In the opening verses of John 18 the drama of the arrest, trial and murder of Jesus begins to unfold. Jesus is in the Garden of Gethsemane when Judas the betrayer leads a small army into the garden to arrest Jesus.
1 When Jesus had spoken these words, he went out with his disciples across the brook Kidron, where there was a garden, which he and his disciples entered. 2 Now Judas, who betrayed him, also knew the place, for Jesus often met there with his disciples. 3 So Judas, having procured a band of soldiers and some officers from the chief priests and the Pharisees, went there with lanterns and torches and weapons. 4 Then Jesus, knowing all that would happen to him, came forward and said to them, “Who do you seek?” 5 They answered him, “Jesus of Nazareth.” Jesus said to them, “I am he.” Judas, who betrayed him, was standing with them. 6 When Jesus said to them, “I am he,” they drew back and fell to the ground. 7 So he asked them again, “Whom do you seek?” And they said, “Jesus of Nazareth.” 8 Jesus answered, “I told you that I am he. So if you seek me, let these men go.” 9 This was to fulfill the word that he had spoken: “Of those whom you gave me I have lost not one.” 10 Then Simon Peter, having a sword, drew it and struck the high priest’s servant and cut off his right ear. (The servant’s name was Malchus.) 11 So Jesus said to Peter, “Put your sword into its sheath; shall I not drink the cup that the Father has given me?”
I have felt the pain of the betrayal of a close friend. I have also found myself wanting to retaliate against a betrayal. It’s encouraging to know that Jesus knows the pain of betrayal. We can be humbled by the fact that Jesus went to the cross for everyone that his Father had given to him. He was willing to drink the cup of his Father’s wrath so that betrayers like you and I could become sons and daughters.
12 So the band of soldiers and their captain and the officers of the Jews arrested Jesus and bound him. 13 First they led him to Annas, for he was the father-in-law of Caiaphas, who was high priest that year. 14 It was Caiaphas who had advised the Jews that it would be expedient that one man should die for the people.
It’s fascinating to me that God uses even his enemies to prophecy truthfully about the need for one person to die on behalf of the people. Caiaphas may have never understood the depth of his words but John by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit caught Caiaphas’ words and included them here for our comfort. It’s comforting to know that God’s enemies are subject to his divine plans and that they become, in his sovereign hands, like tiny little tools in his redemptive mission to draw sinners like you and I to himself. Look at what happens next…
15 Simon Peter followed Jesus, and so did another disciple. Since that disciple was known to the high priest, he entered with Jesus into the courtyard of the high priest, 16 but Peter stood outside at the door. So the other disciple, who was known to the high priest, went out and spoke to the servant girl who kept watch at the door, and brought Peter in. 17 The servant girl at the door said to Peter, “You also are not one of this man’s disciples are you?” He said, “I am not.” 18 Now the servants and officers had made a charcoal fire, because it was cold and they were standing and warming themselves. Peter also was with them, standing and warming himself.
What a sobering reality to observe Peter’s cowardice. I can feel his fear as he observed all that was beginning to happen to Jesus, his close friend of three years. We must not forget that even Peter who spent night and day for three years with Jesus still crumbled under the weight and the pressure of the temptation to abandon Jesus when the going got tough. And this is just the first of Peter’s three denials. The bottom line is that Peter was more concerned with staying warm by the fire while the embers of his heart grew cold towards his Savior. It’s the same story that happens over and over and over again in our lives. We grow cold towards Jesus as we grow warm towards sin. I pray the Lord would have mercy on us as we turn our attention back to the growing tension in this story.
19 The high priest then questioned Jesus about his disciples and his teaching. 20 Jesus answered him, “I have spoken openly to the world. I have always taught in the synagogues and in the temple, where all Jews come together. I have said nothing in secret. 21 Why do you ask me? Ask those who have heard me what I have said to them; they know what I said.” 22 When he had said these things, one of the officers standing by struck Jesus with his hand, saying, “Is that how you answer the high priest?” 23 Jesus answered him, “If what I said is wrong, bear witness about the wrong; but if what I said is right, why do you strike me?” 24 Annas then sent him bound to Caiaphas the high priest.
