P1980:1, 184:2.1
As the band of guards and soldiers approached the entrance to the palace of
Annas, John Zebedee was marching by the side of the captain of the Roman soldiers.
Judas had dropped some distance behind, and Simon Peter followed afar off.
After John had entered the palace courtyard with Jesus and the guards, Judas
came up to the gate but, seeing Jesus and John, went on over to the home of
Caiaphas, where he knew the real trial of the Master would later take place.
Soon after Judas had left, Simon Peter arrived, and as he stood before the
gate, John saw him just as they were about to take Jesus into the palace.
The portress who kept the gate knew John, and when he spoke to her, requesting
that she let Peter in, she gladly assented.
P1980:2, 184:2.2
Peter, upon entering the courtyard, went over to the charcoal fire and sought
to warm himself, for the night was
chilly. He felt very much out of place
here among the enemies of Jesus, and indeed he was out of place. The Master
had not instructed him to keep near at hand as he had admonished John. Peter
belonged with the other apostles, who had been specifically warned not to
endanger their lives during these times of the trial and crucifixion of their
Master.
P1980:3, 184:2.3
Peter threw away his sword shortly before he came up to the palace gate so
that he entered the courtyard of Annas unarmed. His mind was in a whirl of
confusion; he could scarcely realize that Jesus had been arrested. He could
not grasp the reality of the situation -- that he was here in the courtyard
of Annas, warming himself beside the servants of the high priest. He wondered
what the other apostles were doing and, in turning over in his mind as to
how John came to be admitted to the palace, concluded that it was because
he was known to the servants, since he had bidden the gate-keeper admit him.
P1980:4, 184:2.4
Shortly after the portress let Peter in, and while he was warming himself
by the fire, she went over to him and
mischievously said, "Are you not also
one of this man's disciples?" Now Peter should not have been surprised at
this recognition, for it was John who had requested that the girl let him
pass through the palace gates; but he was in such a tense nervous state that
this identification as a disciple threw him off his balance, and with only
one thought uppermost in his mind -- the thought of escaping with his life
-- he promptly answered the maid's question by saying, "I am not."
P1980:5, 184:2.5
Very soon another servant came up to Peter and asked: "Did I not see you in
the garden when they arrested this fellow? Are you not also one of his followers?"
Peter was now thoroughly alarmed; he saw no way of safely escaping from these
accusers; so he vehemently denied all connection with Jesus, saying, "I know
not this man, neither am I one of his followers."
P1980:6, 184:2.6
About this time the portress of the gate drew Peter to one side and said:
"I am sure you are a disciple of this Jesus, not only because one of his followers
bade me let you in the courtyard, but my sister here has seen you in the temple
with this man. Why do you deny this?" When Peter heard the maid accuse him,
he denied all knowledge of Jesus with much cursing and swearing, again saying,
"I am not this man's follower; I do not even know him; I never heard of him
before."
P1981:1, 184:2.7
Peter left the fireside for a time while he walked about the courtyard. He
would have liked to have escaped, but he feared to attract attention to himself.
Getting cold, he returned to the fireside, and one of the men standing near
him said: "Surely you are one of this man's disciples. This Jesus is a Galilean,
and your speech betrays you, for you also speak as a Galilean." And again
Peter denied all connection with his Master.
P1981:2, 184:2.8
Peter was so perturbed that he sought to escape contact with his accusers
by going away from the fire and remaining by himself on the porch. After more
than an hour of this isolation, the gate-keeper and her sister chanced to
meet him, and both of them again
teasingly charged him with being a follower
of Jesus. And again he denied the accusation. Just as he had once more denied
all connection with Jesus, the cock crowed, and Peter remembered the words
of warning spoken to him by his Master earlier that same night. As he stood
there, heavy of heart and crushed with the sense of guilt, the palace doors
opened, and the guards led Jesus past on the way to Caiaphas. As the Master
passed Peter, he saw, by the light of the torches, the look of despair on
the face of his former self-confident and superficially brave apostle, and
he turned and looked upon Peter. Peter never forgot that look as long as he
lived. It was such a glance of commingled pity and love as mortal man had
never beheld in the face of the Master.
P1981:3, 184:2.9
After Jesus and the guards passed out of the palace gates, Peter followed
them, but only for a short distance. He could not go farther. He sat down
by the side of the road and wept bitterly. And when he had shed these tears
of agony, he turned his steps back toward the camp, hoping to find his brother,
Andrew. On arriving at the camp, he found only David Zebedee, who sent a messenger
to direct him to where his brother had gone to hide in Jerusalem.
P1981:4, 184:2.10
Peter's entire experience occurred in the courtyard of the palace of Annas
on Mount Olivet. He did not follow Jesus to the palace of the high priest,
Caiaphas. That Peter was brought to the realization that he had repeatedly
denied his Master by the crowing of a cock indicates that this all occurred
outside of Jerusalem since it was against the law to keep
poultry within the
city proper.
P1981:5, 184:2.11
Until the crowing of the cock brought Peter to his better senses, he had only
thought, as he walked up and down the porch to keep warm, how cleverly he
had eluded the accusations of the servants, and how he had frustrated their
purpose to identify him with Jesus. For the time being, he had only considered
that these servants had no moral or legal right thus to question him, and
he really congratulated himself over the manner in which he thought he had
avoided being identified and possibly subjected to arrest and imprisonment.
Not until the cock crowed did it occur to Peter that he had denied his Master.
Not until Jesus looked upon him, did he realize that he had failed to live
up to his privileges as an ambassador of the kingdom.
P1981:6, 184:2.12
Having taken the first step along the path of compromise and least resistance,
there was nothing apparent to Peter but to go on with the course of conduct
decided upon. It requires a great and noble character, having started out
wrong, to turn about and go right. All too often one's own mind tends to justify
continuance in the path of error when once it is entered upon.
P1981:7, 184:2.13
Peter never fully believed that he could be forgiven until he met his Master
after the resurrection and saw that he was received just as before the experiences
of this tragic night of the denials.