Jesus' Arrest and Trials
Tom Shrader walks through John 18, covering Jesus' arrest in the garden, the illegal Jewish trials before Annas and Caiaphas, and the opening of the Roman trial before Pilate. He draws portraits of four men — Judas, Peter, Pilate, and Jesus — to illustrate themes of false discipleship, courageous failure, the nature of truth, and Christ's voluntary self-surrender. The teaching closes with an appeal for believers to carry the gospel into the world, trusting that God uses ordinary, broken people just as He used Peter after his denial.
“Failure is never fatal. If the main concern of the captain was the safety of the ship, he would never take it out of the harbor.”
— Tom Shrader
Series: John: The Essence of Life (2007)
Recorded: 2007 at East Valley Bible Church
Duration: 58 min
Themes: betrayal, denial, courage, truth, surrender, failure, discipleship, sharing the gospel, struggling with failure, feeling unworthy, new believer, questioning faith, young adult, dealing with guilt, seeking forgiveness, ordinary believer
Scripture: John 18:1-38, John 13:36-38, John 14:6, John 14:17, John 17:17, John 10, Luke 22:39-44, Luke 22:60-61, Psalm 22:14-18, 2 Corinthians 13:5, 1 Corinthians 1
Theological Themes: soteriology, atonement, false discipleship, christology, redemption, sovereignty of God, incarnation, sanctification
Full Transcript
Jesus' Arrest and Trials
Good morning. Good to see you this morning.
If you are with us for the first time, we provided you a guest registry card. We would ask you to take a second and complete that card, as that is the way we initiate our dialogue with you. We have over the years talked about a variety of ways to try to do that, and we have discovered the best way is for you to initiate that, and that card will do that. Another way to really jumpstart your experience here at East Valley Bible Church is to attend the Connect One class. The next Connect One class is next Sunday, this very hour, over in room 100, where you will meet some of the staff and the area leaders.
There is a lot of information in the bulletin, and I want to highlight one thing. Many of you sent your kids to summer camp with us in June, and I believe we have already set dates for next year. We have successfully held the cost pretty constant for the last three or four years, and hopefully we will be able to do that again. One of the ways that you can send your child or student for free is to participate in the grocery certificate program, which allows you literally to send your student to summer camp at no cost to you. Even if you do not have a student, we would love to have you buying grocery certificates, because all the proceeds go into the scholarship fund for kids for summer camp.
There is also an insert in the bulletin for M25, our monthly outreach into the community happening next week. Look closely, because it is very unusual to see the first part of all four of those requests be the same. That really signifies that summer is just about over, school is about ready to begin, and there are many needs. The items you bring go right into the community with no middleman, and you have an opportunity to be the hands and feet of Jesus as you meet very real human needs in His name.
Sending Out the Morocco Teams
God is working not only here but around the world, and it is our privilege this morning to welcome these men and women who are going out. I want to especially welcome Jeff Johnson, who will explain to us who these people are and where they are headed.
Jeff: Good morning. It is an honor and privilege to introduce to you our last two Moroccan teams. Remember, Jesus came a long way to our earth and moved into the neighborhood, and in a sense, these teams are doing the same thing. They are going to a far-off land and moving into the neighborhood for a period of time, and incredible things are going to happen. For many Muslims in Morocco, this will be the first time they have ever met a real Christian, a real follower of Jesus, and our prayer is that as they look into these faces, they will see the face of Jesus.
These teams are going to northern Morocco, and I want to remind you that we have a long-term presence there. Patrick and Alicia Haven are there establishing residency in the area where they will be working, so the good works and relationships these teams establish will help build a long-term presence in northern Morocco. All four of our teams are going because you have sacrificed financially as senders. The students raised $3,000, another $8,000 was raised on top of that, and these teams are going with a little over $10,000 in building supplies. That is a lot of bricks, because they are building brick homes. If you want to follow their adventures, there is a tab in your bulletin — just check that little box and you will hear about it.
Father, thank you for my brothers and sisters here. They are truly precious people. Fill them with courage and boldness, and give them big hearts full of compassion for these Muslims. The Muslim world is trying so hard to earn their way to heaven — they need to see You. Jesus, reach through our brothers and sisters and touch these Moroccans. May it be those nail-pierced hands that touch them. May incredible things happen, Lord, for Your fame and Your name. May Muslims bow the knee to You now. In Your name we pray, amen.
