Or, An Unchangeable, Applicable Title
Scripture: John 19:16b-27
Date: June 22, 2014
Speaker: Sean Higgins
What could you hear about Jesus that would make you feel sick? What report would make you think, Scandal!? What if I showed you evidence that Jesus had a mistress, a girlfriend? What if I told you that He had fathered a bastard child? What if I said that He got drunk at more than one party thrown by Roman politicians? If true, any one of them would damage His reputation and discredit all His claims.
None of these scandalous things are true; they are false shocks. It would be a disgrace to Him to say such slanderous things. But truth is more outrageous than falsehood. The crucifixion of Christ is the single worst wicked event in human history. Nothing has ever been more vicious, more unfair, less justifiable, or less forgivable.
Jonathan set it up last Lord’s day by showing us Jesus from Colossians 1:15-20. Jesus is preeminent over all things, the Creator and Sustainer of the universe, the Sovereign Lord of earth and the church, the Savior who brings peace, God Himself. I wonder if the apostle John read or heard the apostle Paul’s praise. We get the same sense of wrong in chapter 19 when we remember who John told us Jesus is in chapter 1.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. (John 1:1–4, ESV)
The same Word who gave being and life to Ciaphas, Pilate, the priests, the soldiers, the cross carpenters, the Jews, the Romans, laid down His life while upholding their heartbeats and handwriting and the wood that didn’t split when nails were pounded in. He did not deserve to die. And men were helplessly lost without His death.
There are four segments to John’s account of the crucifixion in verses 16-27. Jesus is shown to be the prophesied King of the nations as He is lifted up on the cross.
We spent all our time on these two English sentences last time, and they are central to all of history. Jesus carried His cross to Calvary where He was crucified as a criminal between two other criminals.
So they took Jesus, and he went out, bearing his own cross, to the place called The Place of a Skull, which in Aramaic is called Golgotha. There they crucified him, and with him two others, one on either side, and Jesus between them. (John 19:16–18, ESV)
Golgotha means The Place of the Skull, in Latin the word for skull is calvaria, so in English we call the hill of Jesus’ crucifixion, Calvary. Jesus carried the cross outside the city and there they crucified him. As a method of capital punishment crucifixion was used only on the despised as a means to humiliate a man even more in his dying. They crucified Jesus with two others, one on either side, for a total of three criminals; He was “numbered with the transgressors” (Isaiah 53:12). The other two were “robbers” (Matthew 27:38) or “insurrectionists.” Jesus was a conspirator, a renegade against Rome and Caesar, allegedly. The allegations were lies. He was innocent and Pilate acknowledged as much. So the crucifixion of Jesus was criminal. It was a scandal.
Prophetic here means revelatory not only predictive, while including some of the catastrophic verbal baggage. Pilate could not have dreamed that his inscription would go viral.
Pilate also wrote an inscription and put it on the cross. It read, “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.” Many of the Jews read this inscription, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and it was written in Aramaic, in Latin, and in Greek. So the chief priests of the Jews said to Pilate, “Do not write, ‘The King of the Jews,’ but rather, ‘This man said, I am King of the Jews.’” Pilate answered, “What I have written I have written.” (John 19:19–22, ESV)
Maybe this means that Pilate “had it written” and “had it put on the cross.” Nothing in John’s account, however, requires us to think that Pilate himself did not do it himself. John doesn’t say that the chief priests went back to Pilate’s headquarters to get him to change the sign. Pilate himself gladly takes responsibility for it, even if it wasn’t his handwriting.
The word inscription is the Greek word τίτλος, a “title,” and here a formal notice, a public record. Charges against the criminal were sometimes written and posted so that onlookers would see what happens to men who do such things. In Jesus’ case, no actual charge is written, just a title: Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews. Pilate didn’t believe it, of course; he shot it at the Jews who pressured him into crucifying Jesus in the first place. And they got the hit.
Many of the Jews read the inscription for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city. Crucifixions were community events. Not only did the location help spread the word, so also did the three languages. It was written in Aramaic, in Latin, and in Greek. These were the three most common dialects in Palestine. Most people in Judea spoke Aramaic, the Roman military and governing officials spoke Latin, and Greek was the first-century equivalent to an international business language, a left-over from centuries of Greek culture. Jesus is the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world; now they would know about it. All kinds of people got the message (and are still getting the message today) and the message made some of them mad.
So the chief priests of the Jews said to Pilate, “Do not write, ‘The King of the Jews,’ but rather, ‘This man said, I am the King of the Jews.‘” Pilate’s inscription was too close to sounding like a fact. They claimed it was Jesus’ claim. They didn’t believe it either. Pilate didn’t give in this time. What I have written I have written. This was his final poke in the eye with his pen. He was lazy and bitter, a perfect picture of passive aggressive. “[T]he drop of gall which he had cast into their cup of joy in obtaining Jesus’ death thoroughly spoiled all its sweetness” Lenski, 1284). He was also an unwitting witness to the truth that would spread to “those who dwell at the ends of the earth” (Psalm 65:5).
