John 18:28-32: a reflection

28They led Jesus therefore from Caiaphas into the Praetorium. It was early, and they themselves didn’t enter into the Praetorium, that they might not be defiled, but might eat the Passover. 29Pilate therefore went out to them and said, “What accusation do you bring against this man?” 30They answered him, “If this man weren’t an evildoer, we wouldn’t have delivered him up to you.” 31Pilate therefore said to them, “Take him yourselves, and judge him according to your law.” Therefore the Jews said to him, “It is illegal for us to put anyone to death,” 32that the word of Jesus might be fulfilled, which he spoke, signifying by what kind of death he should die.

As Jesus is led to Pilate to be condemned, John notes a chilling detail about his accusers: they themselves did not enter the governor's headquarters, so that they would not be defiled, but could eat the Passover. They were scrupulously careful about ceremonial defilement, avoiding a Gentile's house so as to keep themselves ritually pure for the feast, at the very moment they were orchestrating the unjust death of an innocent man. Careful about ritual, careless about murder.

Notice the terrible irony John exposes. These men would not step into a Gentile building for fear of a ceremonial impurity, but they had no such scruple about handing an innocent man over to be killed. They strained out the gnat of ritual defilement and swallowed the camel of murder. Their meticulous religious observance coexisted with, and even provided cover for, a grave sin. They kept the outside clean while the heart was full of injustice.

That is a searching warning about a religion of externals. It is possible to be scrupulous about the outward forms, the observances, the appearances of piety, while being careless about the weightier matters, justice, mercy, the treatment of people, the state of the heart. We can strain at small ritual points while committing or condoning real wrong. Jesus reserved his sharpest words for exactly this. Examine your own religion: is it careful about appearances but careless about justice and mercy? Do not be like those who avoided defilement while plotting murder. Attend to the weightier matters, the heart, and how you treat people, not just the outward forms.

Lord, your accusers would not enter a Gentile's house for fear of defilement, even as they plotted the death of an innocent man, careful about ritual, careless about murder. Guard me from a religion of mere externals, scrupulous about appearances but careless about justice, mercy, and the state of my heart. Keep me from straining at small points while condoning real wrong. Help me attend to the weightier matters, to how I treat people and what is in my heart, not just the outward forms.