the johannine jesus in jewish custody (jn 18€¦ · web viewin a gospel which delights in word...
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At the Court of the High Priest: History and Theology in John 18.13-24
Helen K. Bond
University of Edinburgh
Despite a general preference for the Synoptics, several features of John’s narrative
have often commanded a certain historical respect: the lengthier ministry and its wider
geographical location; the more complex relationship between Jesus and John the
Baptist; the date of the crucifixion; and the passage that concerns us now - John’s
Jewish interrogation of Jesus (Smith 1993, 252-67). C. H. Dodd argued in 1963 that
John’s
‘account of the interrogation is drawn from some source, almost certainly oral,
which was well informed about the situation at the time, and had contact with
the Jewish tradition about the trial and condemnation of Jesus.’1
Scholars today are less inclined to attempt to identify sources, they detect a Johannine
colouring to the scene, and are much more sophisticated in their treatment of
‘historicity’ and verisimilitude. Yet, as Paula Fredriksen notes, ‘when the question
turns to assessments of the Jewish trial in the Passion narratives . . . most modern
scholars . . .unite in their opinion that, in this instance and on this issue – historical
suitability – John is to be preferred.’2
Six reasons are often advanced for regarding John’s interrogation as historical. After
reviewing each in turn, I shall suggest that the scene is much more theological than is
1 Dodd 1963, 95-6. Dodd’s assessment was followed by string of prominent scholars, for example, Brandon 1968, 125-8; Barrett 1978, 523-4; Catchpole, 1970, 47-65; Millar 1990, 355-81. 2 Fredriksen 1999, 221; italics original. See also Brown 1994, 1:363, 404, 408; Senior 1991, 59; Keener 2003, 2:1086.; Smith, 1993, 264.
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often supposed, but that John’s theology does not necessarily drain the scene of all
historical value.
(1) The first reason why John’s account is often preferred is the problematic nature of
the Synoptic account at this point. Mark (followed closely by Matthew) presents a
Jewish trial which breaks every legal ruling imaginable: it is held at night on the eve
of a festival; members of the council are intent on a conviction, even arranging for
false witnesses to be called; the high priest acts as a prosecuting councillor rather than
a judge; and in the end, after condemning Jesus on his own testimony, it is members
of the council who set about beating and abusing him (Mk 14.53, 55-64). Earlier
generations of scholars attempted to uphold the historicity of the scene, debating the
validity of mishnaic law in the first century, and asking whether the council followed
Sadducean rules. Recent literary studies, however, have shown that with ‘brilliant
simplicity’ (Brown 1994, 53) Mark constructs a final courtroom drama in which Jesus
is set against Jewish authorities who will stop at nothing in their desire to sentence
him to death. It is a kangaroo court in which the Jewish leaders, true to character,
behave despicably and Jesus is convicted, anachronistically, for his Christian belief
(Juel 1977; Bond 2004, 102-8).
Luke’s account is different, but no less problematic historically. He presents a small
scale interrogation the morning after Jesus’ arrest (Lk 22.66-71) which forms part of a
four-scene trial narrative, including the historically questionable trial in front of
Antipas and culminating in Pilate’s decision that the demand of the Jewish crowd
should be granted (23.25). The Lukan chief priests concentrate their questions on
Jesus’ identity, while several details from the Markan trial (such as the presence of the
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high priest and false-witnesses, speaking against the Temple, and the charge of
blasphemy) are reserved until the trial of Stephen in Acts 6.8-7.60. Luke clearly had a
different agenda to Mark: he wanted to stress Jesus’ innocence, an innocence which
could only be maintained if Jesus had some semblance of a trial. So the Lukan Jesus
is tried on three specific charges (Lk 23.2), all demonstrably false, and found innocent
by two high status male witnesses: Antipas and Pilate. Of course, Jesus will
eventually be sent to the cross, but this is engineered in Luke’s narrative through a
combination of Jewish antagonism and Pilate’s weakness (Neagoe 2002, 62-90; Bond
1998, 152-9; 2004, 112-6).