Baptism Testimonies
Sometimes God is doing a great deal right around us and we miss it because we are involved in other things and cannot be in every place at every time. We love to bring into the service a sense of what God is doing in the body, and one of the great opportunities for that is to participate with people as they publicly declare their faith in our Lord Jesus Christ through baptism.
A Story of God's Grace
After a 23-year marriage, my wife one day came to me on a flight to Dallas and said, "I don't love you anymore. I don't want to be around you anymore." That, coupled with the fact that the company I worked for was being acquired and my son was getting ready to deploy to Iraq, brought me to a breaking point. I was raised in the church — a prodigal son — and thank God my father never quit praying for me.
I called my father and said, "I thought I had this thing figured out. Life was simple. I didn't need church. But Dad, what should I do?" He said, "Google Bible Church." I did that, the Lord led me to East Valley, and on August 28th I went to church and realized the Holy Spirit snatched me. God came into my life and He has just blessed me beyond what you would believe — every single day.
I crave to be around believers. I crave to be in the different home groups, the men's group. It is such a blessing to be around the people God has brought into my life. What He has done for us we will never fully know, and it is unbelievable that in spite of me, He chose me and grabbed me and said, "I have a plan for you."
I don't know what that plan is. I know He keeps telling me to be patient. Whatever His purpose is for me, I am patiently waiting. What has changed the most is simply loving God, knowing that I surrender my life to Him, and being all in — whatever His purpose and plan for me may be.
My father became a believer when I was twelve and was eventually a retired pastor. I was very much a prodigal son. I went to church through high school only because I had to. As a parent, I was a pathetic individual — I have two grown kids now, and we went to church maybe a handful of times throughout their lives. But my father never stopped praying. He told his wife, "When I'm dead, I want you to give this to Rome," because he never thought he'd see the day. He thought I was one of those people you would never waste a prayer on — just lost. But he never stopped praying, and praise God for that.
Baptism and Community Life at East Valley
This is a great time to be publicly held accountable by the body. The Bible commands us to be disciples and to be baptized, and I expect the body to hold me accountable as I go out and glorify God each and every day. That is pretty great stuff.
We used to try to put together baptism services once a month here at church. We have not been able to get one together for three or four months — not because people aren't being baptized, but because what you just saw is only a fraction of what is happening. Baptisms are taking place out in the areas.
Whether you live in Chandler, Gilbert, Queen Creek, Mesa, Tempe, Scottsdale, or Phoenix, there is a pastor assigned to your area and things are happening there. We encourage you to get involved. That is a wonderful way to experience community at East Valley Bible Church — to take a big church and make it feel like a church of two, three, or four hundred. Get involved and see what God is doing, because He is doing it all around you and you are missing something if you are not part of it.
Hot Summer Nights — This Wednesday
Let me also invite you to Hot Summer Nights this Wednesday. It is the last one. I had a blast last Wednesday night as we talked about ASU football with Jeb VanRaphorst, covered some of the areas, talked about worship, and had a great night with Barry Asmus. I thought the interview with Susan was wonderful.
This week my guest is someone you may not know — her name is Colleen Clark. Let me be honest: I just said "Colleen Clark" and you thought, "I probably don't know her, so I don't think I need to go." But Colleen's story is a marvelous story of God's grace, and your life will be missing something if you are not there Wednesday night to hear it. It is a story of God's grace and mercy — how He works in sinners' lives and in a family's life. We will also be highlighting what is happening in the Gilbert, Queen Creek, Tempe, Phoenix, and Scottsdale areas.
Seeing a testimony like the one we just watched is a great encouragement. To hear someone say, "You wouldn't even waste prayers on a guy like me" — those are exactly the kinds of people God tends to work in. Why not come and hear Colleen's story? Join us this Wednesday night in the Commons. Try to arrive around 6:00 or 6:15, grab a sandwich or something to drink, music starts around 6:45, and we will get going around 7:15. It will be a great night together.
Beginning Our Study — John 18
Open your Bibles, please, to John chapter 18. On September 28, 2003, we started this series studying the life of Christ. We have taken a couple of side journeys along the way, which has extended the timeline. We are going to complete this study on September 2. Susan and I are getting ready for our annual extended vacation.
