Peter Lies Again (Mt. 26:71-75; Mk. 14:69-72; Lk. 22:58-62)

²⁵Simon Peter was standing [at the fire], keeping himself warm. The other men said to Peter, "Are you one of the followers of that man (Jesus)?" But Peter denied it. He said, "No, I am not." ²⁶One of the servants of the high priest* was there. This servant was a relative to the man whose ear Peter had cut off. The servant said, "I think I saw you with him (Jesus) in the garden!" ²⁷But again Peter said, "No, I was not with him!" And at that same time a rooster crowed.

Jesus Is Brought Before Pilate (Mt. 27:1-2, 11-31; Mk. 15:1-20; Lk. 23:1-25)

²⁸Then the Jews took Jesus from Caiaphas' house to the [Roman governor's] palace. It was early in the morning. The Jews would not go inside the palace. They did not want to make themselves unclean,* because they wanted to eat the Passover* meal. ²⁹So Pilate went outside to the Jews. He asked, "What do you say this man has done wrong?" ³⁰The Jews answered, "He is a bad man. That is why we brought him to you." ³¹Pilate said to the Jews, "You Jews take him yourselves and judge him by your own law." The Jews answered, "But your law does not allow us to punish a person by killing him." ³²(This happened so that what Jesus said about how he would die would be true.) ³³Then Pilate went back inside the palace. Pilate called Jesus to him. He asked Jesus, "Are you the king of the Jews?" ³⁴Jesus said, "Is that your own question, or did other people tell you about me?" ³⁵Pilate said, "I am not a Jew! It was your own people and their leading priests that brought you before me. What have you done wrong?" ³⁶Jesus said, "My kingdom does not belong to this world. If it belonged to this world, then my servants would fight so that I would not be given to the Jews. But my kingdom is from another place." ³⁷Pilate said, "So you are a king!" Jesus answered, "You say that I am a king. That is true. I was born for this: to tell people about the truth. That is why I came into the world. And every person that belongs to the truth listens to me." ³⁸Pilate said, "What is truth?" When Pilate said this, he went out to the Jews again. Pilate said to the Jews, "I can find nothing to charge against this man. ³⁹But it is one of your customs for me to free one prisoner to you at the time of the Passover.* Do you want me to free this 'king of the Jews'?" ⁴⁰The Jews yelled back, "No, not him! Let Barabbas go free!" (Barabbas was a rebel.)

high priest The most important Jewish priest and leader. unclean Going into a non-Jewish place would ruin the special cleansing the Jews had done (See Jn. 11:55). Passover An important Jewish holy day. The Jews ate a special meal on this day every year to remember that God freed them from slavery in Egypt in the time of Moses.