The Two Trials: Jesus & Peter

Matthew 26:57-75

Last Week

In looking at the life of Peter, Last week looked into the arrest of Jesus and talked about how Peter failing to pray as Christ encouraged, responded out of his emotion when he cut off the High Priest’s servants ear in an attempt to defend God. He forgot that Jesus was God and could have asked his father to send 72,000 angels. Then we examined how Christ wrestled in the Garden and yielded his will, becoming resolute in obeying the will of the father to take up the cup and become the lamb of God. Today we are going to continue this view and look at what some theologians consider the two trials that took place: Jesus and Peter. These events are running concurrently that while Jesus is being tried inside the High Priest’s home in front of the Sanhedrin, Peter is outside being questioned by his peers.

Please welcome ____________ to read today’s passage.

The Trial Of Jesus

Before the Sanhedrin

After Jesus has been arrested he is now taken to stand before the High Priest and the Sanhedrin for trial. I use the term trial lightly because the verdict is already determined.

What is the Sanhedrin?

The Anchor Yale Bible Dictionary (Sanhedrin)

The sanhedrin: the high priests’ political council, the highest legislative body in Jewish Palestine, the supreme judicial court, the grand jury for important cases, the council of the Pharisaic school, and the final court of appeals...

The Sanhedrin was made up of 71 religious, legal, and political leaders led by the High Priest, made up of Priests and Elders. It was the highest legislative body in the Jewish community; their supreme court… Though they were a judicial body, they lacked power to carry out any execution because of Roman rule over the district. When it came to corporal punshiment, they were limited in power and could only make recommendations to the Roman governors for execution but legally, could not carry out an execution on their own.

In their rush to pronounce judgment on Christ, the Sanhedrin actually broke five of their own rules for how trials must be held:

Must be held during the day time (It was held during the night)

Must take place in one of three specified courtrooms (Took place in the High Priest’s home)

Must begin by hearing the case for the defense (basically their version of Innocent until Guilty)

Must not reach a conviction on the same day as the trial began (The entire Sanhedrin trial and conviction was within the same day)

Must not be held on the eve of a festival or of the Sabbath (Held on the eve of the Feast of Unleavened bread and the eve of the passover.)

Paraded Witnesses

So, one-by-one they paraded false witnesses before the sanhedrin who made wild claims about Jesus or took his statements out of context. Ironically, nothing really seems to be sticking. Then the High Priest becomes impatient and takes over the deliberations and this leads us to one of our key points:

#1. Understanding The Significance Jesus Claim of being The Son of Man?

The Chief Priest cuts to the chase and asks Jesus directly:

Matthew 26:63 NIV

But Jesus remained silent. The high priest said to him, “I charge you under oath by the living God: Tell us if you are the Messiah, the Son of God.”

Jesus’ answer is very fascinating. Look at how Christ specifically answers him:

Matthew 26:64 NIV

“You have said so,” Jesus replied. “But I say to all of you: From now on you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven.”

Let’s examine Jesus answer. There are several interesting things happening in the passage.

“You have said so.” Jesus uses this method on several occasions to respond to his questioners. It was most likely used to draw attention to the questioner’s own words, indicating that while correct, it is not phrased as how Jesus would have phrased it. The idea of the Messiah in Jesus’ day was one who would conquer and drive out the Romans. So, Jesus is saying yes, he is the Messiah, the Son of God but is going to clarify and expand the Chief Priest’s understanding on that in just a moment.

“You will see.” This is an interesting exchange. Jesus is being judged by Caiaphas the high priest. However, the Book of Hebrews refers to Jesus being the Great High Priest:

Hebrews 4:14 NIV

Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess.

The irony here is phenomenal. Jesus was the very model of what a High Priest is and should do. Every High Priest prior to Jesus was a foreshadowing of the Great High priest. The purpose of the High Priest was to represent God to the people and to make atonement for their sin. Now, standing before and being judged by Caiaphas was THE great High Priest, the model for all high priests. He basically tells Caiaphas that you are judging me here today, but one day, you will stand before me and I will judge you.

Matthew 26:64 NIV

“You have said so,” Jesus replied. “But I say to all of you: From now on you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven.”

