For the John 18:28-32 PODCAST, click here
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. ~ John 18:28-32
Rather than prizing righteousness, the religious leaders try to justify their evil motivations by using moralistic maneuvering. This is illustrated in v.28 which reads, "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."
The Apostle John provides the longest and most detailed account of Christ’s hearing before Pilate.The Jewish leaders were asking for the Lord Jesus to be killed, but were worried about being unclean for the Passover. Unbeknown to them, they were fulfilling the plan of God that the Lord Jesus would be the Passover Lamb, sacrificed on the behalf of all mankind.
It was the Feast of Unleavened Bread which accompanied the Passover. These religious leaders did not want to enter Pilate's palace because they thought they would be defiled. Their theology was weak. Their real motivation was their fear of losing their status, influence and power. These gods had supplanted their worship of the one true God.
A world of evil lurks in the hearts of all mankind, especially when we seek to justify our evil actions through our religious routines. We cannot miss the irony of this situation in which Jewish leaders are concerned about ritual defilement while plotting the death of God. They spurned the unclean dwelling of a Gentile without acknowledging the sick and blasphemous conditions of their own hearts.
In v.29-32, we see the Jews making a request of the Gentile Roman leader to do their dirty work. In v.29 Pilate asks, “What charges are you bringing against this man?” In v.30, the religious leaders deliver a weak response by saying, "If he were not a criminal,” they replied, “we would not have handed him over to you." Then, in v.31, Pilate refuses their wishes by saying, "Take him yourselves and judge him by your own law."
Upon arriving in Jerusalem Pilate received word from the Sanhedrin that one claiming to be the King of the Jews had been stirring up the people with miracles and the expectation was that something big was about to happen in Jerusalem. So, Pilate agreed to have this person arrested to control the crowds until the Passover was over and the people had gone home.
Late that night a group of temple guards came from the High Priest and awakened Pilate. He was annoyed having to awaken from his slumber. After donning a robe, he came out into the night to talk with them. He asked them why they brought someone to him in the middle of the night. He was annoyed by their answer and asked why the local authorities did not deal with the problem themselves. That’s when Pilate remembered his rule about not stoning people during the crowded Passover celebration. So Pilate took the man into custody and brought Him inside.
By now Pilate was wide awake and asked the Lord Jesus if He was the King of the Jews. Pilate knew that if he could just get the Lord Jesus to admit that He was King, he could convict Him of treason, execute Him on a cross and His disciples would scatter and the problem go away. But the Lord Jesus refused to answer Pilate’s question directly and admit to being a king. So Pilate began indirect questioning and asked the Lord Jesus about his activities. It was here that the Lord Jesus admitted to being a king, but His definition of “king” was very different from Pilate’s. The Lord Jesus' kingdom was not of this world.
According to v.32, God used this to bring about what had been predicted 1,000 years before, that when the Lord Jesus died it would not be by the Jewish method of stoning but by the Roman method of crucifixion. Psalm 22 and Isaiah 53 describes it very clearly. John is saying that God is still in control of all these events, and working his will despite the free will of man and the right of men to make their own choices.
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