Peter Shocked as the Rooster Crows at the Trialby JCM
14:66Mark 14:66
And as Peter was beneath in the palace, there cometh one of the maids of the high priest:
Mark 14:66 places Peter below in the high priest's palace, the palace of the officiating high priest Caiaphas, while Jesus is being tried above, and begins the account of Peter's denial. It is the very dark, cold hour before dawn, while Jesus is being hurried in amid insult and mockery and then coarsely accused, sneeringly questioned, and reviled in a mockery of an examination. Peter is warming himself by a fire with others during that questioning.
One of the high priest's servant girls approaches Peter. She is the woman keeping the door, who had seen him enter with John and suspects he is one of Jesus' followers. Peter is challenged as one associated with Jesus, as being one of His disciples or followers, and his Galilean speech also marks him as one of them.
When questioned Peter angrily denied knowing Jesus, and denied three times, finally with cursing and swearing, within Jesus' hearing. His denial, accompanied by cursing and swearing, is set alongside the mockery and accusations of Jesus' enemies. The cock crowed immediately after this first denial, marking the fulfillment of Jesus' warning to Peter.
Jesus turned a sorrowful, reproving look on Peter that showed sorrow and pity, not anger, which brought Peter's words back to his mind and reminded him of Jesus' warning that Satan would test him and that Jesus had prayed for his faith. That look brought Peter to recognize his betrayal, melted his heart, and led him to leave the hall heartbroken, weeping bitterly in repentance. He was converted and prepared to strengthen his fellow disciples and believers.
Coming from His beloved disciple, Peter's denial pierced the Saviour's heart with a keener pang, more deeply than anything inflicted by His enemies' mockery, accusations, and reviling. Peter acted from fear for his life and fear of scorn and ridicule, trying to hide his identity as Jesus' disciple, which left him exposed to temptation. Though he would have proved a bold and courageous soldier in open conflict for his Master, under ridicule and the finger of scorn he became a coward and his weakness was exposed.
He placed himself in the way of temptation by associating with those he should have avoided, thereby inviting the enemy to tempt him, and was led to say and do what he would otherwise have rejected and never have been guilty of under other circumstances. The episode warns that disguising one's faith through dread or fear of suffering, reproach, and ridicule is a real denial of the Lord like Peter's, and the same denial happens when a disciple of Christ in the present day does so. Those who boast of freedom of thought and action and laugh at the scruples of the conscientious who fear to do wrong act as Satan's agents to persuade the righteous to yield their faith, then despise those they tempted to ruin.
Mark 14:66 places Peter below in the high priest's palace, the palace of the officiating high priest Caiaphas, while Jesus is being tried above, and begins the account of Peter's denial. It is the very dark, cold hour before dawn, while Jesus is being hurried in amid insult and mockery and then coarsely accused, sneeringly questioned, and reviled in a mockery of an examination. Peter is warming himself by a fire with others during that questioning.
One of the high priest's servant girls approaches Peter. She is the woman keeping the door, who had seen him enter with John and suspects he is one of Jesus' followers. Peter is challenged as one associated with Jesus, as being one of His disciples or followers, and his Galilean speech also marks him as one of them.
When questioned Peter angrily denied knowing Jesus, and denied three times, finally with cursing and swearing, within Jesus' hearing. His denial, accompanied by cursing and swearing, is set alongside the mockery and accusations of Jesus' enemies. The cock crowed immediately after this first denial, marking the fulfillment of Jesus' warning to Peter.
Jesus turned a sorrowful, reproving look on Peter that showed sorrow and pity, not anger, which brought Peter's words back to his mind and reminded him of Jesus' warning that Satan would test him and that Jesus had prayed for his faith. That look brought Peter to recognize his betrayal, melted his heart, and led him to leave the hall heartbroken, weeping bitterly in repentance. He was converted and prepared to strengthen his fellow disciples and believers.
Coming from His beloved disciple, Peter's denial pierced the Saviour's heart with a keener pang, more deeply than anything inflicted by His enemies' mockery, accusations, and reviling. Peter acted from fear for his life and fear of scorn and ridicule, trying to hide his identity as Jesus' disciple, which left him exposed to temptation. Though he would have proved a bold and courageous soldier in open conflict for his Master, under ridicule and the finger of scorn he became a coward and his weakness was exposed.
He placed himself in the way of temptation by associating with those he should have avoided, thereby inviting the enemy to tempt him, and was led to say and do what he would otherwise have rejected and never have been guilty of under other circumstances. The episode warns that disguising one's faith through dread or fear of suffering, reproach, and ridicule is a real denial of the Lord like Peter's, and the same denial happens when a disciple of Christ in the present day does so. Those who boast of freedom of thought and action and laugh at the scruples of the conscientious who fear to do wrong act as Satan's agents to persuade the righteous to yield their faith, then despise those they tempted to ruin.