Fiery Trials

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“Immediately the cock crowed the second time. Then Peter remembered the word Jesus had spoken to him: ‘Before the cock crows twice you will disown me three times.’ And he broke down and wept.”

Mark 14:37-38

Main Readings: 1 Peter 1 & Mark 14:27-72

Supporting Readings: Acts 2 & John 21

Illegal tree felling: it’s not something that usually makes the news. But there are some high-profile cases that have been in the news recently.

The day someone at Toby Carvery said ‘let’s just cut it down’ was a regrettable one for the CEO of that company I imagine.

But, should it prove to be true that the two individuals on trial right now for cutting down the famous and beloved Sycamore at ‘Sycamore Gap’ on Hadrian’s wall were in fact the culprits, then the regret will be all the more felt.

Of course, it’s possible that those individuals are not the perpetrators of that crime at all.

But the police clearly think that there is enough evidence to spend the courts time and precious resources to find out if the evidence bears testimony that they were the criminals that felled one of the nation’s favourite trees.

We’re not unfamiliar with legal trials. Which is good because what Mark has expertly put together for us in this part of his account is a pair of trials.

A pair of trials that simultaneously unfold so that we can compare them. And by comparing them, we can learn some things about ourselves and some things about our saviour, Jesus, that are valuable.

The main characters in this passage are Jesus and Peter and their respective cross-examiners.

For Jesus that’s the High Priest who is presiding over this Jewish court called the Sanhedrin. And for Peter, it’s a lowly servant girl.

Jesus’ trial is going to take place in the household of the high priest. Whilst Peter’s will be outside in the courtyard of the residence, where there was a fire burning.

Before we look to see what unfolds, let’s remind ourselves of Jesus’ interaction with Peter of late.

Just going back an hour or so in the story, Peter and the other disciples had watched on as Judas betrayed Jesus into the hands of the Jewish leaders in the Garden of Gethsemane.

In fact, Peter had taken his sword and lopped off the ear of the servant of the high priest, something that Jesus miraculously repaired on the spot.

Before that, Peter had declared his undying commitment to Jesus, saying that he would rather die than be scattered with the other disciples - a good inclination on Peter’s part because of what Jesus had said to them back in chapter 8. There he said that to be his disciples, they would need to ‘take up their crosses and follow him’.

And then straight on the back of that he added, ‘For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and the gospel will save it’.

So, Peter’s inclination to lay down his life as a follower of Jesus was in keeping with what Jesus had taught him.

Before that Peter had been in the upper room with the others and been partaker of the last supper with Jesus. And also, with Judas who had then gone out from there and betrayed Jesus, which is why they were now at the High Priest’s residence.

These few events are the culmination of 3 years that Peter had walked very closely with Jesus. He’d experienced him heal his mother-in-law, still the storm on the sea, rescue him from drowning, and be transfigured on the mountain - to name but a few.

Peter, as one of the closest of Jesus’ disciples, along with James and John, had seen it all.

And it’s good to remind ourselves of these facts because they are the backdrop to the famous events that now unfold.

What Mark tells us in verse 50 of this chapter is that all the disciples had deserted Jesus at the moment Jesus had been arrested in the garden - just as Jesus had predicted.

So maybe Peter was compelled by his own declaration earlier on – that he would stand by Jesus even unto death - that he had now returned and followed Jesus all the way to the place of his trial. Mark says in verse 54 ‘Peter followed [Jesus] at a distance’ to this gathering of the Sanhedrin - this Jewish court.

Elsewhere, it seems that John may have got Peter access into the courtyard, but that’s as far as he could go because, now Jesus is taken inside to face his accusers.

What’s inside is a sham court of the highest order. Mark says in verse 55 that the Sanhedrin were specifically looking for ‘evidence against Jesus so that they could put him to death’. That was the purpose of this court. We think of court in terms of justice, but this is a court with a premeditated agenda against Jesus.

Inside the house, Jesus is going to be accused. And outside the house – in the courtyard - Peter is going to be accused.

And what we want to see - because this is, I believe what Mark wants us to see; at least I can’t discern another reason why he would have written it the way he does – what we want to see is that Jesus and Peter are essentially undergoing similar trials.

