If you would please turn within your Bibles to the Gospel of John, chapter 18, beginning at verse 28. John writes, ‘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.’ And this was to fulfill the word that Jesus had spoken to show by what kind of death he was going to die.
This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. Let us pray. Father, you give us your word, a word through which was given in the past, and it is given for us today. Open our hearts to hear you speak, to know better what you have done, its benefit for us, and how we should live in response to you and to your work. We pray this in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Now as Christians, when we confess and say what we believe about God, such as whenever we recite the apostles’ and Nicene creeds, we also memorialize two other human persons: Mary, the mother of Jesus, and Pontius Pilate. I mean, out of everyone who encountered Jesus during his earthly life, we draw specific attention to these two people.
We draw attention to Mary as Jesus’s mother to emphasize the true humanity of Jesus Christ. Whereas we remember Pilate for two other reasons: to emphasize the historicity of Jesus’s death and to remind us of the political drama that led to the circumstances of Jesus’s unjust execution.
This political drama spanned about 1,500 years, going all the way back from Mount Sinai and the constitution of Israel as a nation to the rise and the fall of the Davidic kingdom through the Babylonian exile and Persian governorship, through Grecian oppression, and through a small but brief period of Jewish independence under the Hasmonean kings and priests. Then we had the conquest by the Roman Empire.
And now finally, the life, death, resurrection, ascension, and heavenly enthronement of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of man, and son of God, the Logos, who is Theos and Andros. The testimony of scripture and redemptive history shows us that whenever Israel, whenever God’s people remained faithful to the Lord God, they remained free and independent of worldly oppression.
But by the first century, the Jews were not so much calling out to the Lord for deliverance, but were instead hoping and trusting in their own political strength and power to free them from their oppressors. They were looking more for a revolutionary like Judas Maccabeus than they were for a divinely appointed hero, a Christ-like King David, who was in the past.
And meanwhile, this specific political drama that was affecting Jesus’s life had just begun to come to a head a few months earlier, after the resurrection of Lazarus, when the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered the council and said, ‘What are we to do? This man performs many signs. If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and then the Romans will come and take away both our place and that of our nation.’
But one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, ‘You know nothing at all, nor do you understand that it is better for you that one man should die for the people, not that the whole nation should perish.’
Now here, after arresting Jesus in the dark of night, he was brought before Annas, the influential former high priest. Then Annas sent him bound to Caiaphas, the high priest. Together, the collective examination by these two men provided a veneer of religious and political legitimacy to the proceedings. Their judgment would have naturally been accepted by the Jewish people as valid and authoritative simply by virtue of their exalted position and through the expenditure of their social influence.
So although Jesus was tried illegally and condemned falsely, the conspirators still had a problem. They lacked the necessary civil authority to impose their intended and preferred sanction—death.
So next, they led Jesus from the house of Caiaphas to the governor’s headquarters. They led Jesus to the headquarters of Pontius Pilate, the prefect governing the Roman province of Judea. This headquarters, called the Praetorium, was located right next door to his Jerusalem residence, which was formerly the palace of King Herod. This residence was the seat of Roman authority there in Jerusalem.
The Praetorium would have housed shrines to a host of different Roman gods as well as the legionary ensigns of Caesar, each of which being considered by the Jews as idols. Despite this place’s Jewish origin, this palace was now a very Roman site. It was a very pagan site. It was unholy, unclean, and offensive to the Jews.
And so, because it was early morning, they themselves did not enter the governor’s headquarters so that they would not be defiled and could eat the Passover. These Jewish leaders, the elite priestly class, could not afford to ritually defile themselves by entering the Praetorium on this day of all days because this was one of their busiest religious workdays. Far busier than the Christmas season is for modern church leaders.
This was the holiest week of the year, the most important week of the year. But that was a Jewish problem—not Pilate’s. Strangely, John tells us that Pilate went outside to them.
When we begin to understand something about the local historical politics of first-century Judea and Jerusalem, especially here during the Passover, we should immediately recognize that something was off about this. Remember, Rome was the global power. Rome was the ultimate ruling authority. Rome had the standing army, well trained, well equipped, well-paid, and perfectly loyal to Rome and the Roman system. I mean, Rome was the world, and the world was Rome’s.
But this government official, Pontius Pilate, a Roman citizen who would have belonged to the second highest social class and was the highest-ranking administrative and military officer in the province of Judea, got up from his bed in the early morning hours and left the security of his compound in order to meet with local religious leaders, practitioners of a religion that he surely considered to be backwards, provincial, uncultured, unenlightened, and ironically, to use the original sense of the term, pagan.
