Chapter 19
Outline: Verses 1-16, the conclusion of the Roman trial.
Verses 17-37, the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.
Verses 38-42, the burial of Jesus.
Verse 1 – “Then” is the adverb tote which means “at that time,” i.e. after the declaration of the Jews for the release of Barabbas.
“took” – aorist active indicative of lambanw which means to seize; “and scourged him.”
The word ‘scourge’
1. It is an aorist active indicative of mastigow. It means to flog someone who has been condemned. There is an exact equivalent in the Latin of the time verbaratio, which means to flog someone who has been condemned to death.
2. The aorist tense here is unusual, it is a causative aorist. Pilate caused Him to be scourged. He ordered the flogging, therefore this is a causative aorist, he didn’t do it himself. Flogging consisted of whipping with a scourge—mastic. It has leather thongs into which had been worked pieces of metal, sharp splinters, and the pieces of leather are tipped with leaden balls with sharp spikes. They used this whip in two ways, one for interrogation to discourage lying, and also, as in this case, for a preliminary to execution.
3. The active voice: Pilate ordered the flogging.
4. However, since Pilate has pronounced Jesus as innocent [John18:38] this scourging could never be construed as interrogation, it has to be a punitive measure. And this is where Pontius Pilate has failed. He now is taking punitive measures against a person whom he himself has pronounced innocent.
5. Neither was this scourging designed to be a preliminary to the crucifixion since Pilate was determined to let Jesus go—Acts 3:13. Scourging here is designed to get Him off the hook, but he puts himself on the hook.
6. The purpose of this scourging was to gain the release of Jesus Christ, to pacify the Jews with a lesser punishment. To accomplish this purpose he has to violate Roman law, the S.O.P. for a Roman governor, and every principle involved. He distorted Roman law to try to get Jesus off the hook; the Jews distorted Jewish law to get Christ on the hook. If both of these systems of law had followed their true course Christ would have been released.
7. In verse 6 we have an indication that Pilate was not able to assuage the Jews.
Verse 2 – “platted,” plekw means to weave or to braid. This is the beginning of the mock coronation; “crown” – stefanoj, which means a crown in wreath
form. But this crown is made up of a)kanqa. This is preceded by the preposition e)k, And this should read: “At that time the soldiers braided a wreath out from the thorns.”
“put” – e)pitiqhmi, which means to put on but also to inflict upon. So they inflicted on Him a crown of thorns, which means it hurt.[1] But we have put on here
twice: “put on him a purple robe” – this time put on is a different Greek word, periballw, which means to put on and around.
“purple” – porfureoj. It means purple. It can mean crimson but generally it is used for purple. But we find in Matthew 27:28 the word used is kokkinoj, and that means crimson, red. Is this a contradiction? The answer is No! The purple robe was actually first placed on Jesus at the trial by Herod. Herod called for one of his purple robes and had it put on Jesus—Luke 23:11. They are going to take it off. After the blood dries and sticks to the wounds they are going to tear it off and open the wounds again. Then they are going to hide His wounds with a kokkinoj which is a crimson military robe, a Roman robe. This one will take Him to the cross. The purple robe came from Herod. They took it off Him to scourge Him, and then put it back on Him. When He leaves the Praetorium with His cross the Roman soldier will put it on Him—Matthew 27:28. The crimson robe was used to hide the terrible wounds of the flogging; the purples robe was simply used for mockery.
Verse 3 – the mockery. “And they said [kept on saying], Hail” – that is not what it says at all. There is one whole phrase left out of the English Bible that is found in the Greek: kai h)rxontoj proj a)uton—“and they kept on coming face to face with him,” then “and they kept on saying.”
“Hail” – xairw, which means literally, “I rejoice,” but is used here as a greeting. The word’s exact Roman [Latin] equivalent is Ave, which was used as a greeting for Caesar. Here it is spoken in derision. They are mocking Him.
“they smote him” – kai e)didoun a)utw r(apismata, which means they kept on giving Him blows. As a King they didn’t give Him homage, they gave Him their fists—they kept on giving him blows, imperfect active indicative of didomi.
“hands” – fists, the hand is doubled up, Roman style.
Verse 4 – “Pilate therefore went outside.” The word therefore means again—palin. The word again is very important. “Went forth” is an aorist active indicative of e)cerxomai—e)c means outside; e)rxomai means to go or to come. “Again Pilate went outside.” This is one of the most subtle attacks on the authority of the Roman empire. If the Jews at this time had armed themselves and started to fight Roman soldiers the Romans would know how to handle it. But Pilate doesn’t know how to handle a subtle attack upon his authority. The great leaders are the leaders who understand subtlety as well as obvious hostility. Pilate was being insulted by the Jews and he didn’t know it. They said that on a holy day we cannot enter a Gentile house and the Praetorium is a Gentile house, we cannot enter on the Passover, on the day of preparation which is also the Passover, or even during the feast of unleavened bread. Pilate should have said, “All right. I will examine the prisoner myself. If I find He is innocent I will release Him. If I suspect that He has violated Roman law I will hold Him until you make up your mind. But I will not tolerate this insult to Roman justice. You will enter the judgment hall of Rome or there will be no trial.”
But this says palin--again he came out. And that was it, he was through right there, and he didn’t even know it. When he goes outside to talk to them they are in charge, not Pontius Pilate.
“behold, I bring him forth [outside] to you,” and this time he uses the present active indicative of a)gw, and then he used a)gw e)cw. So he himself knew that he was bringing the prisoner outside. The present tense is dramatic. The active voice: Pilate leads Jesus outside the Praetorium for the Jewish leaders, the Jewish mob who have already assembled to exert pressure. The principle to be noted at this point: When Roman justice takes the prisoner outside in front of the mob the judge has already succumbed to a vicious pressure—mob pressure.
A few things about a mob: No mob that has ever existed no matter what its cause may be, good or bad, has ever once in all of history made a good contribution. Anything that a mob accomplishes, right or wrong, is wrong. Even if they have a right cause they are wrong. If you appease a mob the crime rate will go up dramatically. Cowards become bold when mobs control.
“that ye may know” – aorist active subjunctive of ginwskw. The subjunctive mood: they will never know. This is potential. We know who and what Jesus Christ is; they did not.
“that” – result clause; “I find no fault” – present active indicative of e(uriskw means a court finding, a pronouncement of judgement. It means to examine all of the facts and to come to a conclusion. Therefore he is now describing the results of a proper and objective judicial function. The words “no fault” is wrong. The Greek is o)udemian a)itian. O)udemian is the feminine accusative singular of o)udeij and it means not one or nothing. The second word, a)itian, means crime. Pilate said: “I find not one crime.” This is the second pronouncement of His innocence.
Not one crime in
Him
1. This is the second declaration of the innocence of Jesus Christ made by the supreme Roman judge in the province of Judea.
2. The first declaration is found in John 18:38.
3. The judge is negative toward the gospel. The judge who pronounced “Not guilty” is just as negative toward the gospel as the Jews who were trying to kill Jesus Christ. But he is a Roman judge and the Roman law is objective and therefore he must stand by the objectivity of Roman law. So for the second time he pronounces the innocence of the prisoner. Even though he has failed because of the subtle attack of the Jews he is fair and objective in his investigation, and he is fair and impartial in the rendering of his decision. His verdict: Not guilty.
4. For this reason [his fairness] his verdict is officially recognised in 1 Timothy 6:13.
5. The Roman governor had three basic responsibilities that went with his office: a) Military security and public order. The Romans recognised that you cannot have mobs and survive. Pontius Pilate has violated the principle of public order by permitting this mob to demand the death of an innocent man. b) The Roman governor was responsible for the revenue from the province to headquarters in Rome. Luke 20:22-25; Roman 13:6,7. c) Jurisprudence. He is the highest judge in the Roman province.
6. This applied to all three categories of Roman provinces. Category #1: a Senatorial province. The ruler was a proconsul. Category #2: the Imperial province, ruled by a Legate. The ruler or governor is delegated by the emperor. Category #3: 3rd class provinces. This simply means a client king’s province is taken over. The governor is called Procurator. The procurators were different from the proconsuls and from the legates. They were aristocrats, e.g. Caesar. The legate was a knight; her earned his position. He was an excellent civil servant who won promotion by efficiency, not by birth.
7. Under his third responsibility Pontius Pilate fulfilled to the very letter the objectivity of the Roman law by pronouncing Jesus Christ’s innocence. His attitude was the accused was innocent until proven by law to be guilty. The Romans did not accept hearsay and the accused could not incriminate himself.
Verse 5 – the appearance of the King. Jesus Christ is the King. “Then came forth Jesus” – the verb is to come outside, literally. It should be translated,
“Therefore the Jesus went outside.”
“wearing” – present active participle of forew, not the usual word for wearing. It means He wore them properly, correctly. There was a way in the ancient world for a king to wear a robe, and when He wore that robe He looked like a king. You could put a robe on a thousand people and they wouldn’t wear it like a king. Jesus wore a robe like a king. You could put kings robes on a lot of people and they would never pass for a king. Give Jesus Christ a kings’ robe and He wears it like a king. He is a King. He is God, and as God He is the sovereign of the universe, the creator of it; and as He stood on the steps of that Praetorium He is holding the universe together. Not only that, on His father Joseph’s side He is descended from David—from Bathsheba’s oldest son, Solomon. Therefore, He is a King in every way that a person can be a King. He is God, and the King of kings; He is the son of David and Bathsheba through both of their sons, Solomon and Nathan. Jesus is wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe, and even the crown of thorns cannot disguise that He is a King.
What did Pontius Pilate have in mind? He was trying to disarm the antagonism of the Jews. He was trying to appease the mob, and this was a terrible mistake. You never appease a mob, you destroy a mob, defeat a mob, disperse a mob. You never appease a mob without destroying yourself.