The Garden of Gethsemane
When Jesus had spoken these words, He went forth with His disciples over the ravine of Kidron, where there was a garden in which He entered with His disciples. Now Judas also, who was betraying Him, knew the place, for Jesus had often met there with His disciples. Jesus had spent these last intimate moments with the eleven — Judas had gone from the group — and now, in chapter 17, John has recorded His prayer to the Father, and He is heading to the garden.
He crosses the valley, or the little brook of Kidron. At Passover time, there would be as many as 250,000 lambs slaughtered in the temple. The blood would run out of the temple and down this little brook, and as Jesus headed to this garden, He would pass over this stream of blood. It is striking imagery — the shepherd moving to save His sheep, and now the shepherd becomes the Lamb of God, the Lamb who came to take away the sin of the world.
John chapters 18 and 19 are absolutely critical. Jesus has said He is going to prepare a place for us. He has spoken about eternal life, the sending of the Holy Spirit, glorifying us, and us glorifying Him — all these wonderful things we have been studying — but none of those come to pass without the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ.
The other gospel writers refer to the place as Gethsemane — technically, the garden in Gethsemane. John simply calls it the garden, and the moment he does, the imagery of the garden in Genesis chapter 3 comes to mind. A. W. Pink spends a great deal of time making that comparison and contrast. In the garden of Eden there was joy and delight; in Gethsemane there is sorrow, suffering, and pain. Sin entered through Adam's garden; redemption comes through Christ's. The human race was plunged into isolation and lostness as a result of Eden; redemption and life come to us as a result of Gethsemane.
Jesus heads to a place familiar to Him. In the Mount of Olives there were many private gardens, and this was apparently one He had used on many occasions — the disciples knew it well. Some commentators believe Jesus never spent a night in Jerusalem, that He was always out in the garden, always away from the city, praying and communing with the Father.
The Arrest
Verse 3 tells us that Judas, having received the cohort and the officers of the chief priests and the Pharisees, came there with lanterns and torches and weapons. Jesus, knowing all these things were coming upon Him, went forth and said, "Who do you seek?"
John skips a section that is recorded in the other three Gospels, and they all essentially record it the same way. Here is Luke's account, from chapter 22, verse 39: "When He came out and proceeded as was His custom to the Mount of Olives, His disciples followed Him. And when He arrived at the place, He said to them, 'Pray that you may not enter into temptation.' And He withdrew from them a stone's throw, and He knelt down and He began to pray, 'Father, if You are willing, remove this cup from Me; yet not My will, but Yours be done.'"
There is great anguish in that moment. Matthew tells us He was grieved and distressed. Mark tells us He was very distressed and troubled. Luke tells us He was in such agony that He began to sweat drops of blood. John does not describe those moments — the other three do.
No Other Way
"Father, if there is another way, let us do it." This very question once divided a small group. There were two strong camps. One believed there were other ways — that Jesus could have simply said, "You are forgiven," after all, He is God and He can do whatever He wants. That was one view. The other view, the correct view, is that there was no other way.
Is that not what He prayed? If there is any other way, let us do it. The assumption must be that there is not any other way. Why? Because sin requires a perfect sacrifice, which means God had to become flesh and dwell among us. There was no other way for this to happen.
Jesus is not naive. He does not have a plan that is suddenly about to go awry. He understands exactly what is taking place. We saw His prayer, and we looked at all of this as we studied it together.
The Arrest in the Garden
"Father, my hour has come." The very reason Jesus came to this earth was now here. He came to save people from their sin, and there is no redemption or salvation or deliverance without the shedding of blood — innocent blood. All that Old Testament picture was now fulfilled. Isn't that what John said? "Behold the Lamb of God." It was the moment that was upon them, and they understood that.
Judas comes, and with him is a Roman cohort. There are three possibilities numerically for how large this group would be. The Greek word for a Roman cohort refers to about 600 men, though in another usage the word can mean as many as a thousand, and in its rarest usage it means at least a detachment of 200. Regardless, there is a whole crowd of soldiers coming. And not only the soldiers themselves — also the officers, the police force of the chief priests, the Sadducees, and the Pharisees.
Remember, the Sadducees and Pharisees hated one another. The Pharisees were legalists — into the law, the law, the law. The Sadducees were into whatever was expedient, whatever would work, willing to compromise anything. But the one thing both could agree on was that Jesus needed to be killed. So they come with lanterns, torches, and weapons.