(2) In contrast to the Synoptics, John’s account of Jesus before the high priest is
simple and straight-forward. And this is the second reason for preferring John at this
point. There is no dramatic courtroom setting, no Christological questions, no
desperate attempt to convict Jesus through false witnesses, no accusations of
blasphemy, and no abuse of the prisoner. Instead, Jesus stands alone in front of the
high priest and a couple of attendants. What we have here is not a trial at all, but a
brief fact-finding investigation once Jesus has been taken into police custody. The
high priest asks Jesus only about his disciples and his teaching, a necessary
preliminary, one might think, before passing him over to Pilate the following
morning.
(3) The third reason for preferring John’s account is the lack of necessity for any kind
of Jewish trial at this point in the gospel. It is commonly noted that the whole of
Jesus’ public ministry in John is a trial; Jesus’ Jewish opponents continually bring
accusations against him, and by chapter 11 the high priest has convened a Sanhedrin
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and sentenced Jesus to death in his absence (Harvey 1976; Lincoln 2000). Material
connected with the Jewish trial in the Synoptics can be found scattered throughout the
gospel (Brown 1961). All the evangelist needed to do was to refer the reader back to
the trial in chapter 11 – something he does quite clearly in 18.3; there was no need for
Jesus to have any kind of a hearing by the Jewish authorities. The presence of Roman
soldiers in Jesus’ arrest (whether historical or not) would naturally lead the reader to
assume that Jesus would be taken into Roman custody, and it is the lengthy Roman
trial that will dominate John’s passion narrative. The most reasonable explanation for
including the apparently lack-lustre Jewish interrogation is that John is simply
drawing on a tradition too well known to omit (rather like the episode with Barabbas
in 18.39-40; so Bruce 1980, 11).
(4) Fourthly, it is often argued that John’s account has an air of authenticity about it,
and that his narrative contains a number of details which cohere well with what we
know of the religious and political situation of first century Judaea:
4.1: John accords a prominent place to the high priest (unlike Mark who omitted his
name and Luke who omitted him altogether). John knows that it was the high priest
and his entourage (chief priests, advisers, and other aristocrats) who made the
decisions and worked alongside the Roman governor for the good of Judaea, a state of
affairs outlined many times by Josephus (McLaren 1991).
At first glance, though, John’s references to the high priesthood are rather strange. He
seems to call Annas ‘high priest,’ for example, even though he has made it perfectly
clear that it was Caiaphas who was high priest that year (11.51, 18.13). Did the
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evangelist think that two men could act as high priest simultaneously? And the
expression ‘high priest that year’ is itself odd: did John hold the erroneous belief that
the high priesthood, in common with a number of Roman priesthoods in Asia, was an
annual appointment? For Dodd, these apparent ‘confusions’ only added to the
authenticity of the tradition in that ‘an author composing freely would not be so likely
to allow himself to fall into this kind of confusion as one who was incorporating
material which, at a distance of place and time, he did not fully understand’ (Dodd
1963, 94). Nowadays, however, scholars tend to have a rather more positive
assessment of John’s accuracy. It is true that Num 35.25 allowed for only one high
priest at a time, but since the reign of Herod I, high priests had been appointed and
deposed at will, leading to an unprecedented situation in which a number of former
high priests were still living. There is ample evidence from Josephus (War 2.441, Ant.
20.205, Life 193), rabbinic tradition (m.Horayot 3.4), and perhaps Luke (Lk 3.2 and
Acts 4.6), that these former incumbents retained their former title and prestige,
perhaps reflecting a view that a high priest, once appointed, could not be deposed by
any foreign power (Mason 2003, 188). And the expression ‘high priest that year’ is
now generally interpreted as meaning that Caiaphas was high priest ‘that fateful year’
(Brown 1994, 405). John’s account of the high priesthood, then, seems to cohere well
with historical fact.
4.2 John is the only ancient author to suggest a specific connection between Caiaphas
and Annas (or Ananus I as he is known in Jewish sources). Ananus was the first high
priest appointed by Rome when Judaea became a province in 6 CE. Although he was
deposed after nine years (for reasons which are unknown), he was extremely
distinguished and had a prominent tomb to the south of the city which Josephus
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referred to years later (War 5.506). Luke refers to him in his dating of John the
Baptist’s ministry (Lk 3.2) and in his account of the early church (Acts 4.6); and
Josephus stresses his importance and ongoing influence through his five sons, each of
whom succeeded to the high priesthood (Ant. 20.198). Although uncorroborated,
John’s suggestion of a connection between the two men would make good sense.
