Good morning. We left Jesus being questioned by the high priest about His disciples and His teaching. I have spoken openly to the world; I always taught in synagogues and in the temple, where all the Jews come together; and I spoke nothing in secret. Why do you question Me? Question those who have heard what I spoke to them; they know what I said. When He had said this, one of the officers standing nearby struck Jesus, saying, is that the way You answer the high priest? The same thing happened to Paul in the book of Acts. He got a bit upset then. As a reminder, this was Annas, the true high priest - not the one put into place by the Romans. If I have spoken wrongly, testify of the wrong; but if rightly, why do you strike Me? Of course he had no answer. So, Annas sent Him bound to Caiaphas the (Roman designated) high priest. Now Peter was standing and warming himself. So they said to him, you are not also one of His disciples, are you? In Greek you can ask a question which expects the answer yes, or one which expects the answer no. This is the one that expects the answer no. I am not. One of the slaves of the high priest, being a relative of the one whose ear Peter cut off, said, did I not see you in the garden with Him? This one expects the answer, yes. Peter denied it again, and immediately a rooster crowed. Remember that there was a disagreement among the gospels as to whether the rooster crowed once or twice. You would think that the rooster crowing would have jarred Peter into realization of his denials of Jesus; but it didn’t. Would we have done any better than Peter – probably not. Father help this to be a glorious day for the reader. Help everything to be great at work and for him/her to get everything done that needs to be done.

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