John 18-Thursday-3-11-10

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John 18:37

“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.”

-“Truth” is what we see when we see God. Jesus is thus “the truth”. It is reality lived out in divine light, which by virtue of its spiritual link with God is thereby genuinely truthful and honest.

-Pilate has been challenged (Will he side with truth or falsehood?) and now he carries the burden of response. But his cynical question, “What is truth?” reveals his true position, that he cannot recognize the things of God and will avoid the light.

-Jesus may well have something to say to Pilate about the truth and the right use of power as he uses them in his rule. In fact throughout the course of the Gospel Jesus has been challenging the systems of the (Jewish) world at every turn. Christians are commissioned to do likewise.

John 18-19:16 (focusing on verses 28-40)

1 WHEN HE HAD finished praying, Jesus left with his disciples and crossed the Kidron Valley. On the other side there was an olive grove, and he and his disciples went into it.

2 Now Judas, who betrayed him, knew the place, because Jesus had often met there with his disciples.

3 So Judas came to the grove, guiding a detachment of soldiers and some officials from the chief priests and Pharisees. They were carrying torches, lanterns and weapons.

4 Jesus, knowing all that was going to happen to him, went out and asked them, “Who is it you want?”

5“Jesus of Nazareth,” they replied. “I am he,” Jesus said. (And Judas the traitor was standing there with them.)

6 When Jesus said, “I am he,” they drew back and fell to the ground.

7 Again he asked them, “Who is it you want?” And they said, “Jesus of Nazareth.”

8“I told you that I am he,” Jesus answered. “If you are looking for me, then let these men go.”

9 This happened so that the words he had spoken would be fulfilled: “I have not lost one of those you gave me.”

10 Then Simon Peter, who had a sword, drew it and struck the high priest’s servant, cutting off his right ear. (The servant’s name was Malchus.)

11 Jesus commanded Peter, “Put your sword away! Shall I not drink the cup the Father has given me?”

12 Then the detachment of soldiers with its commander and the Jewish officials arrested Jesus. They bound him

13 and brought him first to Annas, who was the father-in-law of Caiaphas, the high priest that year.

14 Caiaphas was the one who had advised the Jews that it would be good if one man died for the people.

15 Simon Peter and another disciple were following Jesus. Because this disciple was known to the high priest, he went with Jesus into the high priest’s courtyard,

16 but Peter had to wait outside at the door. The other disciple, who was known to the high priest, came back, spoke to the girl on duty there and brought Peter in.

17“You are not one of his disciples, are you?” the girl at the door asked Peter. He replied, “I am not.”

18 It was cold, and the servants and officials stood around a fire they had made to keep warm. Peter also was standing with them, warming himself.

19 Meanwhile, the high priest questioned Jesus about his disciples and his teaching.

20“I have spoken openly to the world,” Jesus replied. “I always taught in synagogues or at the temple, where all the Jews come together. I said nothing in secret.

21 Why question me? Ask those who heard me. Surely they know what I said.”

22 When Jesus said this, one of the officials nearby struck him in the face. “Is this the way you answer the high priest?” he demanded.

23“If I said something wrong,” Jesus replied, “testify as to what is wrong. But if I spoke the truth, why did you strike me?”

24 Then Annas sent him, still bound, to Caiaphas the high priest.

25 As Simon Peter stood warming himself, he was asked, “You are not one of his disciples, are you?” He denied it, saying, “I am not.”

26 One of the high priest’s servants, a relative of the man whose ear Peter had cut off, challenged him, “Didn’t I see you with him in the olive grove?”

27 Again Peter denied it, and at that moment a rooster began to crow.

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?”

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. 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.

19:1 Then Pilate took Jesus and had him flogged.

2 The soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head. They clothed him in a purple robe

3 and went up to him again and again, saying, “Hail, king of the Jews!” And they struck him in the face.

4 Once more Pilate came out and said to the Jews, “Look, I am bringing him out to you to let you know that I find no basis for a charge against him.”

5 When Jesus came out wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe, Pilate said to them, “Here is the man!”

6 As soon as the chief priests and their officials saw him, they shouted, “Crucify! Crucify!” But Pilate answered, “You take him and crucify him. As for me, I find no basis for a charge against him.”

7 The Jews insisted, “We have a law, and according to that law he must die, because he claimed to be the Son of God.”

8 When Pilate heard this, he was even more afraid,

9 and he went back inside the palace. “Where do you come from?” he asked Jesus, but Jesus gave him no answer.

10“Do you refuse to speak to me?” Pilate said. “Don’t you realize I have power either to free you or to crucify you?”

