Jesus' answer was reason enough for the high priest to accuse Him of blasphemy, an offense against God: "You have heard blasphemy; What do you think?" All the other members of the Sanhedrin agreed with the high priest: "They all recognized Him guilty of death." In this way, the Sanhedrin achieved what it wanted. He could bring an accusation for which the death penalty was imposed. Everyone was satisfied.

The mockery of Jesus and the denial of Peter.

14.65-72 — "And some began to spit on Him, and covering His face, they struck Him, and said to Him, 'Prophesy.' And the servants smote Him on the cheeks. And it came to pass, when Peter was in the courtyard below, that one of the high priest's maidservants came, and when she saw Peter warming himself, and looked at him, and said, "Thou hast also been with Jesus of Nazareth." But he denied, saying, "I do not know and do not understand what you say." And he went out into the front yard; And the rooster crowed. The maidservant, seeing him again, began to say to those standing there, "This is one of them." He again renounced. After a while, those who stood there again began to say to Peter, "Surely you are one of them; for thou art a Galilean, and thy tongue is alike. And he began to swear and swear, I do not know this man of whom ye speak. Then the rooster crowed a second time. And Peter remembered the word that Jesus had spoken to him, "Before the crows twice, thrice shalt thou deny me; and began to cry."

The narrative of the Passion of Jesus was for early Christianity something more than just a story of His trial. Anyone who learned about these Passions must have felt the horror and injustice of all that was happening. This is the purpose of the passages that tell of the mockery of Jesus and the denial of Him by one of His closest friends.

We read about Jesus being spat upon, beaten, mocked. "And some began to spit on Him, and covering His face, they struck Him, and said to Him, 'Prophecy.' And the servants smote Him on the cheeks" (14:65), and a little further: "The soldiers took Him into the courtyard, that is, into the praetorium, and gathered together all the army, and clothed Him in scarlet, and wove a crown of thorns, and laid it on Him; And they began to greet Him: Rejoice, King of the Jews! And they smote Him on the head with a reed, and spat on Him, and knelt down and bowed down to Him" (15:16-19). These descriptions immediately reminded their listeners of other, biblical texts, which also spoke of the persecution of the righteous man by the lawless. Suffice it to recall the "Song of the Lord's Servant" from the book of the prophet Isaiah:

"He was despised and rejected by men;

a man of sorrows, and acquainted with sorrows,

и мы отвращали от Него лице свое;

Он был презираем, и мы ни во что ставили Его.

Но Он взял на Себя наши немощи

и понес наши болезни;

а мы думали, что Он был поражаем,