In these verses the Jews begin their unlawful series of trials as they level all kinds of accusations and abuse against the lover of their souls. Jesus has done absolutely nothing wrong. He’s done nothing in secret. Everything he’s done has been out in the open because he is the Light of the world. This underscores the fact that Jesus is our sinless Savior. No sinful person could ever pay the price perfectly for our high treason against God. It is good for us to contemplate the fact that Jesus was wrongfully accused on our behalf. We should have been the ones standing before the judge that day. This is what makes the next part of the story so crushing.
25 Now Simon Peter was standing and warming himself. So they said to him, “You also are not one of his disciples, are you? He denied it and said, “I am not.” 26 One of the servants of the high priest, a relative of the man whose ear Peter had cut off, asked, “Did I not see you in the garden with him?” 27 Peter again denied it, and at once a rooster crowd.
Once again we return to the warmth of the sin of denial as Pater’s heart grows colder and colder towards Jesus with every passing moment. I know what it is like to have warmed myself by the fire of temptation and sin. I can see Jesus looking my way, as he stands accused and ready to die in my place as I deny him over and over again. I can feel the crushing weight of my rejection of Jesus as they lead him to the next place of torment on my behalf.
28 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. 29 So Pilate went outside to them and said, “What accusation do you bring against this man?” 30 They answered him, “If this man were not doing evil, we would not have delivered him over to you.” 31 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.” 32 This was to fulfill the word that Jesus had spoken to show by what kind of death he was going to die.
The kind of death that Jesus is going to die is going to be the most brutal death known to man at the time. The Romans had devised an evil system of torture called crucifixion to kill their subjects excruciatingly and slowly. The Jews were so consumed with their evil hatred towards Jesus that they accused him of being evil and they enlisted Pilate to do their dirty work for them. Lest we begin to feel hatred towards Jesus’ enemies in this story, we must remember that Jesus willingly endured all of this because of his love for us. The reality is that my evil sin is the reason that Jesus went through this. I am the one who should have faced this penalty. I am the one who crucified Jesus.
33 So Pilate entered his headquarters again and called Jesus and said to him, “Are you the King of the Jews?” 34 Jesus answered, “Do you say this of your own accord, or did others say it to you about me?” 35 Pilate answered, “Am I Jew? Your own nation and the chief priests have delivered you over to me. What have you done?” 36 Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from this world.” 37 Then Pilate said to him, “So you are a king?” Jesus answered him, “You say that I am a king. For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world – to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.” 38 Pilate said to him, “What is truth?”
I am reminded here that everything really does boil down to two black and white issues. Truth sets me free and lies keep me in prison. Pilate’s struggle here is that he doesn’t know the truth. He may speak some truth in regards to Jesus being the king of the Jews but he doesn’t intimately know Jesus and he certainly doesn’t listen to Jesus. Pilate; the Jews; you and I; when we reject Jesus; when we don’t listen to Jesus; we choose the only other alternative; we believe lies and we live in the prison of condemnation. Speaking of condemnation, look at the next few verses…
38… After he had said this, he went back outside to the Jews and told them, “I find no guilt in him. 39 But you have a custom that I should release one man for you at the Passover. So do you want me to release to you the King of the Jews?” 40 They cried out again, “Not this man, but Barabbas!” Now Barabbas was a robber.
