The most remarkable thing about the arrest and interrogation of Jesus is that no one involved in it, except, of course, Jesus Himself, truly understands what is happening. The disciples think that...
The most remarkable thing about the arrest and interrogation of Jesus is that no one involved in it, except, of course, Jesus Himself, truly understands what is happening. The disciples think that they are witnessing the beginning of a failed uprising which ended before it could even begin. Peter, the most determined of them, is ready to fight and even tries to start it, but the Teacher's response leaves him completely bewildered, as it does the other disciples. They do not understand what is happening or what they should do next. In the end they simply scatter: there is nothing else left for them to do, since everything is lost.
Peter follows the Teacher, but now without any hope, simply wanting to see what will happen to Him. He denies Him so easily precisely because nothing matters to him any longer. Everything is over, so what difference does it make now whether or not he was with Jesus? It would be utterly absurd to suffer for taking part in an uprising that never happened. Only the cock's crow brings Peter back to reality: true reality, where relationships matter absolutely and where nothing is over yet, but everything is only beginning.
As for the high priest and his circle, they understand little more. For them too, Jesus is merely the leader of a failed messianic uprising who remains dangerous as long as He is alive. All the charges are transparently fabricated and judicial procedure is not observed. Clearly, they simply want to get rid of Him.
But He goes about His work: bringing into the world the Kingdom that He must bring. Caring for His disciples without relying on them. Paying no attention to mockery and abuse. And making no attempt to defend Himself at the “trial,” not only because it is indeed a “trial” in quotation marks, but also because in this case He could have defended Himself only by abandoning the fulfilment of the one supreme task for which He came into the world. And He goes on, to the cross. In a fallen world, there is no other path for Him.
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22:70 They all said, Art thou then the Son of God? - Both these, the Son of God, and the Son of man, were known titles of the Messiah; the one taken from his Divine, and the other from his human nature.