Jesus was betrayed. He was thrown into an illegal trial. The Pharisees tried to cover it up by passing him off to the Romans with the verdict that they wanted. Nothing was just. Nothing was fair. No one had the gumption to do what was right. Injustice has reigned so long that most didn't even know the difference from what is right and what is wrong. The worst part is that the unjust system is still in control today. Right and wrong has never changed. People just manipulate the system to suit themselves.
We can focus on all the horrible and unjust in the world. It doesn't change anything, but the mind. It will lead you to dark places where nothing feels right anymore. Or you can focus on how Jesus handled the situation. He did everything right. All he did was to glorify God. He upheld dignity in the most humiliating circumstances like when he was stripped and put on the cross naked for being who he is instead of an actual crime. His actions teach us how to love those that directly persecute us.
As Jesus was taken, Peter acted impulsively. He cut off the right ear of a soldier named Malchus. He was trying to defend Jesus, but he went about it the wrong way. His actions did not bring justice. If anything it could have made things so much worse because violence only brings more violence.
Once he calmed down and thought about the situation, it put fear in his heart because he did know better. I think that was the trigger that caused him to deny Jesus three times before Jesus' first trial was completed by the Sanhedrin led by Annas. He was afraid for his own life. It doesn't mean that he did not love Jesus. It just means that fear had a hold on him that night and affected his mental compacity to do what he wanted to do: defend Jesus. He never wanted to betray Jesus.
Jesus had healed the soldier. The officials were not interested in Peter. They had gotten their golden goose: Jesus. However, in Peter's head he probably didn't feel like they would not seek vengeance. When Peter denied Jesus the third time he had to look Jesus in the eye. He remembered what Jesus said and all the fear turned into misery. He probably had no idea how things could have gone so wrong so quickly. He was not acting unjust, but he didn't know how to change the injustice of what was happening.
After the illegal impromptu trail held by the Pharisees in the darkest part of the night, they handed Jesus off to Pilate, a Roman judicial. They were acting so holier than thou that they would not even enter the heathen's home to drop Jesus off. They forced the Roman official to come out to them. They were worried about being unclean, but the hate in their hearts had them as filthy as a person could possibly be. Their attempts to look righteous condemned them.
Pilate was a fair man, but he was not a strong man in integrity. He understood that the Jews wanted their verdict carried out immediately. He probably didn't realize that it was because they didn't want to risk anything stopping the execution. Pilate would not risk want to dig too deep for himself because it could risk his position or life for a Jew. His jurisdiction was over the Romans, so this does go with the flow of another illegal trial, but it was more of a gray area than flat out illegal.
Pilate had no reason to risk anything for Jesus because he didn't understand who Jesus was. All he was worried about was the political nightmare the situation put him in. He listened to Jesus. He believed that Jesus was innocent of all charges of blasphemy.
The verdict for blasphemy is stoning, but the Sanhedrin wanted it worse for Jesus. They wanted him hung on a cross to humiliate him even more. Pilate did not see the full truth either because he did not want to or because he did not have enough back story or time. It is glib to dismiss the truth because it is an inconvenience to you. Pilate exonerated Jesus three times, but nothing came of it.
Only those really willing to listen see the truth in Jesus. That was not the people that was present. The Sanhedrin wanted Jesus dead so badly that they were willing to release a known insurrectionist and terrorist. Barnabas was probably what we would define as a psychopath in today's standards. His name means "son of the father". They released that son instead of the true son of God. That is intense injustice.
John 18
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