3. The third thing we need to look at here is that the High Priest had asked Jesus if he was the Messiah, the Son of God but Jesus answered, calling himself instead the Son of Man.

When I think of all the titles that Jesus held, the title Son of Man doesn’t rise to the top in my mind. First of all, he was the:

Son of God

Lion of Judah

The Rock

Emanuel, God with Us

Savior of the World

Light of the World

Prince of Peace

Lord of Lords

King of Kings

These are cool, awesome titles.

However, the one title that Jesus used the most to refer to himself throughout the gospels, more than any other, was Son of Man.

To understand its significance, we have to go to the book of Daniel and read an awesome vision that Daniel had regarding the throne of God in heaven. He is peering into the very throne room of God. Daniel 7:9-10

“As I looked, thrones were set in place, and the Ancient of Days took his seat. His clothing was as white as snow; the hair of his head was white like wool. His throne was flaming with fire, and its wheels were all ablaze. A river of fire was flowing, coming out from before him. Thousands upon thousands attended him; ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him. The court was seated, and the books were opened.

Daniel 7:13–14 NIV

“In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence. He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all nations and peoples of every language worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed.

Because Jesus was willing to receive the cup the father gave him to become the lamb of God, he has received the title of Son of Man and as a reward for his sufferings, and with that title he was given all authority, glory and power; and an everlasting dominion over all nations.

Caiaphas would have know exactly what Jesus was referring to but to leave no question in Caiaphas mind, Jesus then tells him that he would see with his own eyes Jesus coming on a cloud and seated next to God. This causes the High Priest to lose his mind and we pick up in verse 65:

Matthew 26:65 NIV

Then the high priest tore his clothes and said, “He has spoken blasphemy! Why do we need any more witnesses? Look, now you have heard the blasphemy.

Blaspheme

The dictionary defines Blaspheme as: to speak in a way that shows irreverence for God or something sacred.

To the Jew, nothing was egregious, there was no greater crime, than to commit blasphemy against God.

And the tearing of the clothes was a common practice by the Sanhedrin as a way of pronouncing judgment against Blasphemy. It was a way of visually disassociating the actions or statements of the accused from those casting judgment. It was a way of stating that the accused would be torn away from the community.

Peter Denial, Peter On Trial

Next, let’s look at how Peter is tried during this same time as Christ’s trial and how he responds. Peter is standing in the courtyard of the High Priest’s large home while Jesus is in a nearby room being tried. And one of servants comes up to him and says....

Matthew 26:69–70 NIV

Now Peter was sitting out in the courtyard, and a servant girl came to him. “You also were with Jesus of Galilee,” she said. But he denied it before them all. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said.

Peter tries to brush her off, denying that he knew him and says, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Matthew 26:71–72 NIV

Then he went out to the gateway, where another servant girl saw him and said to the people there, “This fellow was with Jesus of Nazareth.” He denied it again, with an oath: “I don’t know the man!”

Note that with each accusation, Peter moves farther away to disassociate himself with Jesus., he has moved from the interior of the courtyard, close to the trial. Now he moves to the gateway. This time, a different servant girls speaks up and addresses not Peter but a group of people.

And Peter responds with an oath and then says, “I don’t know the man!”

Interestingly, look what John records in his gospel regarding who the person was who accused Jesus this time:

John 18:26

John 18:26 NIV

One of the high priest’s servants, a relative of the man whose ear Peter had cut off, challenged him, “Didn’t I see you with him in the garden?”

After denying it a second time, Peter is now confronted a third and final time:

Matthew 26:73–74 NIV

After a little while, those standing there went up to Peter and said, “Surely you are one of them; your accent gives you away.” Then he began to call down curses, and he swore to them, “I don’t know the man!” Immediately a rooster crowed.

Being from Galilee, a northern fishing community, Peter had a distinct accent and try as he might, he couldn’t hide it.

To defend himself, he goes off on a tirade, cursing and swearing that he didn’t know the man!

Immediately, after his third denial, just as Jesus had prophesied, the rooster crowed and Luke records the sad event:

Luke 22:61–62 NIV

The Lord turned and looked straight at Peter. Then Peter remembered the word the Lord had spoken to him: “Before the rooster crows today, you will disown me three times.” And he went outside and wept bitterly.

