John 19: Crucifixion, death & burial

• v.1-16 Jesus Sentenced to Be Crucified
• v.17-27 The Crucifixion of Jesus
• v.28-37 The Death of Jesus
• v.38-42 The Burial of Jesus

v.1-16 Jesus Sentenced to Be Crucified

v.1-3 Jesus is beaten and flogged

v.1 Then Pilate took Jesus and had him flogged.

v.2,3 The soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head. They clothed him in a purple robe and went up to him again and again, saying, “Hail, king of the Jews!” And they slapped him in the face.

[Note: Pilate has Jesus beaten and the soldiers mock and slap him.]

v.4-7 Yet again Pilate tries to have Jesus released

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.”

v.5 When Jesus came out wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe, Pilate said to them, “Here is the man!”

v.6 As soon as the chief priests and their officials saw him, they shouted, “Crucify! Crucify!”  But Pilate answered, “You take him and crucify him. As for me, I find no basis for a charge against 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.”

[Note: Pilate again tries to release him and brings Jesus out, but the religious leaders cry for him to be crucified. Pilate persists but they insist.]

v.8-11 Pilate challenges Jesus yet again

v.8,9 When Pilate heard this, he was even more afraid, and he went back inside the palace. “Where do you come from?” he asked Jesus, but Jesus gave him no answer.

v.10 “Do you refuse to speak to me?” Pilate said. “Don’t you realize I have power either to free you or to crucify you?”

v.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.”

[Note: Pilate questions Jesus again and presses him and Jesus speaks of Satan’s authority.]

v.12-16 The crowd pile political pressure on Pilate who eventually gives way

v.12 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.”

v.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).

v.14 It was the day of Preparation of the Passover; it was about noon. “Here is your king,” Pilate said to the Jews.

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.

v.16 Finally Pilate handed him over to them to be crucified. So the soldiers took charge of Jesus.

[Note: The crowd use Caesar’s name and Pilate brings him out again and heralds him as their king but they insist on crucifixion and eventually Pilate gives way.]

v.17-27 The Crucifixion of Jesus

v.17-22 Sent for crucifixion, Jesus has a sign put up over him by Pilate

v.17 Carrying his own cross, he went out to the place of the Skull (which in Aramaic is called Golgotha).

v.18 There they crucified him, and with him two others—one on each side and Jesus in the middle.

v.19 Pilate had a notice prepared and fastened to the cross. It read: Jesus of Nazareth, the king of the Jews.

v.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.

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.”

v.22 Pilate answered, “What I have written, I have written.”

[Note: He is taken out to Golgotha and there he was crucified. Pilate posts who he is, the Jews read it and protest, but Pilate stands on what he’s had written.]

v.23-27 Activity around the cross

v.23 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.

v.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.

v.25 Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother, his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene.

v.26,27 When Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to her, “Woman, here is your son,” and to the disciple, “Here is your mother.” From that time on, this disciple took her into his home.

[Note: The soldiers share Jesus clothes drawing lots according to prophecy, [Psa22:18], while the women watch. Jesus hands his mother into John’s care.]

v.28-37 The Death of Jesus

v.28-30 Jesus dies

v.28 Later, knowing that everything had now been finished, and so that Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, “I am thirsty.”

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.

v.30 When he had received the drink, Jesus said, “It is finished.” With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

[Note: Jesus declares he is thirsty, and they provide the drink, and then he gives up his life.]

v.31-34 The soldier confirm death

v.31 Now it was the day of Preparation, and the next day was to be a special Sabbath. 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.

v.32 The soldiers therefore came and broke the legs of the first man who had been crucified with Jesus, and then those of the other.

v.33 But when they came to Jesus and found that he was already dead, they did not break his legs.

v.34 Instead, one of the soldiers pierced Jesus’ side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water.

[Note: Because of the day the authorities want it speeded up, so the soldiers break the legs of the two thieves to speed up death – so that breathing would become impossible hanging there, but they didn’t do it to Jesus as he was already dead, but to check it they thrust a spear in his side.]

v.35-37 John testifies to the truth of 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.

v.36,37 These things happened so that the scripture would be fulfilled: “Not one of his bones will be broken,” and, as another scripture says, “They will look on the one they have pierced.”

[Note: The watcher – John? – testified to the fact of his death which was in line with prophecy –  Exo 12:46; Num 9:12; Psa 34:20, Zech. 12:10.]

v.38-42 The Burial of Jesus

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.

v.39 He was accompanied by Nicodemus, the man who earlier had visited Jesus at night. Nicodemus brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds.

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.

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.

v.42 Because it was the Jewish day of Preparation and since the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there.

[Note: Joseph gets permission to take the body and Nicodemus goes with him. They prepared the body and nearby was a new tomb so they laid him there.]

For those who may wish to make a study of this chapter, to perhaps think some more about what you have been reading, use the link below: