Scripture Daily

Context No. 342 of 4322 · Matthew

Context · Reflection

Matthew 26:57-61: in context

57Those who had taken Jesus led him away to Caiaphas the high priest, where the scribes and the elders were gathered together. 58But Peter followed him from a distance to the court of the high priest, and entered in and sat with the officers, to see the end. 59Now the chief priests, the elders, and the whole council sought false testimony against Jesus, that they might put him to death, 60and they found none. Even though many false witnesses came forward, they found none. But at last two false witnesses came forward 61and said, “This man said, ‘I am able to destroy the temple of God, and to build it in three days.’”

This passage sets the scene for Jesus' trial before the high priest, and two things run alongside each other in it. One is the corruption of the proceeding. The other is a single phrase about Peter that is easy to read past.

The council, Matthew says, was seeking false testimony against Jesus so that they could put him to death. That is the trial in a sentence: the verdict was decided first, and now they were hunting for a charge to justify it. Justice was running backward. They wanted him dead and needed a pretext, and even so, with many false witnesses volunteering, they could not get a consistent story until two of them twisted a saying about the temple. But threaded through this is Peter. He followed Jesus, the text says, at a distance, all the way to the high priest's courtyard, and went in and sat down with the guards to see how it would end. Read that slowly. He did not flee like the others, which is to his credit. But he followed at a distance, close enough to watch, far enough not to be identified with the prisoner, and he took a seat among Jesus' captors, a spectator waiting to see the outcome rather than a disciple standing with his Lord. That middle position, near but uncommitted, is exactly the ground on which, a few verses later, he will deny ever knowing Jesus.

Peter's posture is a familiar one. It is possible to follow Jesus at a safe distance, interested enough to keep watching, unwilling to be publicly counted as his, seated among the people who oppose him just to see how things turn out. Where do I follow at a distance like that, close enough to observe and stay informed, but carefully far enough that no one could identify me with him when being identified would cost me something?

Sources