John 18:16Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

That Peter too would have entered if it had been permitted to him is shown in the account that follows. Indeed, when John went out and ordered the doorkeeper to bring him in, Peter immediately entered.

Why then did he not bring him in himself? He did not fall behind Christ, but followed Him. Therefore he ordered the woman to bring Peter in.

Concerning Peter, he declares that he followed Jesus out of love for Him, but stopped outside the courtyard because he was not known.

That Peter would have entered if he had been permitted is clear from what happened when John went out and told the doorkeeper to bring him in. Peter immediately entered.

Why then did John not bring him in himself, but order the woman to do it? Because he held firmly to Christ, followed Him without ceasing, and did not wish to be separated from Him.

Peter, with ardent zeal, would not have delayed entering if a servant girl had not been guarding the gates. She made entrance inside difficult for those previously unknown to her.

Of course, it would not have been hard for a man to push a woman aside, had this not entailed the charge of disorderly conduct.

Thus, as though by necessity, the disciple stops before the door, though with grief.

Then the other disciple, thinking that Peter was greatly distressed by this, brought him in with himself. He spoke with the servant girl at the entrance and asked that his companion be allowed through.

Who that disciple was cannot be asserted with complete certainty, because his name is not given. But John usually indicates himself in this way, adding, "whom Jesus loved"; see Jn 13:23; 19:26; 21:7; 21:20.

Therefore it is probable that he was meant here as well. But whoever he was, let us see what happened next.

Notice the Evangelist's humility and brotherly love. So that no one would praise him for entering with Jesus Christ and blame Peter for remaining outside the doors, John says that he was allowed in because he was known to the high priest.

Peter, as one unknown, was not allowed in. Yet he still remained at the doors, which could serve rather as praise for Peter.

Here there was no formal trial of Jesus. He was brought here only to gratify the curiosity of the old high priest. Annas soon sent Him to Caiaphas. Peter and John accompanied Jesus.

Here Jesus is questioned about His disciples and His teaching. But knowing the intention behind the question, and knowing that they had already resolved to condemn Him, Jesus answers that this question is unnecessary for Him.

They can learn His teaching from those who heard Him. For this, a servant strikes Him on the cheek. Is this a lawful conduct of trial?

Meanwhile they began looking for witnesses, but false ones. There were also two true witnesses present. Yet how little were they still able to bear witness concerning Jesus!

Where the nine Apostles fled is unknown. But two, Peter and John, even if they left Jesus, still did not dare go far from Him.

The desire to learn what would happen to Him drew them toward Him. So they came out from their brief hiding place and began, from a distance, to watch the departing detachment.

Then they followed after it, though at some distance, and in this way reached Jerusalem.

Peter and John, following not far away, wanted to enter after Jesus into the courtyard of Annas. John was known to Annas and therefore entered the courtyard without fear.

Peter stopped at the entrance, not daring to enter. Then John, noticing that Peter was not beside him, went to the gate and told the doorkeeper to let Peter in.

After that, he brought him into the courtyard with himself.

While this lawless tribunal against the Holiest of men was taking place, an armed crowd of servants and attendants gathered in the high-priestly courtyard around a blazing fire.

They were occupied with their own discussion of all that had happened. This whole company of servants was naturally hostile toward Christ, in whom they saw only a rebellious Galilean.

They mocked Him and His disciples, who had scattered from fear. Yet not all of them had fled.

In that very courtyard there were two of them, who had enough courage to penetrate into the very midst of their Teacher's enemies.

One was John, the beloved disciple. As a fisherman not unknown in the high-priestly house, he could enter the courtyard without particular difficulty.

Into the courtyard of the high priest, Ἕσω εἰς τήν αὐλήν τοῦ ἀρχιερέως, Mk 14:54; compare Mt 26:58, the Apostle Peter followed the Savior. Burning with the desire to know the fate of his Teacher, he settled there by the fire, mingling with the crowd of the high priest's servants.

But the Apostle Peter, as the Evangelists note, sat "outside in the courtyard" and "below": Ἕσω ἐκάθητο ἐν τῇ αὐλῇ, Mt 26:69; Ἐν τῇ αὐλῇ κάτω, Mk 14:66.

Therefore the place of the trial of the Lord Jesus Christ, in contrast to such expressions, must be supposed to have been inside the house itself, and indeed upstairs.

The other disciple entered with Jesus into the inner courtyard of the high priest's house, while Peter remained in the outer courtyard. As is clear from what follows, he was not allowed farther in.

Perhaps this was because orders had been given not to admit everyone indiscriminately, lest a disturbance arise and the trial take place with special noise and interference.

But the disciple known in the high priest's courtyard went out from the inner courtyard, spoke to the doorkeeper, for among the Jews it was customary to have women as doorkeepers instead of men, and brought Peter into the inner courtyard.

There was only one night like it in the history of mankind: the night of Great Thursday.

How darkly Judas, Anan, Caiaphas, the members of the Sanhedrin, the servants, and the soldiers appear! Even those who had proved themselves better men in many trials were shaken.

They had shown such steadfastness that, for more than three years, they did not abandon Him who had nowhere to lay His head. Yet, without the protection of their Teacher, they hastened to escape misfortune wherever they could.

Will poor humanity find a defense for itself in Peter, who had given his word to die for his Lord?

According to St. John, when they were leading the Lord Jesus bound to Annas, Peter and another disciple followed Jesus.

According to Mt 26:56, "all the disciples," except Peter and John, "fled."

Peter and another disciple follow the Lord. That this other disciple was the Evangelist John himself has never been doubted, either in ancient times or in our own.

John Chrysostom, in Homily 83 on John, points to the Evangelist's modesty. He seeks to diminish the significance of his act, which was in itself bold, by not mentioning himself by name.

At the same time, he lets us understand that he was an eyewitness of the events and speaks of them with full knowledge.

John enters after the Lord into the courtyard of the high priest. There all the servants not only knew him personally, but also knew that he was one of the Lord's closest disciples.