John 19 Verses 17 to 27 Standing by the Cross May 14, 2023
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· 2 viewsJesus Cares for us during the most painful experiences of our lives
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John 19 Verses 17 to 27 Standing by the Cross May 14, 2023
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Background Scriptures:
· Luke 23:39-43 (NASB)
39 One of the criminals who were hanged there was hurling abuse at Him, saying, "Are You not the Christ? Save Yourself and us!"
40 But the other answered, and rebuking him said, "Do you not even fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation?
41 "And we indeed are suffering justly, for we are receiving what we deserve for our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong."
42 And he was saying, "Jesus, remember me when You come in Your kingdom!"
43 And He said to him, "Truly I say to you, today you shall be with Me in Paradise."
· 1 Peter 5:7 (NASB)
7 casting all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you.
Main Idea: Jesus cares for us during the most painful experiences of our lives.
Study Aim: To understand the Cross reveals the ultimate example of God’s grace.
Create Interest:
· Faith means you’ve found the truth and are confident in it. When the darkness of deception parts and the first rays of truth break into our hearts, that’s when faith blooms. Faith is the work of God opening our eyes to His truth.
· Faith isn’t fueled by fantasy. Faith is informed by revelation. We don’t believe on Jesus of Nazareth because we’re gullible, because we no longer want to think deeply about life, or because we hate the truth.
· We believe on Jesus because God has revealed Himself to us. God has opened our minds to understand the truth. God has delivered us from our gluttonous addiction to lies and given us an insatiable appetite for what is true. The Christian faith is not uninformed or unreasonable.
· The faith we profess is informed by the Word of God, and in his Word we find reasonsto believe in Jesus. In John 19 we discover how Jesus fulfilled prophecy and finished redemption; two more reasons to believe in Him.[1] Let’s continue our journey in John as we strengthen our faith….Forsaking All I Trust Him…with my life, my all, eternally.
Lesson in Historical Context:
· Taking the Jewish chief priests at their word that they are loyal Romans, with “no king but Caesar” (v. 15), Pilate finally hands Jesus over to them to be crucified (v. 16). The implication is that even though crucifixion was a distinctly Roman method of execution, in the end “the Jews” crucified Jesus, as surely as if they drove the nails with their own hands. The crucifixion took place almost immediately (vv. 16–18)
· Jesus carries his own cross piece most of the way to the place of execution until His weakened body, was unable. Simon of Cyrene finished that journey with and for Him, and four Roman soldiers quickly carry out the will of the Jewish chief priests. At the same time, the ironic title over the cross (King of the Jews) gave the lie to their insistence that Caesar was their only king (vv. 19–22). Then, in a series of brief vignettes, Jesus was stripped of his clothing (vv. 23–24),and gave up His closest human relationships (vv. 25–27) and finally life itself (vv. 28–30), the first and last of these in explicit fulfillment of scripture (vv. 24, 28).[2]
Bible Study:
John 19:17-18 (NASB) Bearing the Cross
17 They took Jesus, therefore, and He went out, bearing His own cross, to the place called the Place of a Skull, which is called in Hebrew, Golgotha.
18 There they crucified Him, and with Him two other men, one on either side, and Jesus in between.
· Given this, the brevity and simplicity with which John records the event are startling.
o His first readers were familiar with the mechanics of crucifixion, so John didn’t need to go into the details of what happened.
o Neither does he want us to become so taken up with the physical suffering of Christ that we miss the greater significance of what was taking place.
o But it is appropriate that we should be aware of what lay behind these summary words of John.
· It seems quite likely that when the soldiers took charge of Christ they would have given him an additional beating to weaken his body prior to crucifixion. The cross beam (patibulum) was then placed upon his shoulders and he began to carry it out towards the place of execution, known as ‘the place of the Skull’, which in the local Aramaic language was translated ‘Golgotha’ and is known by us today as ‘Calvary’, the Latin translation of the same expression.