Some commentators make a great point: because it was Passover time, there was a full moon, and those lanterns would have been unnecessary — unless they thought Jesus was hiding. About one o'clock last night I woke up to the sound of our pool pump. This was the third night in five that I had heard it, and it was so loud it woke me up. I went outside, and — I don't know if any of you were up at one o'clock — it was not quite this bright in here, but you could have played golf. It was really bright last night. As I stood there turning the pool pump off, I thought of this very point: they come to get Jesus, and they would not have needed a lantern. They anticipated Jesus would be hiding.
Jesus is not hiding anywhere. Jesus is right there in front of them.
"I Am"
In fact, He confronts them and says, "Who do you seek?" They answered Him, "Jesus the Nazarene." And He said to them, in verse 5, "I am He." John also notes that Judas, who was betraying Him, was standing with them. So when He said to them, "I am He," they fell back on the ground.
Both in verse 2 and verse 5, John makes sure we understand who this Judas is. He uses the same phrase both times — he is the one who is going to betray Jesus. Jesus simply says, "I am." In most Bibles, if you look at the word "He," it is in italics because it is not in the original text. Jesus says, "I am." At that moment — whether they glimpsed His glory or grasped the full weight of what "I am" means — something very strange took place. These men staggered back.
Picture the scene: eleven disciples, Jesus, and hundreds of soldiers surrounding them. Jesus simply identifies Himself, and they stagger back. Do you see how in control He is? He is not about to have anyone take His life. He will voluntarily lay it down.
Therefore He said again to them, in verse 7, "Who do you seek?" And they said, "Jesus the Nazarene." And He said, "I told you that I am He. So if you seek Me, let these eleven go their own way." He said that to fulfill the word which He had spoken: "Of those to whom You have given Me, I have not lost one."
We saw that theme throughout the past couple of weeks. Jesus said over and over again in His prayer, "Father, all that You have given Me — none of those will be lost." We see it through John chapter 10 as well: "My sheep hear My voice. I know them. They know Me. No one is able to snatch them out of My Father's hands." That is how secure you and I are as followers of Christ. No one can separate us from God's love for us. We are eternally in His grasp.
It might not always feel that way. We may, in fact, sin — and sometimes be so immersed in our sin that we feel like we have out-sinned God's grace. But that is absolutely impossible. Jesus said, "Let these men go," and amazingly, at this moment, the soldiers comply.
Peter and the Sword
Then a remarkable incident takes place. Simon Peter, having a sword, drew it and struck the high priest's slave and cut off his right ear. The slave's name was Malchus. Jesus said to Peter, "Put the sword away. The cup which the Father has given Me, shall I not drink it?"
Luke tells us in his gospel that the right ear was severed and that Jesus healed it — that is all Luke tells us. I have one of those minds that wonders: when Peter cut the ear off, did Jesus simply touch the man and a new ear appeared? Or did He reach down and — well, it doesn't really matter, does it? What matters is that it was supernatural, and it clearly demonstrates Jesus' power even in this moment of crisis.
Four Men in the Story
Along the way I want to stop and look at four men who appear in this story: Judas, Peter, Pilate, and Jesus.
Notice something about Judas first. At this point, Judas had spent about three years with Jesus and the disciples. He had heard Jesus teaching. Can you imagine that? Every now and then I think, wouldn't it be wonderful to sit under Swindoll, or Mark Driscoll, or John MacArthur, or the Apostle Paul? But imagine three years of living with Jesus — watching Him, being part of that inner circle, being
The Warning of Judas
Judas was so respected by his peers that they put him in charge of the funds that were available. He understood Jesus' references to His death. He clearly responded to that. He knew something was about to take place, perhaps not understanding exactly why, but he knew it was about to take place. He understood much of what Jesus taught, and yet when it came down to the final analysis, he was not a child of the King.
What does that mean to you and me? It means I can be very close to the things of God, the things of Jesus, and not know Him. I can be hanging out at church. I can be serving in church. I can be engaged in Bible study and reading and meditation. I could have been doing this for years and years, listening to Christian music and sermons and watching Christian television, and never be a Christian.
This is a moment for you to examine your own life. 2 Corinthians 13:5. Is your faith real? Is it genuine? When Jesus says in the Sermon on the Mount that there will be many who will say on that day, "Didn't we know you?" He will say, "Depart from Me, I never knew you." Those even closest to Judas could not detect that there was something in him that separated him from the others.
