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| Chapter 19 |
| Bible Text | Notes and Thoughts |
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1 ¶ Then Pilate therefore took Jesus and scourged Him. 2 And the soldiers plaited a crown of thorns and put it on His head, and they put on Him a purple robe 3 and said, "Hail, King of the Jews!" And they smote Him with their hands. 4 Pilate therefore went forth again and said unto them, "Behold, I bring him forth to you, that ye may know that I find no fault in him." 5 Then came Jesus forth, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. And Pilate said unto them, "Behold the man!" 6 When therefore the chief priests and the officers saw Him, they cried out, saying, "Crucify him! Crucify him!" Pilate said unto them, "Ye take him and crucify him, for I find no fault in him." 7 The Jews answered him, "We have a law, and by our law he ought to die, because he made himself the Son of God." 8 When Pilate therefore heard that saying, he was the more afraid. 9 And he went again into the judgment hall and said unto Jesus, "From whence art thou?" But Jesus gave him no answer. 10 Then said Pilate unto Him, "Speakest thou not unto me? Knowest thou not that I have power to crucify thee, and have power to release thee?" 11 Jesus answered, "Thou couldest have no power at all against Me, unless it were given thee from above. Therefore he that delivered Me unto thee hath the greater sin." 12 And from thenceforth Pilate sought to release Him, but the Jews cried out, saying, "If thou let this man go, thou art not Caesar’s friend. Whosoever maketh himself a king speaketh against Caesar." 13 When Pilate therefore heard that saying, he brought Jesus forth and sat down in the judgment seat in a place that is called the Pavement, but in Hebrew, Gabbatha. 14 And it was the preparation of the Passover and about the sixth hour, and Pilate said unto the Jews, "Behold your king!" 15 But they cried out, "Away with him, away with him! Crucify him!" Pilate said unto them, "Shall I crucify your king?" The chief priests answered, "We have no king but Caesar!" 16 ¶ Then he delivered Him therefore unto them to be crucified. And they took Jesus and led Him away. 17 And He, bearing His cross, went forth into a place called the Place of a Skull (which is called in the Hebrew, Golgotha) 18 where they crucified Him and two others with Him, one on either side and Jesus in the midst. 19 ¶ And Pilate wrote a title and put it on the cross. And the writing was: Jesus of Nazareth the King of the Jews. 20 Then many of the Jews read this title, for the place where Jesus was crucified was nigh to the city, and it was written in Hebrew and Greek and Latin. 21 Then said the chief priests of the Jews to Pilate, "Write not ‘The King of the Jews,’ but, ‘He said, I am King of the Jews.’" 22 Pilate answered, "What I have written, I have written." 23 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. 24 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 did they cast lots." These things therefore the soldiers did. 25 Now there stood by the cross of Jesus His mother and His mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. 26 When Jesus therefore saw His mother and the disciple standing by, whom He loved, He said unto His mother, "Woman, behold thy son!" 27 Then said He to the disciple, "Behold thy mother!" And from that hour, that disciple took her unto his own home. 28 After this Jesus, knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, said, "I thirst." 29 Now there was set there a vessel full of vinegar; and they filled a sponge with vinegar and put it upon hyssop, and put it to His mouth. 30 When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, He said, "It is finished." And He bowed His head and gave up His spirit. 31 ¶ The Jews therefore, because it was the preparation, and so that the bodies should not remain upon the cross on the Sabbath day (for that Sabbath day was a high day), besought Pilate that their legs might be broken and that they might be taken away. 32 Then came the soldiers and broke the legs of the first and of the other who was crucified with Him. 33 But when they came to Jesus and saw that He was dead already, they broke not His legs, 34 but one of the soldiers with a spear pierced His side, and forthwith there came out blood and water. 35 And he that saw it bore record, and his record is true, and he knoweth that he saith truly, that ye might believe. 36 For these things were done, that the Scripture should be fulfilled: "A bone of Him shall not be broken." 37 And again another Scripture saith, "They shall look on Him whom they pierced." 38 ¶ And after this, Joseph of Arimathea, being a disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear of the Jews, besought Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus; and Pilate gave him leave. He came therefore and took the body of Jesus. 39 And there came also Nicodemus, who at first came to Jesus by night, and brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about a hundred pounds in weight. 40 Then took they the body of Jesus and wound it in linen cloths with the spices, as is the manner of the Jews for burial. 41 Now in the place where He was crucified there was a garden, and in the garden a new sepulcher wherein was never man yet laid. 42 There they laid Jesus therefore because of the Jews’ Preparation Day, for the sepulcher was nigh at hand. |
