Full Transcript

Thank you for joining us for this edition of Share the Word, the podcast that explains the big ideas in the New Testament chapter by chapter. I’d like to suggest that you hit pause if you need to and open your Bible or Bible app. That way you can follow along and make sure that what we’re teaching is consistent with what’s written. Okay, let’s get started with today’s lesson. The Unavoidable Decision, John chapter 18. Have you ever been confronted with a decision that you simply didn’t want to make but couldn’t avoid?

We’re going to meet a powerful man in that exact predicament today in chapter 18. This chapter is full of dramatic events, from Jesus’ arrest in the Garden of Gethsemane to his interrogation and abuse before the high priests, to Simon Peter’s shameful denials of him under pressure. Each of those scenes is worth a dedicated lesson for sure, and we’ll no doubt get to them when we get to the other gospel accounts. But the aspect of the story which stands out to me in this section and is unique to the Gospel of John is his description of Jesus’ encounter with the Roman governor, Pontius Pilate. So let’s zoom in right there. During the lifetime of Jesus, almost the entire Middle East, much of North Africa, and about half of Europe were under the rule of the Romans.

That huge empire was broken up into provinces for administrative purposes, each province overseen by an appointed official we’d call a governor. Pontius Pilate was appointed by the Roman Emperor Tiberius to serve as the governor of Judea in 26 A.D. Appointments to govern provinces were usually on the basis of patronage. By that I mean Pontius Pilate had likely connections to Tiberius or someone close to him to be awarded such a position. When he and his wife boarded the ship from Rome bound for Judea in 26 A.D., he certainly had no idea the role he was going to play in the most pivotal event in human history, the trial, death, and resurrection of someone named Jesus of Nazareth. For him, it was just an administrative job in a small, faraway place.

Roman provincial governors had only a few critical concerns: to oversee the collection of taxes and keep revenue flowing to Rome, to maintain law and order, which might include deciding important legal cases in which Rome would have an interest. Beyond that, they usually gave a good deal of leeway to local authorities. In Judea, that meant the Sanhedrin, the council of religious leaders centered in Jerusalem, presided over by the high priest. Pilate came to Judea to keep the peace, keep the tax money flowing to Rome, and decide legal cases which were too significant to leave to the locals. Sounds manageable, but he had no idea how complicated that could get in a place like Judea. By the way, you might be wondering if Pontius Pilate is a real historical figure.

I’d love to take the time to explain how we know that he was, and that he was where John places him as this story develops. But if you’re interested, Google the term Pilate stone and read up on some archaeology related to this man. Although the governor’s principal residence was up the coast in Caesarea, Pilate was in Jerusalem during the week leading up to the Jewish feast of Passover, a national religious holiday. He was in the swelling city with extra troops to personally ensure that the peace was kept. This was exactly the kind of situation when trouble could break out among the Jews, who hated Roman occupation. Just earlier that week, at an emergency meeting of the Sanhedrin, the high priest Caiaphas had made his case that Jesus had to be stopped.

To those on the council who might in some way be sympathetic to him, he argued that if they let Jesus go on, there was almost certain to be a popular uprising, which the Romans would ruthlessly crush. Caiaphas argued, It’s expedient that one man die for the nation, and that the whole nation not perish. He meant, from his view, Jesus was very expendable; their positions were not. So securing the agreement of the council, Caiaphas began to look for an opportunity to take Jesus into custody in a way that would not cause a stir. That opportunity suddenly presented itself on Thursday night when the traitor Judas Iscariot showed up at the high priest’s home. He had information, he said, where Jesus could be found that very night, at an hour late enough and location remote enough no one in the city would even be aware of his arrest.

Although it was the day before Passover, Caiaphas would not miss this opportunity. With Judas leading the arresting party, Jesus was apprehended in the Garden of Gethsemane sometime around midnight. He did not resist. While everyone slept, he was taken back into the city of Jerusalem and arraigned before the high priests. Throughout that night, he was interrogated and beaten in attempts to intimidate and humiliate him. According to the Gospel of Mark, chapter 14, after hours of abuse during which Jesus remained largely silent, the high priest pointedly challenged him under oath, So are you the Messiah, the Son of the Blessed One, the Son of God?

Even knowing his life was on the line, Jesus confessed honestly, I am. And one day you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven. That was more than enough for these men. They charged Jesus with blasphemy, which under Jewish law was a capital offense, and they voted to condemn him to death. But there was a problem. Under these circumstances, the Sanhedrin could not execute Jesus without the consent of the Roman governor.

Although they might get away with stoning some random heretic somewhere with little notice or backlash, Jesus’ case was simply too explosive a situation. So very early Friday morning, perhaps six or seven a.m., they led Jesus to the Praetorium, the Roman fortress in Jerusalem where Pilate was staying. The governor was awakened and told the Jewish leaders are outside, urgently demanding an audience with you. When Pilate finally came out to see what this was about, he found some of the chief priests and their lawyers with Jesus in custody. We don’t know how much Pilate knew about Jesus. My sense is that he didn’t concern himself too much with Jewish religious affairs.

