John 18:28Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

Tell me, what defilement is there in entering a judgment hall, where criminals receive lawful recompense? But those who tithed mint and dill (Mt 23:23) did not think they were defiled when they killed unjustly.

They regarded entering the judgment hall as defilement for themselves. But why did they not kill Him themselves, but bring Him to Pilate?

Chiefly because their rule and authority at that time had already been greatly restricted, since they were under Roman dominion. On the other hand, they feared that afterward they might be accused by Pilate and suffer punishment.

And what do the words mean, "that they might eat the Passover"? For Christ Himself celebrated the Passover "on the first day of Unleavened Bread" (Mt 26:17).

Either the Evangelist here calls the whole feast Passover, or the Jews were in fact celebrating the Passover then, while Christ celebrated it one day earlier. Thus His slaughter would be on Friday, when the Old Testament Passover also took place.

In this way the Jews, though they took up weapons, which was unlawful, and shed blood, show special scrupulousness about the place and summon Pilate out to them.

When the night had passed in these interrogations, in the morning they lead Him away to Pilate. "And they did not enter the praetorium, lest they should be defiled." What madness!

When they kill unjustly, they do not think they are defiled. But they regard entering the judgment hall as defilement for themselves.

"That they might eat the Passover." The Lord celebrated it on the first day of Unleavened Bread (Mk 14:12). Therefore by the Passover we must understand either the whole seven-day feast.

Or we must understand it thus: on this occasion they were to eat the Passover on Friday evening, while He celebrated it one day earlier. Thus the slaying of Himself would be kept for Friday, when the Old Testament Passover also took place.

They think this even if they hand it over to be done by another's hands, though what they intended was contrary to the laws of Moses. Besides this, their next act will appear most ridiculous. They present for judgment as guilty of the most terrible crimes Him who had sinned in nothing. They draw down such dreadful impiety upon their own heads. Yet they flee from the threshold of the praetorium as something able to defile them. They carefully avoid contact with men who were still unclean. This was because, I think, they believed that stones and the bodies of men of the same nature could defile a man's soul. But the most shameful of all evils, unjust murder, in their opinion did them no harm at all. What is astonishing, or rather more foolish and irrational than anything, is this. They seek purification for the slaughter of the lamb, which depicts for us nothing other than the shadow of the mystery of Christ. Thus, honoring the image of the reality, they act impiously against the Truth Himself. Imagining that they receive purity in the lamb, they defile themselves with murder-loving designs against Christ. Therefore the Lord rightly called them whitewashed tombs, outwardly covered with various artful ornaments, but inwardly filled with stinking and unbearable uncleanness (Mt 23:27). Again He said that they strain out a gnat but swallow a camel (Mt 23:24). They often observe petty exactness concerning what is, so to speak, smallest, unimportant, or even wholly insignificant. For what is a gnat, after all? Yet they count as nothing deeds filled with lawlessness. They wash the outside of the cup and the dish, but pay no attention at all to inward uncleanness. Although the prophet Jeremiah says clearly, 'Wash your heart from evil, O Jerusalem, that you may be saved' (Jer 4:14), they regard as nothing the impiety within and in the heart. So too, when they bring Christ to Pilate, they shrink from unclean places and from the bodies of uncircumcised men. Although they do not themselves commit the lawless deed with their own hands, they make Pilate the agent of their cruelty. In their madness, they suppose that they remain free from every charge. What is astonishing is that the holy prophets also knew this impiety of theirs. Thus blessed Isaiah said of them in one place: 'Woe to the lawless man; evil will happen to him according to the works of his hands' (Is 3:11). Likewise Ezekiel says: 'As you have done, so it shall be done to you; your recompense shall return upon your own head' (Obad 1:15). And the divine Psalmist himself cries out: 'Give them their recompense; according to the works of their hands, give it to them' (Ps 27:4). And indeed, just as they brought the Savior of all, Christ, to the Roman commanders, so they themselves in turn suffered the same thing. They were delivered to the dominion of the Romans and destroyed by the hand of the rulers of that time. So terrible a war flared up against them, and they shared in such unheard-of calamities, that some of them, indeed many, would have preferred, if it were possible, to die hidden in mountains and caves rather than see that war. The Lord foretold that they would truly have this desire when He said: 'When you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then you will say to the mountains, Cover us, and to the hills, Fall on us' (Lk 21:20; Lk 23:30).

"All the day My enemies reproached Me. I became a reproach to our neighbors, a mockery and derision to those around us" (Ps 101:9; Ps 78:4).

But the hour will come when "He who dwells in heaven shall laugh at them, and the Lord shall bring them low" (Ps 2:4).

The Sanhedrin considered it dangerous to postpone this matter until the end of the feast of Passover, which began that evening. Therefore it decided to go immediately to Pilate in full assembly and demand confirmation and immediate execution of the sentence.

And the whole multitude of them arose to go to Pilate.

[...] When Judas had left the courtroom, the whole multitude (Lk 23:1) of the members of the Sanhedrin went to Pilate, and Jesus also was led there.

Pilate's Trial

Pilate was a pagan. Therefore the members of the Sanhedrin did not enter his palace, fearing defilement from such contact with him.

