Today we will begin with the arrest of Jesus. He had finished the High Priestly Prayer, crossed over to the Mount of Olives and had spend the evening in prayer.
John 18:6-11Jesus was caring for the disciples even as He prepared to lay down His own life. Jesus used “the cup” to symbolize not just His death but the punishment for sin that we deserved (Matthew 20:22, Mark 10:38).
When Jesus said to them, “I am he,” they drew back and fell to the ground. So he asked them again, “Whom do you seek?” And they said, “Jesus of Nazareth.” Jesus answered, “I told you that I am he. So, if you seek me, let these men go.” This was to fulfill the word that he had spoken: “Of those whom you gave me I have lost not one.” Then Simon Peter, having a sword, drew it and struck the high priest’s servant and cut off his right ear. (The servant’s name was Malchus.) So Jesus said to Peter, “Put your sword into its sheath; shall I not drink the cup that the Father has given me?”
Mark 10:38-39
Jesus said to them, “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or to be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?” And they said to him, “We are able.” And Jesus said to them, “The cup that I drink you will drink, and with the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized,
We only drink the cup and pass through baptism in Christ … the cup and the baptism would be more than we could bear and even then we’d have no merit before God. Christ drinks the cup and passes through the baptism for us in atonement and then we are also clothed in His righteousness.
We don’t know much about the events with the sword. It is not a Scripture to teach that self defense is wrong but it was not the right act here. John is the only Gospel that records the name of the servant and Luke (22:15) is the only Gospel that records that Jesus healed the ear. It is one of those things we’ll only be able to ask about in heaven but … Since Malchus was the high priest’s bond servant and Jesus healed his ear I can’t help but wonder if the hole formed by the ritual of becoming a bondservant.
Exodus 21:2-6
When you buy a Hebrew slave, he shall serve six years, and in the seventh he shall go out free, for nothing. If he comes in single, he shall go out single; if he comes in married, then his wife shall go out with him. If his master gives him a wife and she bears him sons or daughters, the wife and her children shall be her master’s, and he shall go out alone. But if the slave plainly says, ‘I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free,’ then his master shall bring him to God, and he shall bring him to the door or the doorpost. And his master shall bore his ear through with an awl, and he shall be his slave forever.
I guess I’d like to think that the reason that John knew his name is because he was eventually saved and to heal both the ear and the sign of Malchus’ bondage to the law (high priest) seems to be especially consistent with the Gospel. We can ask someday.
John 18:12-14
So the band of soldiers and their captain and the officers of the Jews arrested Jesus and bound him. First they led him to Annas, for he was the father-in-law of Caiaphas, who was high priest that year. It was Caiaphas who had advised the Jews that it would be expedient that one man should die for the people.
Annas was removed as high priest by the Romans but he was still very influential among the Jews. He was father-in-law to the high priest named Caiaphas who prophesied the atonement without understanding what he was saying.
John 18:15-18Peter’s first denial seems odd because he is going in with John who was apparently recognized by the servant girl. So a harmless person without much consequence was the first denial.
Simon Peter followed Jesus, and so did another disciple. Since that disciple was known to the high priest, he entered with Jesus into the court of the high priest, but Peter stood outside at the door. So the other disciple, who was known to the high priest, went out and spoke to the servant girl who kept watch at the door, and brought Peter in. The servant girl at the door said to Peter, “You also are not one of this man’s disciples, are you?” He said, “I am not.” Now the servants and officers had made a charcoal fire, because it was cold, and they were standing and warming themselves. Peter also was with them, standing and warming himself.
John 18:19-24
The high priest then questioned Jesus about his disciples and his teaching. Jesus answered him, “I have spoken openly to the world. I have always taught in synagogues and in the temple, where all Jews come together. I have said nothing in secret. Why do you ask me? Ask those who have heard me what I said to them; they know what I said.” When he had said these things, one of the officers standing by struck Jesus with his hand, saying, “Is that how you answer the high priest?” Jesus answered him, “If what I said is wrong, bear witness about the wrong; but if what I said is right, why do you strike me?” Annas then sent him bound to Caiaphas the high priest.
If you look at the rules for trials in a document called Mishnah from 200 years later (because it is the best guide we have) then there were many mistakes and violations in Jesus trial.
1) The Sanhedrin wasn’t suppose to meet at night,
2) The death penalty couldn’t come in the same day as the trial,
3) False evidence was found in the witnesses,
4) Jesus was hit by attendants during the trial, and
5) The Sanhedrin couldn’t hear a capital case on the eve of a Sabbath or feast day.
