Scripture Daily

Context No. 1005 of 4322 · John

Context · Reflection

John 18:18-22: in context

18Now the servants and the officers were standing there, having made a fire of coals, for it was cold. They were warming themselves. Peter was with them, standing and warming himself. 19The high priest therefore asked Jesus about his disciples and about his teaching. 20Jesus answered him, “I spoke openly to the world. I always taught in synagogues and in the temple, where the Jews always meet. I said nothing in secret. 21Why do you ask me? Ask those who have heard me what I said to them. Behold, they know the things which I said.” 22When he had said this, one of the officers standing by slapped Jesus with his hand, saying, “Do you answer the high priest like that?”

Jesus has been arrested and brought before Annas, the former high priest, for a preliminary interrogation. Outside, around a charcoal fire, the servants and officers are warming themselves, and Peter stands among them, about to deny his Lord. Inside, the high priest questions Jesus about his disciples and his teaching. Jesus answers plainly: I have spoken openly to the world; I always taught in the synagogue and the temple, where all gather; I said nothing in secret. Ask those who heard me. At that, an officer standing near slaps Jesus in the face: is that how you answer the high priest?

Jesus' answer to Annas is quietly telling. I have said nothing in secret. His whole ministry was public, taught in the open, in the synagogue and the temple, nothing hidden, no private doctrine for insiders, no double message. He can invite them to ask anyone who heard him, because there is no gap between what he taught in public and what he said in private. That is an integrity most of us cannot claim, the same message in every room, nothing said in the dark that would embarrass us in the light. And notice the contrast the scene sets up. While Jesus stands before power and speaks the truth openly and takes a blow to the face for it, Peter is outside by the fire, about to say in the dark, three times, that he never knew him. One man testifies plainly and is struck; the other warms himself and denies. The slap is the world's answer to an honest word, and Jesus receives it without retracting a thing.

Is there a gap between what I say in the open and what I say in secret, and could I invite anyone who has heard me to testify that my message was the same in every room?

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