· Modern executions are usually carried out in almost clinical privacy, but Jesus was nailed to a cross and hung up for everyone to see. It was Passover season and there were thousands of visitors in the city. The place of execution was outside the city where many people would pass. Jesus was a well-known figure, so His arrest and condemnation would be topics for discussion. It was natural for people to gather and watch the grim scene.[3]
· The sight of a beaten, bloodied, terrified prisoner carrying part of the instrument of his own execution illustrated that crime does not pay. Since the time of the church fathers, interpreters have seen in Christ’s bearing His cross an allusion to Isaac who, like Jesus, carried the wood that would have been used in his sacrifice (Gen. 22:6).
· In keeping with Old Testament law (Num. 15:36) and Roman practice, executions took place outside the city. Therefore, Jesus went out of Jerusalem to the place of execution. That too fulfilled Old Testament typology. According to the Mosaic law, the sin offerings were to be taken outside the camp of Israel. Exodus 29:14 reads, “But the flesh of the bull and its hide and its refuse, you shall burn with fire outside the camp; it is a sin offering.”
o Noting the theological significance of Jesus, the final sin offering, being executed outside the city, the author of Hebrews wrote, “For the bodies of those animals whose blood is brought into the holy place by the high priest as an offering for sin, are burned outside the camp. Therefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people through His own blood, suffered outside the gate” (Heb. 13:11–12).[4]
· Commentators have also noted the place of execution was outside of the city walls to maximize the number of people who could view the execution and to call attention to criminals cut off from society and thus designated as outsiders. Isaiah 53:3 calls our attention to this fact.
o Isaiah 53:3 (NASB)
3 He was despised and forsaken of men, A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; And like one from whom men hide their face He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.
· At Calvary the upright beam would already have been in place, so Christ would have been laid on his back and his hands nailed (through the wrists) to the cross piece. This was then raised up and fastened to the upright beam. Nails were then hammered through the feet, which were probably allowed to rest upon a small piece of wood (sedecula) that was attached to the upright beam and which partially supported the body’s weight. This was there to prolong the agony of death.
· Crucifixion was the cruelest form of execution, intended to provide an indelible warning to all who witnessed the event.
o On average, it took a victim three days to die, although some had been known to last for up to nine.
o ‘It was the most cruel and shameful of all punishments,’ said the Roman statesman-philosopher Cicero. ‘Let it never come near the body of a Roman citizen; nay, not even near his thoughts or eyes or ears.’
· Golgotha in Aramaic (The place of the skull) was probably called this because the hill with its stony barren top looked like a skull. The two others who were crucified with Jesus are mentioned to make understandable the following sequel in which their legs were broken but not those of Jesus (cf. John 19:32–33). Luke added that the two were “criminals” (Luke 23:32–33), and Matthew called them “robbers” (Matt. 27:44).[5]
o John 3:13-15 (NASB)
13 "No one has ascended into heaven, but He who descended from heaven: the Son of Man.
14 "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up;
15 so that whoever believes will in Him have eternal life.
o John 10:11 (NASB)
11 "I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep.
· The event of the cross was Jesus being crucified between two sinners, two unjust thieves. This is a picture of two things.
o It is a picture of the preeminence of His sacrifice. He was surrounded by a world of unjust men, yet He was dying for them.
§ 1 Peter 2:24 (NASB)
24 and He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed.
§ 1 Peter 3:17-18 (NASB)
17 For it is better, if God should will it so, that you suffer for doing what is right rather than for doing what is wrong.
18 For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit;
o It is a picture of preeminent guilt. Jesus Christ was being counted as the King of sinners.
§ Isaiah 53:6 (NASB)
6 All of us like sheep have gone astray, Each of us has turned to his own way; But the LORD has caused the iniquity of us all To fall on Him.
§ 2 Corinthians 5:20-21 (NASB)
20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.
21 He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him..[6]
John 19:19-22 (NASB) His title displayed for the world to see
19 Pilate also wrote an inscription and put it on the cross. It was written, "JESUS THE NAZARENE, THE KING OF THE JEWS."
20 Therefore many of the Jews read this inscription, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city; and it was written in Hebrew, Latin and in Greek.
21 So the chief priests of the Jews were saying to Pilate, "Do not write, 'The King of the Jews'; but that He said, 'I am King of the Jews.'"
22 Pilate answered, "What I have written I have written."
· In yet another act of bitterness against the Jewish authorities Pilate found a way to get back at the Jewish authorities who pressured him to execute an innocent man. Pilate taunted them with the following written charge: ‘Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews’. And this was written in three languages: Aramaic (the common language in Palestine), Latin (the official language of the Roman army and government) and Greek(the common language used throughout the Roman world—known and used from Spain to Asia).[7]
o It was written in Aramaicfor the Jews. This was the language of morality and religion. Jesus is the king of morality, of true religion, of faith, because He is God. Unless He is your king and Savior, there will be no salvation for you.
o It was written in Latin for the Romans. This was the language of law and government. Jesus is king of law and justice. True justice is found in Him for He is the Just One.… Acts 7:52 (NASB)
"Which one of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? They killed those who had previously announced the coming of the Righteous One, whose betrayers and murderers you have now become.”[8]
o It was written in Greek for the Jews and foreigners. Greek was the language of the world, culture, philosophy, and science. Jesus is king of creation and science. Paul said, “And he is before all things, and by Him all things consist.” (Colossians 1:17)
· After Jesus was nailed to the cross the sign fixed to the cross for all to read. The execution styles of the Romans were clearly designed for publicity in addition to retributive suffering.
o The record of the inscription is slightly different in the various Gospels, with John being the longest.[9]
· The chief priests had rejected Jesus as their king, declaring, ‘We have no king but Caesar’ (Vs.15), but Pilate was declaring this crucified person to be their king. Having been forced to back down and hand Jesus over for crucifixion under the implied threat from the chief priests that they would report him to Caesar, Pilate was in no mood to listen to their protest. Pilate answered, ‘What I have written, I have written.’ He was determined to let the affront stand.[10]
Thoughts to Soak on:
· The people read the title but were indifferent to it. It had no effect upon them. There was no mass movement of sorrow and repentance, no final acceptance of Him.
· The religionists objected to the title. However, they did not ask that it be removed. They asked that the wording be changed to read "He said, 'I am the King of the Jews.' " Their unbelief was foul and obstinate.
· Jesus claimed to be "the King of the Jews," the promised Messiah.
· The title "King of the Jews" was written in the three great languages of the world. This providentially symbolized His rightful rule as King of the universe.
o Philippians 2:8-11 (NASB)
8 Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
9 For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name,
10 so that at the name of Jesus EVERY KNEE WILL BOW, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
11 and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
o 1 Timothy 6:14-16 (NASB)
14 that you keep the commandment without stain or reproach until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ,
15 which He will bring about at the proper time—He who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords,
16 who alone possesses immortality and dwells in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see. To Him be honor and eternal dominion! Amen.
John 19:23-24 (NASB) Gambling for clothes
23 Then the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took His outer garments and made four parts, a part to every soldier and also the tunic; now the tunic was seamless, woven in one piece.
24 So they said to one another, "Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it, to decide whose it shall be"; this was to fulfill the Scripture: "THEY DIVIDED MY OUTER GARMENTS AMONG THEM, AND FOR MY CLOTHING THEY CAST LOTS."
· “Then the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took his garments, and made four parts, to every soldier a part; and also his coat: now the coat was without seam, woven from the top throughout” (19:23). The soldiers had done their dreadful deed. Now they had time to turn to their own interests. They were far more interested in the spoils than in the Savior.
· There seem to have been four of them. Their rightful spoil was the dying man’s clothes. There were two principal garments: the cloak or outer garment and the tunic or inner garment. They made short work of the cloak, simply tearing it into four parts along the seams. Each would thus have a serviceable piece of cloth to be adapted to other uses.
