John 18 Studies

For those who may wish to ‘study’ this chapter, the following simple resources are provided for you. Each chapter is divided into a number of studies and each study or passage has a simple four-Part, verse-by-verse approach, to help you take in and think further about what you have read.

Passage: John 18:1-6: In the Garden of Gethsemane

A. Find Out:

1. Where did Jesus take the disciples? v.1
   • When he had finished praying, Jesus left with his disciples and crossed the Kidron Valley. On the other side there was a garden, and he and his disciples went into it.
2. So who came with whom? v.2,3
   • Now Judas, who betrayed him, knew the place, because Jesus had often met there with his disciples. 3 So Judas came to the garden, guiding a detachment of soldiers and some officials from the chief priests and the Pharisees. They were carrying torches, lanterns and weapons.
3. What are we told about Jesus? v.4a
   • Jesus, knowing all that was going to happen to him
4. What did he ask? v.4b
   • went out and asked them, ‘Who is it you want?’
5. What was then spoken? v.5
   • ‘Jesus of Nazareth,’ they replied. ‘I am he,’ Jesus said. (And Judas the traitor was standing there with them.)
6. What happened when he said who he was? v.6 
   • When Jesus said, ‘I am he,’ they drew back and fell to the ground.

B. Think:

1. Why do you think Jesus chose this olive grove to go to?
2. How must the arrival of the other group have been?
3. What does this passage tell us about Jesus?

C. Comment:

Having put the future firmly into his Father’s hands in the upper room, Jesus now leads the disciples across to the Garden of Gethsemane . John gives us but the barest details of what took place, for the Synoptic Gospels had already given the details. They tell us it was Gethsemane and that he went there and prayed further (Mt. 26:36-), that Judas came and kissed Jesus (Mt. 26:47-49) and that a fight ensued (Mt. 26:51 & Lk 22:50,51). John simply tells us that they went to the garden and Judas came and betrayed them.     

Observe Jesus’ control in the whole thing. When the arresting party came there were many of them and they carried torches. There were no street lights and so the brightness of their torches would be clearly seen some way off. This was no surprise arrival. Jesus could have left quickly before they arrived but that would have defeated the object of the exercise! When they arrive, Jesus is quite aware of what is happening, why they have come and what will follow, and almost goes out of his way to make himself known. As he declares himself something strange happens: the arresting party all fell down! Now, whether that is a sign of their disarray or of the power of God is not made clear, but it shows clearly who is in charge here! 

D. Application:

1. Jesus was in full control of this awful situation.
2. Remember, he is still in control, however awful the situation!

Passage: John 18:7-14: Taken!

A. Find Out:

1. What did Jesus ask? v.8
   •  Again he asked them, ‘Who is it you want?’ ‘Jesus of Nazareth,’ they said. 8 Jesus answered, ‘I told you that I am he. If you are looking for me, then let these men go.’
2. Why? v.9
   • This happened so that the words he had spoken would be fulfilled: ‘I have not lost one of those you gave me.’
3. What did Peter do? v.10
   • Then Simon Peter, who had a sword, drew it and struck the high priest’s servant, cutting off his right ear. (The servant’s name was Malchus.)
4. But what did Jesus command? v.11
   • Jesus commanded Peter, ‘Put your sword away! Shall I not drink the cup the Father has given me?’
5. What did they then do with Jesus? v.12
   • Then the detachment of soldiers with its commander and the Jewish officials arrested Jesus. They bound him
6. To whom did they take him? v.13,14
   • and brought him first to Annas, who was the father-in-law of Caiaphas, the high priest that year. 14 Caiaphas was the one who had advised the Jewish leaders that it would be good if one man died for the people.

B. Think:

1. How does Jesus show his shepherd heart?
2. How does Peter show his impetuous heart?
3. How does Jesus show he is still aware of moving in divine plans?

C. Comment:

The arresting party has just fallen back but Jesus simply stands there. There is no move to escape. This is one of the clearest things that separates out the account of Jesus Christ from any other religious leader: he willfully and purposefully allowed himself to be arrested, tried and crucified. It was all part of the divine plan, there is no escaping it, and Jesus certainly, didn’t want to!

