John 18,28-40

28 They lead Jesus therefore from Caiaphas into the Proprium: and it was early; and they themselves entered not into the Proprium, that they might not be defiled, but might eat the Passover. 29 Pilate therefore went out unto them, and saith, What accusation bring ye against this man?
30 They answered and said unto him, if this man were not an evil-doer, we should not have delivered him up unto thee.
31 Pilate therefore said unto them, take him yourselves, and judge him according to your law. The Jews said unto him, it is not lawful for us to put any man to death:
32 that the word of Jesus might be fulfilled, which he spoke, signifying by what manner of death he should die.
33 Pilate therefore entered again into the Proprium, and called Jesus, and said unto him, Art thou the King of the Jews?
34 Jesus answered, Sayest thou this of thyself, or did others tell it thee concerning me?
35 Pilate answered, Am I a Jew? Thine own nation and the chief priests delivered thee unto me: what hast thou done?
36 Jesus answered, my kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdom not from hence. 37 Pilate therefore said unto him, Art thou a king then? Jesus answered, thou sayest that I am a king. To this end have I been born, and to this end am I come into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice. 38 Pilate saith unto him, what is truth?
And when he had said this, he went out again unto the Jews, and saith unto them, I find no crime in him.
39 But ye have a custom, that I should release unto you one at the Passover: will ye therefore that I release unto you the King of the Jews?
40 They cried out therefore again, saying, not this man, but Barabbas. Now Barabbas was a robber.

Hello everyone, I am kiki. Chinese name of our second phase of the program is “读经大讲堂”. The English name is “Bible study”.
We will adopt a relaxed also enjoyable learning mode to take you into a new learning world. Each time I will make a personal summary and analysis from the perspective of a learner, and then Sister Ingrid will help me conduct in-depth learning and problem discussions with everybody.
I hope that such an interesting and interactive process can bring new knowledge experience to you all. The following is my interview with my sister on related issues. Today is the twenty-nineth lecture on the Gospel of John.
Everyone is welcome to leave a message in the comment area for discussion!

2.My summary of John twenty-nineth-time study:

Well, everybody! Firstly, is still my today’s personal study summary.
This part of the story continues after Jesus has been arrested.
The Jewish leaders take Jesus to the Roman governor, Pilate, early in the morning.
They don’t enter the Proprium, because they don’t want to be defiled before the Passover.
Pilate asks them why they’re accusing Jesus, and they claim he’s a criminal. Pilate suggests they judge him themselves, but they insist they don’t have the authority to execute him, which hints at Jesus’ earlier words about the kind of death he would face.
Pilate then questions Jesus privately, asking him if he is the “King of the Jews.” Jesus responds by asking if Pilate is asking this for himself or if others told him.
Pilate, not being Jewish, is somewhat confused and says it’s the Jewish leaders who handed Jesus over.
Jesus explains that his kingdom is “not of this world,” meaning it’s spiritual and not political.
When Pilate asks if Jesus is a king, Jesus answers that he came to the world to “bear witness to the truth” and that those who seek the truth listen to him.
Pilate responds by asking, “What is truth?” and then goes out to tell the crowd he finds no guilt in Jesus.
However, the crowd insists on releasing a prisoner named Barabbas instead of Jesus.
Barabbas is known to be a robber, but they still choose him over Jesus.
Now let Ingrid sister make a go further summary.

3.Sister’s comment from my studying summary:

Hello sister, as you mentioned, a very important point here is, that the Jewish did not enter the residence of Pilates because they wanted to celebrate the Passover. This shows how they were bound on their religious traditions and were totally blind for the real light that came from heaven.

Another important point, that I found was, that they did not answer the question of Pilate: What accuse do you bring against this man. They answered, if he would not be a criminal we would not bring him here, but they did not answer about the accuse, because there was no reason for to accuse Jesus Christ.

In the following text, Pilate searches a option for to get out of this court. He tells the Jewish to decide, but they decline, because they are not allowed to kill somebody. It is interesting, that they had already clear to kill Jesus, even the court with the announcement of the verdict had not yet ended.

Pilates askes Jesus if he was a king and Jesus wants to know who told him this. In the trans curse of the conversation, Jesus says that he is a king, but not of this world. Pilates cannot find anything that is worth to die on him, so he tried to deliver Jesus, because he lets every Passover a criminal free. He thought, the Jewish people will act against their leaders and call Jesus to be set free, but the crowd selected Barrabas to be free, who was a murderer. Barrabas is a symbol of the devil and in place of electing God, the people elected the devil.

4. Q list part: base on John 18th items:

Okay. Base on above bible study content, now let me ask sister some related questions.
We hope the following questions can be helpful to our brothers and sisters who have just become Christians.

1.Why did the Jewish leaders bring Jesus to Pilate?

The Jewish were not allowed to condemn someone to death; therefore, they had to go to Pilates for to get permission from him.

2.What does it mean that the Jewish leaders didn’t want to enter the Proprium?

The Jewish were more occupied about their religious tradition as about the barbarity that they wanted to do at the moment by asking permission to kill the son of God.

3.Why did Pilate ask Jesus if he was the King of the Jews?

Pilate was a Roman leader. The Romans had occupied Israel at that time and Pilate was responsible, that the people keep quiet and that there is not going on a revolution against the Cesar in Rome.

4.How does Jesus’ answer show that his kingdom is different from earthly kingdoms?

Jesus’ kingdom is the kingdom of heaven, which is not visible. It is in all of us, that received Jesus as our savior and received the Holy Spirit as a seal.

5.What might Jesus mean by “bearing witness to the truth”?

Jesus is the truth the way and the life. He came in the world to show us, that there is no other way for to come to God as believing in Jesus, his words, his death and his resurrection.

6.Why did Pilate ask, “What is truth?” and what do you think he meant?

It was a rhetorical question. I think he expressed with this question, that his opinion about Jesus was, that he was a totally fool.

7.Why do you think the crowd chose Barabbas over Jesus?

Their leaders have paralyzed them and there were in the group people who shout load enough to make the others follow them.

They thought, what the leaders say is right.
It is like the Goebbels effect we had in Germany: You put in the crowd people who clap their hand and the rest of the crowd will clap their hand, too.

8.What does Pilate’s decision to release Barabbas show about the crowds’ priorities?

The crowd preferred a murderer before a man who did only the good during his ministry

9.How do you think Jesus felt being rejected by his own people?

He was prepared that that will happen. Already in John 6 we read, that he did not have confidence with nobody, because he knew them all.

10.What can we learn from Jesus’ calm attitude during this difficult time?

When we are attacked, defending us is not always the right way. I have learned to keep my hands out and let Gods hands enter. He will bring everything to the best.

Even Jesus was crucified and suffered a lot, God brought it to a good end as we learn in the next chapters.