How about you? You can play a game, and you can fool one another, and you can fool me, and frankly, I can fool you. But you cannot fool Him. It is not only about the actions, is it? It is about the actor's heart, the participant's heart, your heart before the Savior.
Judas is a sad case. He is ultimately filled with remorse. He ultimately cannot handle forgiveness, cannot even receive forgiveness. He is not a child of the King, will not come in repentance and faith, and goes forever separated from God in a place called hell.
Peter in the Garden
Peter, in verse 10, is the story of the fisherman turned swordsman. My assumption would be, though I don't know, that Peter is attempting to sever more than the servant's ear. Maybe it is because he is inept, or maybe because he is on the move. It really is irrelevant. I think you see a certain display of courage here, and we are going to come back and talk about Peter a bit more, because at this moment he is in pretty good standing — though he is about to be involved in an event that has labeled him, at least in our understanding of him.
Jesus Brought Before Annas
Verse 12: the Roman cohort and the commander and the officers of the Jews arrested Jesus and bound Him and led Him to Annas first, for he was the father-in-law of Caiaphas, who was the high priest that year. Caiaphas was the one who had advised the Jews that it was expedient for one man to die on behalf of many people.
Annas was the high priest, we believe, from AD 6 to AD 15. One of his contemporaries writes this: "No figure is better known in contemporary Jewish history than Annas. No person deemed more fortunate or successful, but none also more generally detested than the late high priest." He is the power behind the throne. He is detested in every way, including the way he made his money.
He was running in the temple the purchase of sacrificial doves. You would come into the temple for sacrifice and bring a dove or a lamb from outside. Temple inspectors would look at it and say, "There is a flaw. This sacrifice is no good. You cannot bring this in here. You are going to have to purchase one of these pre-approved doves." A dove on the street was worth approximately four or five cents. They were selling them at seventy-five cents. He was raking in the money, and the Jews hated him for it. He had been able to keep this role of high priest through year after year, placing one of his four sons — or in this case his son-in-law — on the throne while remaining the power behind it.
When Jesus goes in and cleans out the temple of the money changers, that strikes right at home. That is why Annas wants to see Him first.
Peter's Denial Begins
Now, if we were doing a movie or a television story, at this point the scene would shift to the courtyard. We see it there in verse 15: Simon Peter was following Jesus, and also another disciple. We do not know who that other disciple is. Most commentators would suggest it was probably John himself, the one writing this gospel.
The disciple was known to the high priest and entered with Jesus into the outer court, but Peter was standing at the door outside. The other disciple, who was known to the high priest, went out and spoke to the doorkeeper and brought Peter in. It is interesting — and perhaps at least to me, amusing — that in verse 10, John identifies the slave whose ear was severed as Malchus. So perhaps John knew this high priest and his household quite well. John had access. John moved into the court, came out, and brought Peter in.
Then the slave girl who kept the door said to Peter, "You are not one of this man's disciples, are you?" And he said, "I am not." The slaves and the officers were standing there, having made a coal fire, for it was cold, and they were warming themselves. Peter was with them, standing and warming himself.
Jesus Questioned by the High Priest
The scene now shifts to what is happening inside. The high priest questioned Jesus about His disciples and about His teaching. Jesus answered him: "I have spoken openly to the world, and I have always taught in the synagogues and in the temple where all the Jews come together. I have spoken nothing in secret. Why do you question Me? Question those who have heard what I spoke to them. They know what I said."
When He said this, one of the officers standing nearby struck Jesus, saying, "Is that the way you answer the high priest?" Jesus answered him: "If I have spoken wrongly, testify of the wrong. But if rightly, why do you strike Me?"
The Illegality of the Jewish Trials
Annas sends Him bound to Caiaphas, the high priest. Jesus comes in now for a series of trials. There are really two segments: the Jewish trials and the civil, or Roman, trials. There will be a series of them back and forth, and in a moment we will see Jesus coming to Pilate, Pilate coming out, then going back in.