“Behold the man!” – i)dou o( a)naqrwpoj, in the Greek. The eyes of the mob all turned and looked at Jesus Christ. What is He? He is the unique person of the universe, the God-Man. He is wearing a crown of thorns and therefore blood is flowing down His face. His face is destroyed by the blows. They can’t see it but His back is raw and bleeding from scourging. He us wearing the purples robe of Herod the usurper—Herod who is not a true king, Luke 23:11. And with great dignity as only a king would possess He faces the crowd. For a moment there was probably silence. But remember this is a religious mob, the worst kind of all. They are filled with mental attitude sins; they are cruel, bitter, vindictive and implacable. As they see Him they are going to scream the unpardonable sin; they are going to scream their rejection.
Verse 6 – “When the chief priests therefore and the officers saw him” – these are the leaders of the mob. The chief priests are the religious leaders; the officers are simply temple guards. When they saw Him there was an instant when they had the panoramic view, because we have o(raw which means to get a panoramic view. They didn’t just glance at Him, they stared at Him. If they had glanced at Him thew word would have been blepw.
“they cried out” – for a minute they saw Him and they couldn’t stand it. Negative volition can never stand the truth. Negative volition must scream at the truth. They didn’t cry out, they screamed –kraugazw means to scream.
“saying” – present active participle, they said it over and over again. We have it recorded twice to show us how the mob is ignited. “Crucify” the first time is from the leadership; crucify the second time is the mob echoing what the leadership said. The mob does not think. How do we know? We have the word crucify twice, both times it is an aorist active imperative of staurow, the ordinary word for crucifixion. This is the aorist tense of urgency. Active voice: first it is uttered by the leadership, and then it is taken up by the mob. Imperative mood: they demanded. The word him does not occur. Principle from the double use of the aorist active imperative of staurow: Religion uses mobs to put pressure on organizations. In that day religion used the mob to put political pressure on Pontius Pilate, and today religion puts pressure on leadership.
Here is where Pilate cracks.
“Take ye him” – aorist active imperative of lambanw: “Seize Him.” Who is dictating when he uses the word lambanw? The religious leaders who started the cry, Crucify Him, have control of the mob. The religious leaders also have control of Pilate because Pilate screams back “Seize Him.” So Pilate is under the leadership of the religious leaders. In effect, at this point they have a union of religion and state which destroys all true judicial activity. Pilate uses the same form, the aorist active imperative of staurow. He does not have moral courage. It takes moral courage to face a mob. The pressure of the mob is a greater power to Pilate than the power of justice. Expediency leads to the bowing of the pressure of public opinion, to mob rule, rather than recognising the facts of the case and administering true justice. True justice is based on facts.
Even before Pontius Pilate turns Jesus over to the mob he will pronounce once more His innocence: “I find not one crime in Him.”
The seven testimonies to the
impeccability of Jesus Christ
1. Judas Iscariot—Matthew 27:4. Judas said: “I have sinned in that I have betrayed innocent blood.”
2. Pontius Pilate—John 19:4, 6, “I find no crime in Him.”
3. Herod the usurper—Luke 23:15, “… for I sent you to him, and. lo, nothing worthy of death is done by Him.”
4. Pilate’s wife—Matthew 27:19, “have nothing to do with this just man.”
5. The dying thief—Luke 23:41, “This man hath done nothing amiss.”
6. The centurion of the Golgotha detachment—Luke 23:47, “This one was a righteous man.”
7. The Roman soldiers at Golgotha—Matthew 27:54, “Truly, this one was the Son of God.”
Verse 7 – “The Jews” is a reference to the religious leaders, not the Jews as a race. All of the opposition that Satan could muster and all of the effective opposition had to come through religion. Religion is the devil’s ace trump. It is the way in which Satan seeks to get his way in this world.
“answered him [Pontius Pilate], We have a law” – e)xw means we have and hold to this law, present linear aktionsart: We keep on having and we keep on holding a law. This law is a reference to Leviticus 24:16. Pontius Pilate is a smart man. He also, like many smart people, has a very neat piece of sarcasm he uses. This sarcasm plus the fact that he declares that Jesus was not guilty provoked the religious leaders into declaring their true opposition.
Principle: You can never tell what people think about you as long as everything is going all right. What people think you want to hear is what they tell you. But, just wait until the roof falls in and things go wrong! If you really want to find out what a person thinks of you, just get them mad. Then the true facts always come out.
Now the religious leaders declare their true intentions. They clearly understood that Jesus had declared Himself to be God. This is why the religious leaders are mad. Religion, always hostile to doctrine, always hostile to the truth, is now hostile to Jesus Christ declaring Himself to be God. So they had to find some way to get rid of Him, and these religious leaders take advantage of a Roman administrative policy. The Romans had a policy that when they went into a province they tried not to interfere with the customs of the people, as long as the customs did not in any way cause hostility to Rome.
“and by our law” – according to the norm or standard of our law; “he ought to die” – the word ought is o)feilw, present active indicative, and it means obligation. In other words, our law demands that Jesus Christ dies. They are trying to get rid of Him and they are trying to use law to do it. Religious people are very self-righteous and very hypocritical. They love to do a wrong thing in a right way. This is what religion thrives on. Self-righteous legalism has to have an excuse. In this case it happens to be a law whereby Jesus Christ can be removed from the scene.
“to die” – aorist active infinitive of a)poqnhskw, the strongest word in the Greek language for death. Aorist tense: in a point of time. Active voice: He must die. Infinitive: it is our purpose to kill Him.
“because he made himself the Son of God.” Because explains their law. They are going to try to get Him under the law of blasphemy. Son of God is a title for deity—but only in one sense. Whenever the Greek words Son of God are used it refers to deity, but always deity connected with the eternal decrees, when God the Father set up the decrees in eternity past. It relates eternity past to time and the cross.
Actually they are the guilty ones, according to Hebrews 10:26-31. Religious people and legalistic types are always inconsistent. Notice they said, “he made himself God.” The verb used is poiew plus the reflexive pronoun. If there is one thing God could never do it is make Himself God. Also, the Jews had no legal right to vote the death penalty. They lost that legal right when Judea became a Roman province. They cannot even vote a death penalty in their own courts unless Pilate gives his consent. At this time he has not given his consent and when they say “He ought to die,” they are out of line.
Verses 8-11, the second interrogation.
Verse 8 – “When” is an adverb, o(te, which means at that time. The first interrogation indicated that Jesus Christ was innocent. But now this new fear. Jesus Christ was innocent as a man and Pilate declares His innocence as a man. What Pilate has not fully realised is that this is the God-Man. If He is God that puts an entirely different picture into the situation. In this next interrogation he is going to reject Jesus Christ as God—he is going to say no in his own mind—but he is going to say, yes, Christ is a legitimate King. Jesus Christ had aristocratic class and there was no doubt about it in the mind of Pilate even though He had been badly beaten.
“therefore” – o)un means sequence, also it has a connotation of consequence. Here it has sequence. In other words, he can’t get back into that Praetorium fast enough.
“he was more afraid” – the possibility that Christ was God demands further investigation. The second interrogation is motivated by fear. Pontius Pilate is afraid for himself. “Afraid” is the aorist passive indicative of fobew, which means both fear and respect. Here it means fear. Aorist tense: the point of time when he heard that He might be God. Passive voice: this clicked in his mind. Indicative mood: the reality of the possibility to Pilate. There is a comparative adverb which goes with this verb—mallon, it means “the more.”
Verse 9 – “And went again.” This is e)ijerxomai, aorist tense—he hustled in there. He had to maintain a speed that was dignity of the office, he couldn’t let them know He was shaken. Active voice: he went. Indicative mood: he ran scared.
“the judgment hall” – the Praetorium.
“But Jesus did not give him an answer” is the literal translation. And that IS an answer. Jesus answers Pilate with silence.
1. The silence of Jesus was fair.
2. Pilate now has enough information on which to make a personal decision for Jesus Christ as saviour. We know that he has enough information because he has already pronounced Jesus not guilty. Jesus is remaining silent because Pilate who has already recognised His innocence has rejected Him as saviour. He is negative and therefore there is nothing more to be said. There is nothing more that He could say at this moment to change Pontius Pilate or Jesus would have said it.
3. Three times now Pontius Pilate has declared the innocence Jesus—John 18:38; 19:4, 6.
4. The silence of Jesus in the presence of His judge indicates His cognisance of negative volition. Jesus has been silent in the presence of Herod, in the presence of the Sanhedrin, and in the presence of Pontius Pilate. So we could actually say, the silence of Jesus in the presence of His judges—plural. It indicates His cognisance of their negative volition.
5. With all the information in the world the following three judges would not accept Jesus Christ as saviour: Caiaphas—Matthew 26:63; Herod—Luke 23:9; Pontius Pilate—John 19:9.
6. The omniscience of Jesus knew their negative volition in eternity past. The hypostatic union of Christ recognises the negative volition at this point of silence.
7. The same negative volition is also found in other Bible characters: a) Esau; b) The Pharaoh of Exodus; c) Judas Iscariot.
8. In each case of –V at both God-consciousness and gospel hearing we have maximum scar tissue in the soul.
Verse 10 – “Speakest thou not to me?” He uses the verb lalew which means to communicate.
Now Pilate threatens Him, and that is a mistake: “knowest thou not” – do you not have the inherent knowledge [o)ida].”
“I have the power” – e)cousia means authority. Pilate is the ultimate authority in the Roman province.
“to release” is an aorist active infinitive of a)poluw which means to release – so that no harm will come to Him. Pilate is standing on his authority, and that is a
mistake. When he starts to talk about his authority to Jesus he has rejected Jesus as God. He says no, Jesus is not God. This is the way the scripture tells us that he is negative.
Verse 11 – Jesus will answer that. He wouldn’t answer the question, “Whence art thou?” because Pilate already has that information. “Jesus had an answer” – a)pokrinomai.
“Thou couldst have no authority against me, except it were given thee from above.” The words against me means that he does have the right of capital punishment. The word except means that he does have some authority. God has always given to rulers the authority in the field of capital punishment. This is the strength of the law and is a part of divine institution #4.
