ACC ~ John 18 v28 - 32

OVERVIEW:

John mentions the Praetorium, which seems out of place if they are taking Jesus to Caiaphas, since the Praetorium would belong to the Romans (AUGUSTINE). One possible explanation is either that there was some urgent reason for Caiaphas to leave the questioning of Jesus to his father-in-law Annas and hurry to the governor’s Praetorium, or it may have been that Pilate had made his Praetorium in the house of Caiaphas because it was big enough to house Caiaphas’s residence as well as the Praetorium (AUGUSTINE). John demonstrates how even with a number of different judges hearing the case and the extended examination, in the end they could prove nothing, which is why they had to send him to Pilate (CHRYSOSTOM). They refuse, however, to enter themselves in case they might become polluted, thereby demonstrating their distorted view of what truly pollutes when they themselves were bent on killing an innocent man (CHRYSOSTOM). They wanted to remain pure to celebrate what later became a day of mourning for them (TERTULLIAN). All Scripture agrees that the Passover was to be the day Jesus would die and that he would rise on the first day of the week of harvest, when the priest was to offer the sheaf of grain (CLEMENT).

Pilate still does not assume they have incontrovertible evidence against Jesus (CHRYSOSTOM). But instead of asking the Jewish leaders what Jesus had done, Pilate should have been asking the blind who see, the dead who were made alive and those freed from unclean spirits (AUGUSTINE). Instead, it seems, according to John, that the Jews simply expected Pilate to condemn Jesus on the basis of their testimony and authority (AUGUSTINE) while avoiding any direct accusations (CHRYSOSTOM). Pilate directs them to judge Jesus according to their own law, in essence telling them that Jesus is one of their own (TERTULLIAN). They in turn reply that they are not allowed to put anyone to death, although they must be referring either to the festival prohibitions against killing or the manner of killing, since they did carry out summary executions in other cases such as Stephen (CHRYSOSTOM, AUGUSTINE). But Jesus had earlier prophesied that he would be delivered up to the Gentiles (AUGUSTINE).

18:28 | The Jews Refuse to Enter the Praetorium Because of Passover

INCLUSION OF THE PRAETORIUM EXPLAINED

AUGUSTINE: If they took him to Caiaphas, how is it then that it mentions the Praetorium, the place where the governor Pilate resided? Either, for some urgent reason, Caiaphas went from the house of Annas (where both had met to give Jesus a hearing) to the governor’s Praetorium and had left the hearing of Jesus to his father-in-law. Or Pilate had made his Praetorium in the house of Caiaphas, which was so large as to be able to house both its owner and the governor at the same time. TRACTATES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 114.1. [1]

[1] NPNF 1 7:421**; CCL 36:640-41.

ATTEMPTED EXPLANATION OF TIME DISCREPANCIES

AUGUSTINE: Here we might suppose either that there had been something imperative requiring Caiaphas’s presence in the hall of judgment and that he was absent on the occasion when the other chief priests held an inquiry on the Lord, or else that the hall of judgment was in his house. So then, from the beginning of this scene they had only been leading Jesus away to the personage in whose presence he was at last actually conducted. But since they brought the accused person in the character of one already convicted, and since it had previously approved itself to Caiaphas’s judgment that Jesus should die, there was no further delay in delivering him over to Pilate with a view to his being put to death. [1] And so it is that Matthew here relates what took place between Pilate and the Lord. HARMONY OF THE GOSPELS 3.7.27. [2]

[1] See Tractates on John 114, where Augustine also attempts to grapple with the difficulty created by reading to Caiaphas instead of from Caiaphas. (The Greek text is “from Caiaphas.”)

[2] NPNF 1 6:191**; CSEL 43:303.

THEY PROVE NOTHING

CHRYSOSTOM: “They lead him therefore from Caiaphas to Pilate.” This was done in order that the number of his judges might show, even against their will, how fully tested his truth was. “And it was early.” He was led to Caiaphas before the rooster crowed, but early in the morning to Pilate. By this the Evangelist shows that though he was questioned all during half the night, he was proved guilty in nothing and that as a result he was sent to Pilate. But leaving what passed then to the other Evangelists, he goes to what followed. HOMILIES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 83.3. [1]

[1] NPNF 1 14:310**.

