You are sitting around a campfire with some of your friends. All of a sudden you realize that the noise around you has changed drastically. When you look up, you no longer see familiar faces but instead you see various people of different ages in strange clothes.  All of them are huddled together around the fire, trying to keep warm.  There is a lot of tension in the air as if something important but sad is about to happen.

You look over to your left and see a man greatly distressed.  He looks like he has had a sleepless night and is very upset about something.  A girl in poor clothes who looks like a servant comes up to the man and says, “Excuse me, but were you not one of the men who followed this Nazarene wherever he went?”   The man looks startled and scared and says in an uneasy voice, “You must be mistaken.”

Meanwhile the man starts warming himself again and breathes a sigh of relief.  But shortly after another person walks up to him and says in a loud voice, “You there! You look like one of those who were always with him.”   The man looks scared but calm and says in a firmer tone than before, “Surely it must just be a resemblance to one of his followers.”

Looking to your right you hear several men whispering.  You catch bits of their conversation.  They are talking about a new prisoner.  Supposedly he was disrupting the people and causing a rebellion.  All are talking about the many miracles that he performed.  One of these men catches the eye of the man sitting on your left and saunters over to him.  He says, “You most definitely are one of the followers of this prisoner. I was there on several occasions and I distinctly remember seeing you with him.”  The man on your left stoutly denies it and the other man saunters back to his seat.

Just seconds later a cock pierces the darkness with his high screech. The man on your left jumps at the noise and then bursts into tears.  As he stumbles off into the darkness you hear him muttering the following words, “Yes, Master, You told me that I would deny him three times before the cock crowed.  Master, please forgive me.  I am a great sinner.”

As you turn your eyes back to the campfire you realize that you are back among your friends. Theyare still talking as if nothing had happened. You jump up to run into your tent and pull out yourBible. Who was that man?

CLUE:
- The prisoner is Jesus and His passion is beginning.


SOLUTION:
-The man in the story is Saint Peter and he denies Jesus three times.
-You can read the entire story in the Gospel of Saint Matthew

©HM Zoom+ 57 - October/November 2008