11 Jesus answered, “You would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above. Therefore the one who handed me over to you is guilty of a greater sin.”

12 From then on, Pilate tried to set Jesus free, but the Jews kept shouting, “If you let this man go, you are no friend of Caesar. Anyone who claims to be a king opposes Caesar.”

13 When Pilate heard this, he brought Jesus out and sat down on the judge’s seat at a place known as the Stone Pavement (which in Aramaic is Gabbatha).

14 It was the day of Preparation of Passover Week, about the sixth hour. “Here is your king,” Pilate said to the Jews.

15 But they shouted, “Take him away! Take him away! Crucify him!” “Shall I crucify your king?” Pilate asked. “We have no king but Caesar,” the chief priests answered.

16 Finally Pilate handed him over to them to be crucified.

Jesus Before Pilate (Episode 1)
EVEN THOUGH THE Sanhedrin was Israel’s highest judicial court, it did not have the power of capital punishment. Therefore, if it were to prosecute Jesus with a capital offense, it had to enlist the involvement of the Roman governor. The power to execute criminals was one of the most closely guarded functions of local Roman governors. The Sanhedrin possessed only one ongoing exception in this regard: Any who violated the sanctity of the temple could be killed even if that person was a Roman citizen. When the Roman general Titus laid siege to the temple in A.D. 70, even he hesitated to enter and reminded the Jewish defenders of Rome’s pledge.

Pontius Pilate was the fifth Roman governor of the province of Judea, ruling from A.D. 26 to 36. As governor he had numerous troops stationed at Caesarea (his chief maritime link with Rome), where he spent most of his time. Jerusalem was the Jewish heart of the country; when there he likely used the old palace of Herod the Great on the city’s western hill. Pilate also kept troops in a refurbished Jewish fortress on the temple’s northwest corner called the Antonia (named after Pilate’s patron, Mark Antony). Jewish and Hellenistic sources tell us a great deal about Pilate, most of which is extremely critical. He was a brutal ruler whose atrocities against the Jews were legendary. As a member of Rome’s lower nobility he was always aware of his vulnerabilities and so controlled Judea harshly, with an eye on the pleasure of his masters in Rome.

Early in the morning the Jewish leadership brought Jesus to the “Praetorium” (NIV “palace of the Roman governor”), which refers to his residence. This could have been in the barracks of the Antonia or at Herod’s Palace (though pilgrim tradition generally points to the former). Two historical notes are important. (1) They do not enter Pilate’s quarters because they did not want to become “ritually unclean” through contact with a Gentile. Ceremonial defilement could have different degrees; in some cases it could be alleviated through evening bathing, in other cases, through temple sacrifice. David’s prayer in Psalm 51 reflects this desire: “Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow”. Contacting a dead body, for instance, required that the person postpone Passover celebrations for seven days. This Jewish concern makes Pilate move in and out of the building throughout the story. These conversations could take place among the colonnades of the Praetorium since ritual impurity could not be contracted there.

(2) What meal do they wish to eat in 18:28 and so remain clean? I argued earlier that Jesus’ meal on Thursday night was the Passover meal (Nisan 15, keeping it in accord with the Synoptic story). On the day following the evening Passover meal there was another ritual meal, the chagiga, the feast-offering of the first full morning of Passover day. This day (Nisan 15) also began the seven-day festival of Unleavened Bread — a feast immediately following Passover. Therefore any ritual contamination would make the leaders apprehensive, given their role in all these festivities. They were concerned not with the Passover meal the night before, but with the many meals and celebrations that week in the Passover season, which continued till Nisan 21.

Since the Roman authorities have already been involved in Jesus’ arrest, we can comfortably assume that Pilate has been briefed by his officers concerning the nature of the Sanhedrin’s charges. Or, as I suggested earlier, Caiaphas possessed sufficient political savvy to brief the governor himself. The deeper irony of the scene is that here the leaders, concerned about their religious purity, now plot Jesus’ death and claim that he is an evildoer. Such a charge would be meaningless to Pilate, who viewed this no doubt as an inner-Jewish squabble. Therefore he refuses to entertain the investigation and tells them that their own judicial powers should suffice. But they urge that this is a capital case and so require his involvement.

This appeal to the governor leads Pilate to return to the Praetorium and begin a formal inquiry in order to elicit the facts of this case. If it happened to be an ordinary minor crime, there were provincial court systems set up to manage it. But where the crime might threaten the interests of the empire or where the execution of the accused was involved, the governor was held personally responsible. Thus Pilate’s first question to Jesus, “Are you the king of the Jews?” is loaded with political meaning. “King” was a political title not held by a Jew in this land since Herod the Great. Rome had authorized no king since the coming of the governors (like Pilate).