Jesus’ is formal; Peter’s is informal. And because of that, the details look different, but I think there are two or three fundamental ways that they are being tested that are comparable.

And, of course, the trials are connected too. Jesus is being examined because of who he says he is and because of who he has shown he is.

And Peter is being examined because of his association with that Jesus. So, these two trials are connected.

Let’s watch then and see these trials unfold.

The first thing I see is that Peter and Jesus are both tested as to their wisdom.

As much as Peter may have been driven to follow Jesus here to try to make some kind of amends for his failure in the garden. Nevertheless, it was a kind of folly to follow Jesus, having already failed him in the garden.

Remember, Jesus said to him when he made his promise, ‘Truly I tell you…today - yes, tonight - before the cock crows twice you yourself will disown me three times’.

Peter has already been scattered, as Jesus predicted he would be, and now he walks right into the one place where he’s most likely to be tempted to disown Jesus.

JC Ryle comments, ‘There was no wisdom in this act.

Having once forsaken his master and fled, he ought to have remembered his own weakness, and not to have ventured into danger again’.

But Jesus’ wisdom is put to the test also. Mark records in verses 57-59 witnesses that were brought forward to testify against Jesus.

There’s a jumbled attempt in verse 58 to pin a distortion of what Jesus had said about his own body on him, but their testimonies failed to add up.

And it’s clear that false and trumped-up testimonies are being used against Jesus.

I don’t know about you, but I find the temptation in those situations is to go into defensive mode.

A typical response of mine would be outrage. And I would want it known that an injustice was happening.

Any notion of remaining silent would feel, to us in that situation, like a tacit confirmation of the false accusations.

But Jesus knew Isaiah 53. He knew that the Messiah would be like a sheep before its shearers - silent.

So, in verse 60, when the High priest, with what seems like some degree of surprise, says, ‘are you not going to answer?’ Mark says, ‘Jesus remained silent and gave no answer’.

This is wisdom from Jesus. He’s not going to get embroiled in tit-for-tat responses based on false and trumped-up charges. He is going to fulfil Isaiah 53 and remain silent.

The second thing that both Jesus and Peter are tested on is the truth. Right after asking if Jesus was going to respond to the accusations against him, the High Priest asks Jesus a question of truth. Verse 61, ‘Are you the Messiah, the Son of the Blessed One?’

This is a question of truth, but it’s also a question designed to the same end as all the other allegations - namely, it’s designed to get the Sanhedrin to a place where they can say ‘Jesus deserves to die’.

If Jesus answers untruthfully, then he can save himself. If he doesn’t answer at all then the Sanhedrin is no better off. But if he answers ‘yes’, then the Sanhedrin have him for blasphemy.

According to Proverbs 23, wisdom and truth go hand in hand. And Jesus, with all wisdom answers this question of truth, even though he knows exactly what the High Priest is doing.

He answers because he is truth. And the truth of what the High Priest has asked will be upheld by confirmation.

Jesus says the simple words, ‘I am’. I AM is the title God used for himself when Moses asked him who he should say had sent him - God said, ‘say ‘I AM’ has sent you’. So, Jesus is claiming his ‘God’ status knowing that the High Priest would recognise that.

And then Jesus adds further confirmation by saying two things. One, ‘you’ll see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One’.

And two, you’ll see him ‘coming on the clouds of heaven’.

The High Priest would have heard the divine messiahship of Psalm 110 in the first, and the divine messiahship of Daniel 7 in the second.

Jesus is saying this is truth: ‘I am both Lord and Messiah!’ And the High Priest would have heard three separate admissions to it in what Jesus said.

Meanwhile, Peter has his own truth cross-examination to go through. Verse 66 says that whilst Peter was warming himself – which, incidentally, is the second time Mark has chosen to record that detail; it’s in verse 54 also - ‘whilst Peter was warming himself, one of the servant girls of the High Priest came by…and looked closely at him’.

She said, ‘You also were with that Nazarene, Jesus’.

That’s a factual claim which, if true, would connect Peter with the Jesus – the very man who is on trial for his life a hundred yards away inside the house.

Peter, who’s been just about as close to Jesus as anyone could get for the last three solid years, has to either own it or deny it.

