Matthew 26:58: Peter also was following Him at a distance as far as the courtyard of the high priest, and entered in and sat down with the officers to see the outcome.

We’ve concentrated in the sermon this morning on Jesus’ trial itself, but as Matthew tells the story of the trial, it is interwoven with the story of Peter’s denials.  Jesus gives true testimony before the high priest.  He remains faithful even when mocked and beaten and slapped.  He testifies that He is the Son of God and the Son of Man.

By contrast, Peter, pressured by a servant girl and a few bystanders, renounces Jesus with increasing vehemence.  “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”  Then, with an oath, “I do not know the man.”  Then with an added curse, “I do not know the man,” this Jesus.

Peter makes an effort to keep his vow to follow Jesus no matter what.  When we first see him in this scene, he is still following.  But he is following “at a distance,” and when he gets to the court of the high priest he takes his place not with Jesus in the dock but among the servants of the high priest, an observer waiting to see the outcome.  He stands in the way with sinners and sits in the seat of the scornful.

But Jesus is not finished with Peter.  When the cock crows the new day, Israel has been dismantled.  The Sanhedrin has used the law to convict God Himself of blasphemy; the priest’s robes are in tatters; the Jews are ready to send Jesus off to Pilate and submit themselves back to the nations.

Peter too is undone when the cock crows, but he is undone unto life.  He goes out and weeps bitterly, and when we next see him he is will the rest of the disciples ready to follow Jesus, closely this time.

We are all Peter.  We have followed Jesus at a distance, and we have all been observers of the cross rather than sharers in it; we have all found ourselves sitting in the seat of mockers.  Fortunately for us, that is not the only place we sit.  Every week, Jesus invites us, those who follow at a distance, those who sit with Jesus’ torturers, those who have betrayed and denied Him: He invites us to another seat, a seat at this table, where He offers us His body, and the blood of the covenant for the remission of sins.