Flashback Episode — The Moot Court: John 18:28-40

Over the past several episodes in this first chronological year moving through events from Jesus’ life, we have looked closer at details surrounding the 24 hours leading up to Jesus being hung on the cross. Our last episode focused in on how Jesus was brought before a trial of religious leaders, and this episode, we move forward to Jesus’ trial before Pilate, the Roman governor of that region.

However, while some people might want to skim over or discount Jesus’ trial before Pilate, this event has some very interesting and unique details. It is also interesting to note that each gospel includes unique details about this event, and plenty of things happened at this trial that make it unlikely to have happened at any other time.

Let’s read John’s version of the trial for this podcast episode. Jesus’ trial before Pilate can be found in the gospel of John, chapter 18, and let’s read it using the New International Version of the Bible. Starting in verse 28, John tells us that:

²⁸ Then the Jewish leaders took Jesus from Caiaphas to the palace of the Roman governor. By now it was early morning, and to avoid ceremonial uncleanness they did not enter the palace, because 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,” they objected. ³² This took place to fulfill what Jesus had said about the kind of death he was going to die.

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. “Your own people and chief priests 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 Jewish leaders. But now my kingdom is from another place.”

³⁷ “You are a king, then!” said Pilate.

Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. In fact, the reason I was born and came into the world is to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.”

³⁸ “What is truth?” retorted Pilate. With this he went out again to the Jews gathered there 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 an uprising.

While reading this passage, a number of things stood out in my mind.

The first thing in this passage that stands out in my mind is a detail John shares at the very beginning of this passage. The Jewish leaders bring Jesus to Pilate, but they all do not enter the palace. The ceremonial cleanliness of these religious leaders is more important to them than the life of the person they already have placed judgment on. While a normal trial happens in a courtroom or in a palace with the accusers present to give their testimony, because of when this trial happened, Jesus was brought in separate from those who were accusing Him, making this trial unique – and very distinct – in the trials of that time.

The second thing that really stands out as unique to Jesus’ trial is that no official charge is given against Jesus. While other gospel writers include a very generic charge against Jesus, John opts to share that they simply don’t have any charge to share. In a courtroom setting, a charge must be given for there to be a prosecution and defense. The Jewish leaders brought Jesus to Pilate but when asked for a charge they simply say that Jesus is a criminal without sharing any details of His supposed crime. When Pilate pushes back, he learns that they are demanding the death penalty – all without ever hearing what the accusation is.

Perhaps this is by design, because if any actual charge came forward, Pilate may have completely dismissed the case and spared Jesus’ life. An abstract and unspecified charge could let the imagination of each person create a just reason for the death penalty – regardless of the truth of reality.

The next thing to stand out in this passage as interesting in my mind is Pilate’s conversation with Jesus. Instead of claiming innocence, Jesus speaks relatively openly with Pilate, talking in a way that sort of answers Pilate’s questions, but not using the words that Pilate is searching for. I suspect that Pilate understands the charge against Jesus as being the King of the Jews, from what we see recorded in other gospels, but in this extended conversation, Jesus does not display any of the usual characteristics or personality traits one would find in a typical king.

However, while Pilate is fishing for Jesus to confirm that He claims to be a king, Jesus instead says that His kingdom is not of this world. In this conversation, Jesus comes about as close as He does in any conversation with someone to revealing His divine nature. With a kingdom that is not in this world, and a solid knowledge of His purpose for coming into the world in the first place, Jesus subtly positions Himself alongside the legends of the Roman gods who occasionally had interactions with humans. In Pilate’s mind, if Jesus was in a similar position as one of the Roman gods, then it would be best not to anger Him.

It is interesting that from the way Jesus frames Himself, it is as though Jesus prompts Pilate to understand that if Jesus is the God of anything, He is the God of Truth. It is perfectly understandable to picture Pilate having doubts and/or questions regarding this since he was a Roman ruling a very non-Roman religious place. Similar to the secular and Christian worlds of today, it is easy to see the faults of both sides, and because of this when both sides have obvious flaws, genuine truth is hard to find.

Probably the strangest thing in my mind in this entire passage is how it ends – specifically from Pilate’s perspective. First, Pilate finds no basis for a charge against Jesus, but then he turns around and thinks that those present – the ones who brought Jesus to trial – would be interested in releasing Him. God’s hand must have been at work in this oversight because at any other trial, a person who has no basis for a charge is simply released apart from any custom present. The custom of freeing a prisoner was for guilty people, and all throughout Jesus’ conversation with Pilate, right up till the very end, Jesus is never assumed as being guilty. At the very end of this passage, when Jesus is condemned to death, Jesus also assumes the guilt of all humanity when He does not deserve it.

All the beating, punishment, and His eventual death is Jesus taking all of humanity’s guilt and punishment onto Himself when He had done nothing to warrant it. The secular governor is just as guilty as the hate-filled religious leaders. Both the world and the leaders of God’s people are equally responsible for Jesus’ death. Pilate absent-mindedly switches from defending Jesus’ innocence to assuming He is already guilty, which then allows the Jewish leaders the opening to demand His death.

And Jesus is a willing participant. He came to take our place, to take the punishment, so that we have the opportunity and the choice to accept God’s gift of an eternal future with Him. Showing us God’s love and opening the way for us to experience a new life with God is the truth Jesus came to both model and share.

As we come to the end of another podcast episode, here are the challenges I will leave you with:

As I always challenge you to do, intentionally put God and Jesus first in your life. Remember that Jesus took your punishment onto Himself when He didn’t deserve it so that you wouldn’t have to face the death you deserve. Jesus facing the cross shows us how much God loves each of us, and what He was willing to do to redeem us from this sin-filled world.

Also, as I always challenge you to do, continue to pray and study the Bible for yourself, looking for places and ways that it can help you grow closer to Jesus. While other people can give you ideas to think about, test everything you read, hear, and see against the truth of the Bible to know whether it is spiritually true and whether it will stand the test of eternity.

And in whatever place you are at in your life, never belittle yourself into thinking that God cannot use you. God created you with a purpose and you should never let anything derail you from moving fully into His purpose for your life with Him!