Caiaphas’ family background is obscure,3 and his rise to the high priesthood would be
only natural if he were connected by marriage to the most important high priestly
dynasty of first century Palestine (Bond 2004, 37). Even the Jesus Seminar see no
reason to doubt John’s record at this point, awarding the detail one of the few red
colourings in the whole gospel (Funk and the Jesus Seminar 1998, 429). And if
Ananus and Caiaphas were related, Ananus’ involvement in Jesus’ trial (though
mentioned by no other evangelist) would be quite explicable. Caiaphas, as officiating
high priest, had other duties to attend to the night before Passover, and might well
have left this important yet sensitive matter in the capable hands of his father-in-law
(Brown 1994, 1:363, 404, 408).
4.3 Furthermore, John’s lack of a formal council at this point fits with a number of
modern studies which query the existence of a fixed body known as ‘The Sanhedrin’
(Goodman 1987, 113-8; Sanders 1992, 472-90; Goodblatt 1994). Instead, members of
the aristocracy acted through ad hoc coalitions and alliances; the precise people
involved depended on the nature of the issue. True to the spirit of the age, disputes
were settled through diplomacy, negotiation and compromise.4 Historically, then, the
high priest may have simply summoned a small body of councillors to help him
3 A handful of rabbinic references may refer to him: tos.Yebamoth 1.10, y.Yebamoth 1.6, 3.1, and m.Parah 3.5. For further discussion (and bibliography) see Bond 2004, 23-4, 164-5. 4 The reference to ‘a sanhedrin’ in chapter 11 may well indicate a looser gathering, or a consilium, rather than a formal body known as ‘the Sanhedrin.’
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determine the charge before passing Jesus over to Rome – precisely the outline of
events described by John.
4.4 Finally, the fourth evangelist credits Caiaphas with the gift of prophecy in 11:51
and reminds the reader of his words again here. A number of contemporary Jewish
texts similarly associate the high priest with prophetic powers (Hayward 1996, 70;
Dodd 1962; Gray 1993, 7-34), suggesting that John’s gospel came from a community
which knew these traditions and which had, at least at some point in the past, a certain
respect for the priestly office.
The author of the fourth gospel, then, presents a much simpler picture of the Jewish
trial which fits in well with what we know of first century practices. But can we say
more about this author and his sources?
5) John is the only evangelist to explain how Peter got into the high priest’s courtyard:
he was admitted by a mysterious ‘other disciple’ (allos mathētēs) with connections to
the high priest (18.15). This disciple is commonly linked to the Beloved Disciple, the
enigmatic figure who assumes a central role in the second half of the gospel, and
perhaps even to the evangelist himself (see discussions in Charlesworth 1995;
Blomberg 2002, 233-4, and Keener 2003, 1089). Even if, following Dodd, we
understand the ‘other disciple’ to be an otherwise unknown Judaean disciple (1963,
87-88), the implication is that at this point the evangelist may have had access to
good, historical eye-witness information (either that of his own, or a trusted source).
The vivid details of the scene, the charcoal fire (18.18) and the early hour (18.28),
appear to reinforce this view (Dodd 1963, 86; Burge 2001, 40).
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6) The sixth and final reason why this scene is often regarded as more historical than
its synoptic counterpart is its apparent lack of theology. C. H. Dodd puts the matter
clearly: ‘Where the Marcan scene has profound theological significance, John, the
most theological of the evangelists, has given a version which has no theological
content, but moves altogether on a matter-of-fact level’ (1963, 92, also 93). R. E.
Brown too writes: ‘we find no clear Johannine theological motive that would explain
the invention of the Annas narrative’ (1970, 835). And D. Moody Smith sums up the
views of many when he writes: ‘John’s account of Jesus’ appearance before the high
priest is almost completely different [to Mark’s trial narrative] and, as commentators
have noted, less theologically freighted than Mark’s’ (2001, 116). In a gospel full of
theological insight, the apparent lack of theology here is taken to imply that John was
more dependent on tradition at this point, a tradition which may well go back to good
historical memory.
