The Height of Hypocrisy - John 18:28-32

Last week, we looked at Peter’s denial of Jesus as Jesus stood trial. Jesus was first interrogated by Annas, and then was on trial before Annas’ son-in-law the high priest Caiaphas. The other gospels record the interaction between Jesus and the Jewish religious council, the Sanhedrin, which was led by Caiaphas.

And for whatever it’s worth, there were two charges that were ultimately brought against Jesus: the first was blasphemy, but the second was a political accusation. A religious accusation according to the Roman Empire wasn’t sufficient grounds for capital punishment, which was why the Sanhedrin brought the political accusation against Jesus; he denied Caesar’s authority because he said that he was a king.

And so in verse 28 Jesus has already been convicted by Caiaphas and the Sanhedrin and is now being transferred to the Roman authorities. A delegation of the Sanhedrin led Jesus to the Roman governor Pilate. And since Pilate was the Roman governor he had the authority to execute anyone under his jurisdiction.

But what I hope none of you miss is the deep sense of irony in this passage, which is, the most important, well respected, religious leaders are actively pursuing the greatest act of injustice and evil ever recorded.

Have you ever wondered how people who knew the Old Testament far better than both you and me could be responsible for killing Jesus? Isn’t that ironic? They’re about to lead the Savior that the Old Testament spoke of to his death.

Just how could they do that? The short answer is obviously, their sin blinded them, but the specific sin was their obsession with keeping the small pedantic man made Jewish laws. And as we’ll see in this passage, they were so obsessed with their man made laws that they ignored the big biblical principles. These verses break down neatly into three parts: the transfer, the charge, and the prophecy.

It’s easy to sort of sit here on your high horse and think, how could they be so obsessed with the small matters they miss something big? But we’ve all probably experienced the same thing just to a lesser degree. Have you ever sat through a really long meeting that discussed an irrelevant aspect of your work, while serious problems continue to remain unaddressed?

Churches are sometimes notorious for this sort of thing. A church may be slowly dying and instead of focusing on reaching out and the ministry of God’s Word, they call a meeting to discuss the color of the carpet.

It’s rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic! It’s totally pointless!

The Transfer

But in many ways it’s precisely what’s going on in this passage.

We’re told in verse 28, that they led Jesus from the house of Caiaphas to the governor’s praetorium or headquarters, which is where the Roman officials would stay when there would be an influx of people into Jerusalem.

And no doubt there would have been an influx of people heading into Jerusalem at this time, because it was Passover, which was the most significant Jewish Feast. Passover was a week-long festival or feast where the Jewish people would celebrate how God freed them out of slavery from the Egyptians.

As I said earlier, Jesus had already been convicted by the Sanhedrin, which was a council of Jewish religious leaders led by the High Priest who was Caiaphas. The Sanhedrin was composed of a mixture of 70 both Pharisees and Sadducees.

And they had kept Jesus imprisoned from about 3am till daybreak. So, as we’re told in verse 28, early in the morning, probably as soon as the day broke on Good Friday they rushed Jesus from the Caiaphas’s house to the Roman governor’s palace.

Pilate didn’t permanently reside in Jerusalem, but would stay there whenever there was a greater threat of a riot or insurrection since he was responsible for maintaining order, justice, and peace.

Just imagine for a second, someone banging on your door at the crack of dawn in order to conduct serious business. You’d probably tell them it’d have to wait outside till you got your second or third cup of coffee. Most of us would be like, I’m not on the clock till 9am.

Perhaps you picked up on this but the Sanhedrin aren’t going through the motions here. This isn’t just another trial for them. They’re eager to kill Jesus. In fact, they’re so eager, as soon as they’re able to take Jesus to Pilate, they jump all over it. That’s how bad they want to kill him.

The things that are important to you and me say a lot about us, don’t they? Our character is revealed through the decision we make. The fact that the Sanhedrin is so anxious to have Jesus executed says a lot about their character doesn’t it?

But it’s not just their character - it reveals something about their spiritual disposition too doesn’t it? Because the more antagonistic you become towards Jesus, the harder your heart becomes, the easier it becomes to sin.

Isaiah makes this point: “Their feet run to evil, and they are swift to shed innocent blood; their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity; desolation and destruction are in their highways.”

Doesn’t that perfectly describe the Sanhedrin. They’re not accidentally stumbling into evil, they’re running into it aren’t they? They can’t wait to put Jesus to death. It needs to happen as soon as possible!

The most significant detail comes towards the end of verse 28. John tells us that the Sanhedrin delegation, “did not enter the governor's headquarters, so that they would not be defiled, but could eat the Passover.”

That comment is interesting for several reasons, isn’t it? The first reason is, you’d expect the strictest Jews to have eaten the Passover. Jesus and his disciples ate the Passover meal in the upper room on Thursday night. And of course, this text is taking place on Good Friday.

Additionally, the Passover meal was typically an evening meal. Why had they participated in the Passover meal yet?

