The Friend Who Said He Never Knew Him

The soldiers came into the olive garden with torches and swords, and Jesus walked straight out to meet them. "Who are you looking for?"

"Jesus of Nazareth."

"I am he," said Jesus, and they all stumbled backward and fell on the ground. (Grown soldiers, flat on their backs, knocked down by three words.)

Peter swung a sword and cut off the right ear of the high priest's servant, Malchus. "Put your sword away," Jesus told him. "Shall I not drink the cup the Father has given me?" Then the soldiers tied his hands and led him away.

Two of his friends followed in the dark: Peter, and another disciple who knew the high priest. That friend walked straight in. Peter waited at the gate until his friend came back and spoke to the girl who kept the door.

She looked Peter up and down as he came in. "You aren't one of that man's followers too, are you?"

"I am not," said Peter.

It was cold, so the servants and guards had built a fire of glowing charcoal in the courtyard. Peter stood with them and held out his hands, trying hard to look like a man who had only come out for the warmth. (This is not easy when you have cut off somebody's ear an hour before.)

Inside, Annas, the former high priest, was questioning Jesus. "Who are your followers? What have you been teaching?"

"I have always spoken openly," Jesus said. "I taught in the synagogues and in the temple, where everyone gathers. Why ask me? Ask the people who heard me. They know what I said."

One of the guards slapped Jesus across the face. "Is that how you answer the high priest?"

"If I said something wrong, say what it was," said Jesus. "But if I told the truth, why do you hit me?"

(One of the people who had heard him was not far away. He was standing by the fire.)

Annas sent Jesus, still tied up, to Caiaphas, the high priest that year.

Out by the coals, someone peered at Peter. "Aren't you one of his disciples?"

"I am not!"

Then a relative of Malchus stepped closer, and Peter's stomach dropped. "Didn't I see you out there with him, among the olive trees?"

Peter said no a third time. And right then, somewhere in the dark, a rooster crowed.

Only a few hours before, at supper, Peter had said, "Lord, I will lay down my life for you!"

And Jesus had answered, "Will you really? Before the rooster crows, you will say three times that you do not know me."

Guards were leading Jesus across the courtyard. He turned and looked at Peter. Peter went out and cried as if he would never stop.

Peter's brave promise broke on three questions, and the first came from a girl minding a door.

But right after Jesus told Peter about the rooster, his very next words were "Do not let your hearts be troubled." He had already told Peter, "I have prayed for you, that your faith will not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers." He said when, as though Peter's coming back were already settled.

So two friends stood in the high priest's house that cold night. One warmed his hands by the coals and said, "I am not." The other had walked out to meet the soldiers and said, "I am he," and now stood tied up, telling only the truth. He kept walking toward the cross for the friend who had let go of him.

Peter let go of Jesus three times before the sun came up. Jesus never once let go of Peter.