But John’s description of what happens next is fascinating. What the governor wanted to know from the priest is what specific charges they were bringing against this man. Notice verse 30 and 31. They answered him, If he wasn’t a criminal, we would not be handing him over to you. Pilate answered them, Then take him yourselves and judge him according to your own laws. But they answered back, We don’t have the authority to put him to death.

They were hoping Pilate would take their word that Jesus was a serious criminal and just cooperate. But the governor wasn’t ready to go along with that. Blasphemy was not a charge that would register as serious to the Romans. So the Jewish leaders, according to the Gospel of Luke, then accused Jesus of subverting the nation, of opposing payment of taxes to Caesar, and claiming himself to be a king. None of those things were really true, taken out of context at best, but they knew these were the kind of political charges that would alarm Pilate. So hearing this, the governor felt obliged to investigate further.

He had Jesus brought inside the praetorium to question him privately. I wish I could have been there like a fly on the wall to see and feel this encounter. Pontius Pilate, in his position, had absolute legal authority in Judea. He comes across to me as a tough, cynical, self-confident man. But he really struggles in trying to size up Jesus, who is strangely composed under these extreme circumstances. He hardly looked the part of a political terrorist, so I picture Pilate as almost amused when he asks, Do you really claim to be king of the Jews?

Jesus replied, Is that your own idea, or did others say that about me? I think he responded that way because if this was Pilate’s own question, he would have meant king in a political sense, as in, Are you claiming to be the king of Israel in defiance of Caesar? In that case, the answer was certainly no. But if the question was, Are you claiming to be king in the messianic sense, that is, are you the Christ? Jesus’ honest answer would have to be yes. Getting a question back to answer a question annoyed Pilate, apparently, and evoked a contemptuous response: I’m not a Jew, am I?

Your countrymen, your chief priests handed you over to me. What is it exactly that you have done? As if to say, Don’t play word games with me. I want to get to the bottom of this. Pilate’s not prepared to accept the accusations of Jesus’ enemies at face value, but obviously there’s something going on here to arouse such hostility from the Jews. That something might affect the peace, so Pilate wants to know what’s going on so he can decide whether it’s anything he should be concerned with.

Jesus says some amazing things to this Roman official in verses 36 and 37. He told him that, yes, he had a kingdom, but not one that is of this world. That is not a political one. It did not involve soldiers grasping for control in a nation. Otherwise, he said, my followers would already be fighting. My kingdom is of another kind and from another place.

Jesus could not deny that he, in fact, was a king, but was his goal to overthrow Rome, take Israel’s throne? No, not at all. That’s not why he was here. He told the Roman governor his mission in these words: I have been born and come into this world for this purpose, to testify to the truth. I’m here to point men to the truth, to explain the truth to people. Pilate was apparently not interested in religion or philosophy, so when Jesus began speaking in terms, Pilate gave him a dismissive response, So what is truth?

As if to say, I’m not getting into that. And he turned away from Jesus at that point and went back outside to negotiate with his accusers. Think about this. Pilate’s throwaway question, What is truth? That’s the most important question he could have ever asked, posed to the most qualified person to ever answer it. But he didn’t even stay for an answer.

What is truth? Today that question is often treated just as dismissively as Pilate treated it then. Conventional wisdom today is apparently largely unchanged from Pilate’s take: What is truth? There is no definitive answer, so why get into it? Why argue over it? It’s considered smart to say, Truth is not propositional, not universal for sure.

It’s personal. Nothing is true in an absolute sense. Things are only true when you believe them, when you accept them. Hence the popular statement, You have your truth and I have mine. Things can be true if they work for you, but don’t press them on me. Remember the good old gospel according to Phil.

I’m sure you’ve heard similar many times. Well, if it works for you, you know, good for you. I’m happy for you. But that’s not my truth. But tell me, is that approach to truth even reasonable? The notion that there are limitless, equally valid truths, is that even logical?

Think about it. A clear declarative statement must either be true or false. A statement is true if it agrees with factual reality and false if it does not. You and I cannot decide what is true based on our personal preferences. We can deny the truth. We can dismiss the truth.

But we cannot determine the truth. Reality determines the truth. We would all agree this is so in the physical realm, I’m pretty sure. If I said, Don’t jump off that ten-story building. You’re going to get badly hurt. We all know that’s true, based on the law of gravity and many unfortunate people who’ve jumped off tall buildings in the past.

If someone says, But that’s just your truth, not mine, and jumps anyway, they’re going to find out the hard way that reality is not subjective. What Jesus was claiming is that just as there are physical realities, physical laws that are constant, there are also metaphysical realities, spiritual truths that are constant. So when Jesus says, Yes, I am the Messiah. Yes, I am the Son of God, to his interrogators on the high council, or when he says, This is the reason I was born and the reason I came into the world, to testify to the truth, to the Roman governor, such claims are either consistent with reality or they are not. They are true or they are false. The saddest part of this story, as far as Pontius Pilate is concerned, is that he thought he could avoid making a decision about Jesus’ claims by deciding they were just not relevant to him.

