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Illegal Trial of Jesus
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first denial, and immediately the rooster crowed. In pretending to
have no involvement with Jesus, Peter had become an easy prey to
temptation.
Someone else called attention to him the second time, claiming
he was a follower of Jesus. Peter now declared with an oath, “I do
not know the Man!” Another hour passed, when a close relative of
the man whose ear Peter had cut off asked him, “Did I not see you
in the garden with Him?” “Surely you are one of them; for you are a
Galilean.” At this Peter flew into a rage. In order fully to deceive his
questioners and justify his pretended identity, Peter now denied his
Master with cursing and swearing. Again the rooster crowed. Peter
heard it and remembered the words of Jesus, “Before the rooster
crows twice, you will deny Me three times.”
Mark 14:30
.
While the degrading oaths were fresh on Peter’s lips and the
shrill crowing of the rooster was ringing in his ears, the Savior
turned and looked directly at His poor disciple. At the same time,
Peter’s eyes were drawn to his Master. In that gentle expression he
read deep pity and sorrow, but no anger.
The sight of that suffering face, those quivering lips, pierced his
heart like an arrow. Peter remembered his promise of a few short
hours before, when the Savior told him he would deny his Lord three
times that very night. Peter now realized how accurately his Lord
had read his the falseness of heart, which he had not known himself.
A tide of memories rushed over him. The Savior’s long-suffering,
His patience—he remembered it all. He reflected with horror on
his own falsehood, his perjury. Once more he saw an ungodly hand
raised to strike his Master in the face. Unable to endure the scene
any longer, he rushed, heartbroken, from the hall.
He hurried on in solitude and darkness, not knowing or caring
where. At last he found himself in Gethsemane. He remembered
with bitter remorse that Jesus had agonized in prayer alone. He
remembered His solemn instruction, “Watch and pray, lest you enter
into temptation.”
Matthew 26:41
. It was torture to his bleeding
heart to know that he had added the heaviest burden to the Savior’s
humiliation and grief. Peter fell on his face and wished that he would
die.
If he had spent those hours in the garden in watching and prayer,
Peter would not have been left to depend on his own feeble strength.
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