According to the Law (Num 9:6-11), a Jew became unclean for celebrating the Passover at the appointed time only by touching the dead. But the Pharisees considered all Gentiles, and even things belonging to them, to be such uncleanness.

By touching them a Jew became defiled and, as a result, lost the right to eat the Passover together with all the others.

On that day they were to eat the Paschal lamb. Fearing to become unclean for such a matter, they did not enter Pilate's residence.

In their opinion, one could condemn the knowingly Innocent One to death, and this did not defile them. But accidentally carrying dust from a Gentile's house on their sandals would be dreadful for a Pharisee.

They forgot how the Lord had rebuked them, when they prided themselves on outward purity while inwardly they were full of every abomination.

The Sanhedrin was not on friendly terms with Pilate and could not count on his sympathy. Therefore, fearing opposition from him, it came to him in full assembly.

Pontius was properly the procurator of Judea, Samaria, and Idumea. This office in itself was limited to the collection of state taxes, yet it carried the full right of a praetor to decide all cases and execute by death.

Such a combination of powers occurred in certain less significant provinces. There they did not think it necessary to send special praetors and proconsuls.

Such procurators were usually appointed from men of equestrian rank, eguestris, and sometimes from freedmen, libertini, who had distinguished themselves in some way. Like other chief officials, they were called hegemons, or governors.

Pilate belonged to the equestrian order. The usual residence of the Jewish procurators was the city of Caesarea. But on feasts, especially at Passover, they moved to Jerusalem.

They did this to supervise the people's peace directly and to suppress disturbances, which often occurred during the feasts.

It was difficult for the Roman hegemon to live at peace with the Jewish Sanhedrin. Two different authorities, wholly opposed in spirit, often came into conflict.

Pilate had no small reason to resent the Jews and their Sanhedrin. Soon after entering the office of Jewish procurator, he wished to bring Roman standards into Jerusalem, bearing the image of Caesar.

He probably did this to please Caesar. In itself the act was not very important, but it was contrary to Jewish customs.

The people's stubbornness brought matters to this point. They agreed rather to lose their lives than to see pagan images in the holy city. Pilate was forced to remove the standards from Jerusalem.

Later Pilate conceived the idea of building an aqueduct for Jerusalem at the expense of temple funds. The intention was very useful for the capital's inhabitants, who often lacked good, wholesome water, especially during the feasts.

But it was unpleasant to the Sanhedrin, to whom the money belonged. In this case a popular disturbance arose. Pilate calmed the people only with difficulty, after they surrounded his lithostrotos and insolently demanded that he leave them without water.

Pilate could not have failed to hear of Jesus Christ and His works. Yet he certainly had no true idea of Him, except that His actions were not dangerous to the Roman government.

Pilate, of course, also knew of the events of the past night. These included the arrest of Jesus Christ, the gathering of the Sanhedrin, and the rest.

The Roman guard, which doubled its vigilance during the feasts, reported to the procurators all noteworthy events.

Pilate even knew much more than the chief priests wished, and perhaps expected. He knew that they persecuted the Galilean Prophet solely from personal motives, out of envy and malice (Mt 27:18).

Thus the appearance of Jesus Christ as a prisoner was not at all unexpected for the procurator. What was unexpected was that the whole Sanhedrin appeared so early to accuse Him.

This happened on the very day when every Israelite, whether sincerely or hypocritically devout, tried as far as possible to avoid Gentiles and everything Gentile. He did this in order not to lose the legal purity necessary for celebrating Passover.

The chief priests and scribes, while swallowing camels, as the Gospel says, did not forget to strain out a gnat (Mt 23:24). Having come to Pilate's praetorium, they did not enter it, lest they be defiled.

They informed the hegemon that they awaited him on the lithostrotos for a matter that admitted no delay. No doubt they also remembered to excuse themselves before the hegemon.

They explained that the Law did not permit them to enter the praetorium in order to speak with him personally.

On this platform a movable tribunal, the Bema or βημα, could be erected in the shortest time. That morning Pilate was still sitting in the judgment hall inside the palace.

Outside could be heard the noise of the eastern city waking on the eve of Passover. Inside resounded the clatter of Roman weapons. Altars of Roman gods rose there.

Perhaps there also stood a sculpted image of the distant demigod Tiberius. The priests and teachers of the people, who strictly kept their national customs, could not enter this pagan hall during the whole sacred week of Passover.

The arrival of the procurator or the tetrarch of Galilee for the feast of Passover raises the question which of them occupied this newer and more splendid building. The question is sharpened because rivalry and enmity existed between Pilate and the tetrarch.

After the death sentence had been pronounced on Christ, He was handed over into the custody of the court servants. From their rough hands He suffered His first mockery.

The coarse rabble mocked Him in every way, as if wishing thereby to please their dignified masters. Meanwhile the latter formed a plan for the next action.

According to ordinary Jewish practice, a man on whom a death sentence had been pronounced had to be led outside the city and stoned.

But because Judea was subject to the Romans, the supreme Jewish court had been deprived of the right of life and death. Therefore the sentence still had to receive confirmation from the Roman procurator.

