So they arrested Him and led Him to the high priest’s home. And Peter followed at a distance. The guards lit a fire in the middle of the courtyard and sat around it, and Peter joined them there. A servant girl noticed him in the firelight and began staring at him. Finally she said, “This man was one of Jesus’ followers!” But Peter denied it. “Woman,” he said, “I don’t even know him!” After a while someone else looked at him and said, “You must be one of them!” “No, man, I’m not!” Peter retorted. About an hour later someone else insisted, “This must be one of them, because he is a Galilean, too.” But Peter said, “Man, I don’t know what you are talking about.” And immediately, while he was still speaking, the rooster crowed. At that moment the Lord turned and looked at Peter. Suddenly, the Lord’s words flashed through Peter’s mind: “Before the rooster crows tomorrow morning, you will deny three times that you even know Me.” And Peter left the courtyard, weeping bitterly.
Luke 22:54-62
My hope is that there are many of you, who have faithfully followed Bible Gems for some time, who have already thought to compare the gospel accounts of this section. I am sure the Deeper Biblers have. I have given you the accounts here from all four gospels. I am sure some of you may wonder why these parallel accounts seem so complicated. There are two segments I have given you above. I have given you the segment of Luke 22:63 –65 only because that portion is included in the other synoptic accounts. I plan to deal with Luke 22:63-71 in a separate segment. When you compare these two pericope you will be able to work out what is happening here between the gospels and why Robertson in his harmony has isolated Matt 26:57 and 58 as well as Mark 14:53 and 54 and Luke 22:54 in the way he has. If it weren’t for that separation, these units would divide into two clean, ordered pericope. It is all dependent on how these “hanging verses” are handled. You will see it is all to do with the introduction by the other synoptic writers as to how they arranged the material. The emphasis of the gospel writers is evident in these two parallel segments which make it clear to us where Luke parts company with Matthew and Mark. You can see very clearly how Luke handles the material when it is set beside the other sources. I will leave you at this point to grapple with the text before us and return in the following Gem with the coloured schema and my introductory comments. Of course the task before us as it is laid out in Luke’s gospel is to investigate Peter’s denial along with the mocking and persecution of Jesus.
Remember the colour code for these gospel accounts. I think it is funny but there are a number of you who have said they love it when there is a comparative gospel section that has to be coloured. They say it is fun to do the colouring. Well have fun now.
- Common Material shared between the gospel accounts
- Uniquely Matthew
- Uniquely Mark
- Uniquely Luke
- Uniquely John
Any amount of theology can be smuggled into people’s minds under the cover of fiction without their knowing it.
C S Lewis
Make sure your “can” is larger than your “can’t”. Some are put off by the seeming complexity of the task. Don’t let that be you.
Anon
Keep the main thing in focus and the task becomes easier. It’s the side issues or the red herrings that confuse us.
Anon
Remember your first task is to find out what Luke is doing. We are gemming Luke at the moment. It makes it easier to keep that in mind.
Anon