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Crucifixion

Writer's picture: DeborahDeborah







John 19 ESV

Luke 23:50-56 and Mark 15:43 (Joseph of Arimathea)

John 3:1-21, John 7:50-51, and John 19:39 (Nicodemus)

Forgiveness Series

Once Pilate decided he was going to support the Jewish Council headed up by Annas and Caiaphas the High Priests, he sought to do what they wanted him to do with Jesus.


In John 19:1-6 we read, “Then Pilate took Jesus and flogged him. And the soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head and arrayed him in a purple robe. They came up to him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” and struck him with their hands. Pilate went out again and said to them, “See, I am bringing him out to you that you may know that I find no guilt in him.” So Jesus came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. Pilate said to them, “Behold the man!” When the chief priests and the officers saw him, they cried out, “Crucify him, crucify him!” Pilate said to them, “Take him yourselves and crucify him, for I find no guilt in him.”

Hummm…that didn’t go exactly like the Hebrew Council had planned. In verse 6 they were trying to capitalize on crowd mentality, getting the crucifixion moving along on a steady pace. Instead, Pilate put it back on them and he told the Hebrew Council to go crucify Jesus. Pilate even told them he didn’t have a reason to crucify Jesus.


Basically Pilate said, so YOU do it.

The problem with that was the Hebrew Council only had the power to make someone really uncomfortable. They could not have Jesus put to death.


Only the Romans could do that. The Hebrew Council needed Pilate to do the dirty work FOR them.


The way I see it, the council members (headed up by the High Priests) were planning how to obtain the outcome they wanted behind the scenes.


In John 19:7-11 we get their response, “ The Jews answered him, “We have a law, and according to that law he ought to die because he has made himself the Son of God.” When Pilate heard this statement, he was even more afraid. He entered his headquarters again and said to Jesus, “Where are you from?” But Jesus gave him no answer. So Pilate said to him, “You will not speak to me? Do you not know that I have authority to release you and authority to crucify you?” Jesus answered him, “You would have no authority over me at all unless it had been given you from above. Therefore he who delivered me over to you has the greater sin.”

Pilate really wanted nothing to do with this whole affair, but when he heard that Jesus had called Himself the Son of God, he wasn’t outraged. Instead, Pilate was afraid.


It’s almost like Pilate was thinking, ‘What if He really IS the Son of God!’


At that point Pilate went back to Jesus and pleaded with Him. Pilate asked Jesus where He came from, but Jesus refused to answer. At this point Pilate was begging Jesus to give him a reason to release Him. Pilate did NOT want to have Jesus’ blood on his hands. Jesus knew what Pilate was thinking so He only said it was the Hebrew Council (the Jews) who would ultimately commit the greater sin.


We learn in John 19:12, “From then on Pilate sought to release him, but the Jews cried out, “If you release this man, you are not Caesar's friend. Everyone who makes himself a king opposes Caesar.”


Pilate wanted to release Jesus but the Jews were not going to allow that.


In John 19:13-16 “So when Pilate heard these words, he brought Jesus out and sat down on the judgment seat at a place called The Stone Pavement, and in Aramaic Gabbatha. Now it was the day of Preparation of the Passover. It was about the sixth hour. He said to the Jews, “Behold your King!” They cried out, “Away with him, away with him, crucify him!” Pilate said to them, “Shall I crucify your King?” The chief priests answered, “We have no king but Caesar.” So he delivered him over to them to be crucified.”


John 19:17-22 tells us what they did to Jesus, “So they took Jesus, and he went out, bearing his own cross, to the place called The Place of a Skull, which in Aramaic is called Golgotha. There they crucified him, and with him two others, one on either side, and Jesus between them. Pilate also wrote an inscription and put it on the cross. It read, “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.” 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. 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.’” Pilate answered, “What I have written I have written.”


In John 19;23-24 we learn they divided His garments and gambled for His tunic instead of dividing it in pieces. “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, 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.”

John 19:25-27 tells us the women and John the Beloved disciple were with Jesus till the end “…standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother and his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, “Woman, behold, your son!” Then he said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother!” And from that hour the disciple took her to his own home.”

John was the only disciple of the original twelve who was with Jesus until the end.


In John 17:28-30, even in His last moments Jesus sought to fulfill scripture: “After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said (to fulfill the Scripture), “I thirst.” A jar full of sour wine stood there, so they put a sponge full of the sour wine on a hyssop branch and held it to his mouth. When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, “It is finished,” and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.”

They did not take Jesus’ Spirit from Him. Jesus gave up His Spirit.


Even after Jesus gave up His Spirit we read in John 19:31-37, that Jesus' body was pierced.

“Since it was the day of Preparation, and so that the bodies would not remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a high day), the Jews asked Pilate that their legs might be broken and that they might be taken away. So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first, and of the other who had been crucified with him. But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. But one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and at once there came out blood and water. He who saw it has borne witness—his testimony is true, and he knows that he is telling the truth—that you also may believe. For these things took place that the Scripture might be fulfilled: “Not one of his bones will be broken.” And again another Scripture says, “They will look on him whom they have pierced.”


Without being aware of what was written in scripture, the Roman soldiers fulfilled scripture by not breaking His legs.


Finally we read in John 19:38-42, where Jesus Jesus was buried. “After these things Joseph of Arimathea, who was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear of the Jews, asked Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus, and Pilate gave him permission. So he came and took away his body. Nicodemus also, who earlier had come to Jesus by night, came bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds in weight. So they took the body of Jesus and bound it in linen cloths with the spices, as is the burial custom of the Jews. Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb in which no one had yet been laid. So because of the Jewish day of Preparation, since the tomb was close at hand, they laid Jesus there.”


Joseph of Arimathea was a righteous man who was a member of the Hebrew Council (Luke 23:50–56 and Mark 15:43). Nicodemus was a Jewish Pharisee who was a believer who defended Jesus in John 7:50-51.


Mary, the Mother of Jesus and John the Beloved disciple along with the other women went home alone. They left Jesus in the Tomb. They were terribly alone.


And it was finished.


Today’s Spiritual Practice is: What they Thought

The believers that day had to be confused, lost, unable to comprehend what had just happened. They thought it was over.


In God, Deborah

acrazyjourney.com filled with pain


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About Me

I am a child of God. I can’t remember when God wasn’t part of my life. I served in a church setting for 30+ years and now I seek to help others see and find their sacred space. Daily when we turn to God we begin to recognize where God is at work in our lives.

 

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