John 19:16b-27--The Crucifixion

The Crucifixion
So they took Jesus, 17 and he went out, bearing his own cross, to the place called The Place of a Skull, which in Aramaic is called Golgotha. 18 There they crucified him, and with him two others, one on either side, and Jesus between them. 19 Pilate also wrote an inscription and put it on the cross. It read, “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.” 20 Many of the Jews read this inscription, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and it was written in Aramaic, in Latin, and in Greek. 21 So the chief priests of the Jews said to Pilate, “Do not write, ‘The King of the Jews,’ but rather, ‘This man said, I am King of the Jews.’” 22 Pilate answered, “What I have written I have written.”

23 When the soldiers had crucified Jesus, they took his garments and divided them into four parts, one part for each soldier; also his tunic. But the tunic was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom, 24 so they said to one another, “Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it to see whose it shall be.” This was to fulfill the Scripture which says,

“They divided my garments among them,
    and for my clothing they cast lots.”

​So the soldiers did these things, 25 but standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother and his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. 26 When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, “Woman, behold, your son!” 27 Then he said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother!” And from that hour the disciple took her to his own home.

---

Jesus has taken quite a beating in hopes that would satisfy the people and they might let him go free, but the Jews have insisted on His death.  So He was compelled to bear His own cross.  Little is said by John about this, but Jesus is so weak from the beating that He collapses along the weight and the soldiers compel Simon of Cyrene to carry His cross the rest of the way.

Jesus makes it all the way to the place called Golgotha (The Place of the Skull), also known to many as Calvary.  He died among thieves so as to fulfill prophecy (the Gospel of Matthew points out many of the prophecies that were fulfilled during the trials and crucifixion if you are are interested in going back to those passages that we studied earlier).  Above the head of each man was the indictment for why they were being crucified and above the head of Jesus, the sign was written in Greek, Hebrew, and Aramaic so that all people from the area could know whether they were Jew or Gentile or of the religious orders or from the common people that this was why Jesus was being crucified--“Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.”

The Jewish religious leaders took great offense to the sign with the indictment what Pilate as they wanted it to be changed to read, "He claimed to be the King of the Jews," but Pilate responded with "What I have written I have written."  This gives us at least some indication that Pilate may have believed that Jesus was exactly who He said He was.  It will be interesting to see if Pilate might have believed to the point of salvation.

Again, John says very little of the actual crucifixion--that is not his purpose in writing the book.  We can find many of the historical details in the book of Luke and the fulfillment of prophecy in the book of Matthew, and a bit of the agony and suffering of Christ as told in the book of Mark, but John is focused on the divinity of Jesus--that He is the Son of God and that He was in complete control.  John simply wants to focus on the fact that Jesus is "The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world" and that He would be "lifted up" and draw all men unto Himself as He told Nicodemus.

John focuses in on the soldiers at the foot of the cross who are there to help prolong the torture.  His garments that had seems were divided into four parts--one part for each soldier, but His tunic was seamless so instead of dividing it and ruining the garment, they cast lots for it (gambled for it, probably by rolling dice).  This is the one time in this passage that John quotes an Old Testament prophecy about the crucifixion from Psalm 22 (I'm going to post this Psalm at the end of today's blog as the entire Psalm clearly describes the crucifixion and contains the words of Christ that He spoke from the cross as Jesus quotes this Psalm to remind those who would hear it that this is the fulfillment of those words).

“They divided my garments among them,
    and for my clothing they cast lots.” (Psalm 22:18)

John then turns attention to the crowd, but not everyone in the crowd like some of the other gospel accounts do.  No, John focuses in specifically on Jesus' mother who has been standing there watching the whole thing--this was another part of the torture from the Romans, as they made the person being crucified watch the agony on the faces of their family and their close relatives and friends.  Jesus surly would not have wanted His mother to suffer like this, but even that cannot stop Him from His mission.  Jesus has already told Pilate that is was for this reason that He came into the world.  But there is another standing there among the family members.  It appears that John (who never names himself in his gospel but refers to himself as "the one whom Jesus loved") was there close to Jesus' mother and as one of the final things that Jesus would say, He entrusted the care of Mary to John and told Mary to treat John as if he was her own son (John seems to have been selected by Jesus to take His place in His earthly family, as it was the job of the oldest to make sure that their family was taken care of).  It appears that Jesus had reason to know that his half-siblings would not care for Mary like John would, and from that day forward, John brought Mary into his own home and cared for her.

We don't see much of the timing here that we'd see by studying some of the other gospels in parallel, but as we've talked about before, Jesus doesn't die until He gives up His spirit because no one can take His life from Him--He had to give it up willingly.  If we could lay everything out in parallel, we would see that Jesus died at the exact time that lambs were being sacrificed for the Passover.  The Romans wanted to speed things along so that the executions would not interfere with the Passover, so they broke the legs of the two convicts on the right and left of Jesus, but when they came to Jesus they saw He was already dead and they did not break His legs (again a fulfillment of prophecy).  We would also see that even while on the cross, Jesus was concerned about the men that were dying with Him and one man repents and believes and is told he will receive eternal life, and Jesus prays from the cross for the crowd and the soldiers that they be forgiven, because they don't know what they are doing.  What an amazing example He has set for us!  Even when the crowd jeers at Him to come off the cross to prove that He is the Son of God as He said He was, He remains there because His work is too important to simply make a spectacle and provide them with yet another sign that He knows they wouldn't believe.  Very soon we will see the ultimate sign, and they will reject even that sign, just as Jesus had prophesied they would in the story of Lazarus and the Rich Man.

As promised, here is Psalm 22 for you to study today as we think about the crucifixion today:

Psalm 22
English Standard Version​
Why Have You Forsaken Me?
To the choirmaster: according to The Doe of the Dawn. A Psalm of David.

22 My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
    Why are you so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning?
2 O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer,
    and by night, but I find no rest.

3 Yet you are holy,
    enthroned on the praises of Israel.
4 In you our fathers trusted;
    they trusted, and you delivered them.
5 To you they cried and were rescued;
    in you they trusted and were not put to shame.

6 But I am a worm and not a man,
    scorned by mankind and despised by the people.
7 All who see me mock me;
    they make mouths at me; they wag their heads;
8 “He trusts in the Lord; let him deliver him;
    let him rescue him, for he delights in him!”

9 Yet you are he who took me from the womb;
    you made me trust you at my mother's breasts.
10 On you was I cast from my birth,
    and from my mother's womb you have been my God.
11 Be not far from me,
    for trouble is near,
    and there is none to help.

12 Many bulls encompass me;
    strong bulls of Bashan surround me;
13 they open wide their mouths at me,
    like a ravening and roaring lion.

14 I am poured out like water,
    and all my bones are out of joint;
my heart is like wax;
    it is melted within my breast;
15 my strength is dried up like a potsherd,
    and my tongue sticks to my jaws;
    you lay me in the dust of death.

16 For dogs encompass me;
    a company of evildoers encircles me;
they have pierced my hands and feet--
17 I can count all my bones--
they stare and gloat over me;
18 they divide my garments among them,
    and for my clothing they cast lots.

19 But you, O Lord, do not be far off!
    O you my help, come quickly to my aid!
20 Deliver my soul from the sword,
    my precious life from the power of the dog!
21     Save me from the mouth of the lion!
You have rescued me from the horns of the wild oxen!

22 I will tell of your name to my brothers;
    in the midst of the congregation I will praise you:
23 You who fear the Lord, praise him!
    All you offspring of Jacob, glorify him,
    and stand in awe of him, all you offspring of Israel!
24 For he has not despised or abhorred
    the affliction of the afflicted,
and he has not hidden his face from him,
    but has heard, when he cried to him.

25 From you comes my praise in the great congregation;
    my vows I will perform before those who fear him.
26 The afflicted shall eat and be satisfied;
    those who seek him shall praise the Lord!
    May your hearts live forever!

27 All the ends of the earth shall remember
    and turn to the Lord,
and all the families of the nations
    shall worship before you.
28 For kingship belongs to the Lord,
    and he rules over the nations.

29 All the prosperous of the earth eat and worship;
    before him shall bow all who go down to the dust,
    even the one who could not keep himself alive.
30 Posterity shall serve him;
    it shall be told of the Lord to the coming generation;
31 they shall come and proclaim his righteousness to a people yet unborn,
    that he has done it.