“Challenge and Riposte” (John 18:28–19:16)

Jesus said, “My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest… But my kingdom is from another place.” (Jn 18:36)

The Challenge of Pilate

When we read the account of Jesus before Pilate, much of the tension in the scene can be hard for modern readers to recognize because we don’t naturally see the cultural dynamics at work. For the first audience, however, there is a deeper level of social context.

The ancient Mediterranean world revolved around honor and shame, and nearly every public interaction involved negotiating status. Honor wasn’t just personal pride; it determined belonging and social survival. Some honor was inherited through birth and position, something Roman officials and religious elites possessed automatically. Jesus, coming from a poor Galilean background, did not have this kind of status.

Honor could also be gained or lost publicly through action, generosity, clever speech, or displays of strength. Daily life functioned like a constant exchange of challenges and responses.
A gift required a matching gift.
An insult demanded a clever reply.
Failing to respond meant public shame.

People sometimes sacrificed wealth or stability simply to avoid losing honor. With this in mind, Pilate’s interaction with the crowd takes on new meaning. When he offers to release “the King of the Jews,” he intentionally lumps together groups the Judean crowd saw as socially inferior, refusing to recognize distinctions they valued. It functions as a public insult meant to reinforce Roman dominance.

The crowd responds by demanding Barabbas instead of Jesus. John tells us Barabbas had participated in an uprising, but this likely means more than simple criminality. Figures like Barabbas were often insurgents who resisted Roman control and were sometimes supported by ordinary people who felt exploited or powerless. So when Pilate insults them, the crowd answers by publicly supporting someone who fought Roman authority. Winning the exchange matters more than justice, even if it means condemning an innocent man. Maintaining status and political control takes priority over truth.

The conflict intensifies as Jesus is flogged and mocked by Roman soldiers who dress him in royal symbols and slap him while sarcastically hailing him as king. When the crowd sees him humiliated this way, they demand crucifixion, signaling that they are not bothered, and that they’d go further, they’d crucify him!

Pilate then questions Jesus privately, reminding him that he holds power over his life and death. In this culture, execution by crucifixion didn’t just end life—it erased honor completely through public humiliation. Jesus refuses to defend himself or try to reclaim status. He absorbs insult and shame rather than retaliating, stepping outside the entire honor contest everyone else is fighting to win.

Visiting and Early Church

Imagine hearing this story as someone with little status in the ancient world—perhaps a laborer, an outsider, or someone routinely pushed aside by society. Hearing that God had come not as a powerful ruler defending honor but as one willing to descend into shame alongside the forgotten would have sounded like astonishingly good news. God meets people, not at the top of the social ladder, but at the bottom.

This tension still exists today.

People continue to long for strength, victory, and dominance, often wanting a savior who defeats enemies rather than one who absorbs violence. The religious leaders rejected Jesus partly because he seemed weak, and that temptation remains for modern followers as well. Matthew even preserves the irony that Barabbas’ full name may have been Jesus Barabbas, making Pilate’s choice sharper: Which Jesus do you want? The one who fights through violence, or the one who absorbs violence in love?

Jesus gives the answer himself when he says his servants do not fight to defend him. His kingdom does not advance through force. Violence and retaliation may feel like justice in the moment, but they always escalate. Every challenge produces another response, and the cycle continues until someone refuses to keep playing. Jesus ends the cycle not by winning the contest but by absorbing the insult and laying down his life instead of taking another’s. The kingdom changes the world not through domination, but through sacrificial love.

House Church Discussion Questions

1)How does understanding honor and shame in the ancient world change the way you hear the story of Jesus before Pilate?

2) Why do you think the crowd preferred Barabbas to Jesus, and where do you see similar instincts in today’s culture?

3) Jesus refuses to defend his status or retaliate. Why is this response so difficult for us to imitate?

4) Where do you see cycles of retaliation or escalation playing out in everyday life or in our wider culture?

5) Jesus says his servants do not fight to defend him. What might faithfulness to that teaching look like in our lives today?

6) Where might God be inviting you to step out of retaliation or status-seeking and embody the way of Christ instead?