John 18:15-27--Peter Denies Jesus, Jesus Questioned by the High Priest

John 18:15-27
English Standard Version

Peter Denies Jesus​
15 Simon Peter followed Jesus, and so did another disciple. Since that disciple was known to the high priest, he entered with Jesus into the courtyard of the high priest, 16 but Peter stood outside at the door. So the other disciple, who was known to the high priest, went out and spoke to the servant girl who kept watch at the door, and brought Peter in. 17 The servant girl at the door said to Peter, “You also are not one of this man's disciples, are you?” He said, “I am not.” 18 Now the servants and officers had made a charcoal fire, because it was cold, and they were standing and warming themselves. Peter also was with them, standing and warming himself.

The High Priest Questions Jesus
19 The high priest then questioned Jesus about his disciples and his teaching. 20 Jesus answered him, “I have spoken openly to the world. I have always taught in synagogues and in the temple, where all Jews come together. I have said nothing in secret. 21 Why do you ask me? Ask those who have heard me what I said to them; they know what I said.” 22 When he had said these things, one of the officers standing by struck Jesus with his hand, saying, “Is that how you answer the high priest?” 23 Jesus answered him, “If what I said is wrong, bear witness about the wrong; but if what I said is right, why do you strike me?” 24 Annas then sent him bound to Caiaphas the high priest.

Peter Denies Jesus Again
25 Now Simon Peter was standing and warming himself. So they said to him, “You also are not one of his disciples, are you?” He denied it and said, “I am not.” 26 One of the servants of the high priest, a relative of the man whose ear Peter had cut off, asked, “Did I not see you in the garden with him?” 27 Peter again denied it, and at once a rooster crowed.

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We pick up some interesting details in John's account here that lead us to believe that John is "the other disciple" being mentioned in this account.  We're again gong to see a different perspective here than we normally would because John has a different purpose in writing his gospel than simply giving the history of the events--he wants us to understand that Jesus is the Son of God.

We see that after all the disciples scatters, Peter and another disciple, again, we assume this to be John, followed Jesus to the place where they took Him for trial.  John was known by the high priest and was allowed entry into the courtyard, but Peter had to wait outside until John went and spoke to the servant girl to say that Peter was with him so that Peter could gain entry--it's no wonder that the servant girl is going to know who Peter is since it's not that hard to connect the dots if you know who John is and it also makes some of her questions make more sense.

The servant girl starts to immediately question Peter saying, "You are not also one of His disciples, are you?"  Why throw in the word "also" unless it was an indication that she knew that John was a disciples and Peter was guilty by association (by being vouched for by John).  Peter denies that he is a disciple of Jesus and makes his way over to the charcoal fire to try to keep himself warm, trying to blend in with the servants and officers who were warming themselves there--probably many of whom were part of the mob that just came to arrest Jesus.

We would expect the story to continue, but John leaves us in suspense to turn back to the main character here, Jesus.  Jesus is now questioned by both Annas (the one acting as high priest though he is not) and Caiaphas the actual high priest that year.  We'll see that Jesus did not really answer either one of them other than to say that He had said and done enough publicly, in the temple and in the synagogues in front of them and many other witnesses, so there was no need for Him to repeat it all again, because He had done nothing in secret (Jewish law prohibited a defendant from being compelled to testify against himself or herself, so Jesus is well within His right to not answer questions here).  Jesus tells them to ask those who were witnesses to what He said and did, because they should be everywhere--even though most of His ministry was in Galilee, most of what He said and did that infuriated the religious leaders was done in and around Jerusalem, so many of the witnesses would be locals.

Even though the Law forbid them from doing so, one of the officers struck Jesus while He was in custody.  No prisoner in their custody was to be tortured or abused.  This is just one of many issues with this sham trial as well as the time of the trial, the location of the trial, and many other issues how the trial was conducted.  Jesus again did not get provoked and simply said that if the official had testimony to offer about Jesus' testimony being false, then the official should offer it, but if Jesus' testimony was true, then there was no need the official to strike Him.  Again, we see that Jesus is in complete control of Himself and the timeline here (while not completely obvious here, Jesus is going to move things along when the time is right, but for now it's not the right time so Jesus is drawing things out by making them find witnesses that they think will have testimony against Jesus).  Even the fact that Annas was conducting this trial was violation of the Law, as he had no right or authority to do so, so Jesus had no reason to answer any of his questions and the official definitely had no reason to assault Jesus because Jesus never misspoke to the high priest, because the man acting as high priest was not the high priest.  We see this when it says that Annas sent Jesus bound to Caiaphas the high priest.

The scene now shifts back to Peter where the people that he is near warning themselves by the fire think they recognize him--again, some of them were likely part of the group that just arrested Jesus, and how were they going to forget the guy that cut off the ear of the high priest's servant?  They question Peter about it and Peter again denies being a disciple of Jesus.  Finally, a relative of the servant whose ear was cut off by Peter recognizes him and says, "Did I not see you in the garden with him?"  Peter is busted, but he still lies and denies Jesus, this time with an oath (he probably "swore to God") that he did not even know Jesus--we see this by reading this account in other gospels.  At this time a couple things happen--the rooster crows and Jesus turns around and looks Peter in the eye.  Peter immediately realizes what he has done and that the prophecy that Jesus spoke has been fulfilled and he runs away weeping.  We have some indication that he went all the way back home to the Sea of Galilee to the places where he used to fish before Jesus called him to be a fisher of men.  We'll talk more about Peter later, but for now the focus of the story will stay focused on Jesus.  Everything is happening just the way that He said it would and its happening all according to the timetable that the Father has given.  Jesus isn't surprised by any of it and we'll see that Jesus will not die until exactly the right time (the time when the Passover lambs are being slaughtered).