Pilate unwittingly witnessed to Jesus as the King, and the soldiers unwittingly witness to Jesus as the Christ by fulfilling prophecies about Him.
When the soldiers had crucified Jesus, they took his garments and divided them into four parts, one part for each soldier; also his tunic. But the tunic was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom, so they said to one another, “Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it to see whose it shall be.” This was to fulfill the Scripture which says,
“They divided my garments among them,
and for my clothing they cast lots.”
(John 19:23–24, ESV)
There is a lot of discussion about what clothes Jesus had and how they were divided. John describes it plainly enough. There were four soldiers responsible for Jesus’ execution; there were probably five pieces of His garments (plural), perhaps things such as a belt, sandals, head-covering, and outer cloak. The soldiers each got one part and that left one piece remaining, his tunic. But the tunic was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom and they didn’t want to rip it, no schism (Μὴ σχίσωμεν). So they gambled for the last piece. Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it to see whose it shall be. Lots involved a sort of dice-like toss to read what faced up or how the pattern fell.
These guys were doing nothing out-of-the-ordinary for them. These were the spoils, the perks of the job and a way to entertain themselves. They didn’t care about the scandal of what they were doing or about the eternal implications of this man’s death. They certainly didn’t know or care about Psalm 22.
According to Matthew (27:46) and Mark (15:34) Jesus quoted the first verse of Psalm 22 on the cross.
My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? (verse 1)
Other descriptions in the Psalm also apply to Christ.
All who see me mock me;
they make mouths at me;
they wag their heads;
(verse 7)
For dogs encompass me;
a company of evildoers encircles me;
they have pierced my hands and feet—
I can count all my bones—
they stare and gloat over me;
they divide my garments among them,
and for my clothing they cast lots.
(Psalm 22:16–18, ESV)
This was to fulfill the Scripture. God revealed that men would gamble for the King’s garments hundreds of years beforehand in a song. Did the lyrics come to anyone’s mind in the moment? Probably not. So the soldiers did these things. It was a predictable gamble.
These last few verses present quite a contrast between the disregard of the soldiers (μέν, on the one hand) and the regard of Jesus for His mother (δὲ, on the other hand).
standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, “Woman, behold, your son!” Then he said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother!” And from that hour the disciple took her to his own home. (John 19:25–27, ESV)
I haven’t used the word “passion” yet in referencing Jesus’ sacrifice. It is a word used to gather up every one of Jesus’ affections for His people, His obediences to the Father, His pains—both physical and spiritual, and pull them into one work. His death on the cross is the finale, the ultimate piece, but not of a different cloth from anything He did starting with His incarnation.
Even as Pilate unwittingly witnessed and the soldiers unwittingly fulfilled, Jesus takes care to honor His mother according to God’s Law right up to His end.
Four women were standing by the cross of Jesus, given in two pairs: his mother and his mother’s sister, along with Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. John lists the ladies in order to explain the next action that Jesus takes. But it also stands out since apparently only one of Jesus’ men was present. The ladies, at this point, were more bold, more willing to be identified with Jesus than the majority of His disciples.
When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, meaning a third Mary and the apostle John, the one writing the gospel. Jesus addressed them both. He said to his mother, ‘Woman, behold your son!’ Then he said to the disciple, ‘Behold your mother!‘” A son was responsible to take care of his parents, to honor them, so said the Fourth Commandment, and even more so if his father had passed away.
A few things. First, what about Jesus’ half-brothers? They were not yet believers. It does not mean that they disrespected Mary, but that Jesus took it as His responsibility.
Second, from that hour the disciple took her to his own home. That seems obvious, but official Catholic doctrine from the time of Pius IX is that Mary represents the Church and John represents Christian disciples. The say that this means Jesus gave authority and precedence to the Church through Mary. Catholic commentator Raymond Brown wrote:
In becoming the mother of the Beloved Disciple (the Christian), Mary is symbolically evocative of Lady Zion, who after the birth pangs, brings forth a new people in joy. (quoted by Borchert)
But not only is this story not symbolic, the order is reversed.
Third, Jesus’ passion is painstaking. He takes care of earthly responsibilities while experiencing the most severe earthly sufferings. He fulfills the law on purpose with affection.
The crucifixion of the King is a scandal, yet Jesus demonstrated dignity in His suffering. It is absolutely inappropriate and full of glory. We know that “the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God” (1 Corinthians 1:18). We do not need to be ashamed of a suffering Christ or slow to tell this part of the gospel. We also need to follow His example. Suffering in and of itself is not degrading, even suffering that is unfair. Sufferers who trust the Father suffer in glory.
When we suffer we usually wish that we had enough control to get ourselves out of it. Jesus did have control, and He didn’t use it to avoid but rather to endure.