Jesus Sentenced to Death (cont’d)
1-5 Pilate has Jesus flogged; the soldiers dress him in a purple robe and crown of thorns and mock him. Pilate presents Jesus to the crowd with “Behold the man!” while telling them he has no case against Jesus.6-7 After the chief priests and police shout “Crucify him!” again, Pilate tells them to do it themselves, but they insist he has broken their law by claiming to be the Son of God.
8-12 Afraid, Pilate asks Jesus where he’s from and reminds Jesus of his own authority. Jesus replies that all Pilate’s authority comes from God. Those who hand him over have the greatest guilt. When Pilate tries to release him, the crowd tells Pilate that to release one who claims to be a king is to defy the emperor.
13-16 Pilate brings Jesus outside, sits on a judge’s bench on The Stone Pavement, and presents Jesus with “Here is your king,” to which the Jesus again shout, “Crucify him! We have no king but Caesar!” Pilate hands him over. It is the sixth hour on the day of Preparation for the Passover. Note: The NRSV translates “sixth hour” as noon. This makes the timing of Jesus’ crucifixion confusing, because Matthew, for instance, says that darkness came over the earth from noon until three o’clock. And was this Thursday, the day before the Passover, or Friday, the day before the Sabbath?
Regarding the day, John Wesley says this:
Verse 14. It was the preparation of the passover - For this reason both the Jews and Pilate were desirous to bring the matter to a conclusion. Every Friday was called the preparation, (namely, for the Sabbath.) And as often as the passover fell on a Friday, that day was called the preparation of the passover.Regarding the time, this from The People’s New Testament commentary:
John marks the exact time when this remarkable judgment was rendered. It was about six o'clock in the morning, on Friday, the day of preparation for the passover. Mark says that the crucifixion began at the third hour, nine o'clock, as the Hebrews began to count at six. John wrote many years later, after Jerusalem had fallen, among people who began to count at midnight, as did all the Roman world, and he therefore used their language and called six o'clock the sixth hour, as we do, rather than the first hour as the Hebrews did.
The Crucifixion of Jesus
17-18 With Jesus carrying his own cross, they take him to The Place of the Skull (Hebrew Golgotha) and crucify him between two others.19-22 Pilate has a sign inscribed “The King of the Jews” in Hebrew, Latin and Greek, which the Jews protest, but Pilate leaves it as is.
23-25 After the soldiers crucify him, they divide up his clothes, casting lots for the tunic, a fulfillment of Psalm 22:18. Near the cross are his mother, his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. Gill’s commentary insists that Jesus’ mother’s sister was Mary, the wife of Clopas and because of her name, probably a sister-in-law, not her direct sister; Coffman and The People’s New Testament say Jesus’ mother’s sister was Salome, the mother of James and John, which would make them first cousins of Jesus.
26-27 When Jesus sees the disciple whom he loves standing beside his mother, he gives her into the care of that disciple, whom most believe is the apostle John and the writer of the gospel. When I identified John as “The Disciple whom Jesus Loved” in my now much-neglected Meditation Moments blog, a reader took me to task for supposing such, because he believes that Lazarus was that disciple. While from a study of John by itself I might agree with that stance – principally because that term is used only after Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead – my recent studies of Matthew (26:20) and Mark (14:17) indicate that only the Twelve were sitting at the table with Jesus during the