52. Then Jesus said to the chief priests, temple guards, and leaders who had come for him, “Have you come out with swords and clubs as if I were a criminal?
53. I was with you in the temple courtyard every day and you didn’t try to arrest me. But this is your time, when darkness rules.”
54. So they arrested Jesus and led him away to the chief priest’s house.Peter followed at a distance.
55. Some men had lit a fire in the middle of the courtyard. As they sat together, Peter sat among them.
56. A female servant saw him as he sat facing the glow of the fire. She stared at him and said, “This man was with Jesus.”
57. But Peter denied it by saying, “I don’t know him, woman.”
58. A little later someone else saw Peter and said, “You are one of them.”But Peter said, “Not me!”
59. About an hour later another person insisted, “It’s obvious that this man was with him. He’s a Galilean!”
60. But Peter said, “I don’t know what you’re talking about!”Just then, while he was still speaking, a rooster crowed.
61. Then the Lord turned and looked directly at Peter. Peter remembered what the Lord had said: “Before a rooster crows today, you will say three times that you don’t know me.”
62. Then Peter went outside and cried bitterly.
63. The men who were guarding Jesus made fun of him as they beat him.
64. They blindfolded him and said to him, “Tell us who hit you.”
65. They also insulted him in many other ways.
66. In the morning the council of the people’s leaders, the chief priests and the experts in Moses’ Teachings, gathered together. They brought Jesus in front of their highest court and asked him,
67. “Tell us, are you the Messiah?”Jesus said to them, “If I tell you, you won’t believe me.
68. And if I ask you, you won’t answer.
69. But from now on, the Son of Man will be in the highest position in heaven.”
70. Then all of them said, “So you’re the Son of God?”Jesus answered them, “You’re right to say that I am.”