John 19:1-5 - Here is the man!

19:1

Pilate took Jesus and had Him flogged. The exact nature of the flogging is not made known, and could have ranged from a relatively mild flogging (I emphasise the word relatively!) to the very severe floggings given prior to crucifixion. Remember that Jesus has not been sentenced at this point. Pilates’ hope is that this will appease the Jews. Note that he had some respect for the truth, knowing that Jesus was innocent, but not enough to make a stand on the issue.

19:2,3

The soldiers mocked Jesus and the Jews. They made a mock crown out of thorns and placed it on His head, along with a purple robe. Purple was a colour associated with royalty. The soldiers taunted Jesus by striking Him on the face (an action of insult) and pretending to honour Him as the king of the Jews.

19:4,5

Having had Jesus whipped and humiliated, Pilate takes Him out to the Jews again, hoping that now they will be satisfied and happy to have Him released. Pilate tells them again that he can find no guilt in Jesus. Jesus was brought out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe, ie looking suitably ridiculous and humiliated.

John 18:36-40 - My kingdom

18:36

Now Jesus does answer. “My kingdom is not of this world”. Now it is important that we understand the meaning of this.  It does not mean that His kingdom has nothing to do with this world, in fact the exact opposite of that is true, it has everything to do with this world. What it does mean is that it is completely different in nature and in the way it operates. If His kingdom was “of this world” then Jesus would have had people fighting for Him. Instead He rebuked Peter when he did fight. Jesus kingdom is very different.

18:37,38

Pilate sees that Jesus is a king, and in saying this he is correct. Jesus replies that He was born and sent into the world in order to bear witness to the truth, and if if someone is truly interested in the truth then he will listen to what Jesus has to say. Pilate, who was now acting as a judge, should have been interested in the truth.

We then get Pilate’s infamous words “what is truth?” Maybe Pilate thinks Jesus is just a philosopher. Pilate had a chance to listen to something far more important and far reaching than the self-interested claims of the Jewish leaders, but he neglected to do this.

So he went outside and told the Jews that he could find no basis for a charge against Jesus. This would not be pleasing to the Jewish leaders.

18:39,40

At Passover time the Romans traditionally released one prisoner. So Pilate offered to release Jesus. This was not going to work, there comes a time when we need to make a positive decision for Jesus. Those who are not for Him are against Him (Matt 12:30).

As we know, the Jewish leaders elected to have Barabbas released instead.. Anyone but Jesus! The duplicity and utter hypocrisy of their actions are highlighted by the fact that Barabbas was an insurrectionist. Earlier they had sought to claim to be bring Jesus to Pilate because He was supposedly a troublemaker, and yet they then chose to have a real troublemaker released.

We should not expect opposition to the gospel to be reasonable.

John 18:31-35 - Are you the king of the Jews?

18:31,32

Pilate sensed the game the priests were playing, knowing that they had no real concern for the well being of the Roman empire so it must be a religious dispute of some kind. So Pilate urged them to take Jesus away and deal with the matter themselves. If Pilate did handle it then any decision he made was only likely to lead to trouble for himself. The Jews then give the real reason they have brought Jesus to Pilate. They want Him killed and while the Romans allowed them some rights, they did not have the authority to sentence someone to death.

If the Jews had been allowed to kill Jesus, then it would have been by stoning. This was a horrible enough death, but did not fit with the prophecies nor the words Jesus had spoken about Himself being lifted up. So we see that even the details of Roman jurisdiction were under the control of God.

18:33-35

Remember that the Jewish authorities are outside the building, so they would not hear the words that Jesus spoke to Pilate. Pilate asked Jesus directly, “Are you the king of the Jews?” Based on what the Jewish leaders had said he had surmised that they were accusing Jesus of claiming authority over them, in place of the Romans.

Jesus knew what was going on and asked Pilate if this was a genuine question on his part, or based purely on what others, ie the Jewish leaders, were saying.

Pilate does not deny that it is the Jewish leaders who are behind all this. No doubt he considered the Jews to be a troublesome and enigmatic people.

John 18:28-30 - What are the charges?

18:28

This verse highlights the utter hypocrisy of the religious leaders. They led Jesus to the governor’s headquarters. They wanted Jesus killed, but did not have the authority to do that themselves, the Roman rulers had to do that. But they did not enter the governor’s headquarters themselves so they would not be defiled. They were about to kill the Son of God, their Messiah, yet they were concerned about entering the house of a Gentile. We need to beware of the deceitfulness of our hearts. Entering a Gentile’s house paled into insignificance compared to what they were in the midst of doing. Yet they thought they would still be “clean”. The Passover festival in total lasted seven days and “eat the Passover” may refer to the whole festival, rather than just the meal itself.

18:29,30

Pilate went outside to meet them so that they would not be “defiled”. Pilate was governor of Judea from AD26-36, during the regin of emperor Tiberius. Pilate would be keen to avoid antagonising the Jews. While the Romans were quite prepared to violently put down any insurrection, they much preferred to maintain peace, and it did not look good for any governor who experienced an uprising on his watch. So Pilate went outside to meet the party of priests wanting to know what the charge was.