· But the tunic was different. It was a seamless robe, evidently a garment of some value, perhaps woven for the master by one of his disciples or by his mother or sisters. In its seamless perfection it was like the robe of the high priest; and it was like the inner life of the Lord—flawless, perfect. It was fitting that Israel’s wicked high priest should rend his robe (Matthew 26:65).He was an evil man and he disgraced his office.
o Although he did not know it, he graphically enacted the rending of the office he bore, which through Calvary was rendered obsolete. God endorsed the action by rending the temple veil (Matthew 27:51), thereby proclaiming Judaism null and void. But no such thing was permitted to the inner tunic worn by the sinless Savior of the world.
· Motivated by a mean purpose, desire for maximum worldly gain, and resorting to the casting of lots, the soldiers fulfilled an ancient prophecy.
o John was there and saw the whole thing. His account is an eyewitness account. He had thought about it often. John wrote it all down:
§ “They said therefore among themselves, Let us not rend it, but cast lots for it, whose it shall be: that the scripture might be fulfilled, which saith, They parted my raiment among them, and for my vesture they did cast lots. These things therefore the soldiers did” (19:24). John had no doubt that the behavior of the Roman soldiers on this occasion was an accurate fulfillment of Psalm 22:18.[11]
· All four Gospel writers have recorded this event, but only Matthew’s and John’s accounts contain the direct reference to Ps 22:18. These soldiers thus reduced the Lord to the position described by Paul in 1 Tim 6:7,
o “we brought nothing into the world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out”—except that He gained His redeemed as His own, and these He will take to be with Him in the coming day.[12]
§ Mark 8:36 (NASB)
36 "For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world, and forfeit his soul?
§ 1 Timothy 2:5-6 (NASB)
5 For there is one God, andone mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,
6 who gave Himself as a ransom for all, the testimony given at the proper time.
§ Hebrews 9:24 (NASB)
24 For Christ did not enter a holy place made with hands, a mere copy of the true one, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us;
John 19:25-27 (NASB) Compassion for His mother
25 Therefore the soldiers did these things. 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 then 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!" From that hour the disciple took her into his own household.
· The Jews were present at the crucifixion to satisfy their fiendish craving for His death; the Roman soldiers were there from duty; but here is a group noticed by the Spirit who had been drawn there by affectionate devotion for Jesus. They were not looking on from a distance, nor mingling with the morbid crowds in attendance.
· They stood “by the cross.” A pitiably small company, five in all; yet a deeply significant number, for five is the number of grace, and in contrast from the crowds which evidenced man’s depravity and enmity, these were the trophies of Divine favor. This little company comprised four women and one man.
o The first was Mary, the Savior’s mother, who now realized the full force of that prophetic word spoken by the aged Simeon more than thirty years before: “Yet, a sword shall pierce through thine own soul also” (Luke 2:35).
o The second was Mary the wife of Cleophas, of whom we read but little, yet in that little what a wealth of love!—here at the cross, in Matthew 28:1 at the sepulcher; called here “his mother’s sister”—evidently her sister-in-law, sister of Joseph, for it is most unlikely that she was a full-blood sister with the same name as herself.
o The third was Mary of Magdala, out of whom Christ had cast seven demons, and to whom He appeared first when He was risen from the dead.
o How significant that each of them was named “Mary,” which means bitterness! What anguish of spirit was theirs as they beheld the dying Lamb!
§ Equally significant is the absenceof another Mary—the sister of Lazarus!
o A fourth woman was there—Matthew 27:56—the mother of John, though she is not mentioned here.
o The fifth person, John, was “the disciple whom Jesus loved”—so far as we know, the only one of the eleven apostles who was present.[13]
· This king who reigns from a cross on Golgotha is different. He is a king whose embrace is as wide as the world, the one to whom ‘all authority in heaven and on earth has been given’ (Mt. 28:18) and yet who can simultaneously embrace each of us in a personal, loving commitment which is the dance of our hearts.
· It is perfectly illustrated in this paragraph, for, as Jesus hangs there with the burden of a world’s redemption upon his shoulders, he finds time to express his personal loving concern for his mother and one of his special friends.[14]
· Jesus calls Mary, “Woman,” just as He had in John 2 at the wedding at Cana. His hour is come. He is to die, but He will rise again. He is to be glorified. His relationship to His mother is to be severed. To her, as well as to us, He is to be the glorified Christ. His resurrection will clear her name forever. Her reputation will be vindicated.
· But she must come to Christ in faith just as every other believer comes. While He is dying for the sins of the world, He will not neglect her. We know that Mary will be praying with the disciples in the Upper Room after His resurrection (see Acts 1:14), and after that she drops out of the picture. As long as she lived John would keep her in his home and care for her, as the Lord Jesus asked him to do.[15]
Thoughts to soak on:
· The women at the cross. They were there at great risk. Jesus was …
o a revolutionary in the eyes of Rome
o a heretic in the eyes of the religionists
§ Any supporter of Jesus who stood at the cross ran the risk of ridicule and arrest. Nevertheless, the women stood there.
· It was not easy for Mary to watch her Son convulsing in pain, or for her sister to hear the curses hurled at Him. It was not easy for the wife of Cleophas to see the spit of the crowd running down His face, or for Mary Magdalene to see His blood flowing from His wounds. But these four women, lovers of the Lord and followers of Him, were there at the foot of the Cross, no matter how great the price, no matter how deep the pain.[16]
o Why? They loved Him. There is no other explanation: they simply loved Him. He had done so much for them that they were willing to stand by Him no matter the cost.[17] Could we do what they did?
o Consider the following Scriptures.
§ 2 Corinthians 5:14-15 (NASB)
14 For the love of Christ controls us, having concluded this, that one died for all, therefore all died;
15 and He died for all, so that they who live might no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf.
§ Luke 9:23 (NASB)
23 And He was saying to themall, "If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me.
§ Hebrews 4:15-16 (NASB)
15 For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin.
16 Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
[1]Matt Carter and Josh Wredberg, Exalting Jesus in John (Nashville, TN: Holman Reference, 2017), 368.
[2]J. Ramsey Michaels, The Gospel of John, The New International Commentary on the Old and New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI; Cambridge, UK: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2010), 946.
[3]Warren W. Wiersbe, The Bible Exposition Commentary, vol. 1 (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1996), 383.
[4]John F. MacArthur Jr., John 12–21, MacArthur New Testament Commentary (Chicago, IL: Moody Publishers, 2008), 348–349.
[5]Edwin A. Blum, “John,” in The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures, ed. J. F. Walvoord and R. B. Zuck, vol. 2 (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1985), 339.
[6]Leadership Ministries Worldwide, The Gospel according to John, The Preacher’s Outline & Sermon Bible (Chattanooga, TN: Leadership Ministries Worldwide, 2004), 370.
[7]Andrew Paterson, Opening Up John’s Gospel, Opening Up Commentary (Leominster: Day One Publications, 2010), 162–164.
[8]Rod Mattoon, Treasures from John, vol. 2, Treasures from Scripture Series (Springfield, IL: Rod Mattoon, 2006), 311–312.
[9]Gerald L. Borchert, John 12–21, vol. 25B, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2002), 264–265.
[10]Colin G. Kruse, John: An Introduction and Commentary, vol. 4, Tyndale New Testament Commentaries (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2003), 361.
[11]John Phillips, Exploring the Gospel of John: An Expository Commentary, The John Phillips Commentary Series (Kregel Publications; WORDsearch Corp., 2009), Jn 19:23–24.
[12]John Heading, John, What the Bible Teaches (John Ritchie Ltd., 2000), 311.
[13]Arthur Walkington Pink, Exposition of the Gospel of John (Swengel, PA: Bible Truth Depot, 1923–1945), 1051.
[14]Bruce Milne, The Message of John: Here Is Your King!: With Study Guide, The Bible Speaks Today (Leicester, England; Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1993), 280.
[15]J. Vernon McGee, Thru the Bible Commentary: The Gospels (John 11-21), electronic ed., vol. 39 (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1991), 158.
[16]Jon Courson, Jon Courson’s Application Commentary (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2003), 588.
[17]Leadership Ministries Worldwide, The Gospel according to John, The Preacher’s Outline & Sermon Bible (Chattanooga, TN: Leadership Ministries Worldwide, 2004), 371.