The reality here is that the Jews chose to murder Jesus while setting a known criminal free on the night of the Passover. I can feel the meaning of this deeply. You and I are Barabbas. On Passover evening we are under the curse of the angel of death. All of us deserve the death that Jesus is about to experience because of our sin and our rebellion. If Jesus had not willingly come to endure the cross, Barabbas would have died that night. But Jesus died in his place and he died in our place too. And not only that but he was beaten brutally before being crucified. Look at chapter 19…
1 Then Pilate took Jesus and flogged him. 2 And the soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head and arrayed him in a purple robe. 3 They came up to him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” and struck him with their hands. 4 Pilate went out again and said to them, “See, I am bringing him out to you that you may know that I find no guilt in him.” 5 So Jesus came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. Pilate said to them, “Behold the man!” 6 When the chief priests and the officers saw him, they cried out, “Crucify him, crucify him!” Pilate said to them, “Take him yourselves and crucify him, for I find no guilt in him.” 7 The Jews answered him, “We have a law, and according to that law he ought to die because he has made himself the Son of God. 8 When Pilate heard this statement, he was even more afraid. 9 He entered his headquarters again and said to Jesus, “Where are you from?” But Jesus gave him no answer. 10 So Pilate said to him, “You will not speak to me? Do you not know that I have the authority to release you and authority to crucify you?” 11 Jesus answered him, “You would have no authority over me at all unless it had been given you from above. Therefore he who delivered me over to you has the greater sin.”
Israel is the one with the greater sin and God the Father is the one with the greater authority. Pilate is a pawn in the evil plan of the Jews but he is also part of the redemptive plan of God. The redemptive plan of God is that Jesus would be “pierced for our transgressions; crushed for our iniquities; chastised (mocked/accused) for our peace; wounded for our healing; although he had done no violence and there was no deceit (lies) in his mouth; yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him” (Isa. 53:5; 9 – 10). Can you feel the weight of Jesus’ sacrifice for you?
12 From then on Pilate sought to release him, but the Jews cried out, “If you release this man, you are not Caesar’s friend. Everyone who makes himself a king opposes Caesar.” 13 So when Pilate heard these words, he brought Jesus out and sat down on the judgment seat at a place called The Stone Pavement, and in Aramaic Gabbatha. 14 Now it was the day of Preparation of the Passover. It was about the sixth hour. He said to the Jews, “Behold your King!” 15 They cried out, “Away with him, away with him, crucify him!” Pilate said to them, “Shall I crucify your King?” The chief priests answered, “We have no king but Caesar.” 16 So he delivered him over to them to be crucified.
To reject Jesus as my king is to choose another king to be my master. In making this choice I choose to shout alongside the Jews “Crucify him; he’s not my king.” To choose anything or anyone other than Christ is to place myself in the judgment seat alongside Pilate as we hand Jesus over to be crucified. This is what you and I are guilty of.
16… So they took Jesus, 17 and he went out, bearing his own cross, to the place called The Place of a Skull, which in Aramaic is called Golgotha. 18 There they crucified him, and with him two others, one on either side, and Jesus between them. 19 Pilate also wrote an inscription and put it on the cross. It read, “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.” 20 Many of the Jews read this inscription, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and it was written in Aramaic, in Latin, and in Greek. 21 So the chief priests of the Jews said to Pilate, “Do not write, ‘The King of the Jews,’ but rather, ‘This man said, I am King of the Jews.’” 22 Pilate answered, “What I have written I have written.”
Pilate’s own words condemn him. He rightfully identifies Jesus as the King of the Jews. He’s not the kind of nation conquering political king you would look for. Jesus is the Satan defeating, Sin conquering, Death defying King that the Jews had been waiting for all these years but even they missed it by a million miles. They couldn’t handle the thought that Jesus was the suffering Messiah King. Crucifixion to them was a sign of weakness and curse. They rejected Jesus as their king and they chose the only alternative in his place though he died in their place. This makes me think of the many times I choose some kind of sin on any given day from the smallest of little white lies to the largest of lust filled thoughts; this is me (in those moments of sin) choosing the king that murdered my Savior.
23 When the soldiers had crucified Jesus, they took his garments and divided them into four parts, one part for each soldier; also his tunic. But the tunic was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom, 24 so they said to one another, “Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it to see whose it shall be.” This was to fulfill the Scripture which says, “They divided my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots.” So the soldiers did these things, 25 but standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. 26 When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, “Woman, behold, your son!” 27 Then he said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother!” And from that hour the disciple took her to his own home.