“it were given” is a periphrastic; “from above” – the adverb of place, a)nwqen. It actually means from a higher place, a higher sphere. It refers to the fact that God originally gave the power of capital punishment but that that power now resides in whatever highest authority may be. Here “from above” here refers to the authority of the Roman Caesar. Pilate has the sole authority to pronounce death. But under Roman law that law acts as a check upon him. Under Roman law if you say not guilty you no longer have the right to possess the death sentence. Pilate has said not guilty three times. But Jesus will not be released because Pilate abuses his own authority.
“therefore he that delivered me unto thee hath the greater sin” – he that delivered refers to Caiaphas, the representative of the Jewish nation and Jewish law. The word greater is a comparative, megaj. This comparative indicates a very interesting comparative: there are categories of rejection. The first category is the worst: religious negative volition—those who sin from conviction, like Caiaphas who thinks to do God a favour by destroying Jesus Christ. In other words, religious rejection is the greatest rejection of Christ always. That is what is meant here; religious negative volition is the worst of all. Secondly, we have political negative volition—those who sin against conviction. Pilate was convinced of the innocence of Jesus but because of vacillation and expediency he delivered Him to be crucified. The third area is group negative volition—those who sin without conviction. The Roman soldiers and the Jewish mob are an illustration of the third group. These were tools to be used by those who ruled them or those who influenced them; they were the victims of the abuse of authority.
Verse 12 – Pilate’s dilemma.
“from thenceforth” means from Pilate’s handling of the case, from his cross-examinations of the accused by the utilisation of the system of evidence which existed at that time.
“sought” – imperfect active indicative of zetew, he kept on seeking. Not just once but from now on.
“release” – aorist active infinitive of a)poluw which means to release from custody of law as an innocent person. Aorist tense: once and for all to release Him. Active voice: this was Pilate’s desire, his objective. The infinitive indicates the purpose of Pontius Pilate—to release Jesus Christ. The fact that Pilate did not carry out his convictions indicates weakness in the area of moral courage.
“but” is a conjunction of contrast between the attitude of Pilate and that of the Jews; “the Jews” – this is the mob that was incited by religious Jews.
“cried out” – aorist active indicative of kraugazw. They screamed out at this point and every time there was an attempt to release Jesus.
“If” – 3rd class condition; “thou let this man go” – apoluw again, but this time it is an aorist active subjunctive. If the Romans release Him He is free and the Jews cannot touch Him. Active voice: Pilate is still trying to do it but now the Jews have entered a doubt. Subjunctive mood: His release is still potential.
“thou art not Caesar’s friend” – this turns a courageous man in battle [Pilate] to a weak man when it comes to principle.
1. This introduces the first dilemma. The issue of guilt or innocence is lost in this dilemma.
2. On the basis of Roman justice Jesus is not guilty and should be released.
3. But religious propaganda, pressure from the mob, loss of political prestige, plus expediency overcome Pilate’s objectivity and sense of justice.
4. Pilate has previously antagonised the Jews to the point of being recalled by Tiberius. One more act of antagonism and he is finished.
5. With diabolical cunning the religious leaders make it clear that to release Jesus would lead to reprisals such as writing letters to Capri that Pilate is the enemy of Caesar. So this is a well-aimed blow which destroys the moral courage of Pontius Pilate.
“whosoever maketh himself a king speaketh against Caesar.” The person who makes Himself a King is the Lord Jesus Christ. But He doesn’t make Himself a
King, He is a King. He was born a King.
This is the dilemma of Pontius Pilate. If he releases the King of kings he will be charged with treason. If he condemns an innocent King of kings and avoids accusation to Caesar on the part of the Jews his career is apparently safe. Pilate’s ambition will overcome his sense of duty and his convictions in the matter. Pilate does not have the type of courage necessary to release Jesus on the basis of the objectivity of Roman justice. Nor does he possess the mind capable of dealing with the subtleties of Jewish politics and religious pressure.
The evaluation of Pontius
Pilate
1. Pontius Pilate had battle courage but not moral courage.
2. He demonstrated his battle courage in the Pontus campaign.
3. But battle courage deals with tangibles—like the enemy, terrain, the tactical situation. Moral courage deals with intangibles—like objectivity in law, principles of Bible doctrine, and sticking with a conviction or a true principle in spite of pressure. Moral courage never succumbs to pressure.
4. Pontius Pilate was convinced on the innocence of Jesus but he did not have the moral courage to resist the pressure of the Jewish religious leaders and the mob which they incited.
5. Neither did Pilate have the strength of character which accompanies moral courage to release Jesus and face the consequence of Jewish complaints to Tiberius Caesar.
1. He is the illegitimate son of Tyrus the king of Mayence, a German province, who sent him to Rome as a hostage. There he was educated as a king’s son.
1. Because of a murder charge in Rome he was sent to command the army of Pontus where he subdued the barbarous tribes of that region and gained
Rome’s highest honour, the title of Pontius.
3. Tiberius appointed him procurator of Judea in 26 A.D.
2. Prior to our passage Pontius Pilate antagonised the Jews in four ways. He changed the army headquarters from Caeasrea to Jerusalem. Army
3. headquarters can be easily identified by images of emperors and images of Roman gods on golden poles. This was idolatry to the Jews. Pilate then took all the golden shields with the names of Roman deities and hung them on the walls of the Mark Anthony barracks where headquarters was located. This turned the Jews into a frenzy. He went into the temple and grabbed a year’s supply of redemption money and built a new aqueduct to bring fresh water to the city. This really antagonised the Jews. Then when the Galileans were causing trouble one day in the temple he went in and slaughtered them. The Jews didn’t like the Galileans but they didn’t like the idea of human blood all over the temple.
4. Pilate faced a tremendous internal dilemma and he had to make a decision. If he was going to interrupt Tiberius once more on the Isle of Capri he was going to lose his job. Therefore, under Roman law Pilate understands that Jesus is innocent and is truly a King but he is in a jamb because he has made so many wrong moves with the Jews.
5. He sought to compromise between Roman law and Jewish antagonism about Christ, and this backfired. He worked out a way in which Jewish antagonism could be handled and Roman law followed correctly. He did something he was sure would work. He offered the worst criminal in the land, Barabbas, or Jesus to be liberated at the feast. The Jews chose the criminal instead of the perfect Son of God.
6. The function of political expediency demonstrated Pilate’s lack of moral courage. It resulted in travesty of justice and the inevitable destruction of Pilate’s career in Judea.
7. He attempted to compromise but it didn’t save him from political disaster. Very shortly afterwards he was putting down the Samaritan revolt, and when he did he gained the displeasure of his immediate superior who was the governor of Syria, a senatorial province—a man by the name of Vitellus. Pilate was put under arrest and sent home.
8. Pilate was sent to Rome to answer charges of maladministration. It so happened that he was sent home in 37 A.D. and on 16 March, ten years after living it up on the Isle of Capri, Tiberius died. Tiberius had an adopted son who was a real monster—Caligula who despised Pontius Pilate. On the way back to Rome Pilate learns that Tiberius is dead and that Caligula was emperor.
9. Caligula immediately ordered his trial. Pilate knew he had no chance and committed suicide and died an unbeliever.
10. In lifetime Pilate regarded the innocence of Jesus as relatively unimportant compared to his own political ambition. But his perspective frustrated his political ambition and the person whom he regarded as relatively unimportant was the only person who could have saved him.
11. Pilate did not extricate himself from his dilemma concerning an innocent man.
12. Jewish implacability plus Herod’s shrewdness neutralised every plan—Luke 23:23.
13. Yet Pilate repeatedly declared the innocence of Jesus.
14. The true solution to Pilate’s dilemma was to believe in Christ—John 1:12; 20:31.
15. Therefore, God the Father used the negative volition of Pontius Pilate, the negative volition of the Jews, the negative volition of Herod Antipas [the Fox] to provide eternal salvation for those who did have positive volition. Such positive volition is always expressed by faith in Christ—Acts 16:31.
16. Therefore, inevitably and always God uses the wrath of man to praise Him—Psalm 76:10.
Verse 13 – the decision of expediency. When a ruler or a leader, whether he is political or military, starts
to listen to the mob he is finished.
“heard that saying” is incorrect.
The Greek says, “having heard these words” – the words of the mob.
“brought Jesus forth” – Pilate
became the errand boy for the mob. Literally it says, “he led Jesus outside” –
aorist active indicative of a)gw, which means to bring or to
lead, and then the adverb e)cw. The moment he steps out of
the Praetorium he is violating a Roman principle and a Roman law. Roman law said that if some one has an
indictment against someone else they must go inside the Praetorium. The judge
sits inside and in Roman law you always tried inside. It was to keep people
out. It was to keep objectivity. Outside there would be people yelling and
shouting. There could be no order in the court if it was outside. Pilate turned
from objectivity to subjectivity. He began to listen to the mob. Not only did
he listen to the mob but he became the errand boy for the mob. He takes Jesus
outside to try Him rather than making the Jews come in. And he lost his
authority. In effect the chief priests had the authority and this is the first
seed for the Jewish revolt against the Roman empire which led to the Jewish
wars of 66-70 A.D. Pontius Pilate lost control of the Jews.
Pilate’s first mistake was to listen
to the mob. A leader must act on his own, independent of those whom he leads.
He must be decisive and morally courageous in his decisions. Second he became
the servant of the chief priests—their errand boy. His third failure was loss
of authority over the people whom he governed. He puts up the judgment seat
outside and sat down, and that is a great mistake. He is sitting down to his own
doom.
“sat down” – aorist active
indicative of kaqizw. He sits and everyone else
stands; that is his authority. But even though he is seated he has lost his
authority.
It is no accident that at the end of
this verse we have the name of the place—“a place that is called the Pavement,
but in the Hebrew, Gabbatha.” Gabbatha is an Aramaic word with two meanings. It
means a platter really, because the platters were higher than the table.