One of the really significant things to understand is that all of these Jewish trials are illegal — they are simply filled with improprieties. First, you could never hold a trial at night, and we are right in the middle of the night. You could never ask a defendant to testify against himself, just as in our own courts a person cannot incriminate himself. That is precisely what Jesus responds to. Jesus says, in effect, "You cannot ask me these questions. This should be easy for you. I testified openly. I have always spoken in public — in the synagogue, in front of people. There have to be witnesses. Testimony should be easy to come by. Go and get them. Ask them."
Then an officer says, "Who are you to talk to the high priest this way?" and strikes Him. That is yet another illegality: you could never strike a man who, at this point, is still considered innocent. All of that becomes very significant in what follows.
Peter's Denial
The scene shifts again, back outside. Now Simon Peter was standing and warming himself. They said to him, "You are not also one of His disciples, are you?" And he denied it and said, "I am not." One of the slaves of the high priest, being a relative of the man whose ear Peter had cut off, said, "Didn't I see you in the garden with Him?" Peter denied it again, and immediately the rooster crowed.
Turn back with me quickly to chapter 13, where we see the fulfillment of a promise Jesus had already made. John chapter 13, verse 36: "Lord, where are You going? Jesus answered, 'Where I go, you cannot follow Me now, but you will follow Me later.' Peter said to Him, 'Lord, why can I not follow You right now? I will lay down my life for You.' Jesus answered and said, 'Will you lay down your life for Me? Truly, truly, I say to you, a rooster will not crow until you deny Me three times.'"
A Defense of Peter
The more I study Peter, the more I am convinced that this man really gets a bum rap. Back in verse 10, when Jesus said, "Let these men go," eight or nine of the disciples leave — but Peter and John stay. Peter demonstrates extraordinary courage. My assumption is that when Peter says he is ready to die and draws his sword and takes on the slave, he had every reason to believe those two hundred soldiers were about to kill him. That is great courage. And when all the others are gone except for John, there stands Peter.
Now, I will grant you there is a major failure at this point. But you know what I love about it? At least Peter was in the game. The other disciples are not even there to fail.
I remember years ago interviewing Paul Westphal — much like we do on Hot Summer Nights, just having a fun conversation about a variety of things. I asked him about playing with Havlicek when he was with the Celtics. I said that Havlicek always wanted the ball at the end of the game because he thought he could make the shot. Paul corrected me. He said Havlicek always wanted the ball at the end of the game because he was not afraid to miss the shot. Sometimes it goes in, sometimes it does not, but he wanted it in his control. He wanted to decide it.
Failure Is Never Fatal
This is really important, and I need to hear it myself: failure is never fatal. Thomas Aquinas said, "If the main concern of the captain was the safety of the ship, he would never take it out of the harbor." There is only one way to avoid failure, and that is to do nothing. If you play it tight and sit tight, you will never fail — but you will never accomplish anything either.
I remember listening to a post-game interview with John Wooden. His team had beaten Pepperdine, or someone like that, by twenty points in the old heyday of UCLA, and the interviewer was asking why it had not been a good game. Wooden said, "We didn't make enough mistakes. We knew we could win. We played it tight, we played it conservative. We just didn't really play." That is a remarkable thing for a coach to say after a twenty-point victory.
Did Peter fail? Obviously Peter failed. But he could not have failed if he had not been in proximity. He could not have failed if he had simply run away like the others. To me, the much greater failure belongs to the men who just ran. At least Peter hung around. At least Peter gave it a try. And then Peter rises out of that moment of failure to take command of this group of men and become a pillar of the early church. How did that happen? It is a wonderful picture of Peter's persistence and of Christ's mercy and Christ's love.
If someone failed like this in many of our churches today, everyone would say you could never trust that person, never put him in leadership, never deal with him again. But God uses failures. God uses losers like us. That is what 1 Corinthians is all about. Paul says over and over again, "Look at this church at Corinth..."
God Uses Ordinary, Broken People
God uses just ordinary people. He uses broken-down, failing fishermen like Peter, broken-down real estate salesmen like me, broken-down teachers, business people, moms, and dads like you. That is what He does.
I have come to love Peter. I used to look down my nose at him. Luke tells us — and the other gospel writers don't tell us this — that after Peter denied Christ, in Luke 22:60, Peter said, "Man, I don't know what you're talking about." Immediately, while he was still speaking, a rooster crowed, and the Lord turned and looked at Peter. The other gospel writers don't tell us that. Imagine that moment — there is eye contact, and there is that failure.
