"THIS FELLOW WAS WITH JESUS."
Now Peter sat in the part of the great hall that was lower down than that where Our Lord was, and he warmed himself by the fire; and a maid came up, and said to him, "You are one of the men who were with Jesus;" but he said, "I do not know Him." Then another servant said to him, "You are one of His disciples;" but Peter said, "Man, I am not." An hour went by, and then another said, "This fellow was with Jesus." And Peter said he was not, and began to use bad words. Just then the cock crowed; and Our Lord turned and looked at Peter. It must have been such a sad look! and it reminded him of what Our Lord had said, "Before the cock crow thou shalt deny Me three times." And he was so much ashamed and so very sorry that he went out and wept bitterly.
Now, when Judas saw that Our Lord would be put to death, he repented, and brought back the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests, and said, "I have sinned, for I have given up to you an innocent man." The wicked priests answered, "What is that to us? See thou to that." And Judas cast down the pieces of silver and went and hanged himself. Very bad men sometimes cannot bear to live, when they feel how wicked they have been; but it only adds to their sins to kill themselves; for God has said men may not do so.
When daylight came, the great crowd of the priests and scribes and their friends led Our Lord from the High Priest's house to that of Pilate, the Roman governor, to have Him judged; for the Romans did not allow the Jews to put any one to death. Pilate was in his hall where he judged people. He came out and asked, "What has this Man done?" "He teaches men wrong," said they; "He tells them not to pay the tax to Cæsar, and says that He is Christ, a King." Then, Pilate went back to the judgment hall and had Christ brought before him, and said, "Are You a King?" Our Lord told him that He was; but not a king of this world; His Kingdom was a heavenly one. Then Pilate went out to the people, and said, "I find no fault in this man." But they were more angry, and cried, "He teaches the people wrongly, from Galilee to this place." When Pilate found that Jesus came from Galilee, he sent Him to Herod to be judged, for Herod was ruler over that part of the land. And when Herod saw Our Lord, he was glad, for he hoped to see some miracle done by Him; and he questioned Jesus with many words; but the Lord would not even speak to the cruel man who had killed John the Baptist. Then Herod grew angry, and he and his soldiers mocked the Lord, and put on Him a purple robe such as kings wear, and sent Him back to Pilate. The priests and scribes then said all manner of false things about Jesus; but He did not speak or answer at all. Then Pilate's wife sent to tell him not to have anything to do with that just man, as she had had a terrible dream about Him. And again Pilate tried to save Him. The Romans set free any prisoner that the Jews asked for at the Passover; so Pilate said to them, "I will have Jesus beaten and then set Him free." But the priests told the people to say, "No; set Barabbas free." Now, Barabbas was a robber.
Then Pilate said, "What, then, shall I do with Jesus who is called Christ?" and they said, "Crucify Him!"—that is, "Nail Him to a cross." But Pilate still tried to save Jesus; he told his soldiers to beat Our Lord with great knotted ropes; and then the men made a crown of sharp thorns and pressed it on His head, so that the blood ran down; and they put a reed in His hand, and the purple robe on again, and cried, "Hail, King of the Jews!" and kneeled down to Him, mocking Him. Pilate, thinking that the cruel Jews would be quiet and let Him go if they saw Him thus, took Him out, and said to them, "Behold the Man!" But they only cried more and more, "Crucify Him!" Pilate said, "Take ye Him and crucify Him, for I find no fault in Him." They answered, "We have a law, and by our law He ought to die, because He says He is the Son of God."
When Pilate heard that, he was much afraid; he took Our Lord back into the hall, and asked Him, "Whence do you come?" But Jesus did not answer him. Pilate said, "Why do you not answer me? Do you not know that I can crucify you, or let you go free?" But Jesus said that Pilate's power was given from above, and that the Jews had the greater sin. Then Pilate tried very hard to save the Lord, but the Jews cried out again, "If you let this Man go, you are not Cæsar's friend."
"I AM INNOCENT OF THE BLOOD OF THIS JUST MAN."