Gabbatha means an elevated platter. The word pavement means paved with stone. Later 3,600 Jews would be scourged
and crucified on that very spot by the Romans.
Verse 14 – “it was” is imperfect
active indicative of e)imi. The imperfect tense means
it kept on being.
“the preparation” – paraskeuh. It refers to the day of preparation of the
memorial supper which took place before the Passover. The memorial supper was a
remembrance of the redemption of the firstborn of Israel the night before the
Exodus. This is a supper to commemorate the deliverance of firstborn of the Jews
at that time.
On what day did Jesus Christ
die?
1.
We
have to determine this by the established day of resurrection—Sunday, Matthew
28:1; Luke 24:1; John 20:1.
2.
The
feast of the firstfruits always occurred on Sunday—Leviticus 23:10-11; 1
Corinthians 15:20, 23.
3.
The
principle of Jewish time—Matthew 12:40. Tuesday night was the night of the
preparation for the Passover. Jesus Christ has already had the preparation for
the Passover; He turned it into the communion. That is Tuesday night. Jewish
time starts at sundown and goes to the next sundown. So Tuesday night and all
day Wednesday daytime is all one day to the Jews. This is the day of the
crucifixion which will start at 9am Wednesday. Thursday, Friday and Saturday:
Thursday begins Wednesday at Sundown and terminates Thursday at sundown—that is
one day in the grave. Then Friday Jewish time starts Thursday at sundown and
terminates Friday at sundown. (The night comes before the day in Jewish time)
Saturday is the third day in the grave, it starts Friday at sundown and goes to
Saturday at sundown. “For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the
whale's belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the
heart of the earth.” So any time after midnight Saturday Jesus Christ rose from
the dead. But He has to be three days and three nights in the heart of the
earth, so Wednesday has to be the day of the crucifixion. And that isn’t all;
it has to be Wednesday before sundown because sundown is when Thursday starts.
4.
The
principle of Gentile time—1 Corinthians 15:4. In Gentile time there is a
slightly different statement: “And that he was buried, and that he rose again
the third day according to the scriptures.” Gentile time goes from twelve to
twelve, so from 12-midnight Tuesday to Wednesday night midnight is one day.
That is the day of the crucifixion. Jesus Christ was taken down off the cross
before sundown. It was on the third day that He rose sometime after midnight to
make up the third day. Therefore it follows the principle of Gentile time and
also of Jewish time.
5.
The
conclusion is that Christ died on the Wednesday. So when it says “it was the
preparation of the Passover,” that is the memorial supper on Tuesday night.
“and about the sixth hour” – the sixth hour is Roman
time. John uses Roman time
instead
of Jewish time because the Gospel of John was written at about 96 A.D. when
there was no Jewish nation and there was no Jewish time. Jewish time stopped in
August of 70 A.D. That would be Wednesday morning Gentile time; it would also
be Wednesday in Jewish time because Jewish time began earlier.
“and he saith unto the Jews” – here is a
pronouncement whereby he tried to wriggle
out.
He tried to reconcile the objectivity of Roman law and the political expediency
principle. He tried to maintain his position and still uphold Roman law as the
governor. So he said to the Jews a true statement which came from his cross
examination: “Behold your King!” This wasn’t done to antagonize them, this is
the result of his own cross-examination. He recognizes Jesus Christ as a King.
The word behold is the aorist active
imperative of o(raw. It means take a good long
look at Him. Possibly Pontius Pilate begins to see that it would be highly
desirable to have Jesus Christ as a client King than to have the chief priests
running the land. The aorist active imperative is an order. This was actually
his last attempt to secure the release of Jesus. Pilate is saying that if Jesus
Christ is their King then he should be released because Rome has no quarrel
with Him. He is suggesting that they accept Him. Rome has accepted Him; now you
accept Him!
Verse 15 – as soon as he said that they began to
scream at him, aorist active indicative
of
kraugazw. Loud noises do not make
intelligence! Anyone can screech; not everyone can think. And of those who can
think, not all can think objectively.
“Away with him” is an aorist active imperative of a)irw. In other words, they are now
giving
the order to Pilate. The mob orders Pilate!
Aorist tense: now. Active voice: we order it. Imperative mood: the mob
is screaming an order to the judge. “Away with him” means lift Him up and carry
Him out, all the way to the cross. A)irw means to lift up. Lift Him
up to what? … they explain it.
“crucify him” – aorist active imperative of staurow. They are ordering Him to be
lifted
up on a cross. So Pilate then hits them with sarcasm.
“Shall I crucify your King?” – future active
indicative of staurow. This is both
contempt
and sarcasm for the Jews. Notice the basis for them saying this. For the chief
priests it is jealousy, a mental attitude sin which destroys norms and
standards. Their jealousy has destroyed them and turned them into unreasoning
animals. Pilate is not only hitting them with sarcasm but he recognizes the
facts of the case. But he can’t handle the facts properly at this point.
“We have no king but Caesar” – this is a final renunciation, an expression of their
negative volition toward Christ. This is hypocrisy because the Jews resent Caesar and in 34 years they will be in full revolt. Remember that religion always uses hypocrisy as a facade. It is the Caesar by the name of Vespasian and his son Titus who will destroy them in 70 A.D.
Verse 16 — “Then” is literally “At
that time.” After studying the details of the miscarriage of Jewish, Greek, and
Roman justice the Lord Jesus Christ was betrayed. The word for ‘deliver’ here
is paradidomi, aorist active indicative.
It means to betray, and this is really the sense of it here. Pontius Pilate did
not deliver Jesus Christ, he betrayed Him. Reason: He knew that Jesus was
innocent. By cross examination he knew that Jesus Christ was the true King of
the Jews. He himself did not personally receive Christ as saviour and when it
came time for the crucifixion he had to betray Him. And just as Judas Iscariot
betrayed Jesus Christ so did Pontius Pilate, only the betrayal of Pontius
Pilate is greater. The aorist tense: the point of time. Active voice: Pontius
Pilate was the traitor. Indicative mood: the reality of the betrayal of the
Lord Jesus Christ.
“unto them” is a reference to the
Jews. It is also a dative case, dative of disadvantage. It was to the
disadvantage of these Jews to be the ones involved in the crucifixion. The
disadvantage comes from negative volition at the point of God-consciousness,
negative volition at the point of gospel hearing.
“to be crucified” — i(na, translated ‘that’ and not even translated in the
passage in the KJV. Plus an aorist active
subjunctive of staurow. This all should be
translated, “At that time he betrayed him therefore unto them that he might be
crucified.” The aorist tense is the point of time in which Jesus Christ was
crucified. The active voice: Jesus Christ is the one being crucified. The subjunctive
mood: it depends upon volition. The volition of our Lord was expressed at the
Garden of Gethsemane. This expressed the mental attitude necessary to execute
the plan. The humanity of Jesus Christ had the perfect mental attitude to
fulfill the plan. So much depends upon mental attitude. Mental attitude is
based upon frame of reference. The perceptive lobe of our Lord had been
receiving doctrine. He had transferred that doctrine to His human spirit where
it became e)pignwsij. He had cycled it up into
His norm and standard lobe where He had divine viewpoint. He had an ECS to stabilise that. His attitude toward the Father: “Nevertheless not
my will but thine be done.” So the Lord Jesus Christ had divine viewpoint and
He was willing to go. The subjunctive mood indicates the volition of our Lord
as related to His mental attitude.
“And they took Jesus” — they didn’t
take Him at all, “they received possession of Him.” With Roman permission the
Jews escort Him outside of the city, they will not crucify Him inside of the
city. And that is perfectly in keeping with the Levitical offerings, they were
offered outside the camp. The words “and led him away” are not in the original.
Paralambanw means to receive possession
of. The word goes with paradidomi. Pontius Pilate betrayed
Him and they received the betrayal. So in a sense there is a betrayal that puts
Jesus on the cross. Pontius Pilate in the betrayer and He betrays Christ to the
Jews, they are in it together.
Verse 17 — John does not describe
what happened between the Praetorium and Golgotha. John is through with the
details once the trial is over. The word for “bearing” is bastadzw which isn’t the word for bearing at all. The word
for bearing is ferw.
Bastadzw means
to lift up a heavy burden which puts pressure on you and carry it anyway. In
other words, Jesus Christ is so weakened by the things that He has suffered
that it is almost impossible for Him to carry this big chunk of wood on which
He is going to be crucified. But His mental attitude is one of determination
and even though He has been maltreated in every possible way, and even though
His back is now raw and the skin has been taken off by a whip, He still puts it
up on His shoulder and starts to carry it. His mental attitude is that He is
going to the cross. He is not going to explain anything to anyone, and it is a
present active participle which means that He kept right on carrying it until
He staggered and fell, and that is when the centurion ordered in a substitute.
He lifted it up and it immediately became a terrible pressure and burden, which
means that He did not have the strength to carry it at this point He was so
weakened. The Greek includes a reflexive pronoun here, e(autou, which means “himself.” It should be translated,
“And he bearing by means of himself the cross.” There is His mental attitude.
This is present linear aktionsart, He kept on carrying it. John omits all of
the details between the Praetorium and Golgotha because he is emphasising a
mental attitude. His mental attitude is portrayed by the fact that when He was
turned over to the Jews He licked up that cross and by means of what He has
left He started to stagger under the load of that cross.
“went forth” — aorist active
indicative of e)cerxomai [e)c = outside; e)rxomai = went], He ‘went outside.’ Outside of what? Outside of the city. He
dies outside of the gates of Jerusalem and this fulfills the phrase of
Leviticus 16:27 — “without the gate.” That same phrase is found in Hebrews
13:12.
“into a place called” — literally,
‘being said,’ present passive participle of legw.
Legw [to say] is not the same as
kalew [called]. The present
passive participle means to be designated.
“of a skull” — the genitive of kranion, the word from which we get ‘cranium.’ This
describes a massive skull. This is what it was called by the Greeks, but it
isn’t what it was called by the Jews.
