John 19:38-42 – O, death where is your sting?

In verse 38 we are introduced to Joseph of Arimathea, a secret disciple of Jesus. Being fearful of the Jews, he dared not openly admit his faith and admiration in Jesus while He was still alive. Now that the Lord had died, he found a new lease of courage and boldness, and so decided to make his commitment open. Coming to Pilate, he requested for the body of Jesus so that he could give Him a proper burial. This was again a fulfillment of the prophecy of Isaiah. The prophet said in Isaiah 53:8 that “His grave was assigned with wicked men, yet He was with a rich man in His death.” Jesus would have been buried in the one of the three tombs prepared for Him and the other two who were crucified together with Him. But Christ was not buried with them because Joseph sought the permission of Pilate for His body and have Him buried in a newly acquired tomb. Hence it’s so true that “He was with the rich men in His death.” More importantly, the transformation of Joseph attests to the power of Christ’s redeeming death. Like Joseph, who openly admitted the Lordship of Christ, we can also have a transforming experience for ourselves. His strength will be made perfect in our weakness. So, come to Christ and be strengthened.

John then proceeded to narrate the bold act of Nicodemus. He was the one who was first introduced in John 3. Nicodemus came to Jesus in the cover of night and had a discussion with Him concerning the experience of the new birth. All these while, he was a covert believer. Now, overcame by the grace of God, he came out openly and unashamedly to show his love for Jesus. He came bringing myrrh and aloe, worth a hundred pounds weight, to embalm Jesus. The purpose of indicating the amount he brought to embalm Jesus was to show the depth of his love for Jesus now. When one realizes and feels the love Christ, all fears will be disarmed. It will propel one to love Him in return. So according to the custom of the Jews, Nicodemus and Joseph took the body of Jesus and bound it with linen wrappings together with the spice, and got it ready for burial.

In the last two verses, John wants us to know about the glorious burial place of the Lord. John tells us that this was a garden tomb where no one had been placed in before. Besides, it was also near the place when the Lord was crucified. We can roughly guess why John chose to speak about the garden tomb. For it was in another garden, the Garden of Eden, that man first sinned against God. It was there that death became the experience of every man, because Adam and Eve was beguiled and deceived by that ancient serpent. It would be in this new garden tomb that sin and death would meet its conqueror. It was here in this garden that Jesus entered the domain of death. It was here that “…through death He (Jesus) might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and might free those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives” (Hebrews 2:14b-15). Just as sin entered humanity in a garden, now in another garden, death would be dealt a final blow. Herein is our liberation. No wonder Paul would boldly proclaim in 1 Corinthians 15:55, “O DEATH, WHERE IS YOUR VICTORY? O DEATH, WHERE IS YOUR STING?”

John 19:31-37 – Christ died for us

The terms “a high day” is referring to the Sabbath day. And Jesus died on the eve of a high day, the Sabbath. This eve was a day of preparation for the observation of the Sabbath. The Jews would not want any dead body to remain on the cross on a Sabbath, so they came to Pilate to request for the legs of Jesus to be broken. This was to hasten or ensure that He was really dead and be taken down for the burial. Bear in mind that the Lord had earlier said that He would remain buried in the grave for three days. Hence, this would mean that He had to be buried on the very day of His death. This, plus the fact that they presumed that Pilate might want the body of Jesus to remain on the cross for a few more days, made the request of the Jews necessary. Without realizing it, they were actually collaborating with the will and plan of God unconsciously.  

Pilate complied with the request, so the soldiers went forward, wanting to break the legs of Jesus. They first broke the legs of those two people hanging beside Jesus. And when they came to the Lord, they realized that He was already dead. So they did not break His leg, thereby fulfilling Psalm 34:20 that said, “Not a bone of Him shall be broken.” Then one of the soldiers took the spear in his hand and thrust it into the side of the Savior, Who was already dead. This again fulfilled another Scripture recorded in Zechariah 12:10 that said, “They shall look on Him whom they pierced.”  When the spear pierced the side of Jesus, blood and water came gushing out. The way this was described tells us that the red blood cells of the blood in His system had already separated themselves from the plasma. This can only take place when a person had truly died. 

John’s intention here was to prove that everything Christ went through fit into the minute details of given prophecies concerning His death. This would debunk the lies that suggest Jesus only fainted on the cross, and in the coldness of the tomb, He woke up and came back to Himself. John wants us, the readers of his Gospel, to know that the whole death of Jesus is not a myth. It is a historical moment. We were there in His death. He died for us! 

John 19:25b-30 – Three precious moments from the cross

Beyond the shadow of a doubt, our Lord had a tremendous heart of love and care for those who are His. In all, the four Gospels recorded seven last words that He uttered from the cross. A reflection on them would show us the depth of His love for us. Here John, in his Gospel, recorded only three of the seven utterances from the cross. They all reveal to us the great depth of Christ’s love, even in His dying moments.

The first of the three is found in verses 25b-27. They were His words of concern for Mary, His own earthly mother. Here John tells us that present at the cross, where Jesus was hung, were three persons by the name of Mary. The first was Mary, Jesus’ earthly mother, the second was Mary, the sister of His mother who was also the wife of Clopas, and the third was Mary Magdalene, whom Jesus had delivered from the crutch of demons recorded in Luke 8:2. Looking from the cross, Jesus’ eyes was focused on two persons standing nearby: His mother and the disciple whom He loved. It is believed that this disciple was John, the beloved. Jesus first addressed His mother, saying, “Woman, behold your son!” Then turning to John, He said, “Behold, your mother!” From that moment on John took Mary to his own home. This implied that he took care of Mary henceforth.  

In His terrible agony and anguish that had gone on for hours, yet Jesus had deep regard for His earthly mother. He had the consideration for her and gave her what every mother would need – a son to protect and look after her. And also to John what every son would require – a loving and understanding mother. Bear in mind that Mary already had four sons who could quite easily provide and care for her. But they were not believers in Christ as yet. They all only came to faith in Him after Jesus’ post- resurrection appearance to them. What Mary needed at that point was a compassionate understanding of her sorrow, something the other sons of hers could not empathize. John of course accepted the responsibility and took Mary to be his own mother from that point onward.  

The next words from the cross, John captured the expression of Jesus’ terrible torment and physical distress. Verse 28 recorded Jesus saying, “I am thirsty.” We are also told that “A jar full of sour wine was standing there; so they put a sponge full of the sour wine upon a branch of hyssop and brought it up to His mouth.” A thirst, when deprived of water, is certainly more agonizing than physical pain. Nothing can be worse than not having a thirst quenched. The very reason Jesus cried out “I am thirsty” was in fulfilment of the Scripture.

Finally in verse 30, John recorded what Jesus expressed on receiving the vinegar. He cried out loudly with His dying breath, “It is finished.” This expression is one of great relief. The whole ordeal of Jesus, and what mankind would have to endure, was now over. The ultimate solution to the sin problem of humanity is provided. Christ had completed the work He came to do and the enemy is now defeated. In those three hours we are told that the sun refused to shine and the whole land was covered with a strange darkness. Matthew 27:46 recorded the fearsome battle He had with the power of darkness when He cried, "My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me?" “It is finished” tells us that Jesus had made accessible the way for mankind to be reconciled with God. It provided the way into the very heart of God. The foundation for our redemption is virtually laid and sealed with this cry. At this point John said that Jesus gave up His spirit. It proved what He had said earlier in His discourse on the Good Shepherd. He said in John 10:18, “…I have authority to lay it (my life) down, and I have authority to take it up again.” This is something only Christ could do. He personally decided when to give up His spirit and die.

Paul gave us the reason as to why Jesus had to endure the horrible agonizing death. In 2 Corinthians 5:21, he wrote, “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God.” Christ became a curse for us and was separated from God, so that we will never have to experience the horror of eternal separation from a loving God. None of us can even begin to imagine the horror of a life being cut off from God eternally. But because Christ had paid the price required for our sins, we can now come to Him as we are and through Him to become truly what He wants us to be. It would be a gross insult if we seek to be reconciled to God through some good works or merits of our own. Like the thief who asked to be accepted by Christ, we all must come to Him empty handed, clinging simply to the cross that He had provided. Nothing more, nothing less.

John 19:17-25a – From Gabbatha to Galgotha

At Gabbatha, the Jews finally got what they wanted from Pilate. He told them to take Jesus and complete what they wanted to do with Him, i.e. to crucify Him. From right there Jesus’ journey to Galgotha began. We must approach the scene of the crucifixion of Jesus with great reverence. Why? It’s because we have heard the crucifixion of Jesus being narrated countless times. And being familiar with the account we may take it for granted. We must approach our reflection with reverence and awe, or our sense may be numbed and would cause us to miss the very message God intents for us to receive.

