John 18 - Introduction

Gethsemane, Jesus Is Arrested and Tried (John 18).

Jesus, The Suffering Messiah.

Having reached the height of revelation in chapter 17, we are immediately brought back to earth in chapter 18. What is glorious in Heaven must be worked out on earth. But even here the glory of Heaven shines through, for when the soldiers arrive to arrest Jesus He reveals Himself as the ‘I am', and they fall back before Him (John 18:6). John clearly intended this event to be seen as essentially significant. That having occurred, however, (demonstrating that Jesus was still in control of events), the arrest goes on as normal, and Jesus is borne away for trial, where it is made clear that the charges against Him are unjustified (John 18:23). The interweaving of the trials with Peter's denials bring out Jesus' total forsakenness (John 18:12). All have forsaken Him, both the religious leaders on the one hand (exemplified in Annas the High Priest), and His own disciples on the other (exemplified in Peter). The Lamb of God (John 1:29), having been shown to be without blemish (something which will be even more drawn out in the trial before Pilate), is being set apart for death.

But even His trial emphasises Who He is. For Pilate asks Him concerning the charge that He is the King of the Jews, that is, the Messiah (John 18:33), something which leads on to the revelation that Jesus' kingship (and thus His Messiahship) is not of this world (John 18:36). Jesus then goes on to indicate that in fact His kingship on earth, which He admits to, has been fulfilled in accordance with the purpose for which He was born, and for which He came into the world, namely in His bearing witness to the truth (John 18:37). The chapter ends with Pilate declaring that Jesus is the King of the Jews (John 18:39).

The Emphasis of John.

John's account of the events described in John 18 onwards differs to some extent from that of the Synoptics in a number of ways. Firstly he emphasises the complete sovereignty of Jesus as He undergoes what takes place. It is made repeatedly obvious that He is completely in control of the situation. Nothing that happens to Him is seen as happening by accident or outside His control, and there is the distinct impression that if He chose to do so He could put a stop to the process at any moment.

Not that we must overemphasise this difference of presentation, for each writer sees Jesus as in control, and has little doubt that, had Jesus wished to do so, He could have avoided what was to come, as indeed He Himself stated elsewhere (Matthew 26:53). But the point is that John makes it the underlying basis of his presentation.

Secondly, there are many details included in the Johannine account which are not recorded in the Synoptics. They demonstrate that the writer had inside knowledge through his relationship with the High Priestly family which the disciples as a whole would not have had access to (John 18:16).

The purpose of some of the detail is not so much dramatic effect as theological significance, which is why the writer draws it out, and the remainder comes from his unique perspective.

Almost every detail which John records about the crucifixion of Jesus, for example, has some symbolic and theological meaning. If we accept John's Gospel as representing eyewitness testimony, and there are many reasons why we should do so and no good reason not to do so, the divergences from the synoptic accounts can be best explained as resulting from theological perspective, a different memory of events and alternative sources of information.

Thirdly there is said to be significant emphasis on the role of the Jewish leaders ("the Judaisers") as perpetrators of the plot to execute Jesus, with less stress on the role of the Roman authorities. Some would attribute this to an apologetic tendency on the part of the writer. But this is very subjective, and the opposite position could equally be argued. He gives no detail, for example, of Jesus' examination before Caiaphas which was damning for the Jewish authorities.

Any interpretation of the exact role of the Jewish authorities in the affair will be influenced to some extent by our view of them and by our understanding of the different ‘trials'. Jesus' examination before Annas, for example, in John 18:13 appears to have been more of a preliminary enquiry than an actual trial in itself. This was followed by a more detailed and formal, but unofficial, examination before Caiaphas and selected members of the Sanhedrin recorded by Matthew (Matthew 26:59) and Mark (Mark 14:55), which took place later during the night, this latter being something which John only refers to briefly (see John 18:24; John 18:28).

The purpose of the Jewish leadership in both these enquiries was to try to find good grounds for presenting a case to the official Sanhedrin (the Jewish ruling council) which would produce a result satisfactory to the conspirators, that is, would bring about the condemnation of Jesus. For not all Sanhedrin members were in agreement with the Chief Priests and the more extreme Pharisees concerning Jesus and they would not be willing to condemn Him without good evidence.

But no details of Jesus' examination before Caiaphas are given in John's Gospel which argues against an attempt to pin the blame mainly on the Judaisers. For that preliminary trial above all brought the leadership out in a bad light. That this meeting was mainly of antagonists to Jesus comes out in their behaviour towards Him during the examination, behaviour which an official Sanhedrin would not have authorised or allowed. This behaviour is mentioned also as being preliminary to the main official trial in Luke 22:63.

But neither of the above enquiries, being held at night, would have been looked on as strictly legal if intended as a trial, and the impression gained is that they are attempts to build up a case against Jesus rather than actual official trials as such. They are especially eager to find the ‘two witnesses' required to convict a man before the Sanhedrin (see Mark 14:55). Thus the final ‘trial' when it ‘became day' (Luke 22:66 on, compare Mark 15:1), when the ‘elders of the people (members of the laity), the chief priests and the scribes' are mentioned specifically together, (although not for the first time), is probably the official one before the officially convened Sanhedrin, a trial which was brief because the case had already been carefully examined previously and the final approach decided, with Jesus' own words (as interpreted by them) being used to convict Him.

Later Mishnaic (Pharisaic) law on trials can be mainly ignored except as providing background to later Jewish thought, for this trial was carried out under Sadducean law of which we know little. It is, however, clear from the course of events that the testimony of two witnesses was required for a verdict, and it is equally certain that the court had to meet during daylight. This would explain the number of examinations, the need for one at daylight and the efforts to find agreeing witnesses.

It is also probably the case that while the High Priest could solemnly ‘adjure' witnesses before God on certain occasions, he had no right to adjure the accused himself in that way. In this case, however, he was frustrated and thus lost his patience and went further than was technically allowed. But it would be seen as a technicality that could be overlooked once the charge of blasphemy was proved. Without more detail we cannot in fact know what traditions and regulations were breached at all, but if such did happen this would not be the first, nor the last, time in history when legal bodies have ridden roughshod over justice.

The conclusions that these examinations reached in their desperate attempt to find something to charge Jesus with were, 1) He perverts our nation, 2) He forbids us to give tribute to Caesar, and 3) He says that He Himself is the Messianic king. This was not much to go on as far as Pontius Pilate was concerned, once he discovered that He was non-belligerent, but his fear of a complaint against him being put to Caesar was sufficient in the end to sway him into condemning Jesus.