Jesus Before Annas

THE high priest questioned Jesus about his disciples and his teaching. Annas was the patriarch of the priestly family, the power behind the throne. Though Caiaphas was the official high priest, Annas was the one who really mattered. The trial before Annas is preliminary — an opportunity to gather evidence before the formal proceeding before Caiaphas. But even in this unofficial hearing, the injustice is evident.

Jesus answers with remarkable directness: “I have spoken openly to the world. I always taught in synagogues and in the temple, where all the Jews come together. I spoke nothing in secret. Why do you ask me? Ask those who heard me what I said to them.” His defense is not a legal strategy to escape conviction. It is a simple appeal to the public record. His teaching was not hidden. It was delivered in the most public places in Israel, and anyone who heard him can testify to what he said.

One of the officers strikes Jesus. “Is that how you answer the high priest?” The slap is illegal — a prisoner cannot be struck before being convicted, and the hearing has barely begun. But illegality is the least of the injustices that will unfold before morning. Jesus does not strike back. He does not rage or threaten. He simply says, “If I have spoken evil, testify of the evil. But if well, why do you beat me?”

The dignity of Jesus in this moment is extraordinary. He is bound, slapped, standing before a corrupt tribunal in the middle of the night, and he insists on the truth. His defense is not a strategy to escape. It is an appeal to justice even when justice has already been abandoned. He will not stop being who he is, even when being who he is costs him everything. Annas sends him bound to Caiaphas. The Lamb of God lets himself be led from one injustice to the next.