The place where Jesus went, bearing the cross to be crucified, was rightly named “The place of the skull.” In Hebrew this place was known as Galgotha. It was a little hill, a distance away from the Damascus gate of Jerusalem. The structure of the place made it look like a human skull, a symbol of death. Hence it speaks so powerfully of God’s intention to deal with the problem of death at the place that symbolizes death. What’s fascinating is also that this was the very spot that Abraham brought Isaac to be sacrificed to God. It was here that Abraham told Isaac that God Himself will provide the lamb for the sacrifice. How appropriate! Jesus is the Lamb that God Himself had provided, to deal with the problem of sin and death.

Verse 18 tells us that two others were crucified with Jesus here. Jesus was hanged on the cross at the center franked by the two of them. While they deserved what they were getting, Jesus did not. He was cruelly put there in our place. This very scene fulfills what Isaiah the prophet predicted saying, "He was numbered with the transgressors…" (Isaiah 53:12). The sinless Lord was put in the place of us, sinful people. And here He stood condemned in our place.  

John also tells us that Pilate had an inscription written and placed over the cross of Jesus. It was written in Hebrew, Latin and Greek. It said, “JESUS THE NAZARENE, THE KING OF THE JEWS.” Bear in mind that the cross stood at a crossroad, so what was written would be read by all who passed by that way. This also tells us that at the crossroad of our life, there also stands that cross. It is the solution to the ultimate cause of all our problems. The place where the cross stood, and the inscription written in three languages, tell us God’s clear intention to make known to the world that Jesus was truly the King of the Jews.

In John 19:21-22, we are also told that the chief priests and the Jews tried to have Pilate changed the words that were written. The wanted it to be written as “He said, ‘I am King of the Jews.’” Pilate’s response to them was "What I have written I have written." This phrase is telling. It has a double meaning. Literally, it meant that Pilate flatly turned down their request. But for us, a deeper reflection of this phrase will tell us that our past can never be changed. The regretful things we have said or done in the past cannot be changed. Simply put: what we have done we have done. But all praise be to God, while we can never change our past, Christ came to cleanse our past through His completed works at Calvary. In Christ, we are forgiven and redeemed.

John here also alluded to Psalm 22 which foretold the cruel death of the Messiah. The Psalmist described the Messiah’s body being pierced and His garments being divided by the murderers. What the soldiers did fulfill the prediction of the Psalmist. However, what John did not say was that the Savior was hanged up there between heaven and earth naked. This was suggested by the fact that the soldiers removed His garment and divided it among themselves.

Today, we see crosses hanged around necks of people as a piece of jewelry. We also see huge metal crosses on top of buildings telling us that these are churches. And not forgetting wooden crosses on doors of houses to indicate that these are Christian homes. But behind the symbol of the cross we have a real history. Don’t ever forget that that the cross was real. What Jesus went through was real. The nails that pinned Him to the cross were real. Most of all His love for us is real.  Thus we must respond as the last two lines of a hymn that so rightly say:

Love so amazing so divine,

Demands my soul, my life, my all   

John 19:12-16 – Learning from the dealings of Pilate and the priests

In the previous discussion, we saw how Pilate had misinterpreted the Jews’ accusation against Jesus. He concluded that Jesus could be a demi-god, who had the power to deal with him. So he was struck by fear in his heart and so sought to release Jesus. But the Jews said to Him aloud that, “If you release this Man, you are no friend of Caesar; everyone who makes himself out to be a king opposes Caesar.” On hearing these words, Pilate brought Jesus out to the place known as the Pavement, the Roman governor’s judgement seat. In Hebrews this place was known as Gabbatha. Apparently archaeologists had found this pavement, underneath the building that presently occupies the north side of the Temple mount in Jerusalem. And on this pavement were markings of an ancient Roman game much like the Tic-tack-toe. It is believed that this was the exact spot where Jesus stood, condemned by Pilate.  

