The Story of the Bible

When the disciples of Jesus saw that he would not allow them to fight for him, they did not know what to do. In their sudden alarm they all ran away, and left their Master alone with his enemies. These men laid their hands on Jesus, and bound him, and led him away to the house of the high-priest. There were at that time two men called high-priests by the Jews. One was Annas, who had been high-priest until his office had been taken away from him by the Romans, and given to Caiaphas, his son-in-law. But Annas still had great power among the people; and they brought Jesus, all bound as he was, first before Annas.

Simon Peter and John, the disciple whom Jesus loved, had followed after the crowd of those who carried Jesus away, and they came to the door of the high-priest's house. John knew the high-priest and went in, but Peter at first stayed outside, until John went out and brought him in. He came in, but did not dare to go into the room where Jesus stood before the high-priest Annas. In the courtyard of the house they had made a fire of charcoal, and Peter stood among those who were warming themselves at the fire.

Annas, in the inner room, asked Jesus about his disciples and teaching. Jesus answered him, "What I have taught has been open in the synagogues and in the Temple. Why do you ask me? Ask those that heard me; they know what I said."

Then one of the officers struck Jesus on the mouth, saying to him, "Is this the way that you answer the high-priest?"

Jesus answered the officer calmly and quietly, "If I have said anything evil, tell what the evil is; but if I have spoken the truth, why do you strike me?"

While Annas and his men were thus showing their hate toward Jesus, who stood bound and alone among his enemies, Peter was still in the courtyard, warming himself at the fire. A woman, who was a serving-maid in the house, looked at Peter sharply, and finally said to him, "You were one of those men with this Jesus of Nazareth!"

Peter was afraid to tell the truth, and he answered her, "Woman, I do not know the man, and I do not know what you are talking about."

And to get away from her he went out into the porch of the house. There another woman-servant saw him, and said, "This man was one of those with Jesus!"

And Peter swore with an oath that he did not know Jesus at all. Soon a man came by, who was of kin to Malchus, whose ear Peter had cut off. He looked at Peter, and heard him speak, and said, "You are surely one of this man's disciples, for your speech shows that you came from Galilee."

Then Peter began again to curse and to swear, declaring that he did not know the man of whom they were speaking.

Just at that moment the loud, shrill crowing of a cock startled Peter, and at the same time he saw Jesus, who was being dragged through the hall from Annas to the council-room of Caiaphas, the other high-priest. And the Lord turn as he was passing and looked at Peter.

Then there flashed into Peter's mind what Jesus had said on the evening before, "Before the cock crows to-morrow morning, you will three times deny that you have ever known me."

Then Peter went out of the high-priest's house into the street, and he wept bitterly because he had denied his Lord.

PETER WENT OUT AND WEPT BITTERLY

The Crown of Thorns

Matthew xxvi: 57, to xxvii: 26; Mark xv: 1 to 15; Luke xxii: 66, to xxiii: 25; John xviii: 19, to xix: 16.

From the house of Annas the enemies of Jesus led him away bound to the house of Caiaphas, whom the Romans had lately made high-priest. There all the rulers of the Jews were called together, and they tried to find men who would swear that they had heard Jesus say some wicked thing. This would give the rulers an excuse for putting Jesus to death. But they could find nothing. Some men swore one thing, and some swore another; but their words did not agree.

Finally the high-priest stood up, and said to Jesus, who stood bound in the middle of the hall, "Have you nothing to say? What is it that these men are speaking against you?"

But Jesus stood silent, answering nothing. Then the high-priest spoke again, "Are you the Christ, the Son of God?"

And Jesus said, "I am; and the time shall come when you will see the Son of man sitting on the throne of power and coming in the clouds of heaven!"

These words made the high-priest very angry. He said to the rulers, "Do you hear these dreadful words? He says that he is the Son of God. What do you think of words like these?"

They all said, with one voice, "He deserves to be put to death!"

Then the servants of the high-priest and the soldiers that held Jesus began to mock him. They spat on him, and they covered his face, and struck him with their hands, and said, "If you are a prophet, tell who it is that is striking you!"