Varying combinations of these six points have convinced many scholars that what we
have in John’s account of Jesus before the high priest has at least a claim to historical
accuracy. Some, of course, have wished to harmonise John’s account with the
Mark/Matthean tradition, so that when Annas sends Jesus to Caiaphas in 18.24 we are
to read the Sanhedrin trial narrative into the story.5 Such harmonisations have an
ancient pedigree (traceable as far back as Tatian in the second century), but rather
problematically produce a composite sequence of events unlike anything in any of the
gospels (see Brown 1994, 23-4, 417). Even more difficult here is the fact that John
presented a full council meeting (albeit without Jesus) in 11:47-53. Whether the
5 So, for example, Bruce 1980, 11; Blomberg 2001, 232-5; Köstenberger 2004, 513; Carson 1991, 581; Benoit 1969, 79-85; Bauckham 1998, 158.
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evangelist is following a different tradition to the synoptics, or has deliberately
relocated Mark’s final courtroom scene,6 there is absolutely no indication that he
expected his readers to understand a Markan-style trial after 18.24. Logically, then,
we have a four-fold choice: we can choose to follow John’s account, Matthew and
Mark’s account, Luke’s account, or none of them (so Crossan 1994, 152; 1996,147).
And most commentators – for the reasons outlined above - favour John’s.
But do these arguments really carry any weight?
The first four arguments, it seems to me, are strong ones. I would not argue with
reading the synoptics as dramatic courtroom fictions, nor with the apparent simplicity
of and lack of necessity for John’s account. Nor would I wish to dispute that John’s
account possesses an air of authenticity – though creating an air of verisimilitude, I
have to stress, is only that. All these details prove is that John was familiar with
Judaean ways and religious customs, not that he actually had any hard historical facts
at his disposal. Quite possibly, as E. P. Sanders notes, ‘John was just more astute
with regard to realpolitik that were the other evangelists, and so wrote a story with
greater verisimilitude’(1993, 72). I wish to remain agnostic over the ‘Other Disciple’.
At best, he is a witness to events outside rather than in the courtroom itself,7 and even
if he were in a position to furnish the evangelist with reliable eye-witness testimony to
the interrogation, I see no reason why the author would not have worked with it just
as creatively as he does elsewhere. The weakest argument in my opinion is that the
scene lacks theology and so, on that basis, has a good claim to historicity. In the
remaining sections of this paper, I wish to argue that the interrogation narrative is
6 For a survey of scholarship on the literary relationship between the Johannine and Synoptic passion narratives, see Smith 2001, 111-37; for a more complex relationship of ‘interfluence’ see Anderson 2006.7 A point conceded by R. Bauckham, though he goes on to argue that this disciple’s relationship to the high priest ‘may well be intended to indicate access to information’ (2006, 397-8).
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highly theological and to ask what implications this may have on the historicity of the
scene. I shall start with a close reading of the text itself.
The Theology of the Trial in front of ‘the High Priest’
The problems regarding the identity of ‘the high priest’ in 18.19-24 are well-known.
As far as the flow of the narrative goes, the high priest must be Annas, and, as we
have seen, there is plenty of evidence that former high priests retained their title even
after they had been deposed. Yet Caiaphas was technically the high priest, and is the
only one specifically to have been named as such by John (11.49, 18.13, 24).
Scholars have detected some confusion here in John or his sources, and from the
second century attempts have been made to rearrange the order of the verses so that
Jesus appears in front of Caiaphas rather than Annas, though with little success.8
But perhaps the confusion is deliberate. In a gospel which delights in word plays and
double meanings, John has introduced two high priests: they are connected by
marriage and clearly share the same outlook and purpose; one is the most famous high
priest of the first century, the other is ‘high priest that year.’ The note that Jesus was
taken to Annas in 18.13 is immediately followed by a reference back to Caiaphas’
prophecy (18.14; 11.50-1), meaning that when Jesus stands before ‘the high priest’ in
18.19, the names of both men are in the reader’s mind. What this ambiguity does, I
suggest, is to deflect attention away from the precise incumbent, and on to the office
of high priest (so also Escaffre 2000, 58-61). The short scene brings Jesus face to
face with the supreme representative of ‘the Jews’ for one final confrontation.