“which is designated in the Hebrew
Golgotha” — Golgoqa, which is a transliteration
from the Aramaic. The Latin for Golgotha or kranion is calvaria, from which we
get the word ‘calvary.’ The word ‘calvary’ is used for this hill because the
pope told Jerome to come up with a translation, and so Jerome translated this
word calvaria and the Roman Catholic
church started to call the hill ‘Calvary.’ That is one reason why it is a very
bad thing for any Protestant hymnal to have the word ‘Calvary’ in it. The
Waldenseans and the Huguenots, and other great people in the past who were persecuted
by the Roman Catholic church and slaughtered by the thousands by the Roman
Catholic church would never use the word ‘Calvary.’ ‘Calvary’ is not found
here, there is not one scrap of Latin in the Bible.
Verse 18 — the word “Where” is an
adverb, o(pou, and it means “In which
place.” This is a reference to Golgotha; “they crucified him” — aorist active
indicative, point of time; “and two others” — the crucifixion of the two
gangsters is described in detail by Luke 23:39-43. The synoptic writers go in for
various historical detail but John covers the crucifixion from the standpoint
of principle. To John the important thing is not standing on that hill, though
he was the only disciple who did, the important thing was the fact that the
Bible was fulfilled. The Bible in his day was the Old Testament canon.
“with him” — meta. Why did John use this word instead of sun, which is a simple ‘with’? He uses meta, preposition of association. The whole point of meta is to make us realise what is important about the
cross, the fact that Christ was associated with both sinners and their sins,
and the sins of the whole world. Meta, the preposition of
association, is to indicate that Christ associated with our sins or the purpose
of the cross.
“on either side one, and Jesus in
the midst” — the placement was no accident. The attitude of the thieves toward
the middle cross was the thing that determined their eternal future.
The crucifixion fulfills certain Old
Testament prophesies. a) Psalm 22:1-16.
In verse 16, “They pierced my hands and my feet.” This is emphasised in both
this chapter and the next because it is a prophecy regarding the cross. To John
the most important thing is what the Bible teaches about the cross, not what he
himself saw. Reality is in what the Bible teaches, not in what he saw. b)
Isaiah 53:12 — “He was numbered with the transgressors.” And this is fulfilled
because we have a gangster dying on each side of Him. c) Isaiah 53:9 — “His
grave with the wicked in his deaths.” So the transgressors and the wicked refer
to the dying thieves.
Verse 19 — Pilate could not only
write in Latin but he could write in other languages as well. He is apparently
trilingual. “And Pilate wrote a title” — the word is grafw, aorist active indicative, third masculine singular
which means Pilate did the writing. The cross had a large head board across the
top. It required big writing because this was a sign which people from the
walls of Jerusalem could read. John is the only one who informs us that Pontius
Pilate wrote the inscription himself. It was customary to write the name of the
criminal and the crime for which he was being executed. This is the way that
the Romans kept down the crime wave. In the Spartan revolt about 38,000 people
were crucified all the way from the gates of Rome for miles.
“a title” — titloj, a superscription, a sentence written on the head
board above the head of the one being crucified. John gives us the complete
superscription, he was there and watched Pilate write it.
“and put it on the cross” — aorist
active indicative of tiqhmi which means to place. He
placed it on the cross which means he actually wrote it on a smoothed-out board
and then they put it on the cross. The third masculine singular means he
actually put this on the cross himself.
“And the writing was” — literally,
“Having been written,” the perfect passive participle of grafw.
“Jesus of Nazareth the King of the
Jews” — why did Pontius Pilate write this? Notice that he didn’t write “Jesus
of Nazareth the King of the Jews and Son of God.” He left out ‘Son of God’
because he rejected Christ as saviour. In two interrogations this very
brilliant governor was able to determine that Jesus Christ was truly the King
of the Jews, and therefore he was going to put down exactly what he knew to be
the truth. Pilate wrote the truth and only the truth and he did it without
compromising. He has done all of his compromising, he thinks that by putting
Christ on the cross his political career is saved and therefore he can be
honest and he is going to be honest. ‘Jesus of Nazareth King of the Jews.’ That
must have antagonised the Jews because the King of the Jews has to be born in
Bethlehem, David’s town. And Jesus was born there. He lived in Egypt part of
His life, and part of His life He lived in Galilee and Nazareth. So to put
Nazareth there made the Jews twice as mad because it had to be Bethlehem. But
in the interrogation he had learned that Jesus was born in Bethlehem, lived in
Nazareth; therefore he put Nazareth. But that isn’t all. When he said ‘The King
of the Jews’ he knew that it was true because of the objectivity of Roman
interrogation. He discovered that this was the fact and he was going to put the
facts down. This was the exact understanding of Pontius Pilate.
Verse 20 — “This title then read
many of the Jews.” They didn’t read it, they exegete it — a)naginwskw [a)na = again and again; ginwskw = to know]. To know again and again means to read
it and understand it. They discerned, they exegete, they read it aloud in
public.
“for the place where Jesus was
crucified was near the city” — in other words, they read it from the city
walls. This was such a large plaque that they could stand on the walls of the
city.
“and it was written in Hebrew, in
Greek, and Latin” — it was written in Latin because the law required it. The
one that is quoted in the Greek one, there is no Latin in the Bible. Why was it
written in three languages? It was written in Hebrew because this is the native
language of the province. It is written in Greek because Pontius Pilate was an
educated man and all educated Romans had to study Greek, it was the official
language of the eastern half of the Roman empire, it had been the universal
language of that area since Alexander the Great, its conqueror. It was written
in Latin because Roman law required that in every execution the official
language of the Roman empire would describe something about the one being
executed, ad if there is a crime something about it. There was no crime
described in this case, and that is significant. The word ‘Latin’ mentioned
here, but not used, reminds us of something. John wrote everything, and Pontius
Pilate did not mention a crime because there was no crime. How can you mention
what isn’t? Pontius Pilate had said three times, ‘Not guilty.’
Verse 21 — “Then said the chief
priests of the Jews...” They are going to complain. Why? Because in the angelic
conflict the cross is the focal point of human history. In the history of
humanity this is the place where three civilisations. It is the only place in
history where all civilisations meet, and they all fail. No civilisation is any
better than its spiritual life — regeneration — and at the cross three
civilisations met and failed, and their laws all failed at this point being
violated and distorted to accomplish the crucifixion. Hebrew law lost its
objectivity through the infiltration of religion. Hellenistic justice was
represented by Herod, and it was distorted through lack of miracles to cater to
the boredom of Herod Antipas. Roman justice was distorted through political
expediency.
“Write not” — present active
imperative of grafw plus the negative mh. This says, Stop doing what you are doing. The
present tense means you are doing something. The active voice: you are doing
it. The imperative mood plus the negative: Stop it. The ordered him to stop
writing The King of the Jews.
“but that he said, I am the King of
the Jews” — in other words, they wanted to distort the truth. Religion always
distorts the truth. They wanted Pilate to insert “he said.” The father of
religion is the devil. Religion takes truth to distort truth.
Verse 22 — “Pilate answered.” For
once he had an answer. Aorist passive of a)pokrinomai — he had an answer.
“What I have written I have
written.” Here together is a perfect active indicative of grafw followed by grafw
again, perfect active indicative. The repetition of an exact morphology is an
idiom. When you put two perfect tenses together this is the quintessence of
dogmatism. In other words, he is not going to back off. This is it.
Verse 23 — “Then” is the particle o)un to mark the resumption of a discourse after an
interruption. The discourse has been interrupted to explain some principles of
doctrine and now we resume with the historical account of the crucifixion and
the things connected with it; “the soldiers” here refer to Roman soldiers
stationed in Jerusalem. There are five Roman soldiers involved in the
crucifixion. Four of them are enlisted men and one is an officer. Before the
day is over all five of these men will be believers in the Lord Jesus Christ.
“when they had crucified” — aorist
active indicative of staurow.
Staurow
means three things: a) The individual involved has somehow been abused by the
Roman military; b) He has to carry his cross to the point where he is to be
executed; c) He is either nailed to the cross or tied to the cross, the result
is the same.
“took his garments and made four
parts, to every soldier a part” — they divided into four parts, there are four
soldiers. Generally four soldiers would divide up four garments. There was head
gear, foot gear, a belt which was wide and had pockets in it, and a robe.
“and also his coat” — the word for
‘coat’ here is not coat at all. It is not an outer garment, it is a xitwn which is an undergarment worn underneath the robe.
In this case the xitwn is a very striking or
beautiful one. It is no accident that we have these details, there has to be a
reason for them. First of all, the Lord Jesus was well dressed. When someone is
wearing five garments in the ancient world and the soldiers are going to gamble
over them, ordinarily the Roman soldiers wouldn’t pay any attention, they
wouldn’t bother with the clothes of the gangsters which were not worth having.
Jesus Christ was well dressed, He was not a hippie! The second thing is that
when Jesus was on the cross he was naked. It was impossible to divide this
garment without destroying it and it was an item that all of the soldiers
coveted. Therefore they decided to gamble for it.
Verse 24 — “They said therefore face
to face with themselves” — proj plus the accusative plus a)lloj which means others of the same kind. They were all
soldiers.
“Let us not rend it” — the word for
‘rend’ is an aorist active subjunctive of sxizw.
It means to tear apart. The aorist tense means that at that point of time they
were pulling and tugging on it. The active voice: they all wanted it. The
subjunctive mood: it was in danger of being ripped up.
“but let us cast lots for it” should
be ‘concerning it.’ The decided to gamble for it.
“that the scripture might be
fulfilled which saith” — ‘which saith’ is not found in the original. The word
‘fulfilled’ is plhrow which means something is
completed or something is fulfilled. The aorist tense is the point of time
which is the cross. The passive voice: by gambling for this garment they are
fulfilling Psalm 22:18. So Ps. 22:18 receives fulfillment. The subjunctive mood
indicates that it has not been fulfilled up to this point, until this moment.