Even in the midst of all this Jesus is thinking of his followers: Let them go, he instructs the arresting party. Yet as well of thinking of his disciples he is also thinking of his Father, for it was not within the plan for any one of the disciples to be taken as well.

Simon Peter can’t just sit back and let this happen and lashes out with his sword. It is perhaps a sign of the distress he feels. It is Luke the doctor who records Jesus healing the man’s ear (Lk 22:51).

Finally, they get round to arresting Jesus and tie him up, a rather pathetic sign of their power. If Jesus has wanted to escape he would have done so a number of times. They take him to the leadership of the religious establishment. The guilt that will cover this whole affair will include everyone from the ordinary crowd to the leading religious authorities!

D. Application:

1. Jesus “gave himself”. He wasn’t taken.
2. He did it in perfect accord with the Father’s will. Praise him.

Passage: John 18:15-18, 25-27: Peter’s denials

A. Find Out:

1. Who followed Jesus? v.15a
   • Simon Peter and another disciple were following Jesus.
2. How did they get into the courtyard? v.15b,16
   • Because this disciple was known to the high priest, he went with Jesus into the high priest’s courtyard, 16 but Peter had to wait outside at the door. The other disciple, who was known to the high priest, came back, spoke to the servant-girl on duty there and brought Peter in.
3. What were they doing there? v.18
   •  It was cold, and the servants and officials stood round a fire they had made to keep warm. Peter also was standing with them, warming himself.
4. Who first asked Peter about being a disciple? v.17
   • ‘You aren’t one of this man’s disciples too, are you?’ she asked Peter. He replied, ‘I am not.’
5. Who was the third one to ask him? v.26
   • One of the high priest’s servants, a relative of the man whose ear Peter had cut off, challenged him, ‘Didn’t I see you with him in the garden?’
6. What happened after the third denial? v.27
   • Again Peter denied it, and at that moment a cock began to crow.

B. Think:

1. What must Peter have been feeling to have followed?
2. What do you think he felt in the courtyard?
3. What do you think he felt after denying Jesus three times?

C. Comment:

The other disciple with Peter was possibly John and so the two of them, follow behind to see what will happen. They no doubt had a whole mixture of feelings at this point, possibly confusion, anger, fear and so on. John, if it is him, gets them into the courtyard of the house. Once there, inside shut gates, it is possible that Peter suddenly felt hemmed in and very vulnerable. It is late evening, and it is cold and all of the glorious things that have been happening over the past three years now seem very far away.

Those of us who would wish to condemn Peter need to remember that Jesus didn’t; he merely gave him the opportunity to restate his love for him (see end of the book). If we want to condemn him for his three denials, it also means that we have never yet been put in these sort of circumstances – yet we have failed the Lord in less daunting ones!

The Synoptic Gospels record the distress that Peter felt after his denials; John merely gives the basic facts: three people challenged him and three times he denied Jesus, and then the cock crowed, just like Jesus had said. Yes it is all being worked out exactly as Jesus knew it would. This is a black time for Peter. Feel for his humanity!

D. Application:

1. No excuses! Peter failed! We all fail the Lord!
2. Jesus does not write us off. There is yet hope!

Passage: John 18:19-24: Before Caiaphas the High Priest

A. Find Out:

1. What did the high priest ask about? v.19
   • Meanwhile, the high priest questioned Jesus about his disciples and his teaching.
2. What did Jesus say he had done? v.20
   •  ‘I have spoken openly to the world,’ Jesus replied. ‘I always taught in synagogues or at the temple, where all the Jews come together. I said nothing in secret.
3. So what did he ask? v.21
   • Why question me? Ask those who heard me. Surely they know what I said.’
4. What reaction did he get? v.22
   • When Jesus said this, one of the officials near by slapped him in the face. ‘Is this the way you answer the high priest?’ he demanded.
5. What was Jesus’ response to this? v.23
   • ‘If I said something wrong,’ Jesus replied, ‘testify as to what is wrong. But if I spoke the truth, why did you strike me?’
6. What then happened to Jesus? v.24
   • Then Annas sent him bound to Caiaphas the high priest.