8 For discussions of this problem, see Schneider 1957, 116 and Mahoney 1965, 137-44.
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A face-to-face meeting is, of course, thoroughly Johannine. This evangelist has a
penchant for reducing scenes to one main protagonist (for example, the visit of
Nicodemus, who speaks in the plural, suggesting that the tradition recounted the visit
of a number of visitors [3.1-15]; or the presence of Mary Magdalene alone at the
tomb, where the other gospels have several women [20.1, 11-18]). Such a meeting
allows an individual the space to encounter Jesus, and to come to a decision about him
(3.17-21; Brown 1994, 413). Even if John’s tradition included a larger courtroom
scene at this point, the evangelist may well have deliberately singled out the one
person whose presence really mattered - the high priest - and brought him up against
Jesus in a tense and dramatic moment. Perhaps, too, this is why the scene is not a trial
as such; the evangelist is not interested in the high priest as a ‘judge’ (this is the role
of Pilate who will be found wanting in the next scene), but in the high priesthood
itself.
Commentators often highlight the contrast between Jesus inside the high priest’s
palace and Peter outside in the courtyard. ‘Jesus stands up to his questioners and
denies nothing’, writes Brown, ‘while Peter cowers before his questioners and denies
everything’(1970, 842). Read in this way, the scene becomes a reflection of the trials
of Johannine Christians at the hands of hostile authorities. Jesus is clearly the example
to be emulated, while Peter shows that even one of Jesus’ closest disciples could lose
his courage under pressure. There is some validity to this observation, but the
contrast between the two men works much better in Mark where Peter’s denials are
interwoven with a formal court hearing, and his refutations contrast starkly with
Jesus’ powerful ‘I am’ (Mk 14.62). In John’s gospel, Peter’s strong and simple
denials (ouk eimi) are a much better parallel to Jesus’ three-fold ego eimi at the arrest
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(18.5, 6, 8), and the link back to the garden scene in 18.26 seems to confirm this
connection. Jesus’ confession in the garden defends his disciples (18.8), his ‘I am’
saves their lives, even at the expense of his own, while Peter’s ‘I am not’ saves his
own life but betrays his discipleship.
Why, then, does John interweave the denial scene with the interrogation? Why not
simply group Peter’s three denials together after the arrest, allowing his audience to
make the connection clearly? The answer, it seems to me, lies with the high priest’s
opening question regarding Jesus’ teaching and his disciples. Superficially this
sounds rather banal until we realise, along with Meeks (1967, 60-61), that the high
priest is drawing on the categories of the false prophet as condemned by Deut 13.2-6,
18.20: one who leads others astray (disciples) and falsely presumes to speak in God’s
name (teaching). Anyone familiar with Deuteronomy would understand the
implication of the high priest’s question. And the answer is not so much in Jesus’
verbal response as the interwoven story of Peter. At the precise moment that the high
priest asks Jesus if he is a false prophet, we see his prophecy to Peter in 13.36-38
coming true. Jesus is clearly no false prophet, though his full identity will be made
clear in the remainder of the scene.
It is often observed that, although bound throughout this exchange, Jesus’ behaviour
is far from that of a common criminal: he is self-assured and speaks boldly and
majestically to his high priestly inquisitor. Like Wisdom in the Jewish Scriptures,
Jesus has spoken openly in public places, inviting all to hear the message (Prov 8.2-3,
9.3, Wis 6.14, 16, Bar 3.37(38)). And, in a further Christological link with the
prologue (1.1-18), Jesus’ words echo those of God himself in Deutero-Isaiah,9 9 LXX of Dt-Isaiah 45.18-19, also 48.16; noted by Brown 1994, 415.
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reinforcing once again the unity between the Father and the Son. The high priest’s
attendant takes offence at Jesus, slaps him in the face and asks if that is any manner in
which to speak to the high priest (18.22) 10. The exchange invites readers to compare
the two men, and to see that the true ruler is not the high priest but the majestic figure
of Jesus who will not be intimidated but courageously speaks up for himself. Jesus
has the last word in this encounter (18.20-21) and leaves as ‘the moral victor’
(Haenchen 1970, 205). The high priest and his attendant, in contrast, are silenced.
On one level, this is a clear rejection of the truth and shows that the high priest falls
under the condemnation of Jesus’ words. All he can do is to send Jesus to Caiaphas,
‘high priest that year’ – a designation which, though doubtless referring to that fateful
year, may also be designed to underline the transitory nature of the office. Like the
temple, the high priesthood has had its day, and its place in salvation has now been
superseded by Jesus. John’s silence regarding what happened in front of Caiaphas is
surely not because he expects his audience to supply a Synoptic-style sanhedrin trial,
or simply because of tradition. Rather the reference to Caiaphas underlines the
impotence of the high priest; whatever happened before him has no importance, the
narrative gaze does not rest upon him. Faced with Jesus, the high priest loses his
power and plays no further role in the story. Just as Jesus will later emerge as the true
judge before Pilate, so he is the true high priest before Annas/Caiaphas.
