Gethsemane presents Peter in the garden - he at least wouldn't run away! - and Nathanael - urging common sense and wanting to know what had happened when Peter, James and John had gone further on to pray with Jesus.
| It was Gethsemane - the garden where Jesus prayed, the garden where Jesus was betrayed. The eleven disciples all ran for their lives. Then one of them turned back... | |
| NATHANAEL (puffing): | Peter ... what's the hold up? ... Hurry up or they'll catch us! |
| PETER: | I doubt it. I somehow feel they are only after the Master. |
| NATHANAEL: | But... |
| PETER: | I know, Nathanael. They'd have grabbed me right away - as soon as I took that swipe at the high priest's man. The Master said, "Don't touch these men," and they never looked as if they would! |
| NATHANAEL: | Peter, what happened in the garden? I mean when the Master took you and James and John a bit further on? |
| PETER: | I don't rightly know, Nathanael. The Master seemed very worried about something - but I'm afraid the three of us all dropped off to sleep! |
| NATHANAEL: | Shame on you! |
| PETER: | Yes, I feel that, but - well - we were just so tired! So tired! |
| NATHANAEL: | Come on, then, let's get going while we can. Remember, Peter, it's not just those guards. No doubt they have their instructions. But there are a lot of other people in Jerusalem. Jesus might be safer with the courts than we would be with the mob! Hurry up! |
| PETER: | Wait, Nathanael! I was just remembering how the Master said we would all be scattered and leave him. He was right. What a loyal bunch of followers! I, for one, am going back. Maybe Jesus needs to see that even one of us still loves him and is willing to die for him! |
| NATHANAEL: | Don't play the martyr, Peter! Jesus wouldn't let us bring more than two swords - you know that! And then he objected when you used one of them! I can't understand it! By the time those guards came, he was so calm - not troubled any more - as if his destiny was about to be fulfilled. |
| PETER: | Strange that you say that! I think ... no, I'm not at all sure. I was just so dog-tired ... I have a bit of an idea he was praying about his Father's will. |
| NATHANAEL: | Come on, Peter. Let's be off! |
| PETER: | No, Nathanael. You go. I must go back before it's too late. I must make my stand for the Master. |
| No - even Peter, for all his bravado, couldn't make much of a stand. Jesus faced his trial very much alone. What did it all really mean? How could something so terrible be someone's destiny, be the Father's will? We know the "what-comes-next", but the disciples didn't grasp that. They were quite unprepared for the tragedy - and the ecstasy!
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