So the trial was unjust from beginning to end.
John 18:25-27These are the second and third occasions. Some time may have passed between the two questions. The second denial was in response to a crowd. The third denial was to a relative of the guy who had his ear chopped off. So from easy to hard on the challenge to Peter’s confession but this fulfillment of prophecy (Zechariah 13:6-7 and Psalm 69:20-21). Jesus went though this ordeal alone.
Now Simon Peter was standing and warming himself. So they said to him, “You also are not one of his disciples, are you?” He denied it and said, “I am not.” One of the servants of the high priest, a relative of the man whose ear Peter had cut off, asked, “Did I not see you in the garden with him?” Peter again denied it, and at once a rooster crowed.
Psalm 69:20-21It seems likely that both Caiaphas and Annas interrogated Jesus during the night and then they sent him to Pilate.
Reproaches have broken my heart, so that I am in despair. I looked for pity, but there was none, and for comforters, but I found none. They gave me poison for food, and for my thirst they gave me sour wine to drink
John 18:28-32They wanted the death penalty but only the Romans could do that (unless they reacted as a mob as in the case of Stephen in Acts chapter 7). Pilate’s problem was that if they couldn’t give the accusation then he could give a trial. Also, for Jesus, stoning wouldn’t be consistent with prophecy for Jesus death (3:14 and 12:32-34).
Then they led Jesus from the house of Caiaphas to the governor’s headquarters. It was early morning. They themselves did not enter the governor’s headquarters, so that they would not be defiled, but could eat the Passover. So Pilate went outside to them and said, “What accusation do you bring against this man?” They answered him, “If this man were not doing evil, we would not have delivered him over to you.” Pilate said to them, “Take him yourselves and judge him by your own law.” The Jews said to him, “It is not lawful for us to put anyone to death.” This was to fulfill the word that Jesus had spoken to show by what kind of death he was going to die.
John 18:33-40
So Pilate entered his headquarters again and called Jesus and said to him, “Are you the King of the Jews?” Jesus answered, “Do you say this of your own accord, or did others say it to you about me?” Pilate answered, “Am I a Jew? Your own nation and the chief priests have delivered you over to me. What have you done?” Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world.” Then Pilate said to him, “So you are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world—to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.” Pilate said to him, “What is truth?”
After he had said this, he went back outside to the Jews and told them, “I find no guilt in him. But you have a custom that I should release one man for you at the Passover. So do you want me to release to you the King of the Jews?” They cried out again, “Not this man, but Barabbas!” Now Barabbas was a robber.
Jesus clarified, for us and Pilate, that this was not a question associated with salvation. Pilate was just trying to figure out what sort of trial to have. Pilate rejected truth as a concept and made it clear that he was not “of the truth” as taught by Jesus. “You say that I am a king” is an affirmation by Jesus that He is a king. However, then Pilate used the name “King of the Jews” in a sarcastic sense but he really was the King of the Jews in a messianic sense.
John 19:1-11Pilate seemed to be looking for a way out simply because he can’t find any reason to put Jesus to death. The flogging, crown of thorns, and purple robe should have struck at least a nationalistic cord but not with the chief priests and officers. Pilate eventually was afraid of what he was doing. The question of Jesus origin was answered clearly by Jesus in John 16:27-28 when He said, “for the Father himself loves you, because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God. I came from the Father and have come into the world, and now I am leaving the world and going to the Father.”
Then Pilate took Jesus and flogged him. And the soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head and arrayed him in a purple robe. They came up to him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” and struck him with their hands. Pilate went out again and said to them, “See, I am bringing him out to you that you may know that I find no guilt in him.” So Jesus came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. Pilate said to them, “Behold the man!” When the chief priests and the officers saw him, they cried out, “Crucify him, crucify him!” Pilate said to them, “Take him yourselves and crucify him, for I find no guilt in him.” The Jews answered him, “We have a law, and according to that law he ought to die because he has made himself the Son of God.” When Pilate heard this statement, he was even more afraid. He entered his headquarters again and said to Jesus, “Where are you from?” But Jesus gave him no answer.
So Pilate said to him, “You will not speak to me? Do you not know that I have authority to release you and authority to crucify you?” Jesus answered him, “You would have no authority over me at all unless it had been given you from above. Therefore he who delivered me over to you has the greater sin.”
But this is something revealed by the Holy Spirit and Pilate, who thought he was in control, couldn’t see the Truth when it was standing in front of him.
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