“They parted my raiment” — the word
for ‘part’ is diamerizw, it means to divide into
parts, not to tear apart; and ‘my raiment’ refers to the four articles of clothing.
So they were able to divide four articles of clothing.
“for my vesture [xitwn] they did cast lots” — ‘cast lots’ is ballw which means to throw, and ‘lots’ which refers to
dice is the word klhroj.
The soldiers are interested in the
details of life at this moment. There is a third lesson to be learned, then,
from what the soldiers are doing. When soldiers are interested in details and
the clothing of Jesus Christ it takes something fantastic to get their eyes off
of details and get them down to the issue. In a few moment the sins of the
world will be poured out on Jesus Christ. He will be bearing the sins of the
world, He will be suffering the first death on the cross which is spiritual
death. Once He starts dying for the sins of the world and providing salvation
for everyone, for them to stop and to start watching, and to eventually accept
Christ as saviour after He dies physically, these things are something
fantastic.
Verses 25-27, the third cry on the
cross. The first and the second are found in Luke 23:34, 43. John emphasises
and begins with the third cry because it gave him some responsibility he had
never had before.
Verse 25 — Jesus fulfills the Jewish
law of responsibility toward parents. He has a great sense of responsibility,
therefore He recognises someone else who has.
“there stood by” is a pluperfect of i(sthmi, and this tells us something about these ladies.
The pluperfect means all of the power of Rome, all of the power of the Jews,
all of the viciousness of the crowd could not drive them away. They are there
to stay. These women all have moral courage that comes from the norm or
standard lobe. And how did they get that great courage? Bible doctrine.
“by the cross” means immediately
beside the cross, just as close as they can get; “his mother,” Mary; “Mary the
wife of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalene,” both are widows at this time. Their
names are not the same in the original. One was called Miriam and the other was
called Maria, but they are translated the same in the KJV.
Mary Magdalene
1. She is one of the women who
ministered personally to Jesus — Luke 8:2.
2. Seven demons were cast out of
here — Mark 16:9; Luke 8:2.
3. The fact that she was a
prostitute — Luke 7:37; 8:2.
4. She was present at the cross —
Luke 23:49; John 19:25.
5. She also present at the burial of
Jesus — Matthew 27:61; Mark 15:47; Luke 23:55.
6. She apparently was fairly
wealthy. We know this from the nature of the spices which she bought for His
burial. She anointed His body with very expensive spices — Mark 16:1.
7. She was the first person to the
open grave — Matthew 28:1; Mark 16:1,2.
8. She went with the news to Peter
and John — John 20:1,2.
9. She was the first one to see the
resurrected Christ — John 20:11-18.
Verse 26 — “When Jesus therefore saw
his mother.” This in itself indicates something of the fantastic strength and
stamina of Jesus Christ. This is an aorist active participle of o(raw, and of all the words to use this means to get a
panoramic view. If blepw had been used you would
understand that Jesus Christ was passing out and coming to and He just happened
to catch a glance. But we have o(raw and it indicates that Jesus
has phenomenal stamina. After all He has been through He is able to focus His
eyes and to recognise people. This is His humanity and it indicates phenomenal
stamina.
“and the disciple” — John, the
writer of this Gospel; “standing by” — this time it is a perfect active
participle of paristhmi, ‘standing beside her.’
Perfect tense: he had been standing there comforting her. The active voice:
John had a great sense of responsibility as manifest by this act.
“whom he loved” — this indicates
that Jesus Christ never changes His attitude toward believers. He keeps on
loving them. John is not special in this sense, He doesn’t love John more than
the others. If this had been filew then we would have to say
that Jesus loved John more than the others. But it isn’t, it is the imperfect
of a)gapaw which means He has enough
love for all of them, it is mental attitude love. He has the same love for all
of them but it just so happens that John is the one there.
“he saith unto his mother, Woman” — gunh. He doesn’t say “Mother,” He calls her “Woman.”
“behold thy son!” — and He turns His
glance upon John. From then on John is responsible for her.
Verse 27 — He says to the disciple
John, “Behold thy mother!” For the first time He uses the word “mother” — mhthr. This is His provision for His mother. John is to
care for and provide for Mary from this day on, and he will. Joseph is dead,
she is a widow, and John will take care of her.
“And from that hour that disciple to
her unto his own” — that is, into his own family, not to his own house. “Home”
is in italics and not found in the original.
Verses 28-29, the fifth cry of the
cross. The fourth cry is omitted, it is recorded in Matthew 27:46,47.
Verse 28 — “After this,” after His
spiritual death; “Jesus knowing that all things were now accomplished.” Notice:
He knew it. He understood the plan of God. He has been under the most
excruciating and intensive pain that anyone has ever had to bear. Not only was
He hearing the sins of the world but He was under the greatest load and
pressure of pain anyone has ever had. Yet, He can still think — o)ida, perfect active participle, used as a present for
cognisance. It means He had doctrine in His perceptive lobe, He had it in His
human spirit, He had it in His frame of reference. It was stabilised by His ECS. He knew when it was accomplished, when it was finished. The word for
accomplished is telew which means finished —
perfect passive indicative. Perfect tense: salvation is completed for ever.
Passive voice: He has received the accomplishment of salvation. The indicative
mood is the reality of salvation. Everything has been accomplished. He has been
lucid this entire time, He has never for one moment lost consciousness and not
for one moment stopped thinking.
“that the scripture” [Psalm 69:21]
might be fulfilled,” aorist passive subjunctive of plhrow.
“saith” I thirst” — He has refused anything
up to now. This is a present active indicative of diyaw.
After His bearing our sins His thirst was intensified — Psalm 22:15.
Verse 29 — “Now there was set a
vessel full of vinegar.” The word is not ‘vinegar’ at all, it is o)coj, a very sour wine. It is a very cheap wine.
“and they filled” — there is no
‘filled’ in the original. It actually says “a sponge full of o)coj.” There was actually a tub filled with this wine
and it had a sponge floating in it. The sponge was for those being crucified.
“and put it upon a hyssop” — a
stalk. The stalk was attached to the sponge and put up to the mouth of those on
the cross being crucified. The sponge was filled with sour wine having been
attached to a hyssop stalk, and they brought it to his mouth. Literally, “A
vessel [or tub] was standing there full of pascha: then a sponge being filled
with pascha having been attached to a hyssop stalk, they brought it to his
mouth.”
Verse 30 — “When Jesus had received
the pascha [He drank it].” ‘When’ means at which time, o(te, and adverb. “Received” is an aorist active
indicative of lambanw which means to receive or
take, but it is the aorist tense which means He didn’t take it all the time, He
just took it on this occasion.
“he said” — aorist tense, point of
time; “It is finished” — perfect passive indicative of telew. Perfect tense: salvation is completed and the
results go on forever. Passive voice: salvation has received fulfillment. The
indicative mood is the reality of salvation. He said Tetelestai, one word, not three: “Finished.” It means to bring
to an end, to complete, to accomplish, to fulfill, to perform. Salvation is
completed. Notice that Jesus is still alive when He says “Finished.” Salvation
was completed by spiritual death. Physical death has nothing to do with
salvation.
“he bowed his head” — He
deliberately bowed His head, aorist active participle of klinw. It actually says, “having bowed His head.” It is a
deliberate act on His part in order for something to be fulfilled. He has to
get His head forward so that when the spear pierces His side out will come
blood clots and serum. Jesus did not bleed to death, He dismissed His spirit,
He died by His own volition. His work was accomplished and He dismissed His
spirit, but before He did He bowed His head forward. Only John records that.
“and gave up the ghost” — the word
‘gave’ means to deliver up. There is no word for ‘ghost’ in the Koine Greek, it
is His human spirit, pneuma. Bowing His head indicates
that He has complete possession of His faculties. His human spirit is now in
the presence of the Father. His human spirit is the storage place for Bible
doctrine. Jesus Christ stored doctrine in His humanity in His human spirit,
just as we do.
Verse 31 — Everything that Jesus did
upon the cross had a purpose and a reason. Nothing was accidental. It was
absolutely essential that when Jesus died that His body went forward. His body
had to be in such a position that when the spear actually pierced His side it
would pierce above the solar plexus and it would enter into a ventricle cavity,
and that even from a distance physical death would be established because it
says, “Out came clots and serum.” The clots and serum are to establish the true
meaning of the blood of Christ. In understanding the true meaning of the blood
of Christ we come to the point of the function of GAP, “that you might believe.” This is written to believers, so the purpose
is not that you might believe in Christ but that you might have in your human
spirit a complete understanding and the meaning of the blood of Christ.
“The Jews therefore” — the Jews are
always up to something. They are always very particular about observing the
superficialities of life. This, by the way, is a sign of religiosity for one of
the characteristics of religiosity is pettiness. Legalists are always petty,
they think in terms of pettiness. They observe forms.
The Passover lamb always had to be
prepared in a certain way and for 1500 years not a bone was ever broken in the
lamb. Why? Because this was to remind each generation and each person who
participated that God always keeps His word. There is one thing about the
Passover lamb that is very difficult for people to understand. It was
slaughtered and the blood was shed because “the life of the flesh is in the
blood” in a lamb, but not in a human being. The life of a human being is in the
soul. Therefore Jesus Christ had to dismiss His spirit and dismiss His soul for
physical death to occur. And when His soul and spirit were dismissed there was
no bleeding to death in the picture at all. He did not bleed to death, His
blood was still inside. This is established because just before Jesus Christ
died “He pushed His head forward and dismissed His spirit.” The minute He did
that the Jews who were standing by, “because it kept on being the preparation”
— paraskeuh, which means a prepared
vessel. It refers to the preparation for the day of the feast. It is also the
day in which the Jews made preparation to observe the Sabbath. The preparation
here is the for the feats of unleavened bread which is going to last for seven
days. Remember that this was Wednesday, the day that Christ died, the Passover
and the Passover memorial. The Passover memorial is held the night before.