John 19:14 was referring to the preparation of the Sabbath that happened within the Passover week, where the Jews were required to keep themselves undefiled. Notice that in John 19:5, when Pilate first brought Jesus out to the Jews, he said to them, “Behold, the man!” Now in verse 14, in his presentation of Jesus, he told them, “Behold, your King!” Though his view of Jesus appeared to have progressed, he was merely being sarcastic. And the priests and Jews would have nothing of it. So they cried out, “Away with Him, away with Him, crucify Him!” In John 19:12 the priests had already sent a veiled threat to Pilate. They told him that “If you release this Man, you are no friend of Caesar; everyone who makes himself out to be a king opposes Caesar.” They had rejected Jesus totally. So Pilate wilt under the incessant pressure of the priests and handed Jesus over to them to be crucified. So in verse 15, John shows us Pilate’s last ditch to alleviate his own conscience. He nonchalantly and scornfully asked, “Shall I crucify your King?” The response of the chief priests was spontaneous. They cried out in unison, saying, “We have no king but Caesar,”

Try to imagine the priests with faces grimaced with resentment, antagonism and hostility toward Jesus. Imagine them shouting loudly, roughly, and determinedly, “Crucify Him! Crucify Him!” Envisage Pilate vacillating in uncertainty, seeking a way to get out of the mess he had created by his indecision. And all the while, the Lord was silently waiting for the inevitable outcome, but so full of dignity. For a time, Pilate was trying to put on a show that he was a fair and impartial judge, seeking to preserve public orderliness. But he didn’t realize that he could not outwit the scheming priests. The more he tried, the more he highlighted his cowardice. His actions showed that he was indeed an unprincipled and scrupulous man, who would do anything to save his own skin.

In this account we also see how hypocritical the priests were. They ought to be righteous people, full of zeal and loyalty for God. But in their animosity to destroy Jesus, and in their struggle with Pilate, their true colors were revealed. They showed themselves to be merely jealous and petty schemers, who were willing to murder an innocent man for their own selfish interest. What’s worst was the fact that they were also oblivious that they were in effect denying their loyalty to God. They had also revealed how hypocritical they were, when they falsely gave their allegiance to the Romans whom they hated deep in their guts.   

What was John’s purpose? He narrated all these to show us that it’s impossible to continue to be a deceiver as we draw near to the cross. Jesus had made it explicitly clear that everything hidden would be revealed. God wants to remove all our pretense and shows us who we really are but who we can be in Him. 

John 19:7-11 – God is still in control

Pilate was hoping that the compassion of the Jews could be aroused on seeing the grossly mistreated body of Jesus. But He was wrong on many counts. The crowd was unmoved. The innocent Jesus was subjected to gross abuse. And Pilate had just displayed his moral weakness and cowardice by his refusal to act on what’s right. Remember the Lord was standing before the Jews, bloodied and torn all over by the scourging he went through. He was also wearing a purple robe which the soldiers had dressed him in mockery. Blood was also trickling down His thorns-pierced brow caused by the crown of thorns that they pressed over His head. But instead of being placated, the cries of the multitude for Jesus’ blood went even more vociferous. The Jews kept calling for Jesus to be crucified. Exasperated by their insistence, Pilate literally told them that they could crucify Him as they pleased. It was his way of saying, “I don’t think He deserves death but if you all are so insistent, you don’t have to ask me. Just go and do what you please.” Of course the Jews knew that they did not have the right to do so without his signal to go-ahead.

So the priests appealed to their Jewish law.  They insisted that “We have a law, and by that law He ought to die because He made Himself out to be the Son of God.” When Pilate heard that he became even more afraid. Why? It’s because he misinterpreted what they had said. As far as the Jews were concerned, they saw God as only one. Anyone claiming to be the Son of God was blaspheming. They were saying that Jesus’ claim to be the Son of God was a blasphemy that deserved the death sentence. But as a pagan, Pilate believed that there were many gods and many children of the gods. He concluded that they were saying that Jesus was one of the sons of the gods. So as a demi-god, Jesus would possess supernatural powers and could come and wreak vengeance upon one who had displeased Him. Being superstitious, Pilate was struck by fear in his heart.

Immediately he took Jesus back into the praetorium and asked Him, “Where are You from?” What he wanted to know was who Jesus really was and what kind of person was He. But Jesus refused to answer him. In anger, Pilate attempted to impress Jesus with the power he possessed. He audaciously told Jesus that he had the power to release Him and the authority to have Him crucified. He over-estimated his own ability. He was oblivious to the fact that God is the source of all authority and without His consent, nothing moves.

