The Passion according to Luke
Jesus denied and mocked: Lk 22,54-65
The overnight holding of Jesus in the high priest's house enables Luke to relate two parts of the tradition he received. Both are treated differently in the other Gospels, including John.
The denials of Peter predicted by Jesus at the Last Supper in Luke, are clearly an important part of the passion story. The other Gospels intertwine the denials of Peter with the faithfulness of Jesus under trial. Only Luke tells of the denials as one incident with the contrast made by Jesus looking at Peter (22,61).
The mockery of Jesus (22,63-65) is also part of the overnight interlude. The other Gospels have Jesus mocked after his condemnation by the Sanhedrin (Mk 14,65).
With these two incidents from tradition now taking place before the trial, Luke has cleared the way for his story to unfold smoothly from the various hearings (22,66-23,25) straight through to the way of the cross and the crucifixion (22,26ff).
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Jesus denied: 22,54-62
Verse 54 is a transition as Jesus is taken to the house of the high priest. Only here does Luke say Jesus is arrested, the arrest in Mark comes before Jesus'comments.
Peter was previously mentioned when Jesus spoke to him at the last supper.
The first challenger is a slave girl in verse 56. She makes a general comment "this man", not "you" Peter's reply in verse 57 is introduced with "Woman".
Luke now has two bystanders commenting, the second in verse 59 specifying that Peter was a Galilean. Both replies from Peter are milder than those in Mark: Mk 14,71 is much stronger than 22,60. As we have seen before, Luke is kinder about Peter than Mark.
In verse 61, Luke says the Lord turned. "Lord" is used of Jesus a number of times in the Gospel as we have seen. It is a reminder that the Gospel reflects the community for which it was written several decades later.
Luke like the other evangelists speaks in verse 62 of Peter weeping bitterly.
Jesus mocked: 22,63-65
Jesus is mocked spcifically as a prophet (verse 64). Yet in verse 61, Jesus' prophecy has already come true as Peter remembered the prediction of his denials.
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