The Actors in John 18-19
Please read Jn. 18.1-19.46, the end of the account of the arrest and “trial“ of the Lord Jesus. What are we to learn from this passage? Perhaps the best way to learn its lessons is to look at the people involved.
The first actor in this drama is Jesus himself. What do we see in him? Of all the people involved, he is the only one who is calm and at peace. Everyone else is emotional, irrational, filled with hatred, troubled, screaming. But Jesus is the King, and he is reigning in these circumstances that are so difficult for him. He is the one in charge. He knows the will of God, and he is at peace.
The next character is really two men, Annas and Caiaphas, though Caiaphas does not actually appear in John. These two represent the religious system. They were high religious officials. They were wealthy and had great influence. Even though Rome was master, the Jews had a measure of independence to conduct their own affairs so long as they paid their taxes and did not cause trouble. Thus Annas and Caiaphas had a good thing going.
They were religious, serving as priests in Judaism, but they were almost secular. The priests were largely Sadducees, a party that did not believe in the spirit world or in the resurrection, as the New Testament tells us in Acts 23.8. Thus it was almost as though they were using religion for their own benefit rather than actually believing it. There have been examples in Christendom of men serving as priests or pastors in a state church not to serve God, but because it paid well and had a good retirement benefit. This seems to have been the attitude of the priests of Judaism to a great extent. They had a good position in the religious system and did not want to tamper with the status quo. Caiaphas himself said as much in Jn. 11.47-50.
Peter is the next man to come onto the stage. Peter loved Jesus and swore to die with him, and he proved that he meant it by drawing his sword and cutting off the ear of Malchus when Jesus was arrested. He was ready to fight. But when he had time to cool off and think about what was happening instead of being caught up in the heat of battle, he lost his nerve. When he was asked if he were a disciple of Jesus, he denied it three times. Then a rooster crowed. Peter shows us the absolute incompetence of the flesh in the things of God. He had sworn to die with Jesus, but now he denies him. He is man trying to serve God in the strength of the flesh, and failing.
Pilate comes next. Pilate is the realist, the man of the world, the pragmatist. He cares nothing for religion and philosophy. He has a country to run. He has to deal with affairs of state, with conquered peoples, with criminals, with diplomacy, with collecting taxes, with getting things done. His concern is with the practical, what will work, not with lofty ideals. So when the choice has to be made between what is right concerning an innocent man and political expediency, he chooses the latter. Pilate is the practical man of the world who puts pragmatism ahead of principle. The end justifies the means. It does not matter what is right, just so it works.
The final actor is Barabbas. Actually, he is not an actor, for he makes no appearance in John, but is only referred to. But he plays a major role, nonetheless, for Barabbas is you and me. Barabbas is the guilty man who goes free while the innocent man is slain in his place. Is that not you and me? That was our scourging that Jesus endured, not his. Those were our sins he bore on the cross, not his. We are all free today because an innocent man died in our place. We are all Barabbas.
As we think of these actors, let us ask ourselves how we compare to them. Are we like Jesus, reigning in our circumstances? Have we learned to know God and his will, and to be submitted to them, to the point that no matter what happens we are at peace? God is trying to train us for reigning as the bride of Christ the King in the Millennium and on into eternity. Are we learning to reign by reigning over our circumstances?
Are we like Annas and Caiaphas, having a good thing going with the religious status quo and not wanting to rock the boat, using religion for personal benefit? Are we getting paid for our service so that we do not want to risk our income for the sake of the will of God? Do people admire us for how spiritual we are, and we do not want to do anything radical that might make them think less of us?
We are all like Peter. None of us are able to serve God in the strength of the flesh. The flesh profits nothing; it is the Spirit that makes alive (Jn. 6.63). Probably all of us have made resolutions to serve God more and better, and we have certainly all failed to keep them. We need to learn from Peter that we can do nothing for God, and give ourselves to him for him to live in us and work in us to form Christ in us. The great lesson we learn from Peter’s failure is to have no confidence in the flesh. When Peter trusted his own ability to serve God, he failed miserably. But he learned his lesson. He came back to the Lord, and look at how the Lord used a man who had lost confidence in the flesh and put all his trust in God. We are all failures like Peter. Have we learned the lesson he learned?
Perhaps we are like Pilate, putting the practical ahead of what is right. Most likely we have all done that at one time or another, compromising our principles to gain some advantage. We would not go so far as he, condemning an innocent man to death, but would we exhibit the same character in justifying the means by the end?
And as we said, we are all Barabbas, the guilty freed by the sacrifice of the innocent man.
As we look at ourselves before God in the light of these men, perhaps we will see some of them in ourselves. Where we see Jesus expressing his perfection through us, let us humbly praise him for his grace. Where we see the desire to use the things of God for some personal advantage, the failure of the flesh, and the willingness to compromise principle for gain, let us confess our sin to God. His word tells us, again through the pen of John, that if we do so, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sin, and more, he will cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1 Jn. 1.9).
It appeared that Jesus was on trial, but in reality he was the Judge and all the others were on trial. They were judged by their responses to him. He is on trial in our lives in just the same way. Our verdict on him is in fact our verdict on ourselves. What will our decision be, to be like Annas and Caiaphas, like Peter, like Pilate, like Barabbas, or like Jesus? God grant us grace to make the right decision and to live it.
Jn. 19.30: Jesus gave up his spirit. That is, no one took it from him. He laid down his life voluntarily. When we say that a person dies, we do not mean that he does an active thing. We really mean that death did the acting and took him. But that was not the case with Jesus. He actively died. He knew the will of God. He knew when the exact moment came for him to die, and when it came, he gave up his spirit. It was God who was in complete control of all that happened in these closing scenes of the life of Jesus, in his arrest, “trial,” and crucifixion. It was Jesus the King who was reigning. The Jews were under the control of passionate hatred. Peter was under the control of weak flesh. Pilate was controlled by political expediency. The soldiers were just following orders. But King Jesus was reigning! Hallelujah! No one took his life. He laid it down.
Note: I wrote this many years ago and I cannot remember whether I heard some or all of somewhere or if it came out of my own mind. I do not wish to plagiarize, so I am adding this note. If anyone knows it came from someone else, let me know and I will add proper accreditation.
Copyright © 2021 by Tom Adcox. All rights reserved. You may share this work with others, provided you do not alter it and do not sell it or use it for any commercial purpose. “Freely you have received, freely give” (Matthew 10.8). Also you must include this notice if you share it or any part of it.
Quotations from the New Testament are the author’s translations.
