Today I am participating in Five Minute Friday, where a group of writers get together and free write about a one word prompt for 5 minutes. Today's word is "follow."
But Peter followed Him at a distance, right up to the courtyard of the high priest. And he went in and sat down with the guards to see the outcome-Matthew 26:58 (BSB)
Sat down with the guards? What?
I have read this story multiple times. But today, when I looked up some Scriptures for the word follow, this came up, and I noticed something new! Don’t you love when that happens?
I have always thought Peter was afraid from the get-go. He boasted after the Passover meal that he would follow the Lord to death. Remember?
Well, apparently he wasn’t lying. Or at least he didn’t think he was…and he wasn’t, at least not until the very last minute.
If you remember, the guards come to arrest Jesus. Peter apparently had a sword, and cut off the high priest servant's ear whose name was Malchus. So far, Peter is holding to his promise to Jesus.
And then they take Jesus. Peter follows, from a distance the Bible says. But then look at what happens next.
“But Peter followed Him at a distance, right up to the courtyard of the high priest. And he went in and sat down with the guards to see the outcome”-Matthew 26:58 (BSB)
The Berean Study Bible says he sits down with the guards. Many translations use the word “guards". Others use the word officers, and some use the word servants. I looked the word up in Greek and it means “an underling, servant.” It is often used in many other places in the Gospels and it is translated as officers, attendants, ministers, servants, and helpers.
I have often thought of Peter as losing his courage in the garden, but it doesn’t seem so. He follows Jesus, even after he cuts off Malchus’ ear. He follows Him all the way to the high priest’s courtyard. That would be inside the home’s area.
If you read further on in the story, chapter 26 moves into the religious leaders questioning Jesus. They eventually decide that He is “deserving of death.”(Matthew 26:66) Right after they decide this is when the high priest’s servant girl approaches Peter, and this is when the denial starts.
Peter had been full of courage, but the longer he sat there, it drained. Maybe he heard what was happening inside, and realized they were really going to put Jesus to death. Maybe it hadn’t been real to him. Remember at one point he had corrected Jesus and told him that He would never die. See Matthew 16:21-23. Jesus rebuked him at that moment.
Maybe Peter did not believe Jesus was really going to die, until it began to dawn on him, after his adrenaline had gone down, while sitting, waiting in the courtyard.
Why bring this up? Sometimes I think we think we know everything in Scripture, because we have heard the stories many times, especially if we have been Believers for a while. But it is always worth another look. We will learn something new about God, and something new about ourselves.
Peter followed Jesus, up to almost the very end. I love this story because it teaches us about mistakes. Even if we are moving along, doing what we are supposed to be doing, and then trip and make a mistake, the Lord knew about it before it happened. And He is not holding it against us. He still has a job for us to do. To learn more about it, read John 21 and the story of Jesus and Peter by the sea of Galilee, where they first met.
Don’t you just love this about Jesus? Keep following Him. He still has stuff for you to do.
*Have you ever had an experience like this with the Lord? I'd love to hear about it.
Many blessings,
Beth 🌴
