Or, The Hour That Changed the World
Scripture: John 19:31-42
Date: July 13, 2014
Speaker: Sean Higgins
Paul did not shrink back from asserting God the Father’s full authority over everything that happened regarding His Son’s crucifixion. The apostle proclaimed to the men in Antioch:
[T]hose who live in Jerusalem and their rulers, because they did not recognize him nor understand the utterances of the prophets, which are read every Sabbath, fulfilled them by condemning him. And though they found in him no guilt worthy of death, they asked Pilate to have him executed. And when they had carried out all that was written of him, they took him down from the tree and laid him in a tomb. (Acts 13:27–29, ESV)
From the human perspective, what happened to Jesus was wrong and cruel, driven by envy and hatred. From the divine perspective, the envy and hatred of men accomplished the God’s purpose of salvation for all the sheep. Nothing about Jesus’ death was outside the Father’s hands and many of the details were written down beforehand to prove it.
We ought to take great comfort in this. It should comfort us that God’s Word is reliable, all true for all time. It should comfort us that Jesus knew what He was in for and came anyway out of love for His people. It should comfort us that the Father turns grief into glory, not only in the crucifixion of Christ, it is a plot line He uses regularly. It should comfort us that we have every reason to hope in the rest of God’s promises, in the fruit of Christ’s work, and in the Father’s intention to work everything for His desired end.
Last Lord’s Day we parked on the theological accomplishments connected to the historical account of Jesus’ announcement that “It is finished.” Down to what kind of drink He would have that would wet His mouth enough to declare victory, Scripture is fulfilled. We’ll see even more fulfillment through the final two paragraphs of chapter 19.
In verses 28-30, Jesus announces the accomplishment of His death. In verses 31-37, the soldiers confirm His death, and in verses 38-42, some of Jesus’ disciples bury His body.
How have you done this past week remembering that “It is finished”? See more about these verses here.
Scripture is fulfilled in the details of His dying.
Crucifixion was torture and could take days before the victim’s death. The Jews didn’t have that much time.
Since it was the day of Preparation, and so that the bodies would not remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a high day), the Jews asked Pilate that their legs might be broken and that they might be taken away. So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first, and of the other who had been crucified with him. But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. (John 19:31–33, ESV)
Friday was the day of Preparation , the day when two days’ worth of work needed to be done since the Fourth Commandment prohibited work on Saturday, the Sabbath. This Sabbath was especially significant since it fell within the Passover week; it was a special day in a special week, considered a high day . As such, the Jews wanted the bodies off the crosses before sundown. They had been calculating all day long how to get Jesus dead on time for them to be obedient.
This is the last we see of the Jews in John’s Gospel and here is their final act of hypocrisy. Just as they refused to enter Pilate’s headquarters for fear of being made unclean, so they keep their priorities crooked here, too. Hypocrisy is irrational. If seeing Jesus on the cross did not confront their consciences, then what would?
To keep things on their tight religious schedule and to pay heed to Deuteronomy 21:22-23, a law which prohibits keeping a hanged man overnight on the tree, the Jews asked Pilate that their legs might be broken and that they might be taken away . The smashing was called crurifragium in Latin, “breaking of the shinbone” with a sledgehammer like tool (Carson, 622; Köstenberger, 552). It wasn’t just the added pain or blood loss due to smashing bones that would quicken death. Broken legs kept a man from being able to push himself up and his chest out so that he could breath. He would suffocate. Pilate apparently had no argument.
So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first and of the other who had been crucified with him . The two criminals on either side were still alive so their deaths were accelerated.
But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs . They probably yelled at Him, smacked Him, and concluded that the crucifixion had done its work.
But one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and at once there came out blood and water. (John 19:34, ESV)
There was no good reason for this soldier to stab Jesus. Jesus was dead. No more proof was necessary; a deep puncture like this wasn’t for examination it was just vicious. It appears, from the human perspective, to be personal rage. One of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and at once there came out blood and water .
Many comments have been made about the blood and water, both medically and symbolically. Medically there have been observations that water gathers in the pericardial sac around the heart after death, or at least fluid collects in the chest cavity and the solider hit the right spot (See Carson, 623). Symbolically, men have argued that the water symbolizes cleansing/purity and the blood symbolizes atonement or it symbolizes life. John himself mentions three witnesses in his first letter including water and blood (and the spirit, 1 John 5:6-8).
But the context of the following verses 35-37 offers a more direct explanation. He was dead in body and even the piercing fulfilled Scripture.
He who saw it has borne witness—his testimony is true, and he knows that he is telling the truth—that you also may believe. (John 19:35, ESV)
Rarely does John add anything about himself, meta information, though the details he provides throughout the Gospel corroborate his eyewitness account. But why insert a comment like this here? Yes, he was there, as he mentioned in verses 26 and 27 when Jesus spoke to him. Something more provokes him here.
A typical argument against Jesus was that He was not a real man, not real flesh and blood. Whatever He was, He wasn’t fully human, (the claim of Islam and various other unbelievers even today). That’s why “the Word became flesh” (John 1:14) was and is so scandalous. It’s why in his first letter he wrote “every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God” (1 John 4:2-3). It matters if He died in body.
The argument over the nature of Jesus continued into the third and fourth centuries. It is why the Apostle’s Creed, the Nicene Creed, and the Definition of Chalcedon in particular kept striving to clarify the full deity and full humanity of Jesus.
John saw it. John says it like it is, his testimony is true . And he wants us to believe it, not only because he saw it, but because Scripture is fulfilled in Jesus.
For these things took place that the Scripture might be fulfilled: “Not one of his bones will be broken.” And again another Scripture says, “They will look on him whom they have pierced.” (John 19:36–37, ESV)
John also wants us to recognize how all of this fulfills God’s plan. These things took place that the Scripture might be fulfilled . First, “Not one of his bones will be broken.” This fulfillment works if Jesus is the Passover lamb. In Exodus 12:46 and Numbers 9:12 God instructs His people not to break any of the bones of the sacrificial lamb. Paul connected Jesus with the Passover lamb, too, in 1 Corinthians 5:7. It was surprising to the soldiers that Jesus was already dead, but in God’s sovereignty it fulfilled the restraint Scripture described.
Second, And again another Scripture says, “They will look on him whom they have pierced.” This is more tricky than the first. The Old Testament passage is Zechariah 12:10, a passage referring to the sorrow of Yahweh.
I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and pleas for mercy, so that, when they look on me, on him whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for an only child, and weep bitterly over him, as one weeps over a firstborn. (Zechariah 12:10, ESV)
To say that Zechariah’s prophecy is fulfilled in Jesus equates Jesus with Yahweh, and He was “pierced for our transgressions” (Isaiah 53:5).
Scripture is fulfilled in the details following His death.
The gospel is about the death and resurrection of Christ. It is also about His burial, and this is just as much under the Father’s command and in accordance with the Scriptures.
After these things Joseph of Arimathea, who was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear of the Jews, asked Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus, and Pilate gave him permission. So he came and took away his body. Nicodemus also, who earlier had come to Jesus by night, came bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds in weight. So they took the body of Jesus and bound it in linen cloths with the spices, as is the burial custom of the Jews. Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb in which no one had yet been laid. So because of the Jewish day of Preparation, since the tomb was close at hand, they laid Jesus there. (John 19:38–42, ESV)
Usually John doesn’t give “secret” disciples a break. In this case, they are mentioned because they come out from under cover after the cross. Joseph of Arimathea, who was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear of the Jews . This Joseph is mentioned in all four gospels and, according to Matthew, Joseph was rich (Matthew 27:57). According to Mark he was a respected member of the Sanhedrin (Mark 15:43). Maybe this explains why he had access to make such a request before Pilate. It also explains why, up to this point, he kept his faith quiet. Jews kicked other Jews out of the synagogue for believing in Jesus. Joseph could lose everything if he exposed his faith. He chose an interesting time to go public and, as Mark put it, he “took courage.”
He asked Pilate (if) he might take away the body of Jess, and Pilate gave him permission . There was no way to keep this secret. Usually the body of an executed criminal was given to his family, except in the case of treason. Then the bodies would be carried away and buried unceremoniously. Here Joseph sticks his neck out and he came and took the body away .
Nicodemus also, who earlier had come to Jesus by night, came bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds in weight . Nicodemus was a rather unlikely candidate, another stealth disciple until now, at least based on John’s record. This was an amount of spices fit for a king’s burial. According to Herodotus, the Egyptians used myrrh to embalm, but the Jews used it to counteract the smell of decay.
The remaining details explain how His body was prepared, where He was buried, and why this location was so strategic.
At Golgotha there was a garden. The garden was large enough to warrant a gardener (John 20:15). In that garden there was a new tomb, “cut in the rock” (Matthew 27:60). It was Joseph’s own tomb (also Matthew 27:60), perhaps purchased for his family, though they hadn’t used it yet. An unused tomb such as this was usually for three to six persons, one to two shelves on the three non-door walls.
This would have caused fewer objections since Jesus’ body wouldn’t be seen as desecrating anyone (Köstenberger, 554). This also confirms that he would be buried with the rich, as Isaiah prophesied in Isaiah 53:9.
The key was the location: because of the Jewish day of preparation, since the tomb was close at hand, they laid Jesus there . It was deemed work to carry a body, as well as carrying burial spices of that amount. Friday was almost over so they needed to move quickly and the closeness helped.
Joseph and Nicodemus are an unlikely pair, both of whom showed greater courage after Jesus was dead.
In a garden man lost life, in a garden life would be restored to man, life and immortality. Jesus borrows a tomb. (Lenski)
Scripture is fulfilled in the details of His burial.
Peter and John proclaimed in Jerusalem:
truly in this city there were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place. (Acts 4:27–28, ESV)
It is finished according to the eternal, sovereign plan of God. Men saw it, men such as John, and we can believe the truth of the story. Scripture is fulfilled as Jesus died and was buried.
It is finished. And still there is more to come in the next chapter of the story.