But where did Pilate get the notion to ask this question? Clearly the Sanhedrin has given him this privately, or it is a part of their original charge against Jesus (abbreviated in John). This is what Luke reports: “And they [the Sanhedrin leaders] began to accuse [Jesus], saying, ‘We have found this man subverting our nation. He opposes payment of taxes to Caesar and claims to be Christ, a king’ ”. Such a charge would clearly get Pilate’s attention. Is Jesus involved in political sedition? Is he one more Jewish terrorist-revolutionary with a head full of messianic notions and a band of well-armed followers?
Jesus does not answer directly but probes the source of Pilate’s question. A Roman political query would be: “Are you a claimant-king challenging Rome?” Here the answer would be “No.” But a Jewish question would be: “Are you the messianic king of Israel?” Here the answer would be “Yes.” So what sort of king does Pilate mean? Is this his question — and if so, what does he mean by it? Pilate is already being forced to make a judgment, to evaluate Jesus. But Pilate recoils, asking incredulously if Jesus thinks he would have any interest in matters related to Jewish theological squabbles.

Nevertheless, if kingship is at issue, Pilate must uncover what sort of kingship it is. In the Synoptics Jesus simply echoes, “You say [that I am],” conceding that this is the label applied to him but not wanting to affirm the political meaning attached to the term.

Unlike the Synoptics, however, Jesus provides a definition of his kingship. This is one of the few places in John where Jesus refers to his kingdom, Matthew refers to it fifty-five times. He deflects all political implications by pointing to the other-worldly nature of his rulership. It has not originated with this world, and he is not a rival to Caesar. The true test of his kingdom can be seen in the behavior of his disciples. They will not engage in combat or struggle against Rome’s rule. He is no threat to Rome. The one instance of violence when Peter struck Malchus was promptly rebuked by Jesus.

But Pilate presses further, looking for a confession. If “king” is the self-chosen label for Jesus, this could still be the grounds of an indictment. A good paraphrase of 18:37a might be: “So you’re telling me that you are indeed some kind of king?” Jesus’ response is nicely phrased by Dodd: “King is your word, not mine.” Having said what his kingdom is not, Jesus can now say what it is — a kingdom of truth. His mission began in heaven and so he possesses a divine charge: He has come to unveil the truth to the world — not to point out true things as he finds them, but to unveil himself, his voice (which is God’s voice), and his words (which are God’s words). Therefore “truth” does not refer to a commitment to truthfulness (or honesty) in the first instance. Rather, truth is a theological term. “Truth” is what we see when we see God. Jesus is thus “the truth”. It is reality lived out in divine light, which by virtue of its spiritual link with God is thereby genuinely truthful and honest.

Of course, “truth” is no foreign idea to Pilate. Everyone wants at least to claim that his or her efforts are true. Thus, Jesus’ revelation that he is working for the truth serves as an invitation for Pilate to join him. For Pilate to condemn Jesus is for him to condemn the truth. Jesus has thus reversed positions with Pilate. In 9:29 Jesus said that he came into the world for judgment, unmasking the heartfelt dispositions of humanity. Ironically Jesus has been asking Pilate questions from the beginning. Now Pilate has been challenged (Will he side with truth or falsehood?) and now he carries the burden of response. But his cynical question, “What is truth?” reveals his true position, that he cannot recognize the things of God and will avoid the light. He is not among those given to Jesus by God. He waits for no answer to his question because he does not believe there is any. He then leaves the room.

When Pilate returns to the Sanhedrin emissaries, he announces Jesus’ innocence, “I find no basis for a charge against him”. Having given this verdict (which is repeated two more times), the deeper question for Pilate is whether he will act on the truth he has seen. He does not see a man here who threatens Rome; Jesus does not qualify as a terrorist. Pilate therefore appeals to a tradition of Passover amnesty in which one prisoner was released during the festival. While we have no extrabiblical evidence for this, the Synoptics describe it as a practice of Pilate or of the governor generally. John says that it was a valued Jewish custom, thus placing the outcome of the amnesty entirely in the Sanhedrin’s hands.

The deepest irony of all comes in 18:39 – 40 when Pilate refers to Jesus as “the king of the Jews.” It is difficult to interpret his motive. By bringing up the amnesty it is clear that he wants to have Jesus released. By using this title, he is endorsing it as something that is meaningless to Rome. But John and his readers can see it as a true identification of who Jesus is. This is one more example of Johannine dramas happening at multiple levels.

