The Love of Christ: His Trial
John 18:28-40
I. Jesus endured injustice for you; 18:28-33.
28 Then the Jews led Jesus from Caiaphas to the palace of the Roman governor. By now it was early morning, and to avoid ceremonial uncleanness the Jews did not enter the palace; they wanted to be able to eat the Passover. 29 So Pilate came out to them and asked, "What charges are you bringing against this man?" 30 "If he were not a criminal," they replied, "we would not have handed him over to you." 31 Pilate said, "Take him yourselves and judge him by your own law." "But we have no right to execute anyone," the Jews objected. 32 This happened so that the words Jesus had spoken indicating the kind of death he was going to die would be fulfilled. 33 Pilate then went back inside the palace, summoned Jesus and asked him, "Are you the king of the Jews?"
If they were to prosecute Jesus with a capital offense, they had to enlist the Roman governor. The governor's headquarters was normally at Caesarea, but during festival periods, which attracted droves of visitors to Jerusalem, the governor moved his command center to Jerusalem.
What meal are they worried about missing? Jesus’ meal on Thursday night was the Passover meal. On the day following the evening Passover meal there was another ritual meal, the feast-offering of the first full morning of Passover day. This day also began the seven-day festival of Unleavened Bread. They wanted to kill Jesus, but they didn’t want to miss out on their feast and celebration of God’s provision, all the while plotting to kill God’s greatest provision and the reason they existed as a nation.
Pilate knew the Jews were upset; otherwise, why would they disturb him at the height of their feast? But Pilate does not want to get involved in a Jewish problem. The Jewish leaders would not be put off by this dismissive attempt of Pilate. Pilate's opening question to Jesus was: "Are you the king of the Jews?" This was the charge the Jews leveled against Jesus.
None of this took Jesus by surprise. It happened just the way Jesus predicted. If He was to die on a cross, the Romans had to be involved. Jesus endured injustice for you.
II. Jesus endured expediency for you; 18:34-38a.
34 "Is that your own idea," Jesus asked, "or did others talk to you about me?" 35 "Am I a Jew?" Pilate replied. "It was your people and your chief priests who handed you over to me. What is it you have done?" 36 Jesus said, "My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jews. But now my kingdom is from another place." 37 "You are a king, then!" said Pilate. Jesus answered, "You are right in saying I am a king. In fact, for this reason I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me." 38 "What is truth?" Pilate asked.
Pilate recognized he was being challenged and he replied sharply, “Am I a Jew?", which was absurd and unthinkable. He countered that Jesus' own people and leadership had handed Him over. Pilate is forced to ask the question he should have asked at the beginning. “What have you done?”
Jesus answered Pilate's concern by introducing His true kingdom. The fundamental attribute of Jesus' kingdom is that it is not derived from or of this world. Jesus deflects all militant implications by pointing to the otherworld nature of His kingdom. Pilate immediately responded with: "You are a king, then!” Jesus certainly was a king. He was born to be a king, even though He was not a king in the earthly sense. His kingship was connected to His mission. His coming into the world was to be a witness to the truth.
Jesus' mission was to integrate truth into life. What Jesus did in this story was confront Pilate with himself and with the genuine nature of truth. For most people, truth is sacrificed on the altar of expediency. Many self-centered people pretend they are interested in truth. So, they also ask "What is truth?" Because most people believe that they have the right to define truth and thus their reality.
Jesus speaks the truth and is the truth. Pilate knows the truth now, but it’s too late for him to do anything about it. It's not too late for you to respond to the truth that is Jesus. Those who respond to the truth are no longer slaves to the father of lies. There are options when confronted with truth: rejection, denial, redefinition, mental agreement, or a change of life. We can accept truth or reject truth, but we can’t define it. Jesus endured the expediency of truth for you.
III. Jesus endured rejection by the people for you; 18:38b-40.
With this he went out again to the Jews and said, "I find no basis for a charge against him. 39 But it is your custom for me to release to you one prisoner at the time of the Passover. Do you want me to release 'the king of the Jews'?" 40 They shouted back, "No, not him! Give us Barabbas!" Now Barabbas had taken part in a rebellion.
Pilate has revealed himself to only care about a quick solution. Whether to outwit the Jewish leadership or because he believed Jesus to be innocent, Pilate created what he thought would be a perfect plan to release Jesus and dismiss the interrogation. So, he announces about Jesus, "I find no basis for a charge against him."
Instead of simply dismissing the case as a good judge should have done following his verdict of innocence, Pilate devised a scheme using Barabbas to deal with any potential fallout he thought might occur as a result. During Passover the governors had developed a custom of releasing a prisoner to please the people.
So, Pilate offered a choice that seemed obvious, yet the choice would have irritated the Jewish leadership. The choice was either to release Jesus, whom he knowingly called "the King of the Jews" or Barabbas, who led a rebellion. While Jesus was no threat to Rome, Barabbas was.
Barabbas was a true rebel who was the real threat to their power and way of life. Jesus, by contrast, is a man in whom there is no danger and whose followers will not fight. It would be a rebellion led by one like Barabbas that causes Israel to cease to exist as a nation.
Pilate had not calculated on the scheming way in which the Jewish leadership had prepared the group outside the palace to answer him. Pilate's shrewd plan was undone by the leadership when the people chose the rebel and rejected the King. Jesus endured rejection for you by choice.
