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John the Baptist Denies Being the Messiah
Now this was John’s testimony when the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem sent priests and Levites to ask him who he was.
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The Pharisees heard the crowd whispering such things about him. Then the chief priests and the Pharisees sent temple guards to arrest him.
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Unbelief of the Jewish Leaders
Finally the temple guards went back to the chief priests and the Pharisees, who asked them, “Why didn’t you bring him in?”
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Then the chief priests and the Pharisees called a meeting of the Sanhedrin. “What are we accomplishing?” they asked. “Here is this man performing many signs.
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Then one of them, named Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, spoke up, “You know nothing at all!
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He did not say this on his own, but as high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the Jewish nation,
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But the chief priests and the Pharisees had given orders that anyone who found out where Jesus was should report it so that they might arrest him.
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So the chief priests made plans to kill Lazarus as well,
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So Judas came to the garden, guiding a detachment of soldiers and some officials from the chief priests and the Pharisees. They were carrying torches, lanterns and weapons.
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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.)
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and brought him first to Annas, who was the father-in-law of Caiaphas, the high priest that year.
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Peter’s First Denial
Simon Peter and another disciple were following Jesus. Because this disciple was known to the high priest, he went with Jesus into the high priest’s courtyard,
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but Peter had to wait outside at the door. The other disciple, who was known to the high priest, came back, spoke to the servant girl on duty there and brought Peter in.
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The High Priest Questions Jesus
Meanwhile, the high priest questioned Jesus about his disciples and his teaching.
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When Jesus said this, one of the officials nearby slapped him in the face. “Is this the way you answer the high priest?” he demanded.
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Then Annas sent him bound to Caiaphas the high priest.
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One of the high priest’s servants, a relative of the man whose ear Peter had cut off, challenged him, “Didn’t I see you with him in the garden?”
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“Am I a Jew?” Pilate replied. “Your own people and chief priests handed you over to me. What is it you have done?”
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As soon as the chief priests and their officials saw him, they shouted, “Crucify! Crucify!” But Pilate answered, “You take him and crucify him. As for me, I find no basis for a charge against him.”
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But they shouted, “Take him away! Take him away! Crucify him!” “Shall I crucify your king?” Pilate asked. “We have no king but Caesar,” the chief priests answered.
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The chief priests of the Jews protested to Pilate, “Do not write ‘The King of the Jews,’ but that this man claimed to be king of the Jews.”
