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JOHN 19
The High Priest Questions Jesus
19 Inside, the high priest began asking Jesus
about his followers and what he had been
teaching them. 20 Jesus replied, “Everyone
knows what I teach. I have preached regularly
in the synagogues and the Temple, where the
people* gather. I have not spoken in secret.
21 Why are you asking me this question? Ask
those who heard me. They know what I said.”
22 Then one of the Temple guards standing
nearby slapped Jesus across the face. “Is that the
way to answer the high priest?” he demanded.
23 Jesus replied, “If I said anything wrong, you
must prove it. But if I’m speaking the truth, why
are you beating me?”
24 Then Annas bound Jesus and sent him to
Caiaphas, the high priest.
Peter’s Second and Third Denials
25 Meanwhile, as Simon Peter was standing by
the fire warming himself, they asked him again,
“You’re not one of his disciples, are you?”
He denied it, saying, “No, I am not.”
26 But one of the household slaves of the high
priest, a relative of the man whose ear Peter had
cut off, asked, “Didn’t I see you out there in the
olive grove with Jesus?” 27 Again Peter denied it.
And immediately a rooster crowed.
Jesus’ Trial before Pilate
28 Jesus’ trial before Caiaphas ended in the early
hours of the morning. Then he was taken to the
headquarters of the Roman governor.* His accusers didn’t go inside because it would defile
them, and they wouldn’t be allowed to celebrate
• Truth
JO H N 1 8 :2 8 -3 8
“What is truth?” The question came
from the lips of a career bureaucrat
accustomed to determining truth by the
direction of the prevailing political wind.
But it is also the question that lies at the
heart of all human experience. Is there a
moral and spiritual center that gives life
meaning and around which everything
revolves? Although Pilate put the question to Jesus, he did not really expect an
answer. He didn’t want to deal with Jesus
at all. He tried to get Jesus to defend
himself or recant, he tried to convince the
Jewish authorities to let Jesus go, but he
clearly did not want to wrestle with Jesus’
predicament or his fantastic claims about
himself. Pilate’s avoidance became a
decision against eternal truth. Are you
willing to ask Jesus the question, “What
is truth?”—and then listen for his answer?
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the Passover. 29 So Pilate, the governor, went
out to them and asked, “What is your charge
against this man?”
30 “We wouldn’t have handed him over to you
if he weren’t a criminal!” they retorted.
31 “Then take him away and judge him by
your own law,” Pilate told them.
“Only the Romans are permitted to execute
someone,” the Jewish leaders replied. 32 (This
fulfilled Jesus’ prediction about the way he
would die.*)
33 Then Pilate went back into his headquarters
and called for Jesus to be brought to him. “Are
you the king of the Jews?” he asked him.
34 Jesus replied, “Is this your own question, or
did others tell you about me?”
35 “Am I a Jew?” Pilate retorted. “Your own
people and their leading priests brought you to
me for trial. Why? What have you done?”
36 Jesus answered, “My Kingdom is not an
earthly kingdom. If it were, my followers would
fight to keep me from being handed over to the
Jewish leaders. But my Kingdom is not of this
world.”
37 Pilate said, “So you are a king?”
Jesus responded, “You say I am a king. Actually, I was born and came into the world to testify to the truth. All who love the truth recognize
that what I say is true.”
38 “What is truth?” Pilate asked. Then he went
out again to the people and told them, “He is
not guilty of any crime. 39 But you have a custom
of asking me to release one prisoner each year
at Passover. Would you like me to release this
‘King of the Jews’?”
40 But they shouted back, “No! Not this man.
We want Barabbas!” (Barabbas was a revolutionary.)
Jesus Sentenced to Death
Then Pilate had Jesus flogged with a leadtipped whip. 2 The soldiers wove a crown
of thorns and put it on his head, and they put a
purple robe on him. 3 “Hail! King of the Jews!”
they mocked, as they slapped him across the face.
4 Pilate went outside again and said to the
people, “I am going to bring him out to you
now, but understand clearly that I find him
not guilty.” 5 Then Jesus came out wearing the
crown of thorns and the purple robe. And Pilate
said, “Look, here is the man!”
6 When they saw him, the leading priests and
Temple guards began shouting, “Crucify him!
Crucify him!”
“Take him yourselves and crucify him,” Pilate said. “I find him not guilty.”
7 The Jewish leaders replied, “By our law he
ought to die because he called himself the Son
of God.”
19
18:20 Greek Jewish people; also in 18:38. 18:28 Greek to the
Praetorium; also in 18:33. 18:32 See John 12:32-33.