THE TRIAL CONTINUES, THE CRUCIFIXION, THE BURIAL (JOHN 19). Jesus Is The Messiah, The King Of The Jews. The emphasis that Jesus is ‘the King of the Jews', and thus the Messiah, which is what John was seeking to underline (John 20:31) carries on through chapter 19. Here He is hailed as such, somewha... [ Continue Reading ]
‘Then Pilate therefore took Jesus and scourged him.' Throughout the ages, until fairly recent centuries, the treatment of prisoners has been similar. Unless they were important people (in the case of Rome, Roman citizens) they could be treated abysmally regardless of whether they were innocent or g... [ Continue Reading ]
THE TRIAL CONTINUES (JOHN 19:1 A). John has made clear in chapter 18 that, in facing His trial by His fellow Jews, Jesus had nothing to hide, although no details of their actual attempts to find prosecuting witnesses or of the charge of blasphemy has been given. In the examination before Annas Jesu... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And the soldiers plaited a crown of thorns and put it on his head and clothed him in a purple cloak, and they came to him repeatedly and said, “Hail, King of the Jews”, and they struck him with their hands.' Horseplay with condemned prisoners was a recognised pastime. It relieved the boredom of cus... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And Pilate went out again and says to them, “Look, I am bringing him out to you so that you may know that I find no crime in him.” Jesus therefore came out wearing the crown of thorns and the purple cloak. And Pilate says to them, “Behold, the man”.' The battle of wills continued. Pilate did not l... [ Continue Reading ]
‘When therefore the chief priests and the officers saw him they cried out, saying, “Crucify him, crucify him.” Pilate says to them, “Take him yourselves and crucify him, for I find no crime in him.” The Judaisers answered, “We have a law, and by that law he ought to die, because he made himself the... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And he entered into the Praetorium again and says to Jesus, “Where are you from?” But Jesus gave him no answer.' Pilate's words indicate his uneasiness. Superstitious ideas were taking hold of him. Could this man really be from another world? ‘Where are you from?' he asked, and there was apprehens... [ Continue Reading ]
‘Pilate therefore says to him, “Do you not speak to me? Do you not know that I have power to release you and have power to crucify you?” ' The unearthly silence unnerved Pilate. He could not understand it. Why did this man not plead obsequiously for mercy? Why did He not viciously rail at him? Did... [ Continue Reading ]
‘Jesus answered him, “You would have no power against me unless it was given to you from above. That is why he who delivered me to you has greater sin”.' Jesus acknowledged Pilate's earthly authority, although pointing out that it was a deputed authority. The words could mean that Pilate had the au... [ Continue Reading ]
‘On this Pilate sought to release him.' Up to this point Pilate had been consistent in his view. He had examined Jesus and constantly declared Him without blemish. He did not think that this man was a troublemaker or insurrectionist, and he did not care whether he was a blasphemer against the Jewis... [ Continue Reading ]
‘When Pilate therefore heard these words he brought Jesus out and sat down on the Judgment Seat at the place called The Pavement, but in Hebrew Gabbatha.' At this point Pilate gave up on justice. Now they all knew that they had won. The solemn moment had come. ‘Justice' would now be declared from t... [ Continue Reading ]
‘Now it was the Friday (or preparation) of the Passover, it was about the sixth hour.' The word for ‘preparation' (paraskeue) meant primarily ‘Friday', as it still does in modern Greek, and had done from time immemorial. This was because it was the day before the Sabbath. Thus this need mean no mor... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And he says to the Judaisers, “Look, see your king.” They therefore cried out, “Away with him, away with him, crucify him.” Pilate says to them, “Shall I crucify your king?” The Chief Priests answered, “We have no king but Caesar!” Today we would call it mob rule, except that sadly the mob were th... [ Continue Reading ]
THE LAMB IS OFFERED UP (JOHN 19:16). Meanwhile the innocent victim was being dragged through the streets of the city, and then through an outer gate in order to be crucified ‘outside the gate' (Hebrews 13:12). Rejected by those to whom He had come He was being treated as an excrescence, seen as not... [ Continue Reading ]
‘They therefore took Jesus, and he went out bearing the cross for himself, to the place called the Place of the Skull, which is called in Hebrew Golgotha., where they crucified him, and with him two others, one on either side, and Jesus in the middle.' Jesus, His back in tatters, His clothes covere... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And Pilate wrote a title also, and put it on the cross. And there was written, JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS. This title therefore read many of the Jews for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and it was written in Hebrew (Aramaic?) and Latin and Greek. And the Chief Pr... [ Continue Reading ]
‘The soldiers therefore, when they had crucified Jesus, took his clothes and made four parts, to every soldier a part, and they also took the coat. Now the coat was without seam, woven from the top throughout. They said therefore one to another, “Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it, who shall h... [ Continue Reading ]
‘But there were standing by the cross of Jesus his mother, and his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas and Mary Magdalene.' As it is unlikely that Mary's sister would also be called Mary we must probably see this as referring to four women, Mary and her sister; together with Mary Magdalene and... [ Continue Reading ]
‘When therefore Jesus saw his mother, and the disciple standing by whom he loved, he says to his mother, “Woman, behold your son”. Then he says to the disciple, “behold, your mother”. And from that hour the disciple took her into his own family circle.' Jesus' love and concern for His mother comes... [ Continue Reading ]
‘After this Jesus, knowing that all things are now finished that the Scripture might be accomplished, says “I thirst”.' ‘All things are now finished that the Scripture might be accomplished' (compare Matthew 26:56). We cannot even begin to comprehend the fullness of these words, nor the depth of the... [ Continue Reading ]
‘There was set there a vessel full of sour wine. So they put a sponge full of sour wine on hyssop and brought it to his mouth.' Near the cross was a vessel of sour wine. ‘Sour wine' was soldiers' wine and it was natural that the escort would have wine there to satisfy their needs and keep out the c... [ Continue Reading ]
‘When Jesus therefore had received the sour wine, he said, “It is finished”, and he bowed his head and yielded up his spirit.' All the Gospels tell us that ‘Jesus cried again with a loud voice'. Only John tells us what He said. “It is finished”, ‘tetelestai', is the same verb as used in John 19:28.... [ Continue Reading ]
‘The Judaisers therefore, because it was Friday (or the preparation), that the bodies should not remain on the cross on the Sabbath, for the day of that Sabbath was a high day, asked of Pilate that their legs might be broken and that they might be taken away.' ‘Because it was Friday, or the prepara... [ Continue Reading ]
‘The soldiers therefore came and broke the legs of the first, and of the other who was crucified with him, but when they came to Jesus and saw that he was dead already they did not break his legs. However, one of the soldiers did pierce his side with a spear, and immediately there came out blood and... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And he who has seen has borne witness, and his witness is true, and he knows that he says what is true that you also may believe. For these things came about that the Scripture might be fulfilled, ‘A bone of him shall not be broken'. And again another Scripture says, They shall look on him whom the... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And after these things Joseph of Arimathea, being a disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear of the Judaisers, asked of Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus, and Pilate gave him permission. He came therefore and took away his body. And there came also Nicodemus, he who at the first came... [ Continue Reading ]
THE BURIAL OF JESUS (JOHN 19:38). God's watch over events is brought out initially in that Jesus had been anointed for His death (John 12:7). Now He was to have proper burial.... [ Continue Reading ]
‘Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb in which no man had ever yet been laid. There then, because of the Jews' preparation, (for the tomb was nearby), they laid Jesus.' The burial had to be accomplished quickly because of the coming Sabbath. But J... [ Continue Reading ]