The cross of Christ is a horrendous, humiliating, dividing and unifying instrument. It’s horrendous when I contemplate the pain and the suffering of Jesus in my place. It’s humiliating when I think of him hanging there naked. It’s dividing when I think of his enemies dividing his clothes. But it’s also dividing when I recognize that anyone who rejects Jesus does not belong to Jesus’ family. They are only there for the sport and entertainment of things. The cross is a laughing matter for them as it divides them from among the family of the redeemed.
But the cross is also unifying for those who trust in Jesus. Like the disciple and like Jesus’ mother, followers of Christ and believers in the cross unite together in their care of one another. The bloody cross is what unites believers because through this instrument of torture we become true family with God as our Father.
28 After this, Jesus knowing that all was now finished, said (to fulfill the Scripture), “I thirst.” 29 A jar full of sour wine stood there, so they put a sponge full of the sour wine on a hyssop branch and held it to his mouth. 30 When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, “It is finished,” and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.
This is the moment; the apex; the climax of the chapters we are reading today. Jesus’ physical thirst being quenched with sour wine on a hyssop branch reminds me that sin makes my entire being thirst. And the only thing that will satisfy and transform my thirst is the blood of Christ. Just as the blood of sacrifice was smeared over the doorposts of Israel in Egypt during the Exodus, so to I need the blood of Christ smeared over my heart so that I might be ransomed and redeemed from the penalty of my sin.
This is what makes the words “It is finished” so overwhelming because what was accomplished that day in that very moment was the payment for my sins and the cleansing of my sins against God the Father. In that moment, Jesus signed my adoption papers as he took the full brunt of God’s righteous and just wrath against me for my sin and I became a member of Heaven’s family and God became my Heavenly Father. It is finished… these words are laced with three other words… I love you.
31 Since it was the day of Preparation, and so that the bodies would not remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a high day), the Jews asked Pilate that their legs might be broken and that they might be taken away. 32 So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first, and of the other who had been crucified with him. 33 But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. 34 But one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and at once there came out blood and water. 35 He who saw it has born witness – his testimony is true, and he knows that he is telling the truth – that you also may believe. 36 For these things took place that the Scripture might be fulfilled: “Not one of his bones will be broken.” 37 And again another Scripture says, “They will look on him whom they have pierced.”
John is so careful to cover all of the legal and prophetic connections so that you and I would have no reason not to believe. All of the prophetic fulfillment taking place throughout this story is like covering the state of Texas a few feet deep with silver dollars, dropping one silver dollar into the mix with one side of it painted, and then dropping a blind folded man on a parachute into Texas and instructing him to grab that one silver dollar and then he actually accomplishes that mission on his first try. That’s the odds of Jesus being the one who fulfills all of these prophecies. John records these things so that you and I might have the opportunity to believe. And the question is, do you believe?
38 After these things Joseph of Arimathea, who was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear of the Jews, asked Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus, and Pilate gave him permission. So he came and took away his body. 39 Nicodemus also, who earlier had come to Jesus by night, came bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds in weight. 40 So they took the body of Jesus and bound it in linen cloths with the spices, as is the burial custom of the Jews. 41 Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb in which no one had yet been laid. 42 So because of the Jewish day of Preparation, since the tomb was close at hand, they laid Jesus there. – This is the Word of the Lord to us today…
We end our time this evening with Jesus’ body laying bruised, bloodied, beaten, murdered and dead in a borrowed tomb. All of the horror of this day happened according to the plan of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit since before the foundations of the earth were laid.
Before God created anything in the material world around us he made a plan with your name on it and that plan included this horrendous death of his one and only son, Jesus, “who for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame” (Heb. 12:2) so that you and I “may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name” (Jn. 20:31).
The question that remains is… do you believe?