*19:4 Pilate's reasoning is not obvious to me, unless the normal procedure would be to get on with the execution. But Pilate is not happy and is looking for a way out; he had received a message from his wife in the meantime (Matthew 27:19). Perhaps he hoped they would be satisfied when they saw how much He had already suffered.

†19:6 This is the second time that Pilate declares that he finds no crime in Jesus. He is declaring His innocence, so he will knowingly condemn an innocent man.

‡19:8 And not without reason. The conversation recorded in 18:33-37 would certainly have impressed Pilate and left him troubled. Then his wife added fuel to the fire. And now this. Pilate was not a religious type, presumably, but Jesus was impressive! Pilate was in over his head, and knew it.

§19:11 Pilate represented the Roman empire, the greatest temporal power at that time (whose ruler was supposedly divine), but Jesus calmly affirms that there is a higher power and that He represents that higher power—and Pilate believed Him! Pilate wanted no part of killing Jesus, and really tried to avoid it, but the Jews did an end run.

*19:12 Oops! Pilate owed his position to Caesar's good graces, and simply could not afford to do something that could be construed (even with a little twisting) as treason. He is beaten and knows it.

†19:13 This action signaled that he had reached a decision and was about to give the verdict.

‡19:14 If the Jews were still preparing for the Passover, then Jesus and His disciples observed it a day early—which must have seemed strange to the disciples. But as the ultimate Passover Lamb, Jesus had to die on that preparation day.

§19:14 The Text says “the sixth hour”, which in Roman time is six a.m. If it were Jewish time it would be noon, which will not work here. Actually it says ‘around’ or ‘about’ six—I assume that it was a little after the hour.

*19:15 Ah, Pilate gets his ‘pound of flesh’. He doubtless knew a bit about Jewish culture and religion, including their messianic hopes. In effect the Jews here deny the Messiah—Caesar is their only king! Pilate rescued this bit of satisfaction out of a bad deal.

†19:19 That Pilate put “the Natsorean” (not Natsarene [Nazarene]) indicates that he had researched Jesus. The reference is to Isaiah 11:1; Jesus was David's Branch, the Messiah. Pilate was making a statement.

‡19:20 Comparing the other Gospels, the full inscription was, ‘This is Jesus the Natsorean, the King of the Jews’. To put all of that in three languages would require a board of fair size. But why did Pilate use three languages? One would have been enough (it was customary to put the crime over the victim's head). I take it that Pilate was not happy, having been bested by the Jews; and as I have said above, I think he was personally convinced that Jesus was a king. By putting ‘this is the king of the Jews’ he was making a statement, one that virtually any literate person would be able to read, given the three languages.

§19:22 The chief priests have gotten all they are going to get out of Pilate; he was making a statement, but he was also getting back at them a little bit.

*19:23 This probably means that Jesus was left without any; one final bit of humiliation.

†19:24 See Psalm 22:18. John seems to be affirming a cause/effect relationship. The centurion could have claimed the tunic, or whatever, but casting a lot had been prophesied.

‡19:27 Notice that Jesus is still perfectly lucid. As Mary's oldest son, He was responsible for her well-being (we understand that Joseph was gone by now), so He passes that responsibility over to the Apostle John (the author of this Gospel); and John accepts it.

§19:30 From the word ‘received’ it appears that He did swallow some. Since sour wine was not used at the Passover, this does not conflict with the Lord's statement in the upper room (Matthew 26:29) that He would not drink of “this product of the vine”. All four Evangelists mention the sour wine. There was evidently a pot/vessel full of it (the soldiers were in for many hours of vigil and that was what they drank). The mocking offer mentioned in Luke 23:36 happened before the darkness; the other three accounts after. The offer recorded in Matthew 27:48 and Mark 15:36 was triggered by Jesus' cry, “My God, my God…” The one in John 19:29-30 by His saying, “I am thirsty”. I venture to suggest that there was an interval between His despairing cry and His statement—after the cry He may have lapsed back into silence for a bit; He was trying to make contact with the Father. It may be that the sour wine sort of ‘wet His whistle’ so He could let out His shout of victory.

*19:30 Matthew, Mark and Luke all affirm that Jesus gave a great shout, but without giving the content. I take it that John supplies that information, although he does not mention that it was a shout. “Τετελεσται”—that was what they wrote on bills and promissory notes when they were paid off = ‘paid in full’. When something is shouted the individual sounds can be distorted, but John was right there and could read His lips, if necessary. It was a shout of victory: “We did it!” “Finished!” “Paid in full!”

†19:30 That is right—the cross did not kill Jesus, He just told His spirit to leave. In John 10:17-18 he was very clear: no one could take His life from Him, but He could lay it down (please see the note at John 10:18).

‡19:35 John, the author of this Gospel, was right there (verses 25-26 above), so he could see very clearly what came out of Jesus' side—that the blood had separated was a clear sign of physical death. (I guess we don't need to know, really, just how the separation came about, whether by purely natural processes or with supernatural intervention; in any case, John is emphatic about what he saw.)

§19:36 See Exodus 12:46, Numbers 9:12 and Psalm 34:20.

*19:37 See Zechariah 12:10.

†19:39 He helped Joseph take down the body, and they transported it to the tomb in a linen sheet (Matthew 27:59).

‡19:39 Do you suppose they just ‘happened’ to have a hundred pounds of expensive spices lying around? Almost certainly everything had been prepared before hand, including the tomb, on purpose. These men had doubtless received specific instructions and were waiting in the wings to perform their part.

§19:41 Isaiah 53:9 affirms that the Messiah would have a rich man's burial, and He did—a brand new tomb (rather large), and a hundred pounds of expensive spices. The body of an executed criminal would normally be treated ignominiously, and I imagine that was what the high priests intended, but the Father made sure that the Son received an honorable burial. Matthew 27:60 informs us that Joseph had himself prepared that tomb, and he did so at a spot near Golgotha. The next verse (here in John) indicates that this was done on purpose, for the reason mentioned. Joseph and Nicodemus clearly did what they did under divine guidance, and of course God knew that the tomb would need to be near Golgotha, etc.