The short answer is, they were so preoccupied with waiting for Judas and making preparations to arrest Jesus, they hadn’t had an opportunity to eat the Passover meal yet, which would also explain why they were careful not to enter Pilate’s palace. We’re told in verse 28, they didn’t want to “defile themselves” by going inside a heathen man’s house.

They didn’t want to go into the Pilate’s house because that would have made them ceremonially unclean. They would have been defiled, which would have prevented them from participating in what remained of the Passover meal.

They were anxious to participate in the Passover meal because it was the most important Jewish feast and so instead of eating the Passover meal at the ordinary time, they chose to wait, deal with Jesus, and then eat it.

The Charge

But in order to have Jesus executed, they needed to bring a sufficient charge. As I said earlier, in order for Jesus to be sentenced to death, he’d have to be charged with a political crime against the Roman Empire. And since the Jewish people lived under Roman rule, they were not allowed to execute anyone, but of course, the Roman government could!

The Sanhedrin want the appearance of a formal judicial process! They wanted it to seem like a Jewish council had convicted a criminal and now it was the responsibility of the Roman government to carry out the punishment. They wanted things to look above reproach, but as we all know, that simply wasn’t the case! In fact, what has taken place up to this point has been incredibly unfair! They charge the only sinless man was blasphemy and insurrection!

Notice too, the arrogance of the Jewish religious leaders when they speak with Pilate:

Pilate asked them ““What accusation do you bring against this man?” 30 They answered him, “If this man were not doing evil, we would not have delivered him over to you.” 31 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.”

They want Pilate to simply rubber stamp whatever they say without asking any questions. But he asks a basic question like, “what accusation do you bring?”

But the Sanhedrin responded arrogantly: “If this man were not doing evil, we would not have delivered him over to you.”

They refuse to answer Pilate’s question! Pilate asks, “what accusations do you bring?” And they tell him, “we wouldn’t bring him to you if he was innocent.” Okay, what’s the charge?

They don’t want to answer the question, because the truth is, Jesus had done nothing wrong! He was totally innocent, but again, they’re interested in giving Jesus a fair trial, they’re more interested in the appearance of a fair trial. They want it to look like they’re going through the right channels when in fact, they just want Pilate to carry out their decision.

It probably will come as no surprise to you that Pilate had a tense relationship with the Jewish people. Pilate didn’t like the Jews and Jews didn’t like Pilate. And so, the Jewish leaders hated the fact that the Romans were involved in their affairs, but Pilate didn’t necessarily like it either. He didn’t want to deal with them, and he certainly didn’t want them to tell him what to do.

Which probably explains why he was so dismissive of them in verse 31: “Take him yourselves and judge him by your own law.” In other words, punish him as you seem fit according to their laws, regulations, and customs.

The Prophecy

Interestingly, Jews did have a form of capital punishment, they’d stone people. That’s how they killed Stephen. But it was God’s will for Jesus to be lifted up on the cross.

But they’re not at Pilate’s house to make sure Jesus is treated well. In fact, they’re at Pilate’s house to ensure he’s treated cruelly. They offer their reasoning, “it is not lawful for us to put anyone to death,” but really they’re leading the lamb of God to the slaughterhouse.

They don’t want a mild form of capital punishment for Jesus. They don’t want him to die in an ethical sort of way, like lethal injection. They wanted Jesus’ death to be extreme, severe, gruesome, and public.

Which was the specialty of the Roman Empire. The Jewish leaders had to talk to Pilate in order to get what they wanted. And once Jesus was on the cross, then they could sit down to enjoy the Passover meal.

And of course, they thought they were carrying out their own evil plan when in fact, they were fulfilling God’s plan.

Which is precisely what John mentions in verse 32, “This was to fulfill the word that Jesus had spoken to show by what kind of death he was going to die.”

Making a Mountain Out of a MoleHill

And so it’s here I want all of us to sort of pull back and really consider what’s going on: the most religiously devout men in all of Israel want to murder Jesus. But in the richest sort of irony, they believe going into Pilate’s house is what’s going to defile them.

They want to murder an innocent man but don’t make them go into Pilate’s house because that will mean they’re bad people. That will defile them. That will make them unclean. What? They’re sort of missing the point aren’t they?

Jesus criticized the Pharisees in Matthew 23 for just this point:

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others. 24 You blind guides, straining out a gnat and swallowing a camel!”

You strain out the gnat and swallow a camel, was another way of saying you obsess over small issues and ignore the big ones. In other words, they specialized in making a mountain out of a molehill!

It’s precisely what’s happening in this passage isn’t it? They’re so focused on following their man-made pedantic rules they couldn’t see the big picture: They thought they’d be sinning by walking into Pilate’s house, but don’t seem to bat an eye at the thought of murdering an innocent man. What hypocrisy!