If we consider the situation here pragmatically, then Pilate going out to them seems a little bit more reasonable, as if it was meant as a small act of appeasement to help smooth out something that might have been a challenging problem. Remember, Pilate was not a part of the conspiracy against Jesus. The plot was entirely in the hands of the Jewish leaders. So it is really quite probable that Pilate knew very little about Jesus before he was deposited on his Roman doorstep.
I mean, Jesus as an itinerant rabbi would have been beneath the notice of the Roman governor, except perhaps for the incident of the Jewish crowds roaring and jubilantly acclaiming him six days prior. That should have attracted Pilate’s attention and begun to create a degree of concern.
But even if going out to them was a reasonable concession and a fair compromise, Pilate was also surrendering some of his political power by doing it. John gives us this detail because of what it says about their political relationship—that Pilate went to them rather than they coming to him. It showed who actually held greater power.
I mean, the Jewish leaders here were able to summon Pilate, calling him into their presence shortly after dawn, almost certainly before Pilate had even finished his breakfast. That kind of power structure is not what we would expect in their relationship. A higher-ranking Roman officer should not appear or act in a subordinate way toward a provincial leader because in the way of worldly politics, the conquerors do not bow to the conquered.
But so Pilate went outside to them and said, ‘What accusation do you bring against this man?’ And they answered him, ‘If this man were not doing evil, we would not have delivered him over to you.’
I mean, Pilate simply asked them, ‘What did this guy do?’ And they answered simply, ‘I mean, obviously he was doing something evil. Why else would we bring him here?’
Now, it’s interesting. The Greek term that gets translated here as evil is very broad and very generic. It covers a whole range of badness, from something that’s just not right to ordinary misfortune to wicked conduct and moral evil. So basically, they were just simply saying that Jesus was a bad guy without offering any evidence to support the claim.
First here, we see the leaders refusing to directly answer Pilate and make a legitimate legal accusation against Jesus. Then we see them attempt to prejudice Pilate against Jesus, basing the insistence of Jesus’s guiltiness on their own reliability, their honesty, and their trustworthiness.
I mean, would we not—if this man was not doing evil—would we not have delivered him over to you? Again, a subordinate should not be permitted to respond to their superiors that way. But still, Pilate was a politician. He understood and knew how the game was supposed to work. Surely he would have resented their assumed right to command him in this matter.
Their blatant attempt here was to tell him what to do and how to administer the law and how to enforce Roman justice. That’s why he retorts, ‘Take him for yourselves and judge him by your own law.’
But his response also speaks about how their relationship was supposed to be. I mean, they had authority over the Jews under Jewish law, while he, Pilate, had authority over them under Roman law. He was reminding them that one of the privileges that Rome permitted to their subordinate territories was the right and responsibility of self-rule.
He reminded them that they possessed local authority and that they had the autonomy to govern their people according to the laws and rules of their faith. He reminded them that Rome would gladly leave them alone and allow them to do whatever their Jewish law required, so long as it wasn’t against Roman law.
But they answered Pilate, ‘It is not lawful for us to put anyone to death,’ referencing Roman law and reminding him that while they knew they were permitted this wide latitude in their administrative allowance, they knew that they lacked the authority to carry out capital punishment.
The power of the sword was a right and a responsibility that Rome reserved for itself as being the higher authority and as being the civilizing party in their relationship. Their response suggests or demonstrates five things about their relationship.
The Jews were admitting that they wanted Jesus dead. They admitted that they had already determined his punishment and sanction, suggesting that the just and righteous response had already been determined by them. They did not want Roman justice—just Roman enforcement of their will. They were telling Pilate that because they had already done the hard work, all he needed to do was just sign off on their verdict and ensure that injustice would be done.
I mean, they were willing here to give Pilate the credit, and they were trying to work with Pilate rather than against him. They were implying that by capturing and bringing an accused malefactor—a suspected revolutionary, and one of their Jewish own here—to the Roman authorities, they would be better considered as acting as Pilate’s political friends rather than his enemy.
They were also here, when you think about it, making a subtle threat against Pilate as well because they were reminding him that because they were doing things properly, decently, and in order by bringing Jesus to him, they were not simply taking justice into their own hands. They were not violently usurping Pilate’s authority or power, despite having the capability of doing so.
These things all suggest that the Jewish leaders believed that they held some kind of political power over Pilate. The evangelist here, John, implies that the elites believed themselves to be in control of the situation—not Rome and definitely not Jesus. But we know just how wrong they were because we know that God is always in control.
That’s what John is reminding us of when he explains that the Jews handed Jesus over to Pilate to fulfill the word that Jesus had spoken to show by what kind of death he was going to die.
Now, although there was nothing right, good, or normal about Jesus’s arrest, trial, or this chain of custody, there is something else that is just wrong about how Jesus was handed over to the Romans. There is something wrong in how easily it occurred, and there is something very wrong with all of these relationship dynamics in the encounter.
I mean, the process should not have gone so easily for the Jews. Each of these connected points of wrongness suggests an overarching plan and/or power that was guiding and controlling these events.
I mean, the sequence of events happened in such a way and happened so smoothly that it seems as if someone had cleared the way and smoothed the way forward. People who are more spiritually aware might suggest that there was influence from a supernatural overseer, and I believe that they would be correct to say that.
If we pay close enough attention, I think we can identify this overseer’s fingerprints throughout the narrative. Scripture tells us plainly that there was satanic involvement and influence because Jesus had told us so earlier that evening back in chapter 14 when he said, ‘I will no longer talk much with you, but the ruler of this world is coming. He has no claim on me, but I do as the Father has commanded me, so that the world may know that I love the Father.’
We also have John, who explains how at the end of the meal, Jesus gave a morsel of bread to Judas, and then Satan entered into him. So, you see, we should be expecting the devil’s negative spiritual influence to be at work in the circumstances and situations surrounding Jesus.
When we consider how easily Pilate acquiesced to the Jewish leaders in the matter of Jesus, when otherwise and ordinarily they had an openly hostile and antagonistic working relationship, it becomes quite clear that someone greater—still greater than Rome—arranged things to happen in such an abnormal way.
So the real question is, who? But here’s our problem. Our modern culture has been a very bad influence on us all, causing our muscles of spiritual discernment to atrophy. Modern culture has taught spiritual people, especially Christians, to believe in and accept a false spiritual system known as dualism.
Now, scripture is very clear concerning the presence of several distinct and definite binary systems or binary relationships that are found here within the created order. We have light and darkness, good and evil, love and hate, male and female, or the waters above and the waters below, just to name a few of them.
But none of these natural binary pairs are automatically equal and opposite. They are not part of any system of dualism, but rather they are often unequal and simply in opposition to the other. The world likes to pretend that they are equal so that they can more easily fit together into the world’s balanced and false ideal.
We like to pretend that daytime is equal and opposite to nighttime, but really that only happens twice a year on the vernal and autumnal equinox, and really only if you’re standing at the right place at the right time.
I would assume that we’re all familiar with the symbol and the concept of yin and yang—the symbol being a circle which has what looks like a pair of tadpoles, one white and one black, fitting together equally within that circle. This symbol is meant to represent a false teaching about the interdependence and interconnection between opposing complementary forces in the world.
That worldview is much more popular and prevalent than we often realize, thanks to subtle cultural influence. Even the idea of works righteousness—the false foundation of every religion but for Christianity—strives for an ideal of moral balance, such that a person’s good works will equal or outweigh their bad works.
People who think and believe this are more concerned with balancing the moral scales. But that is not the Christian faith because they’re trusting in themselves and their own ability to do this. They hope to do just enough to overcome their sin, to cancel out their moral debts and avoid a negative judgment.
Worst of all, many cultural influences teach us to wrongly believe that the world we live in is a battlefield that’s simply caught in the middle of an eternal conflict between God and the devil. The world teaches that this conflict is eternally raging with neither side ever able to gain a lasting advantage over the other. That is the core premise of dualism, and it is a blasphemous lie because it suggests that Satan has a position equal with God.
It suggests that Satan is eternal like God and denies the devil’s nature as a creature. It suggests that Satan is equal in power with God, denying God’s sovereignty. It suggests that God is too weak to overcome the devil, suggesting that God can only hold Satan back, holding him at bay, leading to a perpetual stalemate or an eternal draw.
It suggests that Satan is the necessary complimentary equal opposite counterpart to God—the evil yin to God’s good yang—suggesting that God and the devil are somehow interconnected and interdependent. That is blasphemy, plain and simple. Believing and teaching dualism is a denial of Christ and his redemptive work, and such a denial is far worse than Peter’s denial.