Tuesday night from six o’clock on is a part of Wednesday and is the
preparation. Tuesday the preparation represents the Passover, Wednesday
represents the Exodus. The whole day is the preparation for the feast of
unleavened bread which will go on for seven days. It is a double preparation.
All of these things add up to a high Sabbath — which is not a Saturday but a
super holy day.
“that the body should not remain on
the cross on the Sabbath day” — the Sabbath day in not Saturday here. This is
not Saturday Sabbath, this is a high Sabbath which was a day that was set apart
unto God apart from Saturday. This was the first day of the feast of the
unleavened bread and therefore the first day is a preparation and must be
regarded as a high Sabbath, as per Leviticus 23:6,7. This means that certain
things pertain. Notice: (For that Sabbath day was an high day).” This was not
Saturday, it was Wednesday and therefore the Jews were very formal in their
observation. They have just perpetrated the greatest crime in history and it is
like committing the greatest crime in history and then going to church. This is
exactly what they did.
“besought Pilate that their legs
might be broken” — the leg-breaking consisted of taking a mallet and striking
the legs until the person died of the shock and the pain. The reason that they
besought Pilate that this might be accomplished is because they might be taken
away, which is literally lifted up and taken down. They didn’t want them on the
cross while they were having one of their high Sabbaths.
Verse 32 — The Roman soldiers went
up to the two thieves on each side of Jesus and took a mallet and pounded their
legs until the bones were smashed, a very painful death. Both of them died.
Apparently the Jews were waiting for this to occur on the centre cross.
Verse 33 — “But when they came to
Jesus and saw that he was dead.” This was simply a testimony. He was physically
dead, the perfect active indicative of qnhskw
which refers to physical death. He was dead already. He was dead because He
died by an act of His own volition. His work was accomplished. He was perfect,
and therefore being perfect, just as His birth was absolutely unique His death
was absolutely unique. Jesus Christ is the only person who ever died physically
by His own volition and there was nothing wrong with it. It was not suicide.
His work was accomplished and He dismissed His spirit. He did not die by
bleeding to death and no one caught His blood in a bowl and took it up to
heaven. Their is no efficacy in the actual literal blood of Christ, the
efficacy is in His spiritual death, our substitute bearing our sins. His body
in His physical death went into the grave — Luke 23:53; His soul went to Hades
— Psalm 16:10; Acts 2:27; His spirit went to the Father — Luke 23:46.
“they break not his legs” — the fact
that Jesus was already dead was further indication that no man took His life
from Him, as He declared in John 10:17,18. For 1500 years not a bone had ever
been broken in a Passover lamb and now the Lamb of God dies of crucifixion
without a bone being broken.
Verse 34 — “But one of the soldiers
with a spear.” They have put down their spears for mallets but now we have one
who picks up a spear and he “pierced his side.” But you have to remember some
things now. The head of the Lord is forward and the body is hanging on the
cross. When the head comes forward and a person dies without bleeding to death
certain things occur. When a person is pierced above the solar plexus,
instantly there “came out blood.” But the word here is “blood clots.” The word
for water is “fluid.” So instantly blood clots and serum came out.
Why is this so important and how
does this connect with Jesus moving His head forward? First of all, Jesus did
not bleed to death. The soldiers by piercing His chest cavity with a spear
demonstrated this.
1. The stab wound was made above the
pelvic rim. With the head forward and the body forward this is important.
2. To get blood clots and serum to
egress from a dead body a very large blood vessel has to be pierced.
3. A large stab wound was made on
the right chest wall of the body which resulted in laceration of the right
ventricle of the heart.
4. With the body leaning forward
blood clots and serum would become immediately externalised. If the body is not
leaning forward away from the cross this will not happen. Remember that the
serum drains only from the upper extremities of the body, but it doesn’t drain
too well unless the body is forward.
5. What keeps the blood from going
into the abdominal cavity? This is the real issue. The spear did not go into
His side, it went into His chest and it had to go high, not low. The diaphragm
prevents blood from going down into the abdominal cavity, but only if the body
is leaning forward. By leaning forward the diaphragm shuts off blood so that it
does not go down into the abdominal cavity. If it had then this point would
never be established. The Holy Spirit makes two things clear. Just before Jesus
died He said “Finished,” and then He pushed His head forward. And that puts His
body forward. His put His body forward so that the diaphragm would cut off the
blood draining from the upper extremities of His body into the abdominal
cavity. And that is exactly what happened. If the blood goes into the abdominal
cavity you do not have blood clots, so to get blood clots and serum the
diaphragm must cut off from draining into the abdominal cavity and then blood
clots and serum would appear externally by a chest wall opening made by a
spear.
6. Only a dead body which has not
bled to death but dies suddenly contains blood clots and serum. All through the
ages Satan has made one of his greatest attacks on the cross by blotting out in
the minds of believers the importance of spiritual death. Spiritual death is
Christ bearing our sins and the blood of Christ represents spiritual death, He
didn’t bleed to death.
7. What does it mean to be lyzed?
There is a noun that goes with it, lysus, which means dissolving. Lyzed means
something dissolved. If Jesus had slowly hemorrhaged internally, by the time
the stab wound was made the clots in His body cavity would have been lyzed.
Therefore no clear serum or blood clots could have been observable. But serum
and blood clots were observable from a distance by John.
8. Unless there is a tremendous
trauma such as decapitation, or unless a person actually bleeds to death, the
only absolute proof that a person is physically dead when viewed from a
distance, as John did, would be to see blood clots and serum from a wound. When
a spear is thrust in as it was in this case and out come blood clots and serum
it establishes physical death. It verifies physical death and makes it clear
that it wasn’t bleeding to death. Neither internal nor external hemorrhage
occurred in the death of Christ, He died by dismissing His spirit. His physical
death is the completion of His work and has nothing to do with salvation.
Conclusion: Jesus Christ pushed His
body forward. That made it possible for blood clots and serum to accumulate in
the right spot at the right time. There was the breaking of the legs of the
thieves which took place over a period of at least thirty minutes. When that
was completed everything was ready to demonstrate that Christ did not bleed to
death, the Roman soldier picked up a spear, plunged it into His right chest
cavity, and there was an egress of blood clots and serum which was observable
from a distance. That egress made possible by Jesus Christ putting His head
forward in death made it possible to establish death, but not by bleeding.
The doctrine of the blood
1. Blood is the seat of animal life
— Leviticus 17:10-14. The seat of human life is the soul.
2. Animal blood was used in the Old
Testament to represent the spiritual death of Christ on the cross — to
represent it, to teach it. Animal blood was a training aid. Leviticus chapters
1-3. Therefore, animal blood is literal but it represents the spiritual death
of Christ on the cross — Colossians 1:20; Hebrews 10:19; 13:20; 1 Peter 1:2.
3. The doctrine of redemption was
communicated by means of animal sacrifices in the Old Testament — Hebrews 9:22.
Remember that Hebrews 9:22 refers to animal sacrifices.
4. Christ did not die on the cross
by bleeding to death. His blood was still in His body after physical death —
John 19:30-34. Christ died by an act of volition, not by bleeding — John 10:18.
After His work was finished, bearing our sins, He dismissed His spirit — Luke
23:46; Matthew 27:50.
5. The blood of Christ is a part of
a representative analogy between the physical death of animals in the Old
Testament and the spiritual death of Christ on the cross — 1 Peter 2:24; 2
Corinthians 5:21.
6. The blood of Christ, then,
portrays four doctrines of soteriology. a) Redemption — Ephesians 1:7; 1 Peter
1:18,19; b) Justification — Romans 5:9; c) Sanctification — Hebrews 13:12; d)
Expiation — Revelation 1:5.
7. The blood of Christ in expiation
is the basis for the rebound technique. Why can you confess your sins and be
forgiven? Because expiation has already occurred, sins have already been judged
— 1 John 1:7 cf. 1 John 1:9; Leviticus chapters 4 & 5; Colossians 2:14,15.
Verse 35 — “And he that saw it” is a
perfect active participle, but notice it is a nominative singular masculine.
Nominative: John is the subject; singular: John was the only one that saw it;
masculine: John was a male. None of the women saw it. (A woman can’t see
through tears) The women were under maximum grief and only John actually saw
this. The perfect tense: John saw it and never forgot it. And he just didn’t blepw it, the word is o(raw,
he stared, he got the whole picture. He saw it and never forgot it. The active
voice: John saw it. The participle: it was fixed in his mind as a law from God
to be revealed later in writing through the ministry of the Spirit. This is
John the disciple. There were two people who were convinced. Verse 34, the
soldier; verse 35, he that saw it. Both of them knew that He died physically
and both of them knew that He did not bleed to death.
“bare record” — perfect active
indicative of marturew which means to give
evidence in a court. Perfect tense: it is permanent evidence, it is a part of
the Word of God. Active voice: John saw it himself. Therefore o(raw makes him qualified for marturew. He was a qualified witness.
“and his record [witness]” — marturia, a judicial testimony, a testimony in court that is
acceptable; “is true” — a)lhqinoj, an unusual word that is a
little different from a)lhqhj or a)lhqeia and similar words. This word means ‘trustworthy,
acceptable as evidence, creditable.’ “And the one having seen [John] gave
evidence, and his evidence is trustworthy.”
“and he knoweth” — literally, “and
that one knows that what he says is worthy of credit.” In other words, there is
no way to shake his testimony.
“that” is a purpose clause; “you
might believe” — present active subjunctive of pisteuw, not used for salvation but is a part of GAP. It is important as a part of the believer’s understanding. This must
be in the human spirit. The present tense is linear aktionsart. The active
voice: the believer produces the action through GAP.
The subjunctive mood: if you ever understand this or not all depends on the
function of GAP in your life. This is an
area of a lot of prejudice and was anticipated.
