The New Testament with Commentary John 19

Soldiers mock Jesus

1 So then Pilate took Jesus and had Him flogged. 2 And the soldiers twisted a crown out of [poisonous] thorns and put it on His head; they also threw a purple robe around Him 3 and started saying, “Hail, O King of the Jews!” And they slapped Him repeatedly.

“Behold the Man!”

4 Pilate then went out again and says to them, “Look, I am bringing him out to you so that you may know that I find no crime in him at all.”* 5 Then Jesus came out wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe; and Pilate says to them, “Look at the man!” 6 Well when the chief priests and the operatives saw Him they shouted, saying, “Crucify! Crucify him!” Pilate says to them, “You take and crucify him, because I find no crime in him.”† 7 The Jews answered him, “We have a law, and according to our law he ought to die, because he made himself ‘Son of God’!”

Pilate and Jesus, again

8 Hey, when Pilate heard this statement he was more afraid than ever!‡ 9 So back into the Praetorium he went and says to Jesus, “Where are you from?” But Jesus did not answer him. 10 So Pilate says to Him: “Are you not speaking to me? Don't you know that I have authority to crucify you and authority to release you?” 11 Jesus answered: “You would have no authority over me at all if it had not been given to you from Above.§ Therefore the one who handed me over to you has the greater sin.”

The Jews best Pilate

12 From that moment Pilate really tried to release Him; but the Jews kept shouting, saying: “If you release this fellow you are no friend of Caesar's! Whoever makes himself a king is opposing Caesar!”* 13 Well, upon hearing this statement Pilate led Jesus outside and sat down on the judgment seat, in a place called ‘Stone Pavement’, while in Hebrew ‘Gabatha’† 14 (now it was the day of preparation for the Passover;‡ the hour was about six a.m.),§ and he says to the Jews, “Look at your king!” 15 But they shouted, “Out! Out! Crucify him!” Pilate says to them, “Shall I crucify your king?” The chief priests answered, “We have no king but Caesar!”* 16 So then he handed Him over to them to be crucified.

Jesus is crucified

So they took Jesus and lead Him away. 17 And carrying His cross He went out to the place called ‘Skull’, which in Hebrew is called ‘Golgotha’; 18 there they crucified Him, and two others with Him, one on either side, with Jesus in the middle. 19 Now Pilate had also written a notice, and put it on the cross; and the inscription was:

JESUS THE NATSOREAN†

THE KING OF THE JEWS.

20 So many of the Jews read this notice, because the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city; further, it was written in Hebrew, Greek and Latin!‡ 21 So the chief priests of the Jews said to Pilate, “Don't write, ‘The king of the Jews’, but that the fellow said, ‘I am the king of the Jews.’ ” 22 Pilate answered, “What I have written, I have written!”§

Psalm 22:18 is fulfilled

23 Now when the soldiers had crucified Jesus they took His clothes and made four parts, a part for each soldier.* They also took His tunic, but the tunic was seamless, woven in one piece from the top. 24 So they said among themselves, “Let's not rip it, but toss for it, to see whose it will be,” so that the Scripture might be fulfilled which says:

“They divided my clothes among themselves,

and for my clothing they cast a lot.”

That is why the soldiers did these things.†

Jesus provides for His mother

25 Now Jesus' mother and her sister, Mary of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene were standing by His cross. 26 So Jesus, seeing His mother, and the disciple whom He loved standing by, He says to His mother, “Woman, there is your son!” 27 Then He says to the disciple, “There is your mother!” And from that hour the disciple took her into his home.‡

The shout of victory

28 After this, knowing that everything was now accomplished so that the Scripture might be fulfilled, Jesus says, “I'm thirsty!” 29 Now a vessel full of sour wine was sitting there; so they filled a sponge with sour wine, placed it on a hyssop, and put it to His mouth. 30 Then, when He had received§ the sour wine, Jesus said, “Paid in full!!”* And bowing His head He dismissed His spirit.†

A soldier spears His side

31 Now then, because it was Preparation Day, so that the bodies should not remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a high day), the Jews requested Pilate that their legs might be broken and they be removed. 32 Then the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first man and of the other one who had been crucified with Him. 33 But upon coming to Jesus, they did not break His legs, since they saw that He had already died. 34 But one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and immediately blood and water came out. 35 And the one who saw has testified,‡ and his testimony is true (yes, he knows he is telling the truth), so that you may believe. 36 Because these things happened so that the Scripture should be fulfilled: “Not a bone of His will be broken.”§ 37 And again another Scripture says: “They will look on Him whom they pierced.”*

Jesus is buried

38 After these things Joseph, the one from Arimathea (being a disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear of the Jews), requested Pilate that he might remove the body of Jesus; and Pilate gave permission. So he came and removed Jesus' body. 39 Now Nicodemus also came† (the one who at first came to Jesus by night), bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about a hundred pounds.‡ 40 Then they took Jesus' body and wrapped it in linen strips, with the aromatic spices, according to the burial custom of the Jews. 41 Now at the place where He was crucified there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb in which no one had yet been buried.§ 42 So that is where they put Jesus, because of the Jews' Preparation Day, since the tomb was nearby.

* 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.