Devotional Sharing, Submitted by Steven Kim, Gracepoint Berkeley.
John 19:1-30
- How did Jesus suffer in the hands of men?
In the hands of the soldiers Jesus suffered flogging, which was quite brutal and bloody. On top of such physically cruel and painful treatment, Jesus had to endure their mockery as they twisted together a crown of thorns and placed it on His head. They mocked His claim to be the King of the Jews as they took turns coming up to hailing Him to be the King and then striking him in the face. Jesus also suffered the betrayal and mockery of the very people, who once invited Him into Jerusalem saying, “Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the Name of the Lord! Blessed is the King of Israel!” And now from the same lips they cry, “Crucify! Crucify!” And finally, Jesus suffered the crucifixion, which was an excruciatingly painful and inhumane way to be tortured to death. Not only was it physically painful, but it was a very publicly disgraceful way to die. Only the worst sort of criminals were crucified, and furthermore the Jews regarded someone dying on a tree to be cursed by God (Deut 21:22-23).
- Reflect on the scandal of his voluntary suffering.
As I reflect on who Jesus is, I’m again in awe of what He willingly embraced for sinners like me. Even by secular scholars, Jesus is readily recognized as the most noble, gracious, loving person in history, let alone the fact that He is the Son of God. What He suffered through is way beyond all my worst case scenarios and fears. I see in me how my fears of being shamefully exposed and rejected by everyone drove me to strive after being the sort of respectable, charismatic, accomplished, powerful person, who would not be looked down upon and despised. My fears of pain and suffering drove me to seek financial security and status among people, lest I get pushed around and stepped on by others. As I compare my instincts and what I’m inclined to do, I marvel at Jesus’ full surrender to become what Isaiah prophesied long before that moment: ”He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.”
What Jesus did for sinners like me leading up to the crucifixion is scandalous and offensive. It goes against our natural inclination that a good man should not be humiliated and undergo such suffering. Moreover, our instincts tells us that those who deserve to be punished should pay for his own just consequences. I remember trying to convey what Jesus did for us on the cross to a Jewish college student many years ago, and he reacted in total disbelief and a sense of outrage, because he regarded the story of Jesus on the cross to be like the unjust, scandalous picture of a spoiled prince using a slave boy to take his rightly deserved whipping, and thus becoming the prince’s ‘whipping boy’. I tried to explain how this is the essence of the gospel…that indeed we are that spoiled, sinful princes and Jesus who is the true prince, the Son of God, became that ‘whipping boy’ in our stead. Yes indeed the message of the cross is scandalous, but this is the greatest good news ever to be uttered and written down in the history of man. Having been a recipient of such undeserved, costly forgiveness and grace, I want to recommit to living that cross-shaped life of fully surrendering to fulfill God’s will for my life. I commit to a life that’s completely God centered, which means a life that’s poured out in love for others. I want to be like Jesus, who, in the midst of mind numbing pain and heart wrenching sense of abandonment by everyone, was able to notice and have compassion on His mother Mary and provide her one of His disciples to be her new son to take care of her in her old age. I want to emulate Jesus in how he gave up His spirit in fulfillment of what God the Father called Him to do…to die to my ’self’, so others may live.
Devotional Questions:
John 19:1-30
- How did Jesus suffer in the hands of men?
- Reflect on the scandal of his voluntary suffering.
John 18:39-19:16
“Realizing that the priests were implacable and that resisting them would only endanger his career, Pilate finally gave in and ordered the Crucifixion. Certain features of Pilate’s examination of Jesus are significant. Pilate’s behavior shows that he was apprehensive of trouble. From the outset he was uncertain of his position. He oscillated between public confrontation with the Jewish mob and private interrogation of Jesus. Seven times in this brief narrative the author says or implies that Pilate ‘went out’ or ‘went in’ (18:29, 33, 38; 19:1, 4, 9, 13). Beneath his arrogant manner, there was an uncertainty that came from the conflict between Pilate the Roman judge and Pilate the politician. He finally succumbed to expediency.”[1]
- How many times did Pilate declare Jesus’ innocence?
- Knowing that Jesus was innocent, why did Pilate fail to release him? What is the process by which Pilate comes to the point of handing Jesus over to be crucified?
- What does Pilate forfeit in order to preserve/secure his political position?
- In what ways do people compromise the truth, or stop short of following inner convictions, in order to gain (or not lose) something in this world (e.g. fame, wealth, status, etc…)?
- What have I forfeited to preserve myself in the past?
- What is the irony of Pilate saying “Don’t you realize I have the power to free you or to crucify you?”
- What can I learn about true power from Jesus’ response to Pilate?
John 19:28-30
“The use of the perfect tense in ‘It is finished’ (tetelestai) signifies full completion of Jesus’ work and the establishment of a basis for faith. Nothing further needed to be done. Jesus’ act was voluntary and confident, for he had discharged perfectly the Father’s purpose and was leaving the scene of his human struggle. […] Jesus retained consciousness and command of himself till the very end.”[2]
- Reflect on Jesus’ final words, “It is finished.” How have I experienced the reality of these words in my life?
- What implication do these words have on my struggle against sin?
- How is the final description of Jesus in v. 30 a picture of perfect submission?
Additional Questions:
John 19:15
- What is astonishing about the chief priests’ declaration, “We have no king but Caesar?”
- How did they come to this point of declaring a pagan king as their own?
John 19:25-27
- What picture of the church is depicted through what Jesus tells Mary and John about their relationship?
- To what extent have I experienced the church in this manner?
John 19:17, 28
- How does Jesus’ statement “I am thirsty” show that he was subject to the same weaknesses as all mankind?
- How does this increase my appreciation for the fact that Jesus “carr[ied] his own cross” and that I am called to carry my own cross and follow Jesus’ example?
John 19:38-39
“Joseph’s action was courageous, for his petition was a tacit admission that he was a friend of Jesus and consequently an associate in whatever supposed subversion Jesus might have advocated. Joseph took the initiative and petitioned Pilate for permission to remove the body. His request was an open confession of his faith, for up to this time he had been a secret believer[…] Like Joseph, Nicodemus was a secret disciple whose faith grew slowly…his cooperation with Joseph in the burial shows that his faith had finally matured.” [3]
- What would have motivated Joseph of Arimathea to ask Pilate for Jesus’ body and Nicodemus to bring “a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds?”
- What was the significance of their actions?
- How do their actions show what my response to the cross should be?
[1] Frank E. Gaebelein, Gen. Ed. Expositor’s Bible Commentary CD, (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1992) notes for John chapter 19.
[2] Ibid.
[3] Ibid.
Commentary:
vv. 1-42 “Jesus as victor. Throughout the trial sequence […] we learned how John portrays Jesus as the victorious king, knowing more than his captors and controlling the progress of events. Jesus is not a victim in this story. The same theme appears in the story of the cross. Jesus carries his own cross and requires no help (19:17). His opponents are powerless to alter the regal title of his cross. His final cry is significant as well: ‘It is finished’ (19:30). The word used here can mean ‘to bring to an end,’ but it bears the nuance of ‘to fulfill’ or ‘bring to completion.’ In 4:34 Jesus described his ‘food’ as doing God’s will and completing his work. In 17:4 Jesus uses the same verb again: ‘I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work you gave me to do.’ Now on the cross Jesus is finished as he brings to completion his divine tasks.
“Why is this important? ‘It is finished’ is our signal that God has succeeded in accomplishing everything he designed to do in the life of his Son. In Jesus Christ God himself was at work demonstrating his love for us, revealing his will for our lives, and bringing about a reconciliation that needs no supplement. Jesus’ victory is the basis of our security. My confidence in God and the assurance of my salvation cannot be anchored in my religious performance. ‘It is finished.’ What was needed to satisfy God ought to satisfy us as well. This is the good news of the gospel.”[1]
vv. 1-7 “When Pilate escorts Jesus outside, his clear intention is to display Jesus in cruel submission, bearing the marks of his punishment, and thereby obtain his release. John’s famous ‘Here is the man’ records Pilate’s words as he tries to evoke sympathy for Jesus’ pathetic state. Jesus is in sore condition; he no doubt is bleeding profusely and terribly bruised. Pilate also announces for the second time that Jesus is innocent, but Pilate’s overture fails when his audience calls for Jesus’ death.”[2]
vv. 10-11 “The real power above both Caesar and Pilate is God, and so Pilate has no grounds for boasting. No one can take the Son’s life away from him (10:18). No one! God has permitted Pilate to have this power over Jesus because it is a necessary aspect of what will happen in ‘the hour.’ Jesus must die. In the story Pilate has tried to use what power he enjoys to free Jesus, but it doesn’t work. Pilate is powerless before God’s plan in this hour.”[3]
vv. 12-16 ‘‘ ‘Friend of Caesar’ was an official title bestowed on select persons such as senators who showed marked loyalty and service to the emperor. If Pilate is not a friend, he is an enemy of Caesar, and Emperor Tiberius had a firm reputation for eliminating his enemies swiftly. Suetonius tells of Roman leaders killed for simply removing statues of Augustus or for criticizing him.
“The irony of this situation is that these Jewish leaders, who come from a province seething with hatred for Rome, are here chastising the governor for not being sufficiently loyal. But Pilate has reason for worry. Jewish delegations were known to travel to the Roman Senate to complain about the work of governors, putting careers in danger. Pilate has seen this with some of his own friends. Therefore Pilate’s powerlessness is all the more apparent and at once his resolve is broken.”[4]
v. 15 “‘We have no king but Caesar’ is a direct contradiction of the injunction of the Bible that God alone is Israel’s king (1 Sam. 8:7; 10:19) and the kings that did reign (e.g., David) did so by divine appointment. By rejecting Jesus they have rejected God himself, as Jesus predicted, ‘He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father, who sent him’ (John 5:23).”[5]
vv. 1-16 Flogging. “The delinquent was stripped, bound to a post or a pillar, or sometimes simply thrown on the ground, and beaten by a number of torturers until the latter grew tired and the flesh of the delinquent hung in bleeding shreds. In the provinces this was the task of the soldiers. Three kinds of implements were customary. Rods were used on freemen; military punishments were inflected with sticks, but for slaves scourges or whips were used, the leather thongs of these being often fitted with a spike or with several pieces of bone or lead joined to form a chain. The scourging of Jesus was carried out with these last-named instruments. It is not surprising to hear that delinquents frequently collapsed and died under this procedure which only in exceptional cases was prescribed as a death sentence. Josephus records that he himself had some of his opponents in the Galilean Tarichae scourged until their entrails were visible. The case of Jesus bar Hanan, the prophet of woe, whom the procurator Albinus had scourged until his bones lay bare … also makes one realize what the little word ‘to scourge’ in Mark 15:15 means.”[6]
vv. 16-42 “The practice of crucifixion is somewhat debated. We know that thousands of slaves and criminals were crucified, but we have no complete description of the process […]. But literary references make clear that this was a death reserved for lower classes, slaves, foreigners, and criminals. The victim was laid on the ground with his arms stretched across the beam. After he was either nailed or tied, he was hoisted up and mounted on the vertical post.
“Various postures on the cross were possible but the least likely appears in Christian art (with the nails inserted on top of the foot). Romans nailed the ankles together, forcing the feet to lay sideways on top of one another. They also kept a peg on the vertical post for the person to sit on and hence not tear away. The key is to remember that nailing was not the means of death on the cross. Many factors, such as hemorrhaging, asphyxia, and shock, played a role. It is easy to see why Josephus (who watched many crucifixions during Titus’s conquest of Jerusalem) referred to this as ‘the most wretched of deaths.”[7]
vv. 19-23 “It comes as no surprise that the chief priests are furious and insulted. They understand that the sign implies a kind of sarcastic endorsement by Rome of Jesus’ royal identity, and they do not like it. ‘This man said, ‘I am King of the Jews’ ‘ (NRSV) is their biting alternative, but Pilate for the first time in the story stands up to them.”[8]
vv. 25-27 “Jesus now is appealing to a family responsibility that will be a feature of John’s own discipleship. His form of address (‘Woman!’) is respectful, and he is pointing Mary to John (the Beloved Disciple), placing her under the protective care of this disciple.
“All of this makes sense when we think that Jesus’ brothers have abandoned him (7:5), and the absence of Joseph in the story makes us suspect that Mary is alone. She has supported Jesus all along, and now with his death, a woman in her culture would be bereft and at risk. The Beloved Disciple is being called now to take Mary into his family, and he does this obediently.”[9]
v. 30 “This confirms the sense we have seen throughout the Passion story that here Jesus is accomplishing what he intends. He is not a victim, but a servant doing God’s bidding. This is not a cry of desolation (‘At last it is over!’) but an announcement of triumph (‘It is accomplished’).”[10]
vv. 38-42 “Nicodemus brings a considerable number of burial spices. Myrrh was an embalming powder commonly used in Egypt; aloe was a fragrant powdered sandalwood used generally as a perfume. The weight of these two spices is about seventy-five pounds. This is a remarkable amount and is reminiscent of the excessive wine in Cana (2:1–10) that marked Jesus’ first public appearance.”[11]
[1] Gary M. Burge, John, The NIV Application Commentary Series (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2000) 5546.
[2] Gary M. Burge, John, The NIV Application Commentary Series (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2000) 503.
[3] Gary M. Burge, John, The NIV Application Commentary Series (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2000) 505
[4] Gary M. Burge, John, The NIV Application Commentary Series (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2000) 506.
[5] Gary M. Burge, John, The NIV Application Commentary Series (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2000) 507.
[6] Gary M. Burge, John, The NIV Application Commentary Series (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2000) 509.
[7] Gary M. Burge, John, The NIV Application Commentary Series (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2000) 525.
[8] Gary M. Burge, John, The NIV Application Commentary Series (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2000) 526.
[9] Gary M. Burge, John, The NIV Application Commentary Series (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2000) 528.
[10] Gary M. Burge, John, The NIV Application Commentary Series (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2000) 529.
[11] Gary M. Burge, John, The NIV Application Commentary Series (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2000) 535.