And this, once again, fits perfectly with the rest of the gospel. The evangelist
continually juxtaposes Jesus alongside Jewish feasts and institutions which are now
fulfilled or transcended by his presence. So Jesus is the one who embodies the true
10 There is an allusion here to Ex 22.28 (which forbade cursing a ruler of the people), and perhaps also to Lam 3.30 and Is 50.6.
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meaning of the Sabbath (ch. 5), the real meaning of the Passover (ch. 6), Tabernacles
(chs. 7-10), and Dedication (chs. 10-12). He transforms the water of Jewish
purification into good wine (2.1-11), declares his body rather than the Temple the site
of true worship (2.19-22; 4.21-26), contrasts the bread of his body (presumably the
eucharist) with the manna given by Moses in the wilderness (6.25-65), claims priority
and superiority over Abraham (8.35) and dies as the new paschal lamb (1.29, 35,
19.14). What John is doing in this short interrogation scene, then, is bringing Jesus
against yet another crucial Jewish institution - the high priest – and underlining, once
more, Jesus’ utter superiority. Everything Jewish Christians once looked to the high
priest to achieve – intercession, sacrifice, reconciliation, cleansing and forgiveness of
sins – will now be accomplished through Christ11.
Historical Reflections
What does this say, then, about the historicity of the interrogation in front of the high
priest? Just because something is theological, of course, does not in any way mean
that it cannot also be historical (so Carson 1981, 104-7; Anderson 2007, 2). John may
have drawn theological meaning from actual historical events, or his theological
agenda may have led him to present something which (perhaps unintentionally) turns
out to be rather close to what happened. Yet as historians we need to be particularly
wary of scenes (particularly uncorroborated ones) which exhibit a high degree of
theology. Three elements in particular in the present scene, I suggest, are worth
reflecting on.
The first is the setting, the quiet ordered scene in which Jesus faces the supreme
representative of ‘the Jews.’ We have noticed already that John likes to reduce scenes 11 For further connections between Jesus and the Jewish high priest in John, see Bond 2007.
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to a confrontation between Jesus and one other person; is the setting, then, a historical
reminiscence of a small preliminary interview, or a Johannine creation in which Jesus
faces the supreme representative of ‘the Jews’? Similarly, the exchange takes place at
night. Darkness and light are important dualistic motifs for this evangelist, extending
even to the settings of scenes. Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews, and Judas operate at
night; conversely, the Samaritan woman meets Jesus at noon (4.6; the appropriate
hour in Greek thought for a theophany), and Jesus reveals his glory on the cross at the
same time (19.14). When else, we might ask, would Jesus meet with the head of ‘the
Jews’ but at night? Even if John’s tradition had Jesus interrogated the morning after
his arrest (as in Luke), might not John have altered it to fit with his sense that the
leader of ‘the Jews’ could only function in the darkness?
Second is the presence of Annas. If what John wanted to do was to contrast Jesus
with the Jewish high priest, why not introduce the most influential high priest of the
first phase of Roman occupation, the founder of arguably the most significant priestly
dynasty of the first century, the man we might call ‘the high priest par excellence’?
Moreover, Annas may well have been infamous in Christian circles as the father of
the high priest responsible for the swift removal of James, the leader of the Jerusalem
church (a man also called Ananus; Josephus Ant. 20.199-203); the very name, then,
might well epitomise high priestly animosity. Is it not curious that although Annas
was clearly well-known to Luke (Lk 3.2, Acts 4.6), the third evangelist – despite a
lengthy trial narrative - says nothing about Annas’ involvement in Jesus’ death?
And third, in a gospel which delights in marriage imagery (Schneiders 1995, 356-7),
why not connect Annas to Caiaphas (‘high priest that year’) through marriage?