Verse 36 — “For these things were
done that the scripture should be fulfilled.” If one part of the scripture is
true it is all true. When God promises or God prophesies through a prophet and
it is kept it demonstrates the validity of God’s character and the validity of
His promises. “These things” refers to the omission of the breaking of the legs
in the case of the Lord Jesus. Not a bone of Him was broken because the
character of God was on the line. God said there wouldn’t be a bone broken and
there wasn’t a bone broken. No broken bones means God keeps His word. Notice
that God the Father is very careful with regard to detail, and this means He is
careful as to the fact of keeping His word to you. The whole essence box is
involved at this point.
“These things were done” is
literally, “These things came to pass” — aorist active indicative of ginomai; “that” — purpose clause. What is important? The
scripture. When we are talking about the crucifixion what are we talking about?
The scripture! Doctrine. The Bible. That is what is important. What is the
great issue of the cross? The Bible, Bible doctrine, the scripture. It is
always the Word that is important; “that the scripture might be fulfilled.”
Jesus Christ went into the most minute things to make sure that every part of
the scripture was fulfilled. Every time you claim a promise, use a doctrine,
function under the principle of the ECS you are fulfilling the
scripture. In other words, if you want to make a simple doctrine out of it, it
is the fulfilling of scripture that glorifies God. That is how important
doctrine is. “That the scripture might be fulfilled” is the aorist passive
subjunctive of plhrow, used here in connection
with GAP. The aorist tense is the point of time when
these things occurred. The passive voice: they received fulfillment. The
subjunctive mood: it indicates potentiality, generally speaking, but here it is
more than just potentiality. Until this actually occurs every detail was
unknown historically. It was prophetically laid out but not historically laid
out. And if you are going to show that it was still God’s purpose to do these
things hundreds of years before they were prophesied but they were not done,
then you use a purpose clause and the subjunctive mood goes with the “that.” It
was not the usual unknown potential, it is a known potential fulfilled — ‘that’
plus the subjunctive.
“broken” is suntribw which means to crush, to splinter, to break in
pieces. This fulfills Exodus 12:46, the bones Passover lamb were not to be
broken. It fulfills Numbers 9:12; Psalm 34:20, the prophecies that they would
not be broken.
Verse
37 — “And again another scripture saith.” This is Zechariah 12:10. The Roman
soldier who thrust the spear into His side was one of those who believed in
Christ — Matthew 27:54; Mark 15:39. The interesting thing is that every man in
the uniform of the military of the Romans and the one disciple in the glorious
uniform of doctrine in the spiritual conflict were believers. John came as a
believer but the men who accepted Christ on that hill were all soldiers. Those
who rejected were all religious!
Verse 38 — two witnesses are needed
to establish the reality of physical death under the Mosaic law. The two
witnesses are now described.
Joseph of Arimathea
1.He is a member of the Sanhedrin,
which means he is a ruler. In Luke 23:54 he is called a counselor — boulhthj, which means a member of the Sanhedrin. As a member
of the Sanhedrin he is a ruler of the Jews.
2. He was extremely rich — Matthew
27:57. Isaiah 53:9 us fulfilled, Jesus was identified with rich men in His
death.
3. He was a believer — Luke 23:50;
Matthew 27:57.
4. Joseph of Arimathea did not vote
for the death of Jesus — Luke 23:51.
5. He makes his stand even greater
by going to Pilate and requesting the body of Jesus — Matthew 27:58; Luke
23:52; John 19:38.
“And after this Joseph of Arimathea,
being a disciple of Jesus” — present active participle of e)imi which means he always was; the word ‘disciple,’ maqhthj, has been greatly misunderstood in this day of
liberalism. It means to be taught categorically. Today ‘discipleship’ is
following Jesus in some emotional way, typical of apostasy and liberalism.
“but secretly” — perfect passive
participle of kruptw. It means to be hidden, but
in the perfect tense it means having become hidden. The passive voice means
that he received hiding. The participle indicates this had been his status quo
to this point. Bible doctrine did not, until the death of Christ, build up
enough courage on the right lobe for him to take a stand. He took his first
stand in the trial of Jesus when the Sanhedrin voted that very day. He voted
against the death of our Lord.
“for fear” is dia plus foboj. Here is means fear as a
mental attitude sin. It is in the accusative so it should be translated
“because of fear.” That fear is now gone. It took a major crisis to knock the
mental attitude sins out of Joseph of Arimathea. His problem was fear, but he overcame
his fear. It is not unusual to be frightened at some time in your life about
something. The bad thing is to face a crisis and fall apart, to give way to fear
and let fear run your life. Up until this time Joseph of Arimathean was a
coward but the crisis brought out something great in him. As soon as the
pressure was on he reached in and grabbed a norm and standard and went right
straight like a man to Pontius Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus Christ.
He stood up in the Sanhedrin when all the pressure in the world was on him and
said, “I vote no.” He started the crisis with a great fear but that was the end
of it. The norm and standard lobe took over.
that he might take away” — aorist
active subjunctive a)irw which means to lift up the
body off the cross and remove it; “and Pilate gave him leave” means to give
permission.
“He came, and lifted up and carried
off” — the Romans left the bodies on the cross until they rotted. It was an
unusual things for Pontius Pilate to give permission to take a body off a
cross, and the reason that he gave permission was because he knew that Jesus
was innocent. There was also some pressure from the Jews becauyse the Jews did
not leave a corpse around on a holy day to defile it. Jesus will be placed in
Joseph’s own tomb in fulfillment of Isaiah 53:9.
Verses 39 — the second witness.
“There came also Nicodemus.”
1. Historically he is identified as
Nicodemus ben Gurion, the brother of Josephus.
2. He was a member of the Sanhedrin
and one of the three richest men in Jerusalem.
3. Like Joseph of Arimathea he was a
secret disciple.
4. Nicodemus defended Jesus in the
Sanhedrin. He not only said no but he stood up and made a speech as to why this
shouldn’t happen. John 7:50-52.
5. For his stand he was expelled
from the Pharisee Party and from the Sanhedrin.
6. Through many persecutions he
became impoverished.
“which at first came to Jesus by
night” — the adverb prwtoj. It means first contact,
first in time—John 3:1-21; “to Jesus” is proj
plus the accusative of a)utoj, which means came face to face with him [Jesus].
“and brought a mixture of myrrh and
aloes, about an hundred pounds [weight]” – this would be very expensive. In
other words, Nicodemus provided the funeral of a king for the Lord Jesus.
Verse 40 – “Then took they.” Notice:
two timid disciples. Both have had the same experience. In the crisis they have
responded. The mental attitude sins are eliminated and they are functioning to
the glory of God. And in that transitory period of the angelic conflict the
Holy Spirit records their action connected with the burial of Jesus. So now the
burial of Jesus takes on new meaning. The burial of Jesus was the means of bringing
to the forefront those who were prepared for the crisis by consistency and
stability of life, namely John and Mary Magdalene, and those who although they
had failed up to this point rose to meet the crisis in an honourable manner,
namely Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus.
“wound it in linen clothes” – they
clothed it for burial.
“the manner of the Jews is to bury.”
1.
The
Jewish custom is internment as soon as possible after death. Genesis 23:1-20;
35:8, 19-20—the biblical citation for this custom among the Jews.
2.
The
Jews did not cremate, except in rare cases. The exception was Saul and his
three sons killed by the Philistines in the battle of Gilboa—1 Samuel 31:11-13.
3.
The
Jews did not use coffins or embalming, except in rare cases—like Joseph in
Egypt where the Egyptian customs were used in Genesis 50:2,3.
4.
Ordinarily
the body was buried in the following manner:
The body was washed—Acts 9:37. Or, if it could not be washed it was
wrapped in a cloth—Matthew 27:59; John11:44.
5.
They
often buried in vaults. This was preference. The wealthiest or any VIPs among
the Jews was always buried in a vault—2 Samuel 3:31; Luke 7:14.
6.
If
they could be afforded perfumes were applied to the body—John 12:7.
7.
The
Jews burned incense—Jeremiah 34:5.
8.
They
lamented with loud demonstration—Mark 5:38. Sometimes they even hired
mourners—Jeremiah 9:17.
Verse 41 – “Now in the place where he was crucified
there was a garden.” “Crucified” – aorist passive indicative, He received
crucifixion in a point of time; “there kept on being a garden” – imperfect
tense of e)imi, the garden was always there.
The word garden is khpoj which actually means a park of trees. The
park
belonged to Joseph of Arimathea.
“and a new sepulcher” – mnhmeion means a memorial monument. A memorial monument is
built up high; a sepulcher is built low.
The burial places of the Jews were generally outside of a city or a town
because of the Mosaic law. They had either individual or family tombs. They did
not use coffins. They used something like a coffin to transfer the corpse from
the place of death to the place of burial, and they called it a bier. The idea
of burial in the ground was so important of the Jews that they made
contributions for the people who could not afford it. They called them “potter’s
fields.” Some were buried in caves. In some cases where it was impossible
because of some congestion to follow these principles they would burn the body
until the flesh was destroyed and then gather the bones in a small stone
coffin.
Notice that Jesus Christ was not
placed in a common grave. The unique person of the universe had a unique
burial. Two of the wealthiest men in Jerusalem were His pall bearers and
witnesses to His death, and He was buried in a brand new monument. Therefore by
all the customs of the Mosaic law it was free from any contamination—the
unclean principle in connection with corpses.
“wherein was never yet laid [placed] a man” – no body was ever placed there before, tiqhmi in the perfect passive participle.
Verse 42 – “There laid they
Jesus.” They placed Him there.
“because of the Jews’ preparation
day; for the sepulcher was near at hand.” They could not carry Him into the
city, and even if Jesus had had a burial place on the other side of the city He
could not have been buried, He had to be buried before the sun went down. The
preparation day was a holy day, therefore the body could not be carried through
the gates of the city. And everything was worked out in eternity past! All of
the numerous details connected with the
burial add up to the perfect character of God. Knowing every decision that
would ever be made God in His marvelous plan brought all of the decisions
together at a point of time so that Jesus Christ was buried.