B. Think:

1. Look up Lk 3:2, Acts 4:6. Who were Annas and Caiaphas?
2. Look up Mt. 26:57,58 How do the two accounts differ?
3. Consider Jn 18:13 What seems to be the order of things?

C. Comment:

Commentators are uncertain about Annas and Caiaphas but it is probable that John, writing many years later than the other three Gospel writers, seeks to redress an omission in the Synoptics. They simply say Jesus was taken before the high priest; John implicates both Annas and Caiaphas.

Perhaps when the others wrote either or both of the men were still in power; when John wrote much later they were probably both now dead. It is though that Annas was the power behind the religious throne and had been high priest, but was now just the power behind Caiaphas who was present high priest. That would be why Jesus would have been taken to Annas first. It is quite possible that both men lived in the same place and so Peter in the courtyard (recorded in both Matthew and John) is outside the place where they both were. When Jesus was taken from Annas to Caiaphas (v.24) it could simply have been to another suite of rooms in the same building.

Whatever the truth, the dealing with Jesus is quite clear. This is not an unbiased hearing. As Jesus pointed out, he had done nothing in secret and if they had a charge, bring the witnesses. Jesus had nothing to fear from the truth. The violence of one of the officials there indicates the malice that was present there.

D. Application:

1. The whole religious leadership was implicated in Jesus’ death!
2. Jesus had nothing to fear from the truth. May it be for us also.

Passage: John 18:28-40: Before Pilate

A. Find Out:

1. To whom did the Jews go and why did he come to them? v.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.
2. What did Pilate ask and suggest and with what responses? v.29-31
   • 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.
3. What did Pilate ask Jesus and what did he answer? v.32-34
   • This took place to fulfil what Jesus had said about the kind of death he was going to die. 33 Pilate then went back inside the palace, summoned Jesus and asked him, ‘Are you the king of the Jews?’ 34 ‘Is that your own idea,’ Jesus asked, ‘or did others talk to you about me?’
4. What then did he ask and what was Jesus’ response? v.35,36
   • ‘Am I a Jew?’ Pilate replied. ‘Your own people and chief priests handed you over to me. What is it you have done?’ 36 Jesus said, ‘My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jewish leaders. But now my kingdom is from another place.’
5. What assertion did he make and what did Jesus respond? v.37
   •  ‘You are a king, then!’ said Pilate. Jesus answered, ‘You say that I am a king. In fact, the reason I was born and came into the world is to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.’
6. What was Pilate’s assessment and the crowd’s response? v.38-40
   • ‘What is truth?’ retorted Pilate. With this he went out again to the Jews gathered there and said, ‘I find no basis for a charge against him. 39 But it is your custom for me to release to you one prisoner at the time of the Passover. Do you want me to release “the king of the Jews”?’ 40 They shouted back, ‘No, not him! Give us Barabbas!’ Now Barabbas had taken part in an uprising.

B. Think:

1. What do the Jews show to be their clear intent, and how?
2. What do Pilate’s first questions try to discover?
3. What does Jesus reveal about himself in these verses?

C. Comment:

From the religious leaders Jesus is now taken to the civil or military leader, Pilate. It’s coming up to Passover, so the Jews want to remain ceremonially clean and so won’t enter a Gentile house. Thus Pilate goes out to them, probably not making him feel particularly amiable towards them! When he asks about charges they refuse to give details and basically say, “We’ve judged him, and he’s a criminal who deserves the death penalty!”. Now the point to note is that blasphemy was only a religious crime, not a civil one.

Pilate goes on to interrogate Jesus himself. Is this man a rebel leader likely to upset the peace? When Jesus side steps giving a direct answer Pilate pushes to ask what he had done. Jesus speaks about his kingdom, indicating that his actions have all been to do with another sphere, and are not therefore pertinent to any issue of civil disturbance here. Pilate leaps on this as if to say, ah, so I’m right, you are a king! Of course, says Jesus, but not in the sense you are thinking about. I’m a king over truth, my rule is all to do with truth. That confuses Pilate! The end result is that he declares Jesus innocent and offers to release him but the crowd are determined to have him killed and so shout for another prisoner to be released instead.

D. Application:

1. Jesus’ kingdom is not about earthly matters, it’s about truth.
2. Unrighteous people are not concerned about truth.