John 18:12-24 Jesus' Trial part II

The trial before the religious court is recorded in stages. John 18:12-14 describes that Jesus was first led to Annas, the father of the high priest's wife. It is not clear what his exact position was, but the next passage, John 18:19-24, describes Jesus being questioned by the high priest. Since the end of this passage says that Annas sent Jesus to Caiaphas the high priest, we have to infer that both of them held that title, perhaps Annas was in an emeritus position or something like that. It is quite clear that they worked closely together and both held positions of high authority.  Luke 3:2 speaks of the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas as though they held the position jointly, even though being of different generations. The prophecy of Caiaphas that it was expedient that one man would die on behalf of the people was recorded in John 11:49-52, as discussed above.

          The questioning by Annas of Jesus was about His teaching and His disciples. Why would Jesus have told him to get witnesses because He spoke openly and there were innumerable potential witnesses to what He taught? Why not just answer the questions? We can only infer or guess. Perhaps Jesus was refusing to go along with a sham pretense of a trial, since He knew the outcome was already decided. Perhaps He knew that Annas was fully sold out to the evil one and that there was nothing He could do but give witness to the truth. Certainly, the Mosaic law required that there be two or three witnesses before someone could receive capital punishment (Deut 17:6, 19:15) And the other gospels record that in the trial before the council, they brought forward various witnesses, although their stories didn't really corroborate the charges. So perhaps Jesus was just being a holdout for actually following the Law of Moses that the Priests and Pharisees claimed to follow so religiously. 

          It seems odd that John does not record what happened when Jesus was with Caiaphas, because the next passage records that the priest sent Him to Pilate for the civil trial. The trial before Caiaphas, and the whole council, is recorded in Matthew 26:57-67, Mark 14:53-65, and Luke 22:66-71. The outcome was predetermined, that Jesus would be sent to Pilate for trial because the Jews did not have the authority to execute people according to their own law.