Aaron Capito
This week's message continued in John 18, picking up right after Peter's first denial. It covers the high priest's questioning of Jesus, Peter's second and third denials, and Jesus' trial before Pilate.
Passages: John 18:19-40
The message opened with a hypothetical: imagine being arrested for something you didn't do, giving a flawless defense that proves your innocence, but having a judge and jury who hate you decide you're guilty anyway. That's exactly what happened to Jesus. The perfect man, a perfect teacher, was condemned to death by people who hated Him despite having no real accusation against Him.
The high priest asked Jesus about His disciples and His teaching. Jesus said nothing about His disciples, protecting them, but spoke plainly about His teaching: He had always taught openly, in public, never in secret. When an officer struck Him for His answer, Jesus responded by challenging him to name the actual wrong in what He'd said.
Jesus didn't just claim to be the Son of God. He backed it up, through Scripture, miracles, and eyewitnesses. His calm, composed response in the middle of an unjust arrest shows how much He loved the people putting Him through it.
Last week covered Peter's first denial. This week picks up with the second and third. The third one probably stung the most: the man who asked Peter about it was related to the servant whose ear Peter had cut off in the garden. The moment the rooster crowed, just as Jesus had predicted, Peter remembered, and Luke's Gospel adds that Jesus turned and looked at him. Peter went out and wept bitterly.
It's easy to just feel bad for Peter here, but the point is bigger than that. Peter, one of Jesus' closest friends, hit rock bottom by denying Him to His face, and we do the same in smaller ways all the time: in sin, in staying quiet about our faith, and more. But Peter's denial isn't the end of his story. Even knowing it was coming, Jesus still went to the cross for Peter, and for us. Peter went on to become a bold, early leader in the church who eventually died for his faith. Our worst failure doesn't get the final word over Jesus' grace, for Peter or for us.
There's an irony worth catching here: the religious leaders refused to enter Pilate's headquarters because it would make them ceremonially unclean for Passover, all while plotting to kill the God they claimed to serve. It's a good gut check for us too. Is our faith about looking religious, or about actually belonging to Christ? Character still matters, but it has to be powered by real faith, not the other way around.
When Pilate asked what accusation they were bringing, he got nothing solid, and told them to judge Jesus by their own law instead. Jesus was headed for a criminal's death despite being innocent, and John points out this wasn't a surprise. It fulfilled what Jesus Himself had already said about how He would die. He wasn't a helpless victim. He was giving Himself up. What looks like total defeat to us was actually God accomplishing His greatest victory, even when it was hardest to see in the moment.
Pilate asked Jesus directly if He was the King of the Jews. Jesus explained that His kingdom wasn't of this world: if it were, His followers would have fought to keep Him from being arrested. Instead, He came to testify to the truth, and He told Pilate plainly that He was born and came into the world for exactly this purpose.
Pilate found no guilt in Jesus and offered to release Him as part of a Passover custom, but the crowd chose to free Barabbas instead, a man described as a robber and, more accurately in the original language, a terrorist. The crowd would rather free a violent criminal than the innocent man offering them salvation. That's how much the world hated Jesus for who He claimed to be, and Jesus told His followers to expect the same kind of hatred, since it hated Him first.
The message's closing line: When you can't keep going, remember Christ did. Whatever hard thing we're walking through for following Jesus, He walked through something harder, and endured it for us.
Use these to keep the conversation going after service:
A few easier openers if you want to start smaller: