God Speaks
Then Pilate laid open Jesus’ back with a leaded whip, 2 and the soldiers made a crown of thorns and placed it on his head and robed him in royal purple. 3 “Hail, ‘King of the Jews’!” they mocked, and struck him with their fists.
4 Pilate went outside again and said to the Jews, “I am going to bring him out to you now, but understand clearly that I find him not guilty.”
5 Then Jesus came out wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. And Pilate said, “Behold the man!”
6 At sight of him the chief priests and Jewish officials began yelling, “Crucify! Crucify!”
“You crucify him,” Pilate said. “I find him not guilty.”
7 They replied, “By our laws he ought to die because he called himself the Son of God.”
8 When Pilate heard this, he was more frightened than ever. 9 He took Jesus back into the palace again and asked him, “Where are you from?” but Jesus gave no answer.
10 “You won’t talk to me?” Pilate demanded. “Don’t you realize that I have the power to release you or to crucify you?”
11 Then Jesus said, “You would have no power at all over me unless it were given to you from above. So those who brought me to you have the greater sin.”
12 Then Pilate tried to release him, but the Jewish leaders told him, “If you release this man, you are no friend of Caesar’s. Anyone who declares himself a king is a rebel against Caesar.”
13 At these words Pilate brought Jesus out to them again and sat down at the judgment bench on the stone-paved platform. 14 It was now about noon of the day before Passover.
And Pilate said to the Jews, “Here is your king!”
15 “Away with him,” they yelled. “Away with him—crucify him!”
“What? Crucify your king?” Pilate asked.
“We have no king but Caesar,” the chief priests shouted back.
16 Then Pilate gave Jesus to them to be crucified.
17 So they had him at last, and he was taken out of the city, carrying his cross to the place known as “The Skull,” in Hebrew, “Golgotha.” 18 There they crucified him and two others with him, one on either side, with Jesus between them. 19 And Pilate posted a sign over him reading, “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.” 20 The place where Jesus was crucified was near the city; and the signboard was written in Hebrew, Latin, and Greek, so that many people read it.
21 Then the chief priests said to Pilate, “Change it from ‘The King of the Jews’ to ‘He said, I am King of the Jews.’”
22 Pilate replied, “What I have written, I have written. It stays exactly as it is.”
23-24 When the soldiers had crucified Jesus, they put his garments into four piles, one for each of them. But they said, “Let’s not tear up his robe,” for it was seamless. “Let’s throw dice to see who gets it.” This fulfilled the Scripture that says,
“They divided my clothes among them and cast lots for my robe.”
25 So that is what they did.
Standing near the cross were Jesus’ mother, Mary, his aunt, the wife of Cleopas, and Mary Magdalene. 26 When Jesus saw his mother standing there beside me, his close friend, he said to her, “He is your son.”
27 And to me he said, “She is your mother!” And from then on I took her into my home.
28 Jesus knew that everything was now finished, and to fulfill the Scriptures said, “I’m thirsty.” 29 A jar of sour wine was sitting there, so a sponge was soaked in it and put on a hyssop branch and held up to his lips.
30 When Jesus had tasted it, he said, “It is finished,” and bowed his head and dismissed his spirit.
31 The Jewish leaders didn’t want the victims hanging there the next day, which was the Sabbath (and a very special Sabbath at that, for it was the Passover), so they asked Pilate to order the legs of the men broken to hasten death; then their bodies could be taken down. 32 So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the two men crucified with Jesus; 33 but when they came to him, they saw that he was dead already, so they didn’t break his. 34 However, one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and blood and water flowed out. 35 I saw all this myself and have given an accurate report so that you also can believe. 36-37 The soldiers did this in fulfillment of the Scripture that says, “Not one of his bones shall be broken,” and, “They shall look on him whom they pierced.”
38 Afterwards Joseph of Arimathea, who had been a secret disciple of Jesus for fear of the Jewish leaders, boldly asked Pilate for permission to take Jesus’ body down; and Pilate told him to go ahead. So he came and took it away. 39 Nicodemus, the man who had come to Jesus at night, came too, bringing a hundred pounds of embalming ointment made from myrrh and aloes. 40 Together they wrapped Jesus’ body in a long linen cloth saturated with the spices, as is the Jewish custom of burial. 41 The place of crucifixion was near a grove of trees, where there was a new tomb, never used before. 42 And so, because of the need for haste before the Sabbath, and because the tomb was close at hand, they laid him there.
Source: The Living Bible: BibleGateway.com
We Respond
Reflection: John Chapter 19 relates Jesus’s final appearance before Pilate, the crucifixion itself, and the burial of Jesus. Matthew 27, Mark 15, and Luke 23 recount the same events from different perspectives. It is recommended that one read all four accounts together to get a full picture of what Jesus endured on behalf of all who will believe and obey Him and the Father. The following are unique to the account in John 19: 1) Jesus told Pilate that he would have no power over Him except it came from above. 2) The comments by the Jews and the high priests about Pilate not being a friend of Caesar and their having no king but Caesar. 3) The name of the place where Pilate held court, the Pavement or in Hebrew Gabbatha. 4) Pilate upholding what he had written regarding Jesus being King of the Jews. 5) Jesus committing His mother into John’s care. 6) The statement in English, “It is finished.” 7) Nicodemus helping Joseph of Arimathea bury Jesus. All these details combined with the other accounts in the Gospels give us a fuller picture of what happened that historic day.
Prayer: Dear all-knowing, all-loving God, thank You that in Your Triunity You knew and planned for the crucifixion before creation and time began. This is how You determined to deal with the consequences of human sin. You had the perfect God-become-Man suffer and die to pay the death penalty Your justice required. You laid the punishment for all sin of all time on Christ Jesus, God the Son. Jesus, it will take us all of time and all of eternity to thank You for all You suffered and all You accomplished on that day. We can only begin by simply saying “Thank You!” and by living each moment in step with Your Spirit and loving everyone around us as You set the example. For the glory of Your name. AMEN
Action: (Ask God, the Holy Spirit, which one of these He wants you to work on or something else more personal that He points out.)
- I will read the other accounts of Jesus’s crucifixion and thank Him for all He suffered on my behalf and for giving me new life and the power to trust and obey Him now and throughout eternity.
- I will watch the Jesus film, The Passion of the Christ, or a similar movie to get a clearer picture of the suffering and crucifixion of Jesus.
- I will talk with and encourage another believer to do the same.
- I will tell this to someone who has not yet put their faith totally in Jesus.
Share: I plan to share what I’ve learned with __________.