For order of events at crucifixion. v1 At Pilate’s orders Jesus is scourged. This was an attempt by the governor to satisfy the Jews, that they may take pity on Him after a Roman scourging and not want His life. A Roman scourging meant that the prisoner would be whipped, across the back mainly, a number of times by a multi rope whip, often made of strips of leather, each of the thin ropes having a number of stones or pieces of bone fixed along its length. This would damage the skin considerably as the rope struck the persons body. Jesus had prophesied this treatment in Matt 20:19. See also Is 53:5. v2 "A crown of thorns," the soldiers were making fun of Jesus, dressing Him up as a king. v4,5 Pilate returns to the Sanhedrin outside, he was preparing the way to reveal what he had done to Jesus, "I am bringing out the one who you say claims to be your king." He was trying to make them pity this man, or was it scorn, total lack of respect for Jesus. "I find no fault in him," as an ‘innocent’ man why had he been punished by a scourging? v6 The chief priests had no pity, they did not want this man or His teaching, they wanted his death in a most painful and humiliating way, "Crucify him!" Pilate’s reply "You take him and kill Him, I find no reason to do it." was trying to put the responsibility back on the Jews. Pilate would not give the permission to crucify Jesus. v7 "We have a law," Our law requires the death of the prisoner, he claimed to be the Son of God. Jesus had been accused of blasphemy John 5:18; Mark 14:62-64. v8 John reports that Pilate was ‘more afraid,’ perhaps Pilate was beginning to realize that there may be something supernatural about this man, this was added to by his wife’s dream Matt 27:19. v9 Pilate was realizing that there may be more to this man than he has assumed so returns to ask Jesus some more questions. "Where did you come from?" not the place you live but your origin he was asking. Jesus remains silent, Pilate’s did not have the spiritual understanding to accept the truth. John 18:38. v10 The silence of the prisoner must have made Pilate angry, "Do you know who I am? I can do what I like to you." v11 This produced a response but not what was expected, "Pilate your power is very limited, you can only do what God allows you to do." The wrong behaviour of the Jews, especially Caiaphas is wrong because you are given your power by God. It was Caiaphas job to know about and teach about God and His desires, but he and the other Jewish leaders had chosen to ignore the signs and desires of God. v12 This discussion resulted in Pilate doing his best to get the release of Jesus. The Jews realizing that they were about to be defeated changed their method of attack by putting Pilate in danger politically, they were threatening to take the case to Caesar. The reigning emperor was Tiberius, he would have not look well on one who was claiming to be king without Roman authority, that would be treason. This would also put Pilate in danger for mis-rule. v13 Pilate has to finally make a decision. "Gabbatha" probably means ‘a raised platform’ and was probably part of Castle Antonia, Northwest of the Temple area. v14,15 It is about midday, the Passover lambs are being prepared for sacrifice. Like wise the Lamb of God. Pilate offers the Jews their king, they reject Jesus completely, adding that their king was Caesar, the priests had also rejected their relationship with God. They rejected God, who is guilty of blasphemy now? v16 Pilate authorized the crucifixion. v17-42 The Crucifixion and Burial. v17 John indicates that Jesus carried the cross all the way to Golgotha (Calvary in Latin), the other Gospels tell us that Simon of Cyrene carried the cross for part of the journey. Jesus started out carrying the cross but was unable to carry it due to His scourging etc. Matt 27:32; Mark 15:21; Luke 23:26 It also means that a man had to carry the punishment cross for the Lamb of God to die on. v18 Jesus is in the middle, a place of importance even in death. v19-21 Pilate had put a sign at the top of the cross in three languages which showed who Jesus was, Matt 27:37; Mark 15:26; Luke 23:38. Pilate was letting the world know that here was hanging Israel’s King who they had rejected. This did not go down too well with the chief priests, they wanted it change from a true fact to a claim, but Pilate refused to change the words. v23,24 There were four Roman soldiers involved with the crucifixion, it was normal for them to take any clothes as a prize, the coat was more expensive and they did not want to spoil it by cutting so they gambled for it. Thus fulfilling Scripture Ps 22:18. v25 four woman, three named Mary, and Salome, the mother of John is not named. They have taken up position near the cross where Jesus sees His mother and John. As the elder child it was His responsibility to take care of the parents so He asks John the beloved disciple, to look after her. "His own home" suggests He may have lived in Jerusalem and this would explain that he was known and was able to enter with Peter into the High Priests house earlier. John 18:15,16. v28,29 The final stages are now approaching, He was about to make the greatest speech in the world so asked for a drink to wet His mouth. The vinegar was probably wine which had turned to vinegar during fermentation. v30 "It is finished." was not a cry of failure but a cry of joy, the task His Father had given Him to pay the price for sin had been achieved, the work was finished and complete. Jesus gives up His spirit to His Father. v31,32 The Sabbath day starts at sunset of the previous day and this was approaching. The Law required the removal of victims from the cross on the day of death Deut 21:22,23. To ignore this at The Passover would be a serious Sabbath error. The breaking of the legs made it difficult for the victim to breath and so bring death quickly. v33 Jesus was already dead so they did not break His legs but just to make sure pushed a spear into the side of Jesus. The flow of blood and water occurs for a period after death. v35 John puts importance on this incident for he bears witness to the fact, it proves that Jesus had died but also signified the blood for cleansing of sin and water for the new life in the Spirit. 1 John 5:6-8. v36,37 Psalms 34:20; Zech 12:10. v38-40 Two secret disciples show their courage at this time, Joseph of Arimathea Mark 15:43 obtains permission to remove Jesus from the cross then Nicodemus comes with spices and linen to prepare the body for burial. The sepulcher belonged to Joseph of Arimathea, Matt 27:60 and was close by. They quickly put the body in it, they had to hurry as the day was nearly over. They obviously planned to return after the Passover Sabbath to complete the burial preparations. |
Easy English Translation
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