But irony often shocks and the scene closes with the crowd calling instead for the release of Barabbas. While Jesus was no political threat to Rome, Barabbas was. Translations differ on how to interpret lestes, the Greek word used to describe Barabbas.The RSV and KJV “robber” is certainly wrong; the NIV paraphrase is a bit nearer the mark (“Now Barabbas had taken part in a rebellion”). A lestes was a violent man who could rob (e.g., in the Samaritan parable) or fight in uprisings. Josephus uses the term for Zealot leaders. Such a person was a guerrilla fighter or, as the Romans would view him, a “terrorist.”

In other words, a man who is a genuine threat to Rome, a man with proven capability to challenge the military occupation of Israel, a man with demonstrated tendencies toward violence, is poised to go free. Jesus, by contrast, a man in whom there is no danger and whose followers will not fight, remains in custody.

Three secondary issues

(1) Church and state
During Jesus’ final conversation with Pilate the governor postures himself as a man of power. Pilate asks him: “Don’t you realize I have power either to free you or to crucify you?” Jesus then responds, “You would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above.” Is Jesus saying that Pilate enjoys a divinely authorized power? If so, this makes the passage fit closely Paul’s words in Romans 13:1, “Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God.”

Among German interpreters (such as Bultmann) who have had to wrestle with the specter of Nazism and the abuse of state power, this text has become the source of real theological agony. Their solution, sometimes seen today as a “reading in” of issues from another era, nevertheless bears some truth. Pilate is being reminded that his ultimate power does not come from the empire at all, but from God. It is not as if the work of the state enjoys a divine approval, but that the representatives of the state are being put on notice. Pilate thus must choose to follow either the truth revealed by Christ, a truth that finds its origin in God, or he must choose the world and its devices. When the state renounces its submission to God, it is immediately darkened and controlled by the world. As one writer puts it: “In place of the Roman governor offering the Jewish people the choice, ‘Which will you have, Jesus or Barabbas?’ the Jewish people offer the governor the choice, ‘Which will you have, Christ or Caesar?’ ” Pilate has little interest in the death of Jesus; but now at this moment he is confronted with a choice. Does his real power derive from Caesar or God? Pilate chooses the former.

In other words, 19:11 understands that God is indeed at work within the work of the state, but this is not said in order to provide an endorsement of God-given rights for the governor; it is to check the governor, to make him alert to the limitations of the excessive power he thinks he already owns. He too is accountable to God and subject to God’s work in the world. In fact, from John’s point of view, the best example of God’s power at work is found in the role he has given Pilate in “the hour.” Pilate has been assigned a task in the redemptive plan of God, whether he knows it or not.

(2) Politics and religion
In his first conversation with Pilate, the governor asks Jesus about his kingship. No doubt Pilate saw Jesus’ answer as a harmless, sentimental response he could all but ignore: “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.” In context, of course, Jesus is eliminating any anxiety Pilate may have that he is indeed a political threat. Jesus does not deny he is a king, but he refuses to make his domain the same as that of the empire. Jesus is not a king in Pilate’s terms. He will not assume a secular interpretation of power.

But what does this mean for Christians? If our allegiance is to Christ, whose kingdom is not of this world, who is making no claim on the civil order of secular society, does this mean that Christians should be disengaged and passive? Verses like 18:36 have led to remarkable examples of Christian neutrality (or apathy) in the world.

While it is beyond the scope of this discussion to explore the theological problem of the church and the state (or “Christ and culture”), at least we can place some parameters on how this verse should be used. (a) Its exegesis is utterly bound to its historical setting. Jesus is refusing to accept the label and crown in Pilate’s question. Jesus is not a secular monarch, vying for rule; he is not building an army and palaces like so many other Caesars.

(b) Jesus refers to his heavenly kingship in order to explain its origins and its character, not its domain. He is a different king from a different place. He is not competing with Pilate for dominion. Jesus is sent by God, not assigned by the Imperium Romanum.

(c) Therefore 18:36 leaves open the possibility that indeed Jesus (and his followers), whose origins are from above, may speak to the world and its systems of governance while not envying the positions of power held by men like Pilate. Jesus may well have something to say to Pilate about the truth and the right use of power as he uses them in his rule. In fact throughout the course of the Gospel Jesus has been challenging the systems of the (Jewish) world at every turn. Christians are commissioned to do likewise.

(See Friday's devotion for Secondary Issue number three)