John 19:14

John 19:14. And it was Preparation-day of the passover; it was about the sixth hour. It is not to be denied that the difficulties connected with each of these two clauses are very great; and we have again to regret, as at chap. John 18:28, that in a commentary such as this it is impossible to do justice to the question. We shall endeavour to indicate as clearly as our space will permit the solution that we propose.

1. It is urged that the first clause means, ‘It was the preparation of the Passover,' that is, the day before it. Difficulties are thus removed at the cost of making John contradict the earlier Evangelists as to the night when the Last Supper was instituted, and the day when Jesus was crucified. Apart from all consideration of the new difficulty thus created, we observe (1) That the interpretation thus offered makes the Evangelist contradict himself (comp. what has been said on chap. John 18:39; and bear in mind that Pilate at the moment there spoken of released Barabbas, Matthew 27:26; Mark 15:15; Luke 23:25). The Passover was therefore then begun. To speak now of the day preceding it is impossible. (2) The translation ‘the preparation' cannot be accepted. There is no article in the original. The Greek term must be rendered either ‘a preparation,' or it must be taken in its well-known sense of ‘Friday.' (3) It has never been shown that the day before the Passover was called ‘The preparation of the Passover.' It has been conjectured that it was, because it is believed that the day before the Sabbath was called ‘The preparation of the Sabbath.' No such name as this last has been pointed out. It did not we may venture to say that, without a different mode of connecting the two words, it could not exist. The whole foundation upon which rests the idea of a day called ‘the preparation of the Passover' is removed.

2. A second solution is offered. By ‘preparation' we are to understand Friday; by ‘the Passover' the Paschal feast; by the whole expression, ‘It was Friday of the Paschal feast.' There is much in this to be accepted, for it appears from Josephus that the seven days festival was often designated ‘the Passover,' and there can be no doubt as to the rendering ‘Friday.' The difficulties, if nothing more can be said, are (1) To see why the words ‘of the Paschal feast' should be added; they are unnecessary; and they do not occur at John 19:31, although the day there spoken of is the same as that before us here. (2) That it is not easy to exclude from the original the thought of the ‘Paschal lamb.' That is the proper rendering of the Greek, and the rendering which lies closest to the whole conception and drift alike of the Chapter s with which we are now dealing and of the special verses in which mention of ‘the Passover' is made. Notwithstanding these difficulties, we accept this rendering as in part at least the meaning of the Evangelist. The difficulties will vanish when we consider that it is not all his meaning. For, in truth, he seems to be led to his choice of the particular form of expression which he employs by the tendency that we have so frequently had occasion to observe in him, the tendency to see things in the doubles presented by symbols and their realities. Both the leading words of the clause before us are susceptible of this double meaning; and it is because they are so that we find them here. Thus (1) The former word is to be taken in its double sense, ‘a preparation' or ‘Friday.' (2) The words rendered ‘the Passover,' or as it might be simply ‘the Pasche,' are to be taken in their double sense, ‘the Paschal lamb' or ‘the Paschal feast or week.' At the time when John wrote, if not also much earlier, both senses were in use in the Christian Church. Exactly then as in chap. John 3:8 John has in view the double meaning of the Greek word for spirit or wind, so here he has in view the double meaning of these expressions. The day now dawning, and the events now occurring, were ‘a preparation of the Paschal lamb' yet not of the lamb of the Jewish feast, but of the true Paschal Lamb, Jesus Himself, of the Lamb now on His way to be sacrificed for the life of His people. It was also ‘Friday of the Pasche.' Both these meanings are prominent to the eye of the Evangelist; and as, with the ready appreciation of symbolism possessed by the symbolic mind, he sets that one of his deepest thoughts can be expressed by words which shall at the same time express an outward incident of the scene, he chooses his language for the sake of the richer meaning to which he is thus able to give utterance.

The view now taken derives confirmation from the fact that at John 19:31 of this chapter, where the word ‘a preparation' or ‘Friday' is again used, the addition ‘of the Passover' is dropped. Why is this? Because by the time we come to that verse the true Paschal Lamb has been slain: it is no longer possible, therefore, to speak of a preparation of Jesus. If, on the other hand, the word denotes the weekly day of preparation (‘Friday'), it is clear that in John 19:31 any explanatory addition would be superfluous. The particular view to be taken of chap. John 19:28-37 also lend confirmation to what has been said.

The second clause of the words with which we now deal is much more easily explained than the first: ‘and it was about the sixth hour.' If this hour be according to Jewish modes of reckoning (noon), we are in direct conflict with Mark 15:25, ‘and it was the third hour, and they crucified Him.' There, at 9 A.M ., the crucifixion takes place. Here, at noon, the sentence is not yet pronounced. The main elements of the solution are to be found in what has been already said with regard to the mode of reckoning time employed in this Gospel. ‘The sixth hour' is thus 6 a.m. , an hour supplying us, as nearly as it is possible for us to imagine, with the space of time needed for the events already past that night, as well as with that needed for things still to be done before the crucifixion at 9 A.M. To these considerations has to be added the fact, that Pilate now for the first time took his formal place upon the judgment seat, and pronounced sentence with the suitable solemnities of law. But by Roman law this could not be done before 6 A.M.; and it is much more likely that Pilate would embrace the earliest opportunity of ridding himself of a disagreeable case than that he would carry on the process until noon.

Both the place and the time for the last step in the trial of Jesus have now been mentioned. Pilate is on his judgment seat, on a spot elevated above the people. The true Lamb of God is before him ready for the sacrifice. The awful ‘hour is come.'

And he saith unto the Jews, Behold, your King! The words are not spoken sarcastically of Jesus, but contemptuously of the Jews. Pilate had no motive for being sarcastic with regard to the former. He had been impressed by the spectacle of meekness and innocence which Jesus presented. He would have set Him free had he possessed sufficient earnestness and depth of moral character to carry into effect what he knew to be right. We cannot, therefore, suppose that he has any wish to treat Jesus with contempt. But all the more that this was the case, and that his own conscience was reproving him for his weakness, would his contempt be increased for those who were urging him to act unjustly. His secret displeasure with himself would seek satisfaction in his indignation and disgust with them. He had shown his contempt for the Jews from the first (comp. John 19:35), and now, with that contempt raised to its highest point, he says, ‘Behold, your King.' It is possible also that in these words the Evangelist sees one of those unconscious prophecies or Divine declarations concerning Jesus of which we have had repeated illustrations in this Gospel.