Annas - John 18:13-23

The chief priests have their arresting officers take Jesus from the Gethsemane to Annas’ house. Now this is an interesting turn because Annas is not in a leadership position within the Jewish religion, and this appearance of Jesus at his house is only recorded by John. The other three writers of the gospels record that Jesus went straight to Caiaphas, which would make sense because Caiaphas was the High Priest at the time. But since John was there, we can assume that this is a first hand account. John says, “And led him away to Annas first; for he was father in law to Caiaphas, which was the high priest that same year. Now Caiaphas was he, which gave counsel to the Jews, that it was expedient that one man should die for the people.” This is referencing the time when the Jewish leadership was discussing possible political consequences of Jesus’ doctrines, Caiaphas said that it was better to put Jesus to death than to risk the Roman’s destroying them all as a people.

So why Annas first? The IM says, “Annas had been the high priest in Jerusalem from A.D. 6 to A.D. 15. After the Roman authorities removed him from office, he continued to exert considerable influence in Jerusalem. Five of his sons held the office of high priest at different times, and his son-in-law Joseph Caiaphas held the office at the time of the Savior’s arrest. Historical sources describe Annas’s family in terms of wealth, power, and greed.” I think it’s interesting that Annas saw the Savior first after he was arrested. It would lead me to believe that Annas is the one who ordered the arrest because I would think that the arresting officers would simply take the prisoner to the person who gave the command. Caiaphas clearly had a significant role to play in the crucifixion of the Savior, but he might not have been the main player pulling the strings, even if he was the most public. Maybe this goes to show just how deep the conspiracy went against Jesus, that it wasn’t just a couple of guys who didn’t like him, but the entire Jewish leadership was guilty, with a few notable exceptions.
I’m not exactly sure how long Jesus stayed with Annas because it’s not super clear if the conversation recorded in John happened at Annas’s house or Caiaphas’ house but “Simon Peter followed Jesus, and so did another disciple.” We know that everyone was spooked when Jesus was arrested and that they ran away, but Peter and John followed along with Jesus during this time. John has a really interesting way of describing himself in his writings, he never says “I” or refers to himself by name, he always says something like “the one whom Jesus loved” or “another disciple.” I find this to be pretty frustrating, but we’ll get used to it I guess. 

Peter is obviously devoted to Jesus, and John is too, but I think there might be a little bit more something than just admiration. In the beginning I speculated that John and Jesus were cousins because their mothers were sisters. If this was the case, any involvement of John during the time of the crucifixion might have just been attributed to a mourning family member. John says, “that disciples (John) was known unto the high priest, and went in with Jesus into the palace of the high priest. But Peter stood at the door without. Then went out that other disciples, which was known unto the high priest, and spake unto her that kept the door, and brought in Peter. ” I don’t know much about John, who he was before Jesus called him, or what his position in the Jewish leadership was, but it might have been known that John was kin to Jesus, so unlike the others, John might not have been “mistaken” for a disciple, but instead just a concerned family member. And Peter, being escorted by John might have been able to lay low in that setting for a while.