Before His betrayal and arrest, Jesus told the disciples that each of them would stumble that night because of Him. Peter argued, saying he would never do such a thing, but Jesus assured him that by the time the rooster crowed that night, he would deny Jesus three times.
Jesus then went to pray at Gethsemane, was betrayed and arrested, and brought before the Sanhedrin. The disciples fled, but Peter and John followed behind at a distance to see what was happening.
John knew the High Priest so he was able to get into the courtyard. Then he talked to the servant girl who stood watch at the door and told her to let Peter in as well.
She looked closely at him in the dark.
“You also were with Jesus the Galilean.” (Matthew 26:69)
He told her he wasn’t.
Soon, other servants and officers gathered in the courtyard, waiting to see what was going to happen to Jesus. Since it was cold, they built a fire.
While Peter warmed himself by the fire, the high priest questioned Jesus. When they didn’t like His answer, an officer struck Him across the face.
The crowd waiting outside could hear what was going on.
Another servant girl said to the bystanders, “This man was with Jesus of Nazareth.”
Again, he denied it.
Finally, one of the servants, a relative of the officer whose ear Peter cut off, asked, “Did I not see you in the garden with him?”
And for a third time, Peter denied being a disciple of Jesus.
Read about the servant girls: of the High Priest: Matthew 26:69-75, Mark 14:66-69, Luke 22:56-59, John 18:15-27
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