A DISTORTED VIEW OF WHAT POLLUTES

CHRYSOSTOM: John speaks of what follows next. Observe the ridiculous conduct of the Jews. They who had seized the innocent and taken up arms do not enter into the hall of judgment “lest they should be polluted.” And tell me, what kind of pollution was it to set foot in a judgment hall where wrongdoers suffer justice? Those who paid tithes of mint and anise did not think they were polluted when bent on killing unjustly, but they thought that they polluted themselves by even treading in a court of justice. And why did they not kill him instead of bringing him to Pilate? In the first place, the greater part of their rule and authority had been cut away when their affairs were placed under the power of the Romans. And besides, they feared lest they should be punished later if they were accused by him. But what does it mean, “that they might eat the Passover”? He had already done this on the first day of unleavened bread. Either he calls the whole feast “the Passover” or means that they were then keeping the Passover, while Jesus had done so one day sooner, reserving his own sacrifice for the preparation day, when the Passover was celebrated of old. But they, though they had taken up arms, which was unlawful, and were shedding blood, are scrupulous about the place and summon Pilate to themselves. HOMILIES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 83.3. [1]

[1] NPNF 1 14:310.**

THE PREDICTION OF CHRIST’S PASSOVER DEATH

TERTULLIAN: We will prove that it may suffice that the death of the Christ had been prophesied, in order that, from the fact that the nature of the death had not been specified, it may be understood to have been affected by means of the cross and that the passion of the cross is not to be ascribed to any but him whose death was constantly being predicted. … For that you would do such a thing at the beginning of the first month of your new [years] even Moses prophesied when he was foretelling that all the community of the children of Israel were to sacrifice a lamb when evening came and were to eat this solemn sacrifice of this day [that is, of the Passover of unleavened bread] with bitterness.” And then he added that “it was the Passover of the Lord,” [1] that is, the passion of Christ. This prediction was in this way also fulfilled that “on the first day of unleavened bread” [2] you killed the Christ. [3] AN ANSWER TO THE JEWS 10. [4]

[1] See Ex 12:6-11.

[2] See also Mt 26:17; Mk 14:12; Lk 22:7.

[3] See 1 Cor 5:7.

[4] ANF 3:166-67**; CCL 2:1379-80.

ALL OF SCRIPTURE AND THE GOSPELS AGREE

CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA: Accordingly therefore, on the fourteenth day, when also Jesus suffered, the chief priests and scribes, bringing him early in the morning to Pilate, did not enter the Praetorium so that they might not be defiled but instead might without hindrance eat the Passover in the evening. By this precise reckoning of the days all the Scriptures agree, and the Gospels are harmonious. The resurrection also bears further witness. He rose on the third day, which is the first day of the weeks of harvest on which it was ordained that the priest should offer the sheaf. FRAGMENT 28, PASCHAL CHRONICLE. [1]

[1] GCS 17(3): 217.

18:29 | Pilate Asks About the Accusations

INCONTROVERTIBLE EVIDENCE?

CHRYSOSTOM: Pilate, however, seeing him bound and led by so many captors, still did not assume that they had incontrovertible evidence against him. Instead, he questions them, thinking it absurd that they seize the right to try Christ and yet entrust to him the punishment without a trial. What reply, then, did they make? “If he were not a malefactor, we would not have delivered him up to you.” HOMILIES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 83.4. [1]

[1] NPNF 1 14:310**.

ASKING THE WRONG WITNESSES

AUGUSTINE: Ask those freed from unclean spirits, the blind who saw, the dead who came to life again, and, what is greater than all, the fools who were made wise, and let them answer whether Jesus was a malefactor. But they spoke, of whom he had himself prophesied in the psalms, “They rewarded me evil for good.” [1] TRACTATES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 114.3. [2]

[1] Ps 35:12 (34:12 LXX).

[2] NPNF 1 7:421**; CCL 36:641.

HOPE FOR CONDEMNATION ON THE JEWISH LEADERS’ AUTHORITY

AUGUSTINE: But is not this account contradictory to Luke’s, who mentions certain positive charges. … “And they began to accuse him, saying, ‘We found this fellow perverting the nation, and forbidding giving tribute to Caesar, saying that he himself is Christ a King.’” [1] … According to John, the Jews seem to have been unwilling to bring actual charges, … in order that Pilate might condemn him simply on their authority, asking no questions but taking it for granted that if Jesus was delivered up to him, he was certainly guilty. Both accounts are, however, compatible. Each Evangelist only inserts what he thinks sufficient. And John’s account implies that some charges had been made, when it comes to Pilate’s answer: ‘Then Pilate said to them, “Take him, and judge him according to your law.’” HARMONY OF THE GOSPELS 3.8.35. [2]

[1] Lk 23:2.

