by Bryony Wood
Then they seized Jesus and led him away, bringing him into the high priest’s house. But Peter was following at a distance. When they had kindled a fire in the middle of the courtyard and sat down together, Peter sat among them. Then a servant girl, seeing him in the firelight, stared at him and said, ‘This man was also with him.’ But he denied it saying, ‘Woman, I do not know him...’
Luke: 22 54-58
‘I’d worked all night – it might have been Passover, but celebrating was for others, not the likes of a servant girl like me. I was utterly exhausted; all I wanted was sleep, but that was an unlikely luxury.
Then, at the darkest hour, the one just before dawn, I heard a commotion outside. Soldiers shouting, they were bringing in a prisoner. I peeked out and watched as they dragged a man up the steps near my master’s house. These were the long flight of shallow, grey stone steps that came almost straight into the High Priest’s house, giving an entry point into the city from the Kidron Valley below.
As they brought him into view I saw it was Jesus, the one they called “the Teacher”. He’d been causing dangerous trouble in the temple, so I’d heard my master the High Priest say... I’d heard others talking about him too. So many different opinions about him that I couldn’t decide if he was good news or bad news; but he was certainly big news in Jerusalem that week.
They took Jesus into Caiaphas, the High Priest; I stayed outside noticing two men sneaking in our courtyard. They looked terrified but the younger one went inside; I think he said he knew Jesus. The other one, a heavy-set bloke, skulked in the darkest corner of the courtyard. I asked him if he was with the prisoner, but he growled that he didn't know him. I worked and watched as those huddled around the fire gossiped about what they might do to Jesus. The big man gradually edged towards the fire, seeking warmth no doubt. Angry shouting punctured the night air in the courtyard. I noticed how the big man huddled down into his cloak, wincing with each verbal assault rising from below.
Slowly, as the dawn light started to break across the eastern sky, we heard whisperings that they were taking Jesus to see Pilate. I glanced at the big man; he’d not spoken much, only to keep denying he’d no connection with Jesus. Who could blame him; clearly Jesus was not someone anyone would want to be associated with that night. Not if you wanted to keep out of trouble. Daft thing was, we all knew he had been with Jesus in the temple. Did he think we had such short memories?
But it was as they brought Jesus out that the atmosphere changed, the low buzz of tired, muted conversations stopped. Breaking the heavy silence came a voice ringing around the courtyard; a loud rough Galilean man’s voice answered an unheard question, “I do not know him”.
In that frozen moment a cockerel crowed as if to underline that stark denial, and I saw Jesus turn his face towards the big man. I’ll never forget the look of love on Jesus’ face as he watched his friend sobbing in the firelight...’
2000 years later, those steps still rise up from the Kidron Valley to the place archaeologists believe is the house where Caiaphas lived, where Jesus was questioned on Good Friday. Standing next to the steps is a church marking the place of Peter’s denial. But this church reminds us too of Peter’s reinstatement when he was commissioned by the risen Christ to be the Rock upon which the Church would be founded.
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