And the hypocrisy only gets worse when you realize that nowhere in the Old Testament are Jews forbidden from entering the house of a non-Jewish person. You see, what they said would defile them was a manmade regulation, and their man-made regulation was stricter than Scripture.

They put more emphasis on their own man-made regulations than on Scripture!

But that sort of thing doesn’t happen anymore, does it?

Maybe you’ve heard the old adage, “don’t drink, don’t smoke, and don’t chew or go with girls who do.” And of course, the idea was that if you avoided those things, if you avoided drinking, smoking, and chewing then you must be a good Christian.

But if you were really vigilant you might say, “not only do I not drink, smoke, chew or go with girls who do. But as an extra precaution, I refuse to ever find myself in the company of someone who drinks, smokes, or chews.”

That of course is an easy example, but there are some things that have made their way into evangelical churches that have no basis in Scripture at all! They’ve been made up, but folks cling to it like it’s gospel truth.

All of this points to a much more insidious theological error: that sin only starts on the outside and works its way inside. That sin is simply what you do. It’s the actions that you take, but that's not what Jesus taught.

Jesus said in Matthew 15:

“...what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and [that] defiles a person. 19 For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander. 20 These are what defile a person.”

Going into Pilate’s house wouldn’t defile them because their hearts had already done it.

Sin isn’t merely something that you do - it’s who you are.

I’ve mentioned this story before, but I read a great book called The Man Who Moved a Mountain which is a biography about a mainline Presbyterian pastor named Bob Childress who was responsible for building all the rock churches on and around Buffalo mountain near Floyd.

But in the book, there’s a great story where Pastor Bob was driving to church one Sunday and saw a man walking on the side of the road. So he pulled over and asked the man if he wanted to go to church with him.

The man said, “no I don’t want to go to church because it’s a place full of hypocrites.” Pastor Bob looked at him and said, “well, then what’s one more?” So the man got in his car and went to church with him.

You see these Jewish leaders are hypocrites to the highest degree. Not because they’re sinners. We’re all sinners. But they were hypocrites to the highest degree because they honored God with their lips but their hearts were far from him.

And that’s precisely what God hates. He hates disingenuous religious worship from a faithless heart.

Are You a Hypocrite?

We’re often tempted to believe just as the man Bob Childress picked up believed - that the problem with the church is hypocrisy.

And of course, I’ll be the first to admit, the church is full of hypocrisy. One way I think you could define hypocrisy is doing something contrary to what you believe. Haven’t we all at various times found ourselves doing something that contradicts what we say we believe?

Doesn’t that sound a way in which you could easily define sin? You could define sin as doing something that displeases God. If you’re a believer I’m sure you would affirm that you want to glorify God and enjoy him forever, but that you consistently fail to do it.

The church is full of hypocrites because it’s full of sinners and your sin makes you a hypocrite to a certain degree. But instead of asking ourselves whether we’re hypocrites or not, we need to start asking ourselves whether our worship springs forth from a heart full of faith in Christ. Is what we’re doing this morning out of an overflow of faith in Christ?

You see the real question is between faith and unbelief.

And that of course, was the Sanhedrin’s problem! They’re real problem wasn’t their blatant hypocrisy, their real problem was their unbelief. They enjoyed the status their position brought them. But for them it wasn’t so much about what they believed as much as it was what they got out of what they claimed to believe.

At times, I’ve wondered if the church has been guilty of this. Have we made the byproducts of Christianity more attractive than the gospel itself? Do we get more excited about a community of people in our stage of life who happen to share our interests and hobbies more than Jesus? Do we more enthusiastically sell the byproducts of our faith than the substance of it? And here’s what’s scary, you can build your entire “faith” on the benefits and the byproducts of Christianity. Suddenly it’s no longer about having your sins forgiven in Christ and it’s about all the bells and whistles a particular church has to offer.

Is that all we have to offer? Bells and whistles? The church should be the first to say,

“Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat!

6 “Seek the Lord while he may be found; call upon him while he is near; 7 let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, that he may have compassion on him, … for he will abundantly pardon.”

The Sanhedrin were so preoccupied with maintaining the appearance of religion they missed the object of it. They knew the Scriptures better than any of us and marched the Messiah to his execution.

And all of it was taking place over Passover, the most important Jewish feast! It was the feast that commemorates the Passover lamb from the book of Exodus.

Remember, they had to take the blood of the lamb and smear it on the posts of their door? If blood was smeared on the door, the angel of death would pass by those families and spare their first born child.

You see, life was given by the blood of the lamb.

And that of course, is the great irony of the whole passage! The fulfillment of the feast they were so desperate to participate in was right in front of them. And yet, it was supposed to be this way. It had to happen this way. It’s why Jesus came to earth! It’s why we celebrate and commemorate his birth at Christmas each and every year! Because He was the lamb of God who came to take away the sins of the world.

And it was all done in perfect accordance with the will of God. Don’t overlook the Savior right in front of you. Let’s pray together.