He did everything he could to not make a decision about Jesus, but a decision was truly unavoidable. Realize, similarly, when any of us confront Jesus Christ and his claims, there’s no such thing as not making a decision. That becomes apparent as this crucial scene continues to play out in chapter 19. Let’s follow it as John describes Pilate’s attempts to avoid a decision about Jesus. The governor took Jesus and had him flogged, hoping that seeing him brutally beaten might appease the high priest and he could let him go. After the beating, soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and pounded it down into his head.

They wrapped his bloodied body in a purple robe and went up to him again and again, saying, Hail, King of the Jews, punching him in the face with their fists. Then Pilate had Jesus presented in this pitiful condition to the Jewish leaders. Look, I’m bringing him out to you to let you know I find no basis for a charge against him. When Jesus emerged from the praetorium, badly beaten, wearing the crown of thorns and the royal robe, Pilate said to them, Look at the man. Just look at him, hoping it would satisfy his enemies. But it didn’t.

John says Pilate then tried something else. He said, You have a custom that I release to you a prisoner at the time of Passover. Speaking over top of the high priest to the crowd behind them, he asked, Do you want me to release the King of the Jews? And now the growing crowd shouted back, No, not him. Give us Barabbas. They preferred, if Pilate was in the mood to be lenient, he release a condemned insurrectionist, a criminal.

As for Jesus, when they saw him blood-soaked and beaten, the high priest took up the shout, Crucify! Crucify! Pilate shot back them, You take him and crucify him. As for me, I find no basis for a charge against him. Yet the Jews pressed him. We have a law, and according to that law, he must die.

He claimed to be the Son of God. When Pilate heard that, John writes, he was shaken. He went back inside the praetorium and questioned Jesus again. Where do you come from? he asked. But Jesus gave him no answer.

Do you refuse to speak to me? Pilate said. Don’t you understand I have the power to free you or to crucify you? Jesus responded this time with resignation, You’d have no power over me if it were not given to you from above. Pilate, I’m sure, more than puzzled by Jesus and this whole scene. When out once more to the high priest, looking for a way to release Jesus if he could find one.

But the priests and the mob they’d gathered shouted at him continually, If you let this man go, you’re no friend of Caesar. Anyone who claims to be a king opposes Caesar. When Pilate heard that, he brought Jesus out once again and sat down on the judge’s seat at a place known as the Stone Pavement. Behold your king, Pilate said to the Jews. But they shouted back even louder, Take him away! Let him be crucified!

Shall I crucify your king? Pilate asked incredulously. We have no king but Caesar, the chief priests shouted back. Completely exasperated, Pilate finally handed Jesus over to them to be crucified. There it is, the unavoidable decision. Pilate did everything he could to avoid it, but he could not.

In the end, he made his decision. We know from history, after five more years of a troubled tenure in Judea, Pontius Pilate was recalled to Rome to answer charges of corruption by his detractors. Before he ever reached Italy, his patron, the Emperor Tiberius, died and was replaced by Gaius Germanicus, known to history as Caligula. According to the best reports we have, Pontius Pilate committed suicide rather than stand trial before Caligula. But think about this. If the Bible is true, one day that man will stand before the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, Jesus the Christ.

Could there ever be a greater turning of the tables? There are two big ideas we need to take away from this encounter between Jesus and Pilate. One is that Jesus claimed to have the final word on truth. When John shares with us Jesus’ claims chapter after chapter, I hope you’re not responding in your head with, Well, if that works for you Christians, I’m happy for you. You have your views about Jesus, and I have mine, and let’s leave it at that. Remember, Jesus claimed to have come down out of heaven to tell us the truth.

He claimed to be the very embodiment of truth. He said, Everyone who is on the side of truth will listen to me. If anyone wants to understand the truth about life and what’s important in it, about the afterlife, about heaven and hell, about God and how to reach Him, if anybody wants the real answers to life’s ultimate questions, Jesus claimed He came to reveal them. Either He is the truth or He is not. And if He is the truth, then He is the truth for you as well as He is for me. He is the truth for all of us.

The second big idea we should learn from this encounter with Pontius Pilate is no one can avoid making a decision for or against Jesus Christ. There really is no middle ground. When you come up against His extraordinary claims, it’s like coming to a very sharp fork in the road. You must turn right or you must turn left. If you will not accept Jesus’ claims enough to believe into Him and to commit your life to following Him, regardless of how you try and evade it, like Pontius Pilate did, you have in fact nevertheless made your decision, a decision against Him. However, if you hear His claims and you believe that Jesus is who He said He was, if His words burn in your heart as reality, as truth, then I would urge you to accept Him as your Savior.

And follow Him as your Lord, no matter what it costs you, because there is no wiser decision any of us can make in this lifetime than to bring our lives into alignment with reality, with ultimate truth. This has been Paul for Share the Word. Thank you for listening today. We hope you found this commentary both interesting and insightful. Share the Word releases two new podcasts weekly at 9 a.m. on Mondays and Thursdays. If you’re just joining us, visit sharetheword.org and check out all the podcasts we’ve already released, as well as other offerings available to you.

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