When Jesus was with his apostles in the upper room, he said to them: ‘All of you will abandon me tonight.’ Peter said: ‘Not I! Even if all the others leave you, I will never leave you.’ But Jesus told Peter: ‘Before a rooster crows, you will say three times that you don’t know me.’

When the soldiers took Jesus to the house of Caiaphas, most of the apostles fled. But two of them followed in the crowd. One of them was Peter. He went into the courtyard of the house of Caiaphas and warmed himself by the fire. In the light, a servant girl saw Peter’s face and said: ‘I know you! You were with Jesus!’

Peter said: ‘No, I wasn’t! I don’t know what you’re talking about!’ He headed toward the gate. But soon another servant girl saw him and told the crowd: ‘This man was with Jesus!’ Peter said: ‘I don’t even know Jesus!’ A man said: ‘You are one of them! I can tell from your accent that you are from Galilee, like Jesus.’ But Peter swore: ‘I don’t know him!’

At that moment, a rooster crowed. Peter saw Jesus turn and look at him. He remembered Jesus’ words, and he went outside and wept bitterly.

In the meantime, the Sanhedrin convened to put Jesus on trial inside the house of Caiaphas. They had already decided to kill Jesus, and now they were looking for a reason. But they could not find anything against him. Finally, Caiaphas asked Jesus directly: ‘Are you the Son of God?’ Jesus said: ‘I am.’ Caiaphas said: ‘We don’t need any more evidence. This is blasphemy!’ The court agreed: ‘This man must die.’ They slapped Jesus, spat on him, covered his eyes, and hit him, saying: ‘If you are a prophet, tell us who hit you!’

When it became day, they took Jesus to the Sanhedrin hall and asked him again: ‘Are you the Son of God?’ Jesus answered: ‘You are saying that I am.’ Then they found him guilty of blasphemy and took him to the palace of Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor. What happened next? Let’s find out.