John 19 Studies

For those who may wish to ‘study’ this chapter, the following simple resources are provided for you. Each chapter is divided into a number of studies and each study or passage has a simple four-Part, verse-by-verse approach, to help you take in and think further about what you have read.

Passage: John 19:1-7: Pilate & the Crowd

A. Find Out:

1. What happened to Jesus next? v.1
   • Then Pilate took Jesus and had him flogged.
2. What did the soldiers do to Jesus? v.2,3
   • The soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head. They clothed him in a purple robe 3 and went up to him again and again, saying, ‘Hail, king of the Jews!’ And they slapped him in the face.
3. What did Pilate then tell the Jews again? v.4
   •  Once more Pilate came out and said to the Jews gathered there, ‘Look, I am bringing him out to you to let you know that I find no basis for a charge against him.’
4. How did the religious leaders respond? v.6a
   • When Jesus came out wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe, Pilate said to them, ‘Here is the man!’ 6 As soon as the chief priests and their officials saw him, they shouted, ‘Crucify! Crucify!’
5. But what was Pilate’s response to them? v.6b
   • But Pilate answered, ‘You take him and crucify him. As for me, I find no basis for a charge against him.’
6. What did they say back to him? v.7
   • The Jewish leaders insisted, ‘We have a law, and according to that law he must die, because he claimed to be the Son of God.’

B. Think:

1. Why do you think Pilate had him flogged?
2. Yet what comes over clearly from Pilate in this passage?
3. On what grounds, is it clear, are the people wanting Jesus killed?

C. Comment:

Pilate is shown here as a mixture. On the one hand he is shown to be a judge who will not go against the evidence and just bend to the wishes of the prosecutors, while on the other hand he is shown to be harsh and indifferent to the plight of an innocent man. Pilate had the opportunity to really bring justice into this situation. Instead he sat on the fence!

He has already declared Jesus to be innocent (18:38) yet he is still willing to have him flogged for no apparent reason, a flogging that would have left his back in shreds. The only reason that can be thought of is that Pilate wanted to be seen as one who meted out justice and had dealt with whatever minor wrong of which the Jews accused Jesus. So Jesus is beaten and mocked by the soldiers who are seeming to say, “We’re the rulers here, so called king of the Jews. Whatever you might think yourself to be, you’re nothing before us!”

Again Pilate declares Jesus innocent; there is nothing the authorities have told him that warrants him sentencing Jesus to death. But the Jews turn to their own laws. Look, they seem to say, our laws say this man should be put to death for blasphemy, but you won’t let us do it so you must do it. They are clear on Jesus’ claims!

D. Application:

1. Evil men succeed when good men remain quiet.
2. The quiet of good men starts to make them evil men as well!

Passage: John 19:8-16: The Leaders persist

A. Find Out:

1. How did Pilate respond to their charge of blasphemy? v.8
   • When Pilate heard this, he was even more afraid
2. What did he ask and how did Jesus reply? v.9
   • and he went back inside the palace. ‘Where do you come from?’ he asked Jesus, but Jesus gave him no answer.
3. What did Pilate then say and how did Jesus reply? v.10,11
   • ‘Do you refuse to speak to me?’ Pilate said. ‘Don’t you realise I have power either to free you or to crucify you?’ 11 Jesus answered, ‘You would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above. Therefore the one who handed me over to you is guilty of a greater sin.’
4. What did the crowd shout and how did Pilate respond? v.12,13
   • From then on, Pilate tried to set Jesus free, but the Jewish leaders kept shouting, ‘If you let this man go, you are no friend of Caesar. Anyone who claims to be a king opposes Caesar.’ 13 When Pilate heard this, he brought Jesus out and sat down on the judge’s seat at a place known as the Stone Pavement (which in Aramaic is Gabbatha).
5. What did Pilate ask and what did they reply? v.15
   • But they shouted, ‘Take him away! Take him away! Crucify him!’ ‘Shall I crucify your king?’ Pilate asked. ‘We have no king but Caesar,’ the chief priests answered.
6. So how did Pilate respond eventually? v.16
   • Finally Pilate handed him over to them to be crucified. So the soldiers took charge of Jesus.

B. Think:

1. What pressure had the crowd previously put on Pilate?
2. How had that affected him?
3. What pressure do they now put on him?

C. Comment:

At the mention that Jesus might be the Son of God Pilate, possibly because he is a superstitious heathen, becomes afraid. The Romans had their gods. Was this one of them come down? That prompts him to ask where Jesus had come from, but Jesus sensing the futility of his present reasoning doesn’t even bother to give him an answer. Don’t you realise the power I have, is Pilate’s way of trying to make Jesus speak. You only have power because it’s given you from one above you (Caesar and ultimately God) and (implied) power brings with it responsibility, and so the one who handed me over (Caiaphas) is guilty of greater sin, for he should have known better.

Amazingly Pilate goes along with this, probably realising the truth of what Jesus says, and so goes to release Jesus. However the Jews play their trump card: if you are a friend of Caesar’s you’ll do what we say. Jesus had just reminded Pilate about his power coming from Caesar and now the crowds play on this. The implication is, we’ll tell Caesar if you don’t crucify this man! Politics is a dirty business and Pilate doesn’t want to have to go justifying himself to an unpredictable Caesar. Pilate gives in and Jesus is condemned to death!

D. Application:

1. Political expediency is the enemy of truth.
2. Political expediency is the brother of cowardice.

Passage: John 19:17-24: Crucified!

A. Find Out:

1. What did Jesus have to do? v.17
   • Carrying his own cross, he went out to the place of the Skull (which in Aramaic is called Golgotha).
2. How was Jesus crucified? v.18
   •  There they crucified him, and with him two others – one on each side and Jesus in the middle.
3. What did Pilate have written? v.19,20
   •  Pilate had a notice prepared and fastened to the cross. It read: jesus of nazareth, the king of the jews. 20 Many of the Jews read this sign, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and the sign was written in Aramaic, Latin and Greek.
4. Who protested in what way? v.21
   •  The chief priests of the Jews protested to Pilate, ‘Do not write “The King of the Jews”, but that this man claimed to be king of the Jews.’
5. What was Pilate’s response? v.22
   • Pilate answered, ‘What I have written, I have written.’
6. What also happened and why? v.23,24
   • When the soldiers crucified Jesus, they took his clothes, dividing them into four shares, one for each of them, with the undergarment remaining. This garment was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom. 24 ‘Let’s not tear it,’ they said to one another. ‘Let’s decide by lot who will get it.’ This happened that the scripture might be fulfilled that said, ‘They divided my clothes among them and cast lots for my garment.’ So this is what the soldiers did.

B. Think:

Think about WHO this was happening to!

C. Comment:

The facts are simple: they crucified the sinless Son of God by hanging him from a cross for hours, probably having nailed him to it through his wrists and feet so that his hung there in excruciating pain, hardly able to breath, in the hot sun with the crowd taunting him. When we read this passage it leaves us wanting to hide away in a corner in shame because of what we, mankind, did to Jesus. Pilate put a sign above him for all to see displaying in contempt “King of the Jews”.

The religious leaders objected and Pilate ignored the objection. The soldiers fulfilled prophecy by casting lots for Jesus’ coat. Those are the facts of this passage. John is very sparing with his details, he simply wants to confirm the basic facts given by the other Gospels, they are left to fill in more details.

Remember what we have here: facts of history. This actually happened nearly two thousand years ago. It is these facts and these facts alone the make it possible for you to be accepted by God today, sinner that you are. God doesn’t turn a blind eye, but as the judge of the world He looks and sees Jesus taking YOUR punishment on the Cross and therefore declares you freed; the punishment has been taken, there is no more to be said about your wrongs (sins). The way is open for you now to receive all the goodness of heaven because all your badness, guilt and shame was taken by Jesus on the Cross.

D. Application:

1. Jesus died – in extreme pain – to take my punishment!
2. I owe him everything.

Passage: John 19:25-30: On the cross; Jesus dies

A. Find Out:

1. Who were standing nearby? v.25
   • Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother, his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene.
2. Who also did Jesus see there? v.26a
   • When Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple whom he loved standing near by
3. What 2 statements did Jesus make with what result? v.26b,27
   • he said to her, ‘Woman, here is your son,’ 27 and to the disciple, ‘Here is your mother.’ From that time on, this disciple took her into his home.
4. As he hung there what else did he say? v.28
   • Later, knowing that everything had now been finished, and so that Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, ‘I am thirsty.’
5. So then what happened? v.29
   •  A jar of wine vinegar was there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put the sponge on a stalk of the hyssop plant, and lifted it to Jesus’ lips.
6. After he had drunk, what did Jesus do? v.30
   • When he had received the drink, Jesus said, ‘It is finished.’ With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

B. Think:

1. What is the point of Jesus words to those close to him?
2. What does John indicate about the manner of Jesus’ actual death?
3. What does this passage show about Jesus’ control over the situation?

C. Comment:

John again leaves out many of the details given in the Synoptic Gospels, he doesn’t need to repeat them, they are well known already. Instead he gives the barest of details. First he picks up a detail the others had missed because it involved him. He (referred to as ‘the disciple whom he loved’) was standing near the Cross with several of the women who had been especially close to Jesus. Even as he is hanging there, Jesus looks down and through his pain he gives a cryptic instruction to John to take his place and look after Mary for him. Jesus shows care even in the midst of agony.

John then picks up on the detail two of the others had mentioned, that of Jesus being offered vinegar (or sour wine that the soldiers used) on the Cross. John shows that this was given in response to Jesus’ apparent plea, yet that it was in fact to ensure that even the most minute detail of prophecy was fulfilled (see Psa 69:21). And then he gave up or relinquished his spirit and died. John is clear that this was an act of the will, for he has decreed that all had been done as was planned from the beginning (see Rev 13:8) in the utterance, “It is finished”. In complete control at every moment, Jesus acts out every detail of the divine plan and then departs!

D. Application:

1. Even on the Cross Jesus was in complete control. Incredible!
2. Even on the Cross Jesus shows care and concern. Wonderful!

Passage: John 19:31-37: Confirmation of death

A. Find Out:

1. What day was just coming? v.31a
   • Now it was the day of Preparation, and the next day was to be a special Sabbath.
2. So what did the Jews want to happen? v.31b
   • Because the Jewish leaders did not want the bodies left on the crosses during the Sabbath, they asked Pilate to have the legs broken and the bodies taken down.
3. What did the soldiers find when they went to do it? v.32,33
   • The soldiers therefore came and broke the legs of the first man who had been crucified with Jesus, and then those of the other. 33 But when they came to Jesus and found that he was already dead, they did not break his legs.
4. So what did they do instead to Jesus? v.34
   • Instead, one of the soldiers pierced Jesus’ side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water.
5. What does John say about all this? v.35
   • The man who saw it has given testimony, and his testimony is true. He knows that he tells the truth, and he testifies so that you also may believe.
6. How did he view these events? v.36,37
   • These things happened so that the scripture would be fulfilled: ‘Not one of his bones will be broken,’ 37 and, as another scripture says, ‘They will look on the one they have pierced.’

B. Think:

1. Look up Ex 12:46 / Num 9:12 / Psa 34:20 / Zech 12:10
2. What are the key points John is making in this passage?

C. Comment:

Roman soldiers were part of one of the most harsh disciplinary regimes in history. When they were given a job to do they did it, or paid the consequences! They knew death when they saw it and when they came to Jesus, he was dead! Their reason for having to check was quite clear: the Jewish authorities were concerned that the next day, Saturday, was special Sabbath, the start of the week of celebration, and this would be spoiled by the sight of these men still hanging outside the city.

Their execution would have to be ended quickly. The way it was done was to break the legs of the person on the cross. It has been suggested that this would bring death through two possible ways. First the shear shock of the pain could cause heart shock, and second the stretched hanging body on the cross would make breathing impossible and death by suffocation would immediately follow.

As the soldiers come to Jesus they realise he is dead already but one of them (to make sure?) thrusts his spear up into Jesus’ side and all the liquid surrounding the heart gushed out. John is saying to us that Jesus gave up his life and then the soldiers guaranteed the death in this manner. John sees this as a clear fulfilment of the prophecies of the Old Testament that Jewish scholars had pondered over for so long, as pictured in the Passover lamb. This was THE lamb being offered.

D. Application:

1. Jesus died! The evidence clearly denies any alternative.
2. Every part of his death fulfilled prophecy from centuries back.

Passage: John 19:38-42: The body taken and buried

A. Find Out:

1. Who asked Pilate for Jesus’ body? v.38
   • Later, Joseph of Arimathea asked Pilate for the body of Jesus. Now Joseph was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly because he feared the Jewish leaders. With Pilate’s permission, he came and took the body away.
2. Who also came with him? v.39a
   • He was accompanied by Nicodemus, the man who earlier had visited Jesus at night.
3. What had he brought with him? v.39b
   • Nicodemus brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about thirty-five kilograms.
4. What did they do with Jesus’ body? v.40
   • Taking Jesus’ body, the two of them wrapped it, with the spices, in strips of linen. This was in accordance with Jewish burial customs.
5. What was there nearby? v.41
   • At the place where Jesus was crucified, there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb, in which no one had ever been laid.
6. Why did they put Jesus there? v.42
   • Because it was the Jewish day of Preparation and since the tomb was near by, they laid Jesus there.

B. Think:

1. Read Lk 23:50 ,51 and Jn 3:1 What were the similarities between Joseph and Nicodemus?
2. Read Mt. 27:59,60 What else do we know about the tomb?
3. Read Isa 53:9 How was this a prophetic fulfilment?

C. Comment:

We have already quoted the dictum, “Bad men succeed when good men stay silent”, and we are now left wondering what would have happened if these two good men had spoken out earlier. Joseph and Nicodemus are both members of the ruling religious council, both were followers of Jesus, both remained silent, and both allowed the bad men’s counsel to prevail. As it happens, it WAS God’s will for Jesus to be put to death but that is no excuse for remaining silent. Yet now the two of them come out into the open and ask for the body and take and bury it.

Their actions would have come to the ears of the other authorities but now that doesn’t matter. These two good but silent men are past worrying about what others think, they must be stricken with guilt and shame and remorse. We sometimes need to go through such a crisis before we will stop worrying about what others will think!

Time was running out on the day and the Sabbath was coming so they hastily put the body into Joseph’s own tomb, embalm it as was the custom and seal the tomb. Prophecy has been fulfilled yet again. Every step of the way the decreed purpose of God is being worked out just as He said it would be. Amazing!

D. Application:

1. Do we need a crisis before we will speak up for good?
2. God will take even our wrongs (silence) for His purposes.