The Disciples on the Final Night

We speak a lot about Peter’s denial during the trial of the Savior.  When Jesus was arrested in the garden, “Simon Peter followed Jesus” to the “palace of the high priest” where the first of the illegal proceedings in the night took place (John 18:15).  It was outside of the palace that Peter “denied before them all, saying, “I know not what thou sayest” to those who said he was with Jesus.  Three times here he made the denial according to Matthew’s account, and then the cock crew and “he went out, and wept bitterly” (Matt. 26:70, 75).  We should remember, though, that on that same night Peter, without regard for his own life, sought to defend the Savior: “Then Simon Peter having a sword drew it, and smote the high priest’s servant, and cut off his right ear” (John 18:10).  When Jesus subsequently healed the man, He was not just healing him but He was also saving Peter from great trouble—the apostle likely could have been arrested himself and tried for such an act, but the Lord made the evidence disappear.  Matthew and Mark recorded that at this point, as Jesus was apprehended, “All the disciples forsook him, and fled” (Matt. 26:56).  But it wasn’t quite all, for Peter did not forsake Him and flee, but knowing perhaps that he could still be in danger because of what he had just done, Peter followed the Savior nonetheless.  So, despite the fact that he did deny knowing the Savior that night, at least he was there and had stuck with the Savior despite most of the other disciples. 

               John was the other disciple who did not forsake the Savior that night, and it appears that he was the only one who stuck with Jesus until the end.  John recorded that Peter and “another disciple” went to the palace following Jesus, clearly referring to John himself.  John apparently “was known unto the high priest” and so he “went in with Jesus into the palace of the high priest” and was able to get Peter admittance as well (John 18:15-16).  After Peter’s denial he disappeared from the scene until the events at the tomb, but John, it appears, stayed with the Savior through the preposterous proceedings until the end.  He was there watching as Jesus hung on the cross (no other apostles were mentioned) for John recorded, “When Jesus therefore saw his mother, and the disciple standing by, whom he loved, he saith unto his mother, Woman, behold thy son!” (John 19:26) 

We can’t be too quick to judge those apostles who weren’t there in those final hours, though, for we don’t have all the details about what really happened.  Jesus had specifically requested that they depart when He was arrested: “If therefore ye seek me, let these go their way” (John 18:8).  They may have stayed away for their own safety, perhaps following counsel from the Savior Himself.  The JST also provides an interesting insight into what the apostles were thinking in those final hours: “The disciples began to be sore amazed, and to be very heavy, and to complain in their hearts, wondering if this be the Messiah” (JST Mark 14:36).  Despite all they had witnessed in those three years, the stress and pressure of that night caused them to doubt again whether Christ was really who He said He was.  They did not yet have the gift of the Holy Ghost, and the uncertainty and terror of that night caused doubts to arise.  What we do know is that John stood by the Savior’s ordeal and left an example of faithfulness for us today