And he denies it. Verse 68, ‘I don’t know or understand what you’re talking about’ he said. And for added effect (on Peter’s part), Mark records he made his way back into the entry way, putting more physical distance between him and Jesus.

As is so often the case when it comes to the truth, owning it can carry a sting in the tail. Both Jesus and Peter have good reason to think that there will be a sting connected with the truths presented to them.

The sting in the tail for Jesus is ultimately that the Sanhedrin now have what they need to recommend him for death.

You can see that in verse 64. The High Priest tore his clothes because of the truth - which he considered blasphemy - in verse 63, and then said ‘you’ve heard the blasphemy. What do you think?’ And the Sanhedrin ‘all considered him worthy of death’ verse 64 says.

But also, as a kind of first fruits of the physical suffering that’s going to result from upholding the truth, Jesus is spat on in verse 65, struck with fists, and beaten.

Outside, Peter knows that Jesus is in serious trouble, and he knows that the Jewish leaders have designs on Jesus’ life. So, he senses the cost of owning the truth also.

He knows that if he confirms that he was with Jesus, the servant girl will go and tell her master the High Priest that there’s one of the Nazarene’s followers outside in the courtyard.

It’s that fear of falling victim to the same fate as Jesus that creates dread in Peter, and that tempts him to deny the truth about his association with Jesus.

Whilst Jesus exercises courage, Peter stumbles into fear.

I think the fire was a bit of a giveaway, because, whilst Jesus takes blows to the face for owning the truth - all bloodied and hurting no doubt - Peter was warming himself at that courtyard fire.

Peter, a bit like Lot of old, started at the gate of Sodom and migrated to a house in the city. Peter started at the warmth of the fire and migrated to the comfort of denial.

The third thing I can see Jesus and Peter being simultaneously tested on is obedience.

Both Jesus and Peter have a calling on their lives. Jesus’ calling is to lay down his life for his sheep. Peter’s calling is to take up his cross and follow Jesus - that’s what Jesus told him to do.

And both are called to obedience out of love as well – love for their masters. Jesus out of love for his Father. Peter out of love for his Lord.

Jesus said, in John 14, ‘anyone who loves me will obey my teaching’. And Jesus’ teaching to Peter was: ‘take up your cross and follow me’.

Jesus also said in John 14, ‘I love the Father and do exactly what the Father has commanded me’.

So, Peter and Jesus are called to lay down their lives obediently because of the love they have for their masters - Jesus for the Father and Peter for Jesus.

But where Jesus’ love for his Father creates obedience unto death in him; in Peter, sadly, love for self, outweighs love for Jesus and he surrenders to disobedience.

The impulse to self-preservation in Peter is so strong, that after denying the accusation from the servant girl a second time in verse 69, he actually calls down curses on the name of Jesus in verse 71 when he gets accused a third time by some others standing nearby. He swears with a kind of blood earnestness, ‘I don’t know this man you’re talking about’.

It reminds me of a story I once heard and which I’ve told a few times. A true story about a Muslim engineer who attended a Christian evangelistic event whilst on business abroad.

At the event he heard the gospel and afterwards he went to the speaker to ask a question.

He said how moved he had been by the presentation of Jesus Christ, and how he believed that Jesus had really died to save people from their sins.

He said, he could believe it for himself, but there was a snag. He knew that when he got back from his business trip and had to practice his Christianity in his Muslim homeland that he would lose his job - at the very least; and maybe worse.

Some of the believers there said that he didn’t need to worry about that now. But the man who had presented the gospel that day said to him, that’s exactly the question you need to ask yourself. And the answer to it will tell you whether or not Jesus is for you. If Jesus is not worth your job and your safety, then you cannot be his disciple.

The Sanhedrin said of Jesus in verse 64, ‘he is worthy of death’. And Peter, by his actions, said of Jesus in his heart, ‘he is not worth my life’.

After the third denial, the cock crowed the second time Mark says in verse 72. And Peter remembered what Jesus had spoken to him: ‘Before the cock crows twice you will disown me three times’. And Mark says that Peter ‘broke down and wept’.

