Who is on trial in John 18-19?

In John 18-19, we have John’s remarkable account of Jesus’ trial before Pontius Pilate. I say “Jesus’ trial,” but the real question John raises in this account is: who is really the one on trial here?

This Friday evening, at our Good Friday service, I am going to suggest that Jesus isn’t really the one on trial in this passage. Pilate is. And the Jews are.

Trying to put the Judge of the universe on trial is like calling into question the fact that 2 + 2 = 4. When you question that, you’re really placing the question mark over your own sanity, not over the equation.

It never works to put Jesus on trial. It didn’t work for Pilate, and it doesn’t work for us. But we still do it.

In England, a ‘dock’ is the place in a courtroom where a person accused of a crime sits. In his famous essay ‘God in the Dock,’ C.S. Lewis says this: ‘The ancient man approached God…as the accused person approaches his judge. For the modern man the roles are reversed. He is the judge: God is in the dock. He is quite a kindly judge: if God should have a reasonable defence for being the god who permits war, poverty, and disease, he is ready to listen to it. The trial may even end in God’s acquittal. But the important thing is that man is on the Bench and God in the Dock.’

Come this Friday. See the Judge of the universe (John 5.27) on trial (John 18.28-19.16). And remind yourself that his is the only opinion of you that really matters in the end.

Posted by Stephen Witmer on Mar 30, 03:49 PM