Notice how gently and with dignity Jesus revealed the truth to Pilate. He simply told him, “You would have no authority over Me, unless it had been given you from above; for this reason he who delivered Me to you has the greater sin.”  Jesus was inferring that Pilate was an ignorant man who was unaware of how God operates. But the priests did. They were learned people who knew the Law and the Old Testament. Of all people, they would have been aware of the demands of God for justice, love and mercy toward others. Jesus was showing that He was truly innocent as Pilate had discovered. And the guilty ones were the priests. They had committed a greater sin by delivering an innocent man over to this pagan governor to be crucified.

As followers of Christ, we need to know what the Bible says about life here on earth. We need to know that God is in control of everything and He’s in-charge of all our lives. He is the source of power behind all our experiences in life. Nothing can happen to us without His permission and nothing happens to us by chance. As Paul so confidently declared in Romans 8:28, “And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.” Knowing this will help us deal with the problems of injustice, pain, heartache, and diseases, and all the calamities we encountered in life. We must be aware that we live in an imperfect world and when we face unjust treatments we must know that God is still in control. He is still running the world. No one has power except what is given from above! 

John 19:1-6 – Be steadfastly courageous

Earlier, we have established that Pilate found Jesus not guilty. The accusations made against Jesus did not square up with what he found out through his own interrogation. Then he explored the custom of releasing a convicted felon on death sentence, during the Jewish Passover to release Jesus. This was what the Roman authority would do to show their graciousness. But the Jews did not take his bait. So they refused his seemingly kind gesture toward Jesus. Instead, they demanded for Barabbas. So in John 19:1-3, Pilate tried another way to have Jesus released without him having to take a stand for what’s right. We are told that he had Jesus scourged.

“The soldiers then twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on His head, and put a purple robe on Him; and they began to come up to Him and say, “Hail, King of the Jews!” and to give Him slaps in the face.” The description of the unfair treatment Jesus received here was predicted by Isaiah many years before hand. We are told in Isaiah 53:5 that “The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, and by His scourging we are healed.” Pilate’s unwillingness to act on his right findings, had allowed the soldiers to scourge Jesus. They cruelly and heartlessly ploughed through His bareback with a leather whip that had pieces of metal and bones embedded. His skin was literally ripped off, leaving a bloody and torn back. Then they pressed a crown of thorns on His head as the soldiers incessantly mocked and taunted Him. They made Him wear a purple robe and insultingly and derisively proclaimed, “Hail, King of the Jews!” As if that was not enough, they also slapped Him repeatedly on His face.  

Having had Jesus scourged, Pilate again came out to the Jews telling them that he found no guilt in Him. He was hoping that the cruel treatment he dealt to Jesus would placate them but it didn’t. Here Jesus, the King, came out to the praetorium wearing a purple robe and a crowd of thorns as Pilate sarcastically announced, “Behold, the Man!” Although the chief priests and the officers saw Jesus in that state, they remained unmoved and became even more vehement to have His blood. “Crucify, crucify!” They cried. Exasperated, Pilate again repeated that he had found no guilt in Jesus. By this time he was already tottering at the brink of giving in to their demand and had no moral courage to stand up for what’s right. So he told them, “Take Him yourselves and crucify Him, for I find no guilt in Him.” 

Pilate’s cruel treatment of Jesus leave us with a lesson: that a seared conscience could never stand up to the pressure of the world, the flesh and the devil. It reveals to us that unless we are connected to God, we too would succumb and wilt under the pressures and demands of the world. And when that happens, we will have to suffer the folly of wrong choices. Pilate chose compromise. His wrong choice ended up subjecting an innocent man to undue injustice. He was too coward to stand up to his right conscience. In this account the crowd also made a wrong choice, they demanded the release of Barabbas and ended up sending the Son of God to Calvary.  

John had been trying to show us how anxious Pilate was to release Jesus. He declared more than once that he found no crime in Jesus. He sought for a way to outwit the determination of the religious authority to crucify Jesus. But he wanted to do it at no cost to himself. Pilate was unwilling to pay the price to do what is right. What about us? Are we willing to pay the price for what is right? We must never allow ourselves to slip into the weakness of Pilate. We must seek to remain loyal to Jesus as we stand with and for Him. Don’t be pressured by the world into taking a compromised stand. Instead be loyal, always standing with Jesus our Lord, and the truth we found in Him.