It’s as if the haze of deception that had gripped Peter’s heart lifted as the cock crowed the second time, and he knew that he had forsaken his first love - his precious Lord Jesus - and it created deep remorse in his heart.

2 Corinthians 7 says there’s a godly type of remorse that leads to repentance and there’s a worldly type of remorse that leads to death.

Judas clearly had the second type. A bit like Esau of whom we’re told: he could find no place of repentance.

For Peter, his remorse is the godly type. And there’s a glorious reason why that’s the case in Peter.

To see it, we need to go back to the moment Jesus said Peter would deny him three times.

And we need to read it in Luke, because Luke records more of what Jesus said there than Mark does.

Here’s what Jesus said, ‘Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift all of you as wheat’ - this is like at the beginning if Job when Satan comes to ask permission to put Job to the test - ‘Satan has asked to sift all of you as wheat. But I have prayed for you Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers’.

It reveals that Satan asked God if he could put Peter through the sieve of trial and temptation with a view to creating unbelief in Peter’s heart.

And ultimately with a view to putting him in a place where there was no faith left that his sin could be dealt with and his friendship with Jesus restored.

This is how formidable Satan is.

And that very nearly happened. Except that, when the dust settled, Peter did still have faith to repent and receive forgiveness. And the reason for that was that Jesus had prayed for him – prayed that his faith might not fail.

God heard and answered Jesus’ prayer on behalf of Peter and so Peter’s faith did not completely fail, but there was enough left so that he found that place of repentance.

Jesus knew it would happen because he said, ‘when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers’. He knew his prayer would be answered and Peter’s faith would not completely fail; and so, he did find a place of repentance!

What love Jesus has for his people! Jesus’ obedience unto death, beginning with the trial before the Sanhedrin, put Jesus on a course to atone for Peter’s failures.

It was Jesus’ death for Peter that paved the way for him to leave a message with his angel on resurrection morning, saying to Mary Magdalene ‘go tell his disciples and Peter’ - the only disciple mentioned by name - ‘He is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you’.

A personal message for Peter from the risen Jesus, akin to: ‘I have forgiven you!’ Beautiful!

That doesn’t mean though that Jesus didn’t want to test the sincerity of his love. Three times at the end of John’s account - one for each denial - Jesus asked Peter if he loved him.

Jesus wants to know: Do you love me more than these? Peter confirmed the fact all three times. But it was not without some degree of pain to Peter that Jesus asked him three times if his love for him was real.

It was real. And it’s etched all over Peter’s life going forward. After Jesus’ ascension, Peter boldly proclaimed Jesus as both Lord and Christ at Pentecost. The very thing he denied under trial in the courtyard, he goes on to boldly proclaim.

And it wasn’t long before Peter had his own hearing before the Sanhedrin - reprimanded for continuing to speak about Jesus. His response: ‘We must obey God rather than men’. The very thing he had failed to do at Jesus’ trial.

You can hear the impact of the ‘denial saga’ on his life and doctrine in his letters too. In 1 Peter 3 he says this: ‘Even if you should suffer for doing what is right, you are blessed. He’d learnt that the hard way. Do not fear their threats, do not be frightened. But in your hearts always revere Christ as Lord…for it is better, if it is God’s will, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil’.

I think he known what it was like to suffer the remorse and the grief and the test of love for doing evil such that he could say, ‘revere Christ as Lord because better to suffer for that than to suffer for denying him.

These are words spoken out of personal experience for the benefit of Jesus’ people. He’s doing what Jesus commissioned him to do – he’s strengthening his brother and sisters having ‘turned back’!

I can only imagine that his mind raced back to that courtyard as he penned these verses in his second letter: ‘Therefore, my brothers and sisters, make every effort to confirm your calling and election. For if you do these things, you will never stumble, and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ’.

He knew he’d sailed close to the wind that day when he denied Jesus. He had not made every effort to confirm his calling and election. And he doesn’t want his brothers and sisters to make the same mistakes.

So, Peter uses his own experiences to exhort us so that we might not stumble as he did.

What rich blessings are ours in Christ that he would even forgive a ‘Peter’ like me and then provide us with help for this Christian life through a servant who once upon a time called down curses on his name!

Such amazing love!