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Jesus on Trial
Last week we looked at the betrayal that Jesus faced from Judas, the religious leaders, and from his friend, Peter.
In the face of that betrayal Jesus stayed faithful.
Jesus is always faithful.
This morning we are going to continue with the trial of Jesus.
Where the other gospels spend extensive time on Jesus’ trial before the Jewish leaders, John spends very little there.
Instead, John is more concerned with Pilate.
John is concerned with the government’s treatment of Jesus.
And one of the things that John is trying to get across in this section is that Jesus is the long awaited King.
He is the one who will rule and reign over all of creation.
He is the one sent to judge and rule.
But his kingdom is different then the kingdoms of this world.
So in these verses John is comparing and contrasting the good, righteous, and perfect King Jesus, with the weak, corrupt, and self-seeking Governor Pilate.
Death Demanded
Jesus is taken before Pilate in the early morning.
This is when Pilate would make his judgments so that the sentences could be carried out the rest of the day.
This was a common practice in Jerusalem at the time.
So lets just link everything together real quick.
Jesus had just spent the night before teaching, instructing, and preparing his disciples for his departure.
He then went to the garden to pray, where he was then arrested.
After his arrest he was taken before Annas, then Caiaphas, and now in the early morning he is standing before Pilate.
At the Governor’s Headquarters.
Notice what John says here, the Jewish leaders wouldn’t enter into the headquarters themselves.
Rather they would stand outside the and what we will see is it causes Pilate to continue to go in and out of his headquarters in order to interrogate Jesus and seek the guidance of the Jewish Religious leaders.
One thing we need to note is that the Jewish people, especially the leaders, and Pilate did not like one another.
They were not on good terms.
There was a lot of tension between them.
But their relationship with Pilate isn’t why they wouldn’t enter into his headquarters.
They didn’t enter in b/c they didn’t want to become “unclean”.
Especially b/c the passover week was at hand.
They wanted to be able to participate in all the festivities.
I don’t know if you sense the irony here or not.
They are willing to kill an innocent man.
They are willing to have Jesus crucified.
They are willing to break the Law of Moses to lie about Jesus and set up fake trials, but they aren’t willing to “defile” themselves by entering into this gentiles headquarters.
So let’s get this straight.
Lies, deceit, betrayal, and murder okay.
Entering into a Gentile’s home that’s where the line is drawn.
Anyway, Pilate causes some confusion among the Jewish leaders when they bring Jesus to him b/c he asks them “What charge do you bring against this man?”
He had to have already known what they were up to.
He sent soldiers out with them to arrest Jesus.
They had to have already communicated their purposes.
But this is just one time that Pilate starts to antagonize the leaders.
Their only response is not a good one, they don’t really have a good reason for Jesus being there.
So how do they respond?
“If this man weren’t a criminal, we wouldn’t have handed him over to you.”
To which Pilate tells them to deal with Jesus according to their law.
Here’s where the rubber meets the road.
They don’t want to deal with him according to their law.
The punishments they could had out were limited.
Rome alone held the power to condemn someone to death.
And they want him to die.
And they don’t just want him to die.
They want Jesus to be crucified.
They want Jesus to be put on display for all to see.
They want Jesus to be seen as accursed.
This idea of being accursed by being crucified comes from
Deut 21:23 “...for anyone hung on a tree is under God’s curse...”
And only Pilate could provide that kind of sentence.
We’re not 100% sure if the Romans invented crucifixion, but we do know that they perfected it.
And throughout John’s Gospel, Jesus has shown that he knew that crucifixion was the way that he was going to die.
Jn 3:14 “14 “Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up,”
Jn 12:32 “32 As for me, if I am lifted up from the earth I will draw all people to myself.””
Roman Crucifixion would bring Jesus’ glorification.
Pilate had heard the accusations, so Pilate goes to talk to Jesus.
Questioning Jesus
Pilate begins by asking Jesus if he is, in fact, the King of the Jews.
Jesus knows that Pilate doesn’t have a dog in this fight.
He knows that Pilate is simply a toy being manipulated by the religious leaders.
That’s why his response is so harsh.
“Are you asking or have other’s told you?”
Pilate is still confused and befuddled by the predicament he is in.
The Religious leaders have handed over Jesus to the Roman Government.
This was pretty unusual b/c of the tensions between the gov.
and the Jewish people.
“What have you done?”
Why have your people handed you over?
Why do they hate you so much?
Jesus finally answered his first question.
“My kingdom is not of this world.”
Jesus, though living in the world, did not belong to the world.
His mission and kingdom involved the world, that’s why he is here, but he was sent to accomplish something bigger than just an earthly kingdom.
Remember, for the Jewish people they wanted to have an earthly kingdom.
Their understanding of their messiah was that he would come and set them free.
He would establish a new kingdom for the Israelites.
But Jesus is saying that if his kingdom was of this earth.
His followers would have fought.
His followers would have not allowed him to be captured.
But as it were, Jesus’ kingdom is different and separated from the kingdoms of earth.
Let’s not lose the irony of what Jesus is saying to Pilate.
Jesus is face to face with a Roman Governor who is part of one of the largest empires to ever exist on the planet.
But Jesus isn’t interested in ruling the earth like an earthly king.
Why?
B/c the reality is, he already owns the whole earth.
He created it.
Jn 1:3 “3 All things were created through him, and apart from him not one thing was created that has been created.”
So Jesus does have a kingdom, but it’s not from around here.
Pilate Responds to Jesus.
John 18:37–38 (CSB)
37 “You are a king then?”
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