Luke 22:54-62

Jesus Is Brought To The High Priest's House Where Peter Denies Him Three Times (22:54-62).

Jesus' actual arrest had been by the Temple guard, and He was now taken to the High Priest's house, (which would have been a very large house built around a central courtyard), in order to prepare the case against Him. His being taken there demonstrates that the Romans (only mentioned by John) had only been present in case of trouble, although their presence would be necessary for an arrest of this nature, for they wanted to accuse Him of capital crimes. They wanted His sentence to be political.

Both Annas (the ‘retired' High Priest, but still acknowledged by the people as High Priest. Scripturally High Priests were High Priests for life) and Caiaphas, his son-in-law, the current High Priest appointed by the Romans, would each have a suite of apartments there, for it was the family residence. The pattern that would now follow would be complicated, and it is quite clear that for any writer to seek to include all that happened would have unnecessarily used up valuable writing space that could be better used for other purposes, and would have meant needless repetition. For much of what went on during the night had to be repeated again before the full Sanhedrin, who had to be convinced that Jesus was getting a reasonably fair trial. Luke especially at this stage must have been conscious of running out of space, for there were limits as to how long a scroll could reasonably be, and how much could be recorded on it. And he chose therefore only to record brief but essential details of the official hearing. Possibly this was partly because he was aware of what Mark had already dealt with. Fortunately for the historian, however, Matthew and Mark were more concerned with the hearing before Caiaphas, and John, aware of the gaps, tells us about Annas, so that we can build up a fairly full picture.

The approaches of the writers actually brings out an interesting point from our point of view. Each of them selects from the material and describes three hearings. To each of them three would be seen as indicating to the readers the completeness of the what He underwent. More than three would simply be to overload the narrative.

The night, however, appears to have gone as follows:

· First Jesus would be interviewed in private by a small group led by the wily old Annas, former High Priest and father-in-law of Caiaphas the present High Priest, so as to question him and work out what charges to lay against Him (John 18:13; John 18:19). Annas was both astute and experienced, and it was probably hoped that he would be able to get some damaging admissions from Him and work out some charges that could be successfully laid against Him before the Sanhedrin. He reveals something of what he was when he allowed Jesus to be smitten without protest. But in the end, recognising that he had failed to achieve his object, he then sent him to Caiaphas to see whether with the help of the influential people he had gathered they could either overawe Jesus, or in some way trip Him up.

· While this preliminary hearing was going on an inner group of influential illwishers connected with the Sanhedrin were being gathered together by Caiaphas at his house in order to prepare for the trial in the morning, and if necessary, to iron out the case against Him. These would then examine Him further (Mark 14:53; Matthew 26:57), and this would clarify in their own minds what tack they should take before the Sanhedrin in the morning. It was important that they build up a case which would stand examination. Thus they sought to discover reliable witnesses, and find a charge that would stick. All knew that legally no sentence of death could officially be passed at night. If the matter was to stand up to examination afterwards, the full Sanhedrin would have to be brought together in its official meeting place in the morning in order to pass sentence. But it was necessary for the case to be cut and dried before then so that once morning came there would be no delay.

· When light did come there was then a meeting of the full official Sanhedrin (Luke 22:66; Mark 15:1; Matthew 27:1) at their official meeting place. Only they could actually come to an official conclusion on a serious matter like the condemnation of a false prophet. And all knew that some of the members of the Sanhedrin might be difficult to convince. They were not all enemies of Jesus. So the case had to be as cast iron as the accusers could make it. Indeed we learn later that the vote was not unanimous (Luke 23:51).

· Once their ‘verdict' had been reached He would then be handed over to Pilate, because they wanted Him condemned by the Romans for a political crime so that they themselves would not become even more unpopular with the people. In the end Pilate was the only one who could sentence Him to death for political crimes. Luke also includes within this hearing the consultation before Herod. But that was in no sense a trial. Indeed the only real trial that resulted in the passing of a sentence was that before Pilate.

Unlike Mark and Matthew, Luke only deals with the final and most important Jewish tribunal. This was the one recognised by the Romans which passed the official verdict, and which would provide the basis of the charge brought before Pilate. And that particular hearing occurred after the incident that follows.

For meanwhile, along with another disciple, Peter had followed the arresting party and now found himself in the courtyard of the house warming himself at a fire while the first of the above examinations was going on. In one chiasmus (see the opening of Section 8) this passage parallels that of Jesus' earlier warning to him about his denial, in another it parallels and contrasts with Judas' betrayal. But it appears that Peter himself had temporarily forgotten Jesus' warning in the face of the urgency of the situation in which he found himself. This account will highlight four things, firstly Peter's own weaknesses, secondly the supreme courage, confidence, openness and strength of Jesus which is in stark contrast with them (He had steadfastly prayed and Peter had not), thirdly the amazing foresight of Jesus concerning what Peter would do, and fourthly the way in which God sometimes allows His own to fail, so that He might finally make them strong.

Analysis.

a They seized Him, and led Him away, and brought Him into the high priest's house. But Peter followed afar off (Luke 22:54).

b And when they had kindled a fire in the midst of the court, and had sat down together, Peter sat in the midst of them (Luke 22:55).

c And a certain maid seeing him as he sat in the light of the fire, and looking steadfastly at him, said, “This man also was with Him” (Luke 22:56).

d But he denied, saying, “Woman, I know Him not” (Luke 22:57).

c And after a little while another saw him, and said, “You also are one of them” (Luke 22:58 a).

d But Peter said, “Man, I am not” (Luke 22:58 b)'

c And after the space of about one hour another confidently affirmed, saying, “Of a truth this man also was with Him, for he is a Galilean” (Luke 22:59).

d But Peter said, “Man, I do not know what you are saying.” And immediately, while he yet spoke, the cock crew' (Luke 22:60).

b And the Lord turned, and looked on Peter. And Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how He had said to him, “Before the cock crow this day you will deny Me three times” (Luke 22:61).

a And he went out, and wept bitterly (Luke 22:62).

Note that in ‘a' Peter followed afar off, and in the parallel he went out and wept bitterly. In ‘b' he settled down together with Jesus' enemies, and in the parallel Jesus turned and looked on Peter. In each of ‘c' there comes an accusation, and in each ‘d' we have Peter's reply. These threesomes are the central part in the passage (The three questions and answers could thus be seen as one central item. The pattern is paralleled elsewhere in Scripture, see especially our commentary on Numbers 22-24 for examples).