Imagine how Peter felt looking into the face of Christ. His lord. His Savior. And there in front of everyone he denied him. Overwhelmed by his own failure, shame and the disgrace of his actions, Peter runs away weeping. Peter, the Rock, the leader who Christ was going to build his Church upon.

This leads me to my next poin:

#2. God Still believes in you, even on your worst day

Fortunately, we all know that this isn’t the end of the story. But why isn’t it the end? Look at the prophecy that Jesus gave to Peter before his denial Luke 22:31

Luke 22:31–32 NIV

“Simon, Simon, 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.”

Even knowing that Simon Peter was about to betray him, Jesus still believed in him and prayed for him.

Aren’t we thankful that God doesn’t just look at us only on our worst day? A couple of weeks ago, Pastor Vu spoke and touched on Peter’s failure and this passage.

I want to continue with his message and focus in on Jesus’s word for a moment when he tells Peter, “But I have prayed for you.”

But I Have Prayed For You

Look at the power in those 6 words.

Look at the confidence that Jesus demonstrates in this passage. But-I- have- prayed- for- you. Jesus was confident that his Father in heaven would hear his prayers. He was confident that he would intervene and restore Peter and the other disciples to their faith. He was confident that as low as Peter would fall, as bad as he would feel about his denial, that he would be restored in his faith and that his Church would be built. That is a powerful prayer.

My grandmother had 6 kids, 21 grandchildren, and 37 great grandchildren. It was my grandparents faith and undoubtedly their prayers that influenced my faith. I have an uncle who ran from the Lord as fast and as hard as he could all his life. As a young man, he was prayed over and told that he had a call to minister but didn’t want anything to do with that lifestyle so he fled and like the prodigal son, he lived a hard life, becoming an alcoholic and divorced multiple times.

BUT like Jesus believing in Peter and praying for him, my grandmother prayed for my uncle and whe never gave up praying for him. She once once told me that she prayed for all her children and grandchildren by name every night before she went to sleep. She died before she ever saw the fruit of her prayers. However, shortly after her death, my uncle finally repented and surrendered fully to God and became a faithful member of his church.

My Grandmother never saw her prayer answered in her lifetime.

It’s easy to give up praying when we don’t see our prayers answered. We begin to doubt.

<Worship team, please come on up>

Jesus was fully confident that the Father had heard his prayer for Peter. The question I ask myself, am I as fully persuaded and confident that He has heard my prayers?

Years ago, I had a co-worker who reported to me who was Hindu and from India. We became friends and I would try to share my faith with him. One morning, he called me before work and was ill. I had asked him if was ok for me to pray for him and so there on the phone I prayed for him asking God to touch him. Well, me praying with him immediately on the phone opened other occassions where he would call and ask me to bless him. And by that I knew that he wanted me to pray for him.

On one occassion, he had to return home to India during Covid and he had a lot of problems with his visa paperwork and getting his flight information. Feeling anxious, he called and asked me to pray for him. So I prayed that God would go before him and make a way through all the bureaucracy. After praying I started to say that should he run into any problems and need my help, to give me a call. But he interrupted me and said, “Oh, No! Doug, your prayers are powerful!”

I was immediately convicted. He had more faith in my prayers than I had in my prayers.

I can’t help but thinking that there are people who God has intentionally placed in our paths that he would have us be that person who has prayed for them. People that we would look at and say, they are headed in the wrong direction. They are making bad life choices. Maybe these are difficult people, people that we don’t always get along with. It may be a co-worker, a neighbor, a family member, a student, whose trajectory leads them away from God. The question is, “Who is going to be that person of who it is said, “But I have prayed for you”

Response

Two responses:

1. Perhaps you have struggled with your prayer life, and trust me, we all do. Perhaps things or loved ones that you have prayed for, you have given up. You think to yourself, “Oh, they will never change” I think God wants to encourage you today to back up the mantle of prayer in your life. You prayers are not in vain, just like my uncle who ran from the lord for 40 years, God’s arm is not too short to save.

2. Others: God is may be challenging you today to take up the mantle of prayer. He has shown you things, given you discernment and is not challenging you to be that person who would stand in the gap and pray.