Book of Common Prayer

Prophecy made sure

¹² So I intend to go on and on reminding you about all this—even though you know it, and have been firmly established in the truth which has come to you. ¹³ But it seems right to me, as long as I am living in this present tent, to stir you up with a reminder, ¹⁴ since I know that I shall shortly be putting off this tent, as our Lord Jesus the Messiah showed me. ¹⁵ So I shall also be making every effort to ensure that, once I am gone, you may be able to call these things to mind at any time.

¹⁶ You see, when we made known to you the power and appearing of our Lord Jesus the Messiah, we were not following cleverly devised myths. Rather, we were eyewitnesses of his grandeur. ¹⁷ For when he received honor and glory from God the father, a voice spoke to him from the Wonderful Glory, “This is my son, my beloved one, in whom I am well pleased.” ¹⁸ We heard this voice, spoken from heaven, when we were with him on the holy mountain. ¹⁹ And we have the prophetic word made more certain. You will do well to hold on to this, as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star shines in your hearts. ²⁰ You must know this first of all, that no scriptural prophecy is a matter of one’s own interpretation. ²¹ No prophecy, you see, ever came by human will. Rather, people were moved by the holy spirit, and spoke from God.

Peter denies Jesus

⁵⁴ So they arrested Jesus, took him off, and brought him into the high priest’s house. Peter followed at a distance. ⁵⁵ They lit a fire in the middle of the courtyard and sat around it, and Peter sat in among them.

⁵⁶ A servant-girl saw him sitting by the fire. She stared hard at him. “This fellow was with him!” she said.

⁵⁷ Peter denied it. “I don’t know him, woman,” he said.

⁵⁸ After a little while another man saw him and said, “You’re one of them!”

“No, my friend, I’m not,” replied Peter.

⁵⁹ After the space of about an hour, another man insisted, “It’s true! This man was with him; he’s a Galilean too!”

⁶⁰ “My good fellow,” said Peter, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” And at once, while he was still speaking, the cock crowed. ⁶¹ The master turned and looked at Peter, and Peter called to mind the words the master had spoken to him: “Before the cock crows, this very day, you will deny me three times.” ⁶² And he went outside and wept bitterly.

⁶³ The men who were holding Jesus began to make fun of him and knock him about. ⁶⁴ They blindfolded him.

“Prophesy!” they told him. “Who is it that’s hitting you?”

⁶⁵ And they said many other scandalous things to him.

⁶⁶ When the day broke, the official assembly of the people, the chief priests and the scribes came together, and they took him off to their council.

⁶⁷ “If you are the Messiah,” they said, “tell us!”

“If I tell you,” he said to them, “you won’t believe me. ⁶⁸ And if I ask you a question, you won’t answer me. ⁶⁹ But from now on the son of man will be seated at the right hand of God’s power.”