting and more. Yet Jesus despite these assaults on His character, did not crack under the pressure. He did not retaliate in anger against those who were mocking and abusing Him. He was clear thinking and, as we have already studied in Leviticus, was extremely stable in His emotions.

When the rooster crows at dawn, Jesus turns and looks at Peter. Peter also, looks at Jesus. Nothing is said nor implied, except that the prophecy was just fulfilled.

This has a couple of impacts on Peter. First he is filled with extreme remorse. He goes outside and cries (loudly), for that is the meaning of the word, 'klaio.' His bitterness (uncontrollable emotion) was directed against himself. He did wrong. He did wrong in a manner which was noticed. The words of Jesus were fulfilled and Peter has just come to the realization that he has been totally stupid regarding all of these things.

Earlier he was a tough guy with his sword and all. Earlier he was arguing with the other ten apostles as to whom was to become the greater in the Kingdom of God. His arrogance and attitude has just fallen all around him, and the look of Jesus simply drilled into Peter, the knowledge that he, Peter, was not worthy of anything.

That evaluation applies to us all, by the way.

He had grand ideas, and they were totally shattered, and now made irrelevant as Jesus is now the center of history.

If all could be seen, then no doubt there would be myriads of angels, and demons, as well as those people present, who would be looking on at these events. Some (people) clueless as to their significance, and to many (angels and probably a very few wise people) who understood it all.

Jesus did not fight, because fighting was not His mission. Jesus did not falter, because His emotions and His mental state were solid and stable.

Beaten thus far and under tremendous pressure (from the human viewpoint), Jesus still heard the rooster, and knew that Peter would be nearby. He perhaps even heard Peter's denial.

Now we all face the very same decision and test which Peter faced this night. We all have to face our study of Gods Word everyday. We all face our fellowship status throughout the day and night. We all face our responsibilities while functioning within our spiritual lives.

How many of us (that means you), how many of us sort of ease out of our spiritual responsibilities from time to time? How many of us become indifferent? How many of us have 'reasonable' excuses to not pursue our daily Bible study? How many of us deny Christ (for that is exactly what any and every negative expression is, whether great or small, - denial of Christ)?

Peter was faced down by slaves. Doesn't take much to fall in ones spiritual life. Doesn't take much to rationalize away ones spiritual life.

Now you, reading or hearing these words, are a smart person, right? You know that you were born (look in the mirror to confirm this). You know that you will die some day (trust me on this one).

You know that there is a life after death. If you think not, then you are not reading or listening to these words obviously. So what is the preparation for that next phase of life? You have the choice between the four great religions, and numerous smaller cults and philosophies, or you can pursue Christianity.

You know that God does not condone sin or bad behavior, so it is reasonable that God will not reward sin or bad behavior. We know that to be mature means being responsible and accountable, and that it is the mature who benefit society, not the immature.

So we have a choice, to become a member of the mature (spiritually), or not. To do so will means great happiness, great reward, great blessing. To ignore this opportunity will mean that you will join Peter outside the gate one day. Your tears will be huge crocodile ones.

Peter missed out on a great opportunity - namely to witness the focal point of history first hand. What opportunities are you willing to give up because of your stubborn attitude, holding onto whatever it is that prevents you from advancing in your spiritual life? Do you just ignore all of this? Or (before it is too late - you know, you could die tomorrow), do you wake up and get with a genuine study program?

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