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Surely it is strange that Josephus, who lauded Annas for his own high priesthood and
that of his five sons (Ant. 20.198 ‘something that never happened before to any other
of our high priests’) forgot - or did not know - the connection between him and
Caiaphas, the man who was probably in office at the time of Josephus’ birth? Is it
really credible that Josephus knew that Annas was the father of men who served for
only a year or so (Eleazar, Jonathan, Matthias), but had no knowledge of the
connection between him and the longest serving high priest of the first century, a man
who served for 18 or 19 years?
Of these three points, the second and third are the most problematic, though perhaps
not insuperably so. Neither Mark nor Luke had any great interest in the identities of
Jesus’ Jewish opponents: Mark does not name ‘the High Priest’ and Luke omits him
altogether (though Mark’s nameless high priest will make an appearance as a literary
device in his trial of Stephen in Acts). Matthew did name the high priest, though
whether this was a historical memory of Caiaphas’ involvement or simply because, as
a Jewish-Christian, Matthew knew that Caiaphas had been high priest at the time, is
uncertain. There was, however, no role for Annas in the Markan presentation adopted
by Matthew, and so it is hardly surprising that he does not feature in the dramatis
personae. The lack of corroboration of Annas’ role at this point, then, is perhaps not
as compelling as it may at first appear. On the matter of the relationship between
Annas and Caiaphas, it is worth noting that Josephus seems to have made use of lists
of high priests which he slotted into his narrative at appropriate points (Schwartz
1992, 212-312). We cannot know how full these lists were; they may have mentioned
important father/brother connections, but not necessarily marital ties. Given that
Josephus tells us very little about Caiaphas (or any other high priest for that matter), 12 Josephus’ summary of high priests in Ant. 20.224-51 may be drawn from such a list.
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his silence regarding Caiaphas’ possible connection to Annas is not necessarily
deafening.
Least problematic is our first consideration. The night-time setting clearly adds to
John’s theological presentation, but it is also corroborated by Mark’s general outline
(Luke probably relocated the Jewish hearing to the following morning so that it would
form the first of a four-part trial before Jewish and Roman authorities). In 1Cor 11.23,
too, Paul recounts the tradition that Jesus was handed over at night. For a small ad hoc
group of Jewish leaders (with or without Annas) to convene shortly after his arrest
would not only make perfect sense, but would also fit Josephus’ contention that the
‘leading men’ were instrumental in handing Jesus over to Pilate (Ant. 18.64),13 and, as
we have seen, conforms to what we know of Jewish practice at the time. Despite the
theology of the scene, then, the broad sequence of events may conform to what
actually happened after Jesus’ arrest.
The content of the scene is more difficult, but even here there may be elements of
history that have not commonly been recognised. One such may be the matter of the
charge, more specifically the accusation that Jesus was a ‘false prophet.’ Earlier in the
gospel the rather anachronistic sounding charges brought by ‘the Jews’ are that Jesus
claims to be the Christ, and is a blasphemer (10.22-39, charges which appear again in
a slightly different guise in the Roman trial, 18.33-38, 19.7-11). But if the
reconstruction of the scene offered above has any merit, it is clear that the charge of
being a false prophet was one that John wanted to counter, and may well have been
13 The authenticity of Josephus’ Testimonium Flavianum (Ant. 18.63-64) is of course highly debated. A number of modern studies, however, have argued that while the passage clearly shows signs of later Christian editorial work, the sentence regarding the involvement of the Jewish leaders may well be original. See Meier 1990, Carleton Paget 2001.
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the actual charge against Jesus. B.Sanh 43a, 107b has Jesus executed as a magician
and a seducer of the people, that is, a false prophet; and a range of scholars have, on
quite different grounds, concluded that this – rather than the charge of blasphemy in
Mark and Matthew - may have been the real accusation (so, for example, Wright
1996, 439-42).
In conclusion, the precise course of events after Jesus’ arrest is probably now
irrecoverable. Our primary texts are such that it would be impossible to prove one
narrative over another. What we can do, however, is to evaluate degrees of
probability, and on this count, when it comes to Jesus before the high priest, John’s
account performs relatively well. Despite the theology of his scene, the Fourth
Evangelist’s presentation of events does seem to possess a greater claim to historical
accuracy than those of the synoptic writers – though whether John had better
traditions, a better sense of what commonly took place in such cases, or was (perhaps
unconsciously) guided by his theological interests to present a scene which happened
to cohere well with historical events, is impossible to say.
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