John 18:28-32

John 18:28-32

Therefore they led Jesus from Caiaphas to the governor’s palace.  And it was early morning.  And they did not enter into the governor’s palace in order that they should not be ceremonially unclean but rather they should eat the Passover.  Therefore Pilate came outside to them and says, “What accusation do you bring against this man?”  They answered and said to him, “If this one is surely not doing evil, then we did not hand Him over to you.”  Therefore Pilate said to them, “Take Him and according to your law judge Him.”  The Jews said to him, “It is not lawful for us to kill anyone” – in order that the word of Jesus should be fulfilled, which He said while indicating the kind of death he was about to die.

Thoughts for Today

First Thought:

Seven times in John 17 through John 19 we are told about scripture and Jesus’ words being fulfilled.  For John, Christ’s death is more than just atonement for sin on the cross – although it certainly is that, too.  For John, Christ’s death is also a demonstration of the supernatural divinity of Jesus.  Jesus didn’t just come to die for our sins.  He came to die because He was sent by a Father who had planned this all along.  For a thousand years and more the Father had been sending words of preparation to the Hebrew people to prepare them for this act.  Yes, Jesus dies so that we can have our relationship with the Father restored.  Amen, hallelujah!  But this happens under a long unfolding plan by an omnipotent God who desperately cares for us and loves us and is powerful enough to conquer death and make good on His promises.  For John, the crucifixion is as much a display of God’s character as it is His power and His love and His grace.

Why is it weird to think that something as gory and gruesome as a crucifixion can be a display of God’s character?  Why is it beneficial to you to remember that this act is the fulfillment of scripture, many of which were promises made decades, centuries and even a millennium prior to Jesus?

Second Thought:

The portion of this passage that is often overlooked is the fact that the Jews cannot kill Him.  Under Jewish law, a man guilty of blasphemy is to be stoned.  (See Leviticus 24:16 and Deuteronomy 17:7)  However, God had foretold that this death would be by “hanging from a tree,” which under the Roman system we call crucifixion.  Jesus became a curse for us so that we would not have to bear God’s wrath.  (See Galatians 3:13, which contains a quote from Deuteronomy 21:23.)  If the Jews had been able to execute their own judgment over Jesus and the death occurred by stoning, these portions of scripture would not even have been fulfilled!  As it is, God fulfilled scripture over a thousand years old through the Romans, who rather than stoning people preferred the method of crucifixion.

Why is it neat to think that over a thousand years prior to Jesus God would set up a law of stoning and then intentionally set up a curse by hanging from a tree – only so that He could demonstrate His power by working around the common Jewish law of stoning and have Jesus die by crucifixion instead?  How does this demonstrate God’s power?  How does it demonstrate His omniscience?

Third Thought:

In these verses we also get an incredible glimpse of what happens when people become too fixated of human ritual and lose sight of God’s hand at work.  The Jewish leaders were clearly concerned with their ritual cleanliness.  They wouldn’t even enter Pilate’s household because that would make them unclean and unable to celebrate the Passover.  Yet at the very same time that they were concerned about their own ritual purity, they were in the act of crucifying the very Son of God!  This is an incredible truth.  We often become so fixed on ritual that we lose sight of the bigger picture.  Sometimes our religious habits become the goal and we forget that God has called us for a purpose in this world besides going through the motions!  The Jewish leaders here are so fixated on the Law that they have blinded themselves to God’s grace!

Where are you like the Jewish leaders in this passage?  When are you likely to become so fixated on one thing – even something rooted in a good principle – that you end up missing the bigger picture of God’s hand at work?

Passage for Tomorrow: John 18:33-40