Has the Lord found you “sleeping” at critical times? When you are awake in the night, do you pray? Or do you just go back to sleep? Most of us are too much like the disciples, seen in Verses 37-38, as the Lord said to Peter, “Simon, are you sleeping? Could you not watch one hour? Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” It’s a great benefit that we live in a time when we can look in the Bible and understand that the Lord knows how weak we are, and yet, like His disciples, He loves us anyway.
In Verse 39, Jesus went deeper into the Garden of Gethsemane once more, again praying the words of Verses 34-36 (including, “take this cup from Me”). He returned to His followers in Verses 40-41, finding “them asleep again, for their eyes were heavy; and they did not know what to answer Him.” It happened a third time, as seen in Verses 41-42. He “said to them, ‘Are you still sleeping and resting? It is enough! The hour has come; behold, the Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of sinners. Rise, let us be going. See, My betrayer is at hand.”
We have all failed the Lord at some critical point in our lives and it’s very interesting to compare the Peter of these verses, who failed at critical times, to Judas Iscariot who apparently was a mean-spirited betrayer. In Verses 43-45, Jesus was still speaking when Judas arrived “with a great multitude with swords and clubs, (they) came from the chief priests and the scribes and the elders.” Judas had given them a signal, saying, “Whomever I kiss, He is the One; seize Him and lead Him away safely. As soon as he had come, immediately he went up to Him and said to Him, “Rabbi, Rabbi!” and kissed Him.” This is the origin of the phrase, “The kiss of death.”
The Messiah was identified in Isaiah 9:6 by Names that included, “Mighty God,” and so when it says in Verse 46, “they laid their hands on (Jesus) and took Him,” it was done, not by strength, but with God’s permission and for His purposes. One of Jesus’ disciples now drew a sword and Verse 47 reports that he swung at the head of “the servant of the high priest” but missed and cut off the man’s ear. In John 18:12 we learn that the man with the errant sword was our “Simon Peter” and the servant was named “Malchus.” Jesus stopped all this in Verses 48-49, by saying, “Have you come out, as against a robber, with swords and clubs to take Me? I was daily with you in the temple teaching, and you did not seize Me. But the Scriptures must be fulfilled.”
Many Scriptures were fulfilled by these events. One of them was Isaiah 50:6 – “I gave My back to those who struck Me, and My cheeks to those who plucked out the beard; I did not hide My face from shame and spitting.” And in the midst of this, all His disciples “forsook Him and fled,” as it says in Verse 50. Have you ever felt abandoned? Jesus was abandoned and He knows how you feel. This event was foretold in Zechariah 13:7, where it says, “the sheep… will be scattered.” All of His disciples were saved from harm by panic and by God’s help, except for “a certain young man” in Verses 51-52, who had “followed Him.” He wore only “a linen cloth” and other “young men laid hold of him,” but he ran away naked leaving the linen cloth behind.
Jesus was now in a place where He felt alone with His enemies, as you may feel, but note that He was not alone because the Father and the Holy Spirit were with Him, just as They are with you. They led Him in Verse 53, away to the high priest; and with him were assembled all the chief priests, the elders, and the scribes. All of the so-called “in-crowd” was there; the ones who pretended to serve God, but in fact, only served themselves.
But now, in Verse 54, we look behind the angry mob and find Peter, who “followed Him at a distance, right into the courtyard of the high priest. And he sat with the servants and warmed himself at the fire.” Peter was foolish at times, but he also loved the Lord and he was brave.
It’s been pointed out that to place someone on trial during the Passover was against Jewish Law, and additionally the Jews were not permitted by the Romans to try a case involving the death penalty, but here in Verse 55 were the “chief priests and all the council” (the Sanhedrin), hearing testimony “against Jesus to put Him to death,” but they found – nothing that would convict him. The attempts to convict continued in Verses 56-59 – “For many bore false witness against Him, but their testimonies did not agree. Then some rose up and bore false witness against Him, saying, We heard Him say, ‘I will destroy this temple made with hands, and within three days I will build another made without hands.’ But not even then did their testimony agree.” Isn’t that amazing? – People make judgments about others and whether right or wrong, we tend to spend a lot of time and effort trying to blame them and vindicate ourselves. Just like the chief priests.
The “high priest” was exasperated as he stood up in Verse 60. He hoped that Jesus would implicate Himself and demanded, “Do You answer nothing? What is it these men testify against You?” But Jesus amazed the man in Verse 61 by continuing to answer – “nothing.” The high priest must have been yelling loudly in his frustration, shouting, “Are You the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?” Note in his words that he EXPECTED that the Christ, the Messiah, the Anointed One, would be the Son of God, the Blessed One, which Jesus was and always will be.
This time, in Verse 62, Jesus ANSWERED the high priest. He said, “I am. And you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Power, and coming with the clouds of heaven.” As it says in Revelation 1:7, “EVERY eye will see Him (including those) who pierced Him…” The high priest now “tore his clothes” in Verses 63-65, declaring that Jesus was a blasphemer who should die. The onlookers agreed and “condemned Him to be deserving of death.” The situation became further out of control as “some began to spit on Him, and to blindfold Him, and to beat Him, and to say to Him, ‘Prophesy!’ And the officers struck Him with the palms of their hands.”
Those who purported to serve God were attacking Him, as the scene now shifts to Peter in Verses 66-67. “One of the servant girls of the high priest came” up to him, and when she saw him warming himself at the fire, “she looked at him and said, “You also were with Jesus of Nazareth.” God the Son, who knows everything, said in Mark 14:30 that Peter would deny Him three times before the rooster crowed twice. It would now happen just as He said. Peter betrayed Jesus in Verse 68, saying, “I neither know nor understand what you are saying.” He went outside and a rooster crowed. In Verse 69, the servant girl said, when she saw Peter again, “This is one of them.” Peter denied Jesus a second time and the onlookers insisted in Verse 70: “Surely you are one of them; for you are a Galilean, and your speech shows it.” In Verse 71, Peter started to curse and swear, stating, “I do not know this Man of whom you speak!” The rooster crowed a second time in Verse 72 as Peter remembered what Jesus had said to him: “Before the rooster crows twice, you will deny Me three times.” And this rough fisherman now “wept” bitterly.
Have you betrayed the Lord Jesus? Have you run from Him? As a young man I ran away from the Lord for fifteen years. I ran from His call to ministry. I rejected Him, declaring myself to be an “atheist” and in many ways denied our Lord. Though I rejected Him, He patiently waited for my return, and at just the right time, just as He would restore Peter, He rescued me. Just as He said to Israel in Deuteronomy 31:6 and Joshua 1:5, He has said to the church in Hebrews 13:5 what He is saying to Peter, to you and to me: “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”
Lord, I have denied You in so many ways. I confess our sin, as a church, as people, and my sin as an individual believer. Please forgive me, forgive us our betrayal, and bring us home to be with You, now and forever. Thank You, Lord. I trust in You now. In Jesus Name. Amen.