The priests know they are on very dodgy ground with nothing substantial to charge Jesus with. So they make  a vague statement, appealing to Pilate’s desire for a quiet life.

John 18:19-27 - Questions and denials

18:19

Jesus was questioned by the high priest about His teaching and His disciples. In a formal trial witnesses should have been brought forward to testify against Jesus So either the priest was just ignoring normal court rules or this was just seen as a kind of preliminary hearing.

18:20,21

Jesus’ answer is a rebuke against the high priest. His teaching had been done openly, much of it in the synagogues. He never made any secret of what He did. So Jesus is pointing out the ridiculousness of the question. Moreover, He challenges them to bring forward witnesses who had heard Him teach, of which there would have been many. Ie He is highlighting the illegality of the current proceedings.

18:22-24

That Jesus’ answer was a rebuke is shown by the reaction of the officials. They knew what Jesus was doing and so slapped Him in the face. This too showed the weakness of their position. If we are challenged when we know we are in the right we normally respond carefully arguing our case and pointing out the weakness of the opposing case. When we know we are doing something dodgy is when we normally respond with an outburst, usually a verbal one, but sometimes a violent one, as it was here.

Jesus remained calm and challenged them to show why He is not speaking the truth. So Jesus is taken to the high priest, Caiaphas.

18:25-27

Now some of the others standing by the fire ask Peter is he is one of the disciples as well. Apparently John was known as a disciple of Jesus. Yet again, Peter denies being a disciple. But one of them had been with the arresting party and had seen Peter strike the soldiers ear. Indeed he was a relative of the soldier who Peter had struck. Remember also that, despite the torches, the light would have been far from perfect, so he would not have been absolutely sure that it was Peter. Once again Peter denied it, and then the cock crowed.

John 18:12-18 - In denial

18:12-14

Jesus is then arrested and bound. The “bounding” could be the equivalent of modern day handcuffs. He was taken to Annas, the father-in-law of the current high priest, Caiaphas. Although Annas was not the high priest, he had been so until 15 AD when the Romans deposed him, and may well have been regarded by many as the real high priest. In John 11:49-50 John mentions Caiphas saying it would be better for one man to die for the sake of the nation. There are two points in this. One is the prophetic nature, though of course Caiaphas was in no way a man of God. The other is the highly irregular nature of the “trial”. Caiaphas had already made his mind up about what was to happen. Under Jewish law a trial and sentencing could not take place on the same day, hence the rush to get the trial under way.

18:15-18

The other disciple mentioned here is elsewhere referred to as the one Jesus loved and is probably John. Whoever this other disciple was, he was known to the high priest and so could gain access to the courtyard. In those days there was not an enormous social gulf between the priests and the “ordinary” people. Peter had to wait outside, and then was allowed in. The servant girl who let them in asked Peter if he was a disciple of Jesus too.

Why did Peter reply “I am not”? He was not under direct threat at that point. Maybe it was the suddenness of the question and the whole tenseness of the situation. Many of us have had the experience of saying things in reply to a question and then wonder why we said that, or wish we had said something else. In 1 Peter 1:13 Peter urges us to prepare our minds for action, perhaps this incident motivated him to do this, knowing how easily we can slip up. Peter stood with the servants and officials around a fire to keep warm.

John 18:7-11 - Put your sword away

18:7-9

Jesus asked them again, “who is it you want?”. “Jesus of Nazareth” was the reply. A literal rendition of this would be “Jesus the Nazarene”. Jesus then urges them to let the others (ie the disciples) go. This point was all about Jesus, there is nothing anyone else could do to add anything to it. Our salvation was bought at a price paid by Jesus alone. There is nothing any other man could do to add to it at the time, and there is nothing we can, or need to, do to add to it now. Peter had made his earlier declarations of allegiance, but we know how that ended.

In having made the arresting party say it was Jesus of Nazareth they were after, Jesus made it impossible for them to do anything other than let the disciples go. Verse 9 then sees this as a fulfilment of not having lost any that the Father gave to Him. When we think of that promise we probably think of it in spiritual terms, in terms of our eternal salvation. This verse shows that it has a very practical here and now application as well. The promises of God have both a here and now and an eternal significance.

18:10

The other gospels refer to this incident, but only John tells us that it was Peter who cut off the soldiers ear, and only John tells us that the soldier was called Malchus (Matt 26:51; Mark 14:47; Luke 22:49-50). And only Luke tells us that Jesus healed the man (Luke 22:51).

18:11

Jesus tells Peter to put his sword away. Jesus did not come to avoid going to the cross. If that was His purpose then He would never have come to earth in the first place. Moreover, this happens after Jesus’ prayer in Gethsemane when He has prepared His heart and mind for what lay ahead. It was the Father’s will that Jesus went to the cross. One of the repeated themes in John’s gospel is that Jesus came to do the will of the Father.