John 18:29-32
So Pilate went outside to them and said, “What accusation do you bring against this man?” They answered him, “If this man were not doing evil, we would not have delivered him over to you.” Pilate said to them, “Take him yourselves and judge him by your own law.” The Jews said to him, “It is not lawful for us to put anyone to death.” This was to fulfill the word that Jesus had spoken to show by what kind of death he was going to die.
John 18:29-32
I began studying the life of my great-grandfather in a time before newspaper archives had been digitized and published online. The research required me to spend hours in the university library in front of a microfilm machine. My data set was only as specific as a twenty year period he served in public office. With thousands of pages to comb through, I learned to look at certain sections and for key words as I glanced over the pages for information pertaining to his life. The process became easier over time, those key words seeming to illuminate and draw my attention to some previously undiscovered matter. Reading the gospels is like that. The more I read them, the sharper the relief that reveals a deeper understanding of the text and facilitates a greater application in my life. Such is the case in this passage. As I read the passage again, the statement of the Jews we would not have delivered him over to you caught my attention. Those words delivered him over drew me in to consider a previously overlooked detail.
Let’s set the scene. John is recording an interaction-turned-confrontation between Pilate and the priests who brought Jesus to him for execution. The priests were shocked when Pilate asked, What accusation do you bring against this man? Their incredulity filled their response: If this man were not doing evil, we would not have delivered him over to you. They came expecting Pilate to rubber-stamp their verdict and carry out their sentence against Jesus. They were confident Pilate would put up no argument since he had authorized a cohort of soldiers—one tenth of a Roman legion or 600 men—to accompany the officers from the chief priests in arresting Jesus. Yet Pilate stalled. It was the first of several moments that day when he hesitated to order the execution of Jesus.
Pilate urged them to exact justice on their own, but to do so would be to stop short of execution. The priests reminded the governor that they needed him to do his job, to play his part in this coup: It is not lawful for us to put anyone to death. John interprets this as a fulfillment of Jesus’ prediction that when he was lifted up from the earth he would draw all people to himself. But seeing this as a fulfillment of Jesus’ prediction about his death is not the only interpretive decision John makes. There is here a subtle interpretive decision signaled by a key word that reveals much about the plot to destroy Jesus.
When John writes that the priests told Pilate, we would not have delivered him over to you, the Greek for delivered him over is παρεδώκαμεν (paredōkamen), which means to hand over, to deliver over, to commend, to betray. John has used this word before, eight times to be exact. To this point in the narrative, every use of this word is with reference to the betrayal of Jesus. It follows then that John is signaling something to the careful reader of his Gospel: betrayal was not just a work conceived and carried out by Judas Iscariot, but a conspiracy participated in by all those opposed to the rule and reign of Jesus Christ, including the chief priests.
While Judas, the treasurer-turned-traitor, led the charge against Jesus, he did not go alone. Complicit in the betrayal of our Savior were the priests, the soldiers, the governor, the puppet king, me, you, the whole world. In our sin we have all plotted and purposed rebellion against the Sovereign Lord, determined to subvert his authoritative rule over our lives at all costs. Only in owning our own place in the betrayal of Jesus Christ can we begin to know the wonder of his grace that he died to save us knowing our rebellion full well.