Yes, Satan is strong and powerful. The devil and his angels, the demons, are stronger than we are. Yes, Satan is undoubtedly one of the strongest creatures, but he is not as strong or powerful as God. The Father created him, and so the Father can unmake him. The Son has defeated him by the cross and through his resurrection.
The Holy Spirit continues to thwart him in the world, opposing the devil through the Spirit’s ever-present working within the lives of believers. But dualism becomes a tempting worldview when we forget that Satan is still God’s devil. He can still do nothing outside of God’s divine will, purpose, and plan.
Everything that was and would be done to Jesus by the Jews and the Romans was all a consequence of the devil’s assault against God. I mean, Satan hated Jesus and attacked him from his own infernal desire and will. Satan was permitted to believe that he had triumphed over God for a time, having struck the Son’s heel. But Satan’s wicked misdeeds were each still done in fulfillment of God’s decree.
Strange as it sounds, it was for the furtherance of God’s glory because the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus was decreed, covenanted, and ordained right down to the smallest detail before the foundation of the world, back when God the Father chose us in Christ Jesus.
Or to use a musical analogy, the devil conducted the orchestra. He was directing and influencing the movement of every player across the drama of Jesus’s passion. But Christ composed the score.
So while Satan was acting as a spiritual overseer by entering into Judas to betray Jesus and by perverting the system of justice through the legitimate exercise of the high priest’s illegitimate authority, and by helping to clear the way for Jesus to be executed by the Romans, the devil was following God’s eternal plan for our redemption.
Ironically, while the devil was doing his damnedest despite God, he was only ensuring his ultimate defeat.
Meanwhile, we can see God’s fingerprints throughout the entire process, beginning with God’s eternal unconditional election of a particular people before time began. Moving to the protoevangelion when God promised Satan that the woman’s seed shall bruise your head and you shall bruise his heel, promising the devil his ultimate defeat despite his worst effort.
Giving Moses the example of the bronze serpent to foreshadow Christ as the object of faith, deliverance, and salvation. When Jesus connected the prophesied means of his execution to Moses’s serpent, saying, ‘And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life,’ as he talked with Nicodemus.
Jesus prophesied that the means of his execution would prove who he is when he said, ‘When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he.’ Jesus also prophesied what would happen through his execution, telling the people, ‘And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.’
Finally, John shows us how Jesus Christ, God the Son, willingly submitted himself here to suffer injustice at the hands of lawful authority—both Jewish and Roman, and as religious and civil—so that we would not suffer the justice we deserve.
Now, meditating on this portion of the narrative should encourage us in our faith by reminding us of how firmly and closely God remains in control of everything. John reminds us that all human authority is subordinate to another higher authority and ultimately is sourced in God in Jesus Christ.
Through the examples of submission that were demonstrated by Jesus through his arrest in the garden, through his trial by the Sanhedrin, and by this transition to Roman custody, John teaches us how we should actually be submitting ourselves to governing authority, as Paul and Peter command us to, following Jesus’ example.
We should not immediately react to an exercise of authority with violence or undue emotion, but calmly and reasonably trust the process and trust the good intention of that authority. We may, and we should, respond to probable accusations with the truth and with the support of reliable evidence, while unfounded or unfoundable accusations should be dismissed and ignored as appropriate.
When a decision or an action by a governing authority goes against us or is contrary to our personal opinion and preference, then we should accept it only while still trusting that justice will be done. But if injustice occurs, then we also trust that it may and will be corrected.
If it is unable to be corrected or redressed, then we still trust and know that the Lord will ultimately vindicate us and avenge the injustice that has been done. We are comforted by knowing and remembering that because we are God’s elect, we are his treasured possession, and our beloved as his children, he shall certainly preserve us for his own sake.
He shall finally vindicate us just as he vindicated Jesus by raising him from the dead, proving him justified and righteous. We know that our present life in this world is only temporary, but our life with Christ shall last forever.
So which reality matters more—our fleeting present in the world or an eternal future in God’s presence? Trust God. Trust him and his promises. Trust his incorruptible process. Even as the world tries to weaponize it against you and against your faith in our Savior, know that God is sovereign and powerful. Know that the devil is nowhere near close to being as powerful as the Lord and is defeated.
Know that the Lord Jesus Christ is greater, stronger, more powerful, and sovereign over Satan and his lies. Remember that God is always in control, especially when everything seems to be out of control. Most things are and will always be outside of your control, but they’re not outside of God’s control.
Everything always goes according to his will, purpose, and plan, even the suffering and death of Jesus Christ for your salvation. Amen. Please.