John 18:19-24 – Handling hostility

Earlier, we have established that a high priest was elected yearly by the Romans and could be re-elected. But according to the law given by Moses, a high priest would hold on to the title for life. John tells us at the onset that when Jesus was arrested, the first person he appeared before was Annas, although he was not the current high priest. Apparently, he was removed from office by the Romans because of his corruption. The current high priest was Caiaphas, the son-in-law of Annas, but he was “the power behind the throne.” Jesus was brought to him for a preliminary hearing.    

The route Annas took to interrogate Jesus was totally illegal. According to Jewish law, every accusation brought against a person had to be substantiated by two to three witnesses. No one was required to testify and incriminate himself. Yet Annas sought to get Jesus to incriminate Himself. He began by questioning Jesus concerning His disciples and His teachings. In Jesus’ response, He avoided mentioning His disciples. He was probably seeking to shield them from the vicious attack.

However, Jesus told Annas that His was not a clandestine movement. He had always spoken and taught openly in the temple and synagogues, where the Jews had assembled. His implication was that all Annas needed to do was to produce the witnesses to prove His wrong doing. There was no necessity for the needless illegal questioning to get Him to incriminate Himself. Consider the contrast between how Peter and Jesus had responded. When Peter was asked a simple question fairly, without a tint of jeopardy against him, yet he answered with lies and pretence. Whereas Jesus was asked a dubious, devious and illegal question, yet he replied openly and honestly, only to be greeted with a stinging blow on His face.

Jesus’s response to the way He was treated was so dignified. He was literally living out His teaching. He did not retaliate but merely seeking a reason for why they chose to strike Him when He did no wrong. He was merely stating that they should act according to the procedure and not go about illegally to incriminate Him. From Jesus’ response, Annas realized that he could not get anything from Him, so he had Him sent to Caiaphas, to deal with Him.

What can we take away from this episode? These verses underscore Jesus’ stand of non-retaliation. Jesus left us with a model to emulate when we are maligned and facing an unfair treatment. Like Him we must respond rightly. We have every right to stand on our ground when we are not in the wrong, but we don’t have to do so angrily. And we must certainly do so without striking back.