Ep. 123: Before Annas

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JOHN 18:12-14

They led the bound Jesus probably through the same gate that he passed with his disciples after the Supper, up to the well-known Palace of Annas, on the slope between the Upper City and the Tyropoeon. The streets of Jerusalem would have been quiet at that late hour and the rhythmic bustle of the Roman guard must have been too often heard to startle sleepers or to lead to questions; why that glare of lamps and torches? Who was this prisoner, who had to be guarded on that holy night by both Roman soldiers and servants of the High Priest?

Here’s a question that could have been asked. Why have they brought Jesus to the house of Annas, since he was not at that time the actual High Priest? That office now belonged to Caiaphas, his son-in-law, who had been the first to declare the political necessity for the judicial murder of Christ. There had been no pretence on his part of religious motives or zeal for God; he had cynically put it in a way to override the scruples of those old Sanhedrists by raising their fears.

What was the use of discussing forms of Law? It must, in any case, be done; even the friends of Jesus in the Council, as well as the fastidious observers of Law, must regard his death as the lesser of two evils. Caiaphas spoke as the bold, unscrupulous, determined man that he was; Sadducee through and through, a worthy son-in-law of Annas.

No figure is better known in contemporary Jewish history than that of Annas; no person deemed more fortunate or successful, but none also more generally loathed than the ex-High Priest. He had held the office for only six or seven years, but it was filled later by not fewer than five of his sons, by his son-in-law Caiaphas and by a grandson.

He was as resolutely bent on Jesus’ death as his son-in-law, though with his characteristic cunning and coolness, not in the hasty, bluff manner of Caiaphas. It was probably from a desire to get involved in the matter or perhaps it was for even more practical reasons - the Palace of Annas was nearer to the place of Jesus’ capture - and that it was desirable to dismiss the Roman soldiers as quickly as possible, that Jesus was first brought to Annas and not to the actual High Priest.

This is an extract from the book, Jesus : Life and Times, available for £12 here (Finalist for Academic Book of the year at 2023 CRT awards)