And yet what does the Lord do? He rises from the dead, and who does He appear to? Peter. "Peter, I love you, man. I said I'd never leave you. I said I'd never forsake you. I love you, Peter. Did you fail? Yeah, way back there — but now God forgives."
This is really important. It is not as though God forgave Peter and said, "Okay, now you get to come back and sit on the bench." He said, "No, now you are right in the middle of this thing." It is not as though He said, "All right, you are still in the body of Christ, but we are never going to use you." No — Peter is a central figure in what follows. God uses people like you and me who are failures.
The whole relationship with Christ starts with that admission. If you never come to that point, you are never going to come into the family of God. "Blessed are the poor in spirit" — the spiritually bankrupt. Those are the ones who are the children of God, not the proud, not the arrogant, not the ones who say, "I have it together." That is not what God uses.
The Scene Shifts: Jesus Before Pilate
The scene shifts again at verse 28. "Then they led Jesus from Caiaphas to the Praetorium. It was early." The first part of the Jewish trial is over. Now we are moving to the civil trial — the Roman trial — at the Praetorium, where Pilate will be. Some commentators note that the Romans liked to get their day started as early as three, four, or five o'clock in the morning, with all their work done by ten.
"But they themselves" — that is, the Jews — "did not enter the Praetorium, so that they might not be defiled, but might eat the Passover." Consider the hypocrisy here. At the very time of the Passover meal, they say, "Wait — if we go into the home of a Gentile, we will be ceremonially unclean." So what they want to do is hand the Messiah over for execution without getting dirty while they do it.
So Pilate goes out to them and asks, "What accusation do you bring against this man?" They answered him, "If this man were not an evildoer, we would not have delivered him to you." In other words: we have a defendant, we have a verdict — guilty — we have a sentence — death — and we do not want to go through this whole process. He is an evildoer. That is why we are here.
Pilate replied, "Then take him yourselves and judge him according to your law." And the Jews said to him, "We are not permitted to put anyone to death." When the Romans came into Palestine and established rule over these people, they allowed them certain freedoms but took certain things away — including the right to execute prisoners convicted of capital crimes. So the Jews are effectively saying: we want him dead, and you are going to have to do it.
God's Sovereignty Over Every Detail
But John tells us God is still in control. Verse 32 explains that this happened "to fulfill the word of Jesus which He spoke, signifying by what kind of death He was about to die." Humanly speaking, the Jewish leaders were maneuvering to have Jesus killed. But John makes clear that God orchestrated all of it so that the words of Jesus would be fulfilled — down to the very manner of His death.
This goes back centuries before. Psalm 22 is prophetic, describing the suffering Messiah. Verse 14 reads: "I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint. My heart is like wax; it has melted within me. My strength is dried up like a potsherd; my tongue cleaves to my jaws."
Jesus Before Pilate
"The dogs have surrounded me. A band of evildoers has encompassed me. They have pierced my hands and my feet. I can count my bones. They look, they stare at me. They divide my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots." This is the fulfillment of that prophecy. What a picture — God still in control, still on the throne, orchestrating every moment.
Pilate entered again into the praetorium and summoned Jesus. He said, "Are you the king of the Jews?" Jesus answered, "Are you saying this on your own initiative, or did others tell you about Me?" Pilate replied, "I am not a Jew, am I? Your own nation and the chief priests delivered you to me. What have you done?" It was an odd situation — if Jesus was truly the king of the Jews, it was a strange kind of kingship, because His own people had turned on Him and decided to overthrow Him.
Jesus answered in verse 36: "My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, then My servants would be fighting so that I would not be handed over to the Jews. But as it is, My kingdom is not of this realm." Pilate said, "So you are a king?" And Jesus answered, "You say correctly that I am a king. For this I have been born, and for this I have come into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice."
Jesus is saying: yes, He has a kingdom, but not the kind Pilate is thinking of. If His kingdom were an earthly one, there would be war, there would be battle — none of this would be permitted to take place. He has come into this world from another world, for the purpose of testifying to the truth. And when He says that everyone who is of the truth hears His voice, He does not mean a passive, accidental hearing — He means hearing with understanding. Those who hear His voice that way are His own.
Then Pilate spoke what may be the most haunting words in the passage: "What is truth?" After saying this, he went out again to the Jews and declared, "I find no guilt in him." He is innocent.
