Study 53. Luke 22:54- 71
6. What happens to Peter in the courtyard after Jesus is taken inside for interrogation (see 22:56-62)? Peter’s threefold denial of Jesus is recorded in all four Gospels. The Synoptics record them all together, but John interpolates an examination before Annas between the first and second. All four Gospels agree that the first challenge came from a slave girl, John adding that she was the doorkeeper. She looked hard at Peter (gazing at him means ‘staring at him’; it indicates a close scrutiny). But this is likely because of narrative priorities There must have been intervals (cf. 58–59) and things would have happened during those intervals. Another problem is that, after the first occasion, different people are said to challenge Peter. In Mark the second denial appears to be elicited by a question from the same slave girl, in Matthew from a different slave girl, in Luke from a man and in John from a number of people. A question once posed is likely to have been taken up by...