Thus, on the following morning, a new and most important stage of the trial of Christ began: the hearing of His case before Pilate.

It was early morning on the day called "the Preparation of the Passover" (Jn 19:14), παρασκευη του πασχα, the Friday before Passover. Therefore it was Great Friday.

Life in the East usually wakes early, because everyone hastens to use the pleasant coolness of the morning hours for his affairs before the oppressive heat of the noonday sun.

Therefore, as soon as dawn began, the streets of Jerusalem quickly filled with lively crowds moving hurriedly in every direction.

Ancient Jerusalem, with its narrow streets and cramped markets, was already extremely crowded. But at the feast of Passover such a multitude of people flowed into it that the holy city must have produced a truly extraordinary impression.

According to Josephus, up to 2,700,000 people, together with the city's inhabitants, took part in the celebration of one Passover.

It is not hard to imagine the bustle and jostling that reigned in the streets of Jerusalem on such a day, amid such an enormous gathering of people so varied in their habits.

But on the particular morning described, more than the usual excitement could be noticed in the crowd.

A popular crowd in general, and an eastern crowd especially, is extremely sensitive to events taking place in its midst. It could not have failed to notice what had happened during the preceding night.

Many-mouthed rumor had certainly already carried everywhere the news that the Galilean Prophet had been seized by the Jewish leaders and delivered to judgment.

Only recently He had entered Jerusalem with extraordinary triumph and had been glorified as the Son of David. Now He was accused as a deceiver and seducer of the people, a messiah and blasphemer.

In its night session the Sanhedrin had pronounced over Him its terrible sentence: ish maveth, "a man of death," that is, worthy of death.

It remained only to obtain confirmation of this sentence from the Roman procurator. Then the people would be given a spectacle for which it was worth remaining in Jerusalem a few more days.

And indeed rumor was not mistaken. Around six or seven o'clock in the morning, according to our reckoning, an unusual procession appeared from the house of the high priest Caiaphas.

It proceeded through the narrow streets of the upper part of the city, evidently ascending Mount Zion. There stood the luxurious palace once built by Herod the Great, with all the magnificence of a refined style.

He had built it, of course, for himself and his successors. Now it stood mostly empty and served only on great feasts as the temporary residence of the representative of Roman authority, the procurator.

In the midst of this procession, made up of the most distinguished leaders of the people, scribes, and Pharisees, moved the Galilean Prophet.

He was the One accused as a seducer of the people and a blasphemer. His hands were bound behind Him. Marks of coarse mockery were visible on His garments.

Yet He moved with calm majesty, though with weary sadness on His divine face. One can imagine how the crowd, eager for everything unusual, rushed with extreme curiosity toward the free spectacle.

As the procession approached the palace of the Roman procurator, it must necessarily have become an immeasurable mass of heads. Above it swirled the many-voiced and peculiar uproar characteristic of an extremely excited and diverse crowd.

The procession stopped before the palace. Since it sometimes served as the residence of the Roman dignitary, the praetor, and also as a place of judicial hearings, it was usually called the Praetorium.

The palace, built on a prominent height, rose proudly with its colonnade above the surrounding houses. From its windows there opened a distant view of the city with its winding streets.

The procurator himself, or his sentry, could notice the approach of the unusual procession from afar and make the necessary inquiries and preparations.

Judging by the excitement of the crowd, one might suppose that some outbreak of popular fanaticism had again occurred. Such outbreaks happened continually on great feasts and caused the Roman procurator much trouble.

For the sake of maintaining public order, he moved to Jerusalem for the feasts from his usual residence, Caesarea by the sea, which offered greater convenience for communication with Rome.

But it soon became clear that there was no rebellion. The leaders of the people had brought a prisoner to the praetorium in order to obtain from the procurator confirmation of the sentence pronounced on Him.

In the praetorium there was a special chamber serving as the place for judicial hearings, with all the accessories necessary for formal legal procedure.

But the Jewish elders now did not wish to enter the praetorium, with its pagan decorations and emblems. They claimed this would subject them to ritual defilement and deprive them of the possibility of eating the Passover.

These whitewashed tombs, filled inside with every abomination and uncleanness, were inhuman monsters whose hearts burned with bloodthirsty malice against the innocent Sufferer.

Yet to the last moment they remained faithful to their crude legalistic righteousness. They did not fear offending the highest truth.

They feared only accidental, purely external defilement through contact with something that, according to the ritual law, could be considered unclean.

This was reported to the procurator in that sense. Therefore he had to go out onto the platform of the praetorium, so that from there he might hear and examine the case before him.

They did not enter the praetorium, lest they should be defiled. Contact with anything pagan was regarded as defilement, while that very evening the Jews, according to the Law, had to eat the Paschal lamb; cf. the note on Jn 13:4.

One who was defiled could not eat the Passover without first being purified for a certain period; cf. the note on Jn 11:55.

This is a clear indication that the Lord ate the Passover with His disciples on the eve of the appointed time. On the very appointed day He offered Himself in sacrifice as the true Paschal Lamb; cf. Chrysostom and Theophylact.