[2] NPNF 1 6:195**; CSEL 43:315-16.

18:30 | Insistence on Jesus’ Criminal Status

THEY AVOID DIRECT ACCUSATIONS

CHRYSOSTOM: What madness! Why don’t you mention his evil deeds instead of concealing them? Why don’t you prove the evil? See how they always avoid direct accusations that would amount to nothing anyway. Annas questioned him about his doctrine, and having heard him, sent him to Caiaphas. After Caiaphas questioned him and discovered nothing, he sent him to Pilate. Pilate asks, “What accusation do you bring against this man?” Here too they have nothing to say but again employ conjectures. HOMILIES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 83.4. [1]

[1] NPNF 1 14:310**.

18:31 | Jewish Law and Permission to Execute

JESUS WAS ONE OF THEIR OWN

TERTULLIAN: It was not as if he belonged to another god that they conceived an aversion against Christ and persecuted him, but simply as a man whom they regarded as a wonder-working juggler and an enemy because of his teaching. They brought him therefore to trial as a mere man, and one of their own too—that is, a Jew (only they saw him as a renegade and a destroyer of Judaism)—and punished him according to their law. If he had been a stranger, indeed, they would not have sat in judgment over him. AGAINST MARCION 3.6. [1]

[1] ANF 3:326*; CCL 1:516.

THEY KILLED OTHERS, WHY NOT NOW?

CHRYSOSTOM: And how did the expression “It is not lawful for us to put any man to death” declare this? Either the Evangelist means that Jesus was about to be slain not by the Jews only but by the Gentiles also, or that it was not lawful for them to crucify. But if they say, “It is not lawful for us to put anyone to death,” they say it with reference to that season. For they did put people to death, but they did so in a different way, as is evident in the case of Stephen, who was stoned. [1] But they desired to crucify [Jesus] so that they might make a spectacle of the manner of his death. HOMILIES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 83.4. [2]

[1] See Acts 7:58-60.

[2] NPNF 1 14:310**.

REMAIN CLEAN WHILE OTHERS DO THE DIRTY WORK?

AUGUSTINE: What is this that their insane cruelty says? Did not they put him to death whom they were here presenting for that very purpose? Or does the cross perhaps fail to kill? This is the kind of foolishness of those who persecute wisdom instead of pursuing it. What then do the words mean, “It is not lawful for us to put any person to death”? If he is a malefactor, why is it not lawful? Didn’t the law command them not to spare malefactors, especially those who tried to seduce them away from their God—which is what they considered Jesus was doing? We are, however, to understand that they said that it was not lawful for them to put anyone to death because of the sanctity of the festal day that they had just begun to celebrate and on account of which they were afraid of being defiled even by entering the Praetorium. Has your excessive malice so blinded you, false Israelites, that you imagined that you are unpolluted by the blood of the innocent because you gave it up to be shed by someone else? TRACTATES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 114.4. [1]

[1] CCL 36:641-42; NPNF 1 7:421-22**.

18:32 | Jesus Foretold How He Would Die

DEATH BY THE GENTILES

AUGUSTINE: If it were so [i.e., that they could judge him according to their law], couldn’t they have taken him and crucified him themselves if they wanted to avoid putting him to death by such a punishment [as the cross]? But who is there that may not see the absurdity of allowing those to crucify anyone who were not allowed to put anyone to death? In fact, didn’t the Lord himself call that same death of his, that is, the death of the cross, a putting to death, as we read in Mark, where he says, “Behold, we go up to Jerusalem. And the Son of man shall be delivered unto the chief priests, and unto the scribes. And they shall condemn him to death and shall deliver him to the Gentiles”? [1] … There is no doubt, therefore, that in speaking in this way, the Lord signified what death he should die: not that he meant here the death of the cross but that the Jews were to deliver him up to the Gentiles, or, in other words, to the Romans. For Pilate was a Roman and had been sent by the Romans into Judea as governor. And so, this saying of Jesus was fulfilled. … Therefore when Pilate, who was the Roman judge, tried to hand him back to the Jews so that they might judge him according to their law, they refused to receive him, saying, “It is not lawful for us to put any person to death.” TRACTATES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 114.5. [2]

[1] Mk 10:33-34.

[2] CCL 36:642-43; NPNF 1 7:422**.