The Fourth Station: Jesus Is Denied by Peter

Presider: We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you.
All: Because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world.

While Peter was below In the courtyard, one of the high priest's maids came along. Seeing Peter warming himself, she looked intently at him and said, "You too were with the Nazarene, Jesus." But he denied it saying, "I neither know nor understand what you are talking about." So he went out into the outer court. [Then the cock crowed.] A little later the bystanders said to Peter once more, "Surely you are one of them; for you too are a Galilean." He began to curse and to swear, "I do not know this man about whom you are talking." And immediately a cock crowed a second time. Then Peter remembered the word that Jesus had said to him, ... He broke down and wept. (Mark 14:66, 67, 68, 70-71, 72)

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MAID SERVANT
I was in the courtyard that night, a maid working for the High Priest Caiaphas. The soldiers whisked a man In through the back door. I told the other servants this must be Jesus of Nazareth. Then I saw a man who was a follower of Jesus-I was sure of it! He huddled near the fire hypnotized by its flames. I approached him-"No shyness in your bones, missy." my mother used to say-and I straightway asked him, "Are you a follower of that Nazarene, Jesus?" I didn't mean to alarm him, but he became star­tled at my words like a horse encountering a snake. "I don't know him," he sputtered. So I walked over to my fellow workers and pointed Peter out. I said loudly, so he could hear me, "Do you re­ member this man being a part of Jesus' group?" He turned sharply to us and denied it again. Finally, old Tobias, sitting around the fire, smiled at him and said, "Surely you are one of them; you're a Galilean!" (The Galileans have that strange accent, you know.) The man stood up, cursing and swearing. He became so violent, we scattered. But I watched him from a distance. I saw a strange look come over his face when he heard old Ben Rooster crow. It was as though death had called for his soul. Then. he turned away, and I saw his shoulders rise and fall. II he weren't a man, I'd swear he was crying. 
​
PRESIDER: Let us pray .
ALL: Jesus, out of fear Peter denied you but in the end 
was moved to repentance. Do not abandon us when we deny you out of human respect, but bless us with tears of repentance for our sins. Amen.  
Were you there when Peter denied the Lord? 
Were you there when Peter denied the Lord? 
Oh! Sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble!
​Were you there when Peter denied the Lord? 

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