What Is Truth?
We have no idea how Pilate said those words. It is worth pausing at this moment to take a closer look at where Pilate stands. It is really difficult to read these stories when you know the ending. Knowing that Judas is the betrayer, it is hard to imagine that the other disciples did not see it coming. And knowing that Pilate is a compromised man who ultimately sells out, it is easy to overlook what is actually happening at this point in the narrative.
At this moment, Pilate is conducting himself with a certain level of wisdom. He has been precise and discerning. He has even arrived at the correct conclusion — that Jesus is innocent. What he is missing, however, is the answer to the very question he posed in verse 38: what is truth?
Jesus has already told us. In John 14:6, He declares that He is the truth. In John 14:17, He speaks of the Holy Spirit as the Spirit of truth. In John 17:17, He declares that the Word of God is truth. Jesus is saying: if you want to understand spiritual truth, you must come to Him.
We live in a time and a culture that fights for pluralism. The world is rapidly moving toward a thoroughgoing relativism, where this is called truth, and that is called truth, and every version of God is treated as equally valid. This erosion went so far that before he died, Francis Schaeffer felt compelled to coin the phrase "true truth" — because truth itself had become so diluted that the word needed reinforcing. But Jesus is saying clearly: there is only one truth, and it is Him. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of truth. The Bible is the truth. He is the truth.
Apart from Him, no one will ever discover the truth. And you and I are destined for the same fate as Pilate if we cannot discover truth — and that truth is the person of Christ Himself.
The Courage and Love of Jesus
There is one more thing to see here, and that is Jesus Himself at this moment. Consider His courage. Remember what He prayed in the garden. He understood exactly what was about to take place. He was sweating drops of blood in the agony of that hour. He knew He was about to be separated from His Father. And yet He freely, courageously stepped forward and said, "Here I am."
He demonstrated His authority. When He said "I am He," those who came to arrest Him fell back. He was in absolute control at every moment. It is essential for us to understand that Jesus voluntarily laid down His life. No one took it from Him.
Even in the midst of His arrest, we see His love on display. He said, in effect, "It is Me you are after — let these men go." Take Me, but let them go. And even after Peter's failure and denial, Jesus pursued him with love: "Peter, I love you." This is a wonderful and true story. Sometimes when we use the word "story" we think of something fictitious, but this is real — as real as anything in your life or mine.
When Truth Is Hard to Find
One night I hit the radio, and there was a guy on there saying nobody is telling the truth anymore. The army is lying about Pat Tillman. This department is lying about this. Either the FBI guy or the attorney general is lying. He just went on and on. He said, "I don't trust anybody anymore."
Let me tell you who you can trust, because everybody around you is going to let you down to some level at some point at some time. I am going to disappoint Susan. Susan is going to disappoint me. I am going to disappoint the kids. The kids are going to disappoint me. We are going to disappoint one another.
So where can you find truth? It is in Christ, in Christ alone. In the world out there, everybody is searching, everybody is looking. Watch the world around you, watch it unfold, listen to people. What are they looking for? Meaning, purpose, direction. What is truth? It is Christ, in Christ alone.
God Entrusts the Gospel to Ordinary People
Here is what is exciting. As this world searches for answers, God has given those answers to you and said, now take them into the world. Just like Peter, who blows it in a big way — the next time we see him, about a month and a half after this, he is preaching and three thousand people are saved.
God uses people like you and me. He has entrusted the gospel to us and said, now go and live it. Do not huddle together like a bunch of little Christians in one certain room. That is our tendency, and it matters that we resist it.
God at Work in the Baptisms
You know those baptisms you saw? Here is what is really exciting about them. I was told that about half the people present at the baptisms were unbelievers — people from the neighborhood, people that friends had invited, people you would never get here in a million years. They stood there and heard that proclamation of a person's sin and God's deliverance. Is that not great?
God is doing that all around you, and I need to hear those stories over and over again. I will tell you this: if you are here Wednesday night and you listen to what is going on in these areas, it is going to be very energizing to you. I do not care if you do not know the people speaking. I do not care if you do not live in one of those areas. We need those times where we share with one another, so I hope to see you Wednesday night around six.
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Father, help us live lives that bring honor and glory to You. God, we fail, but You are a God who redeems. Thank You for the salvation we find in Your Son, Jesus. We pray to You in His name. Amen.