The Gospel of John, Chapter 19: Crucifixion
The torture and humiliation now begin in earnest. And so does the political maneuvering between the Jewish leaders and Pilate, the Roman governor. There is a tragic sense of fatalism - everything is happening as it has to happen, everyone is playing their allotted role. Numerous times in this chapter the author tells us that scripture is fulfilled.
First, Pilate has Jesus whipped. That in itself should be enough torture, but it doesn’t stop there.
Since Pilate has repeatedly called Jesus “King of the Jews”, the soldiers mock Jesus by making a crown of thorns and torture Jesus by putting this painful thing on his head. They dress him in a purple robe, sarcastically say “Hail, King of the Jews”, and slap Jesus in the face.
Pilate appears again before “them” (I surmise that this means the Jewish leaders who arrested Jesus and brought him to Pilate). Jesus appears before them all, wearing the crown of thorns and the mocking robe of “royalty.” Pilate twice says that he finds nothing to accuse Jesus of. The chief priests and police call out “Crucify him!” and say that Jesus’ crime is that “he has claimed to be the Son of God.” (verse 7)
Pilate becomes afraid. I guess he doesn’t want to get mixed up in a religious-political dispute. Or he doesn’t want to choose between dissing the emperor or dissing the God of the Jewish people. Pilate quizzes Jesus again, trying for a third time (a mirror image of Peter’s three denials?) to find a reason to free Jesus, but Jesus says nothing. Pilate says, don’t you know I have supreme power over your life? Jesus then responds that the only reason Pilate has power is that it was given to him “from above.”
Again Pilate tries to release Jesus. The Jewish leaders who oppose Jesus throw it back in his face - they say, if you let free this man who claims to be a king, then you are being disloyal to the Roman emperor.
Next Pilate tries to appeal to the people outside the Praetorium. Are these just the Jewish leaders, or is it a crowd of people? I think in this gospel it’s just the leaders. The text notes that it was the “day of Preparation for the Passover, and it was about noon.” I am not sure what this detail means. Is there likely to be a big crowd there at that time on that particular day?
Pilate said to “the Jews”, (the leaders who oppose Jesus), “Here’s your king!” but they shout for Jesus to be crucified. Pilate: You want me to crucify your king? The chief priests declare that the Roman emperor is their only king. So Pilate sends Jesus to be crucified.
As this gospel tells it, Jesus has to carry his own cross, walking to The Place of the Skull, Golgotha, the place of the crucifixion.
There are few details in this gospel about the mechanics of crucifixion, but suffice to say that it is an extremely cruel, humiliating, and torturous way to die. They place Jesus on a cross between two other criminals. Pilate arranges for a sign to be on Jesus’ cross that says, “Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews.” The text specifies that the sign is written in Hebrew, Latin, and Greek. Anybody and everybody should be able to read it. The Jewish chief priests object to this label, but Pilate says, too bad. “What I have written I have written.” (verse 22).
As Jesus hangs naked on the cross, slowly dying, the soldiers take Jesus’ clothes and divvy them up between them. This is to fulfill a scripture.
Some of Jesus’ closest family and friends are standing nearby watching. The first mentioned are women – Jesus’ mother, his mother’s sister, another Mary, and Mary Magdalene. Jesus sees his own mother and “the disciple whom he loved” and bequeaths to his mother a new son, the disciple he loves. This is heartbreakingly touching, and I think it is further fulfillment of Jesus’ prayer in Chapter 17:12 that “not one of them [Jesus’ followers] was lost”.
Jesus senses that his death is near. He says, in order to fulfill scripture, “I am thirsty.” Those in charge put a sour-wine-soaked sponge on a branch of hyssop and hold it to Jesus’ mouth.
When Jesus had received the wine, he said, “It is finished.” Then he bowed his head and gave up his spirit. (verse 30)
Every Good Friday, when I hear this story again, it never fails to give me chills.
The gospel author notes that “the Jews” do not want the bodies of the crucified people to remain on the crosses during the sabbath. This next detail is gruesome, and does not appear in the other gospels. In an additional cruelty, the soldiers break the legs of the two crucified criminals. I looked this up, and the internet says that breaking the legs makes the crucified victims suffocate, and so would hasten death. It would be less painful, I’m sure, if the soldiers just ran them through with a sword. But this is the Roman system of punishment, and the point is to make the punishment as cruel as possible.
But Jesus is already dead, so the soldiers do not break his legs, which the text says is a fulfillment of a scripture. The soldiers do stick a spear into the gut of Jesus, and blood and water pour out. This is also to fulfill a scripture.
Joseph of Arimathea is a secret disciple of Jesus. He asks Pilate to let him have the body of Jesus; Pilate agrees. Nicodemus (of Chapter 3, the Jewish leader who “had at first come to Jesus by night”) also arrives with burial spices. The two men prepare Jesus’ body with the burial spices and linen. And then they place the body into a nearby tomb which had never before been used.
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