After he was arrested in the darkness of the Garden of Gethsemane - Jesus was brought under armed guard to the residence of the High Priest, Caiaphas. Caiaphas had organised for this arrest and now brought Jesus to try him. In the middle of the night Jesus was tried in a fake court on a trumped up charge. They could find no wrong with him but Caiaphas was determined that the threat he felt Jesus was should end. Jesus had to be snuffed out. Famously he had already said that for the sake of the nation Jesus must die. Little did he realise just how prophetic that was. Jesus would in fact die not just for the nation - but for all of mankind.
Imagine Peter shocked at the arrest of his master following him at a distance - dodging in and out of the shadows - until he eventually plucked up the courage to enter the very courtyard of the place where they had brought Jesus.
But his courage failed. When he was challenged by a servant Girl, and later by some onlookers in that courtyard - that he was a friend of Jesus - he got scared. He was so scared at the possibility of what they might do to him that he cursed and flatly denied he knew Jesus at all.
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Visit the Garden in the former West Kirk and reflect on this place in Jesus' final hours. You will find the door into the garden half way along Thomson Street.
