The True High Priest
Then Simon Peter, who had a sword, drew it and struck the high priest’s servant, cutting off his right ear. (The servant’s name was Malchus.) Jesus commanded Peter, “Put your sword away! Shall I not drink the cup the Father has given me?” Then the detachment of soldiers with its commander and the Jewish officials arrested Jesus. They bound him and brought him first to Annas, who was the father-in-law of Caiaphas, the high priest that year. Caiaphas was the one who had advised the Jews that it would be good if one man died for the people John 18:10-14
In the darkness of the olive grove those who came to take Jesus were initially relieved they could arrest Him without a struggle. That is, until … ‘Then Simon Peter, who had a sword, drew it and struck the high priest’s servant, cutting off his right ear.’ Peter had probably just woken up. Overwhelmed with a sense of needing to do something and showing unusual courage in the face of the Roman soldiers present, Peter wildly swung his sword, catching Malchus, the high priest’s servant on the right side of his face. John’s wording infers the whole ear was taken off but Mark and Luke use a word that can mean just the ear lobe. Jesus stops the bleeding with a touch (Luke 22:50). “Put your sword away! Shall I not drink the cup the Father has given me?” This was an allusion to Jesus’ prayer in Gethsemane where He prayed first that if it was possible the cup of suffering might pass from Him, but above all, that the Father’s will be done (Matthew 26:39; Mark 14:36; Luke 22:42). He did not need His disciples to defend Him because He was determined to drink the cup of suffering.
‘They bound him and brought him first to Annas, who was the father-in-law of Caiaphas, the high priest that year.’ Although Caiaphas was high priest that year, Jesus was first taken to Caiaphas’ father-in-law, Annas. Annas had been high priest from 5 to 15AD. He was succeeded in turn by each of his five sons and then by Caiaphas, Annas’ son-in-law. While the Romans appointed and replaced the high priests, the Jews had always regarded the high priesthood as a lifetime office. Describing John the Baptist’s ministry, Luke says it took place during Caiaphas’ term of office ‘during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas’ (Luke 3:20). Caiaphas’ official term of office was from 18 to 36AD, meaning Annas continued to be regarded as the high priest well after his official term of office.
‘Caiaphas was the one who had advised the Jews that it would be good if one man died for the people.’ This is a reference back to 11:47-53 where Caiaphas said to members of the Sanhedrin who were at a loss to know what to do with Jesus, “You do not realize that it is better for you that one man die for the people than that the whole nation perish.”
This section of John’s gospel is heavy with irony. Jesus, who has just finished His prayer as the high priest of God’s renewed Israel, is now being taken before Annas, the senior member of the high priestly family, with Caiaphas, his son-in-law present. The true high priest will soon be sent to His death by the false one. The true Son of Adam will be crucified by the fallen sons of Adam that what the first Adam lost in the garden might be restored by the obedience of the last Adam, again, in a garden.
Jesus’ obedience guaranteed our salvation. His “yet not what I will, but what you will” (Mark 14:36) opened the floodgates of salvation for us. Will you now say the same back to Him, “yet not what I will, but what you will”? Will you?
To listen to this message, download in MP3 here