John 19

John 19:14. "And it was the preparation of the passover, and about the sixth hour." Mark says (Mark 15:25) it was the third hour, and they crucified him, which seems by the context, to be manifestly the time of his being nailed to the cross at Golgotha, with which this place in John is reconciled thus. John is here as it were beginning a new paragraph, containing an account of that grand event of the last passion of our Savior, which he proceeds to do from hence to the 38th verse. John had before been giving a large account of those things that went before this his last passion, and made way for it; but now he being about to proceed directly to this event itself, the greatest and most astonishing of all events, he as it were makes a pause, and begins an account of it as a distinct story, worthy to be peculiarly taken notice of. Those words in the 14th verse are the introduction to the story of this event, giving an account at what time it came to pass, viz. on the day of the preparation of the passover, and about the sixth hour, that is, in the middle of the day, so that the words, it was the preparation of the passover, and about the sixth hour, do not relate especially to the words immediately following, And he said unto the Jews, Behold your King, but rather to the whole story, beginning with these words and ending with the 37th verse, or the grand event related in the story, viz. Christ's last passion; for the words are an introduction to the story of this event, and not to that particular fact of Pilate's saying, "Behold your King;" and this is very manifest by John's interrupting the thread of his narrative, and standing to tell us that it was the preparation of the passover; if he only meant it was the preparation of the passover, when Pilate said, "Behold your King;" for, if so, why should he stand in this place to tell us it was the preparation of the passover, and to tell us that this fact happened on this day, any more than any of the other many facts as important as this, that he had been giving an account of before, from the 28th verse of the preceding chapter, which all were on the same day? so that John's design is not to give us an account of the precise time when Pilate said those words, but of the time in general of that great event of Christ's last passion, the story of which he immediately introduces in this verse, and goes on with to the end of the 37th verse. He says it was about the sixth hour, i.e. at the middle part of the day, it beginning at the third hour, or middle of the forenoon, and ending at the ninth hour, or middle of the afternoon; and if the time of this grand event be signified by mentioning any hour about which it was, it is most properly said to be about the sixth hour, for that was the very center or middle of the time about which it was, it beginning three hours before it, and continuing three hours after it. The three preceding evangelists all agree that the darkness by the sun's withdrawing his light, began at the sixth hour, and as they all relate the story of the crucifixion, it seems manifest that some considerable time passed after he was nailed to the cross before this darkness began. So that it seems on the whole beyond doubt that Christ was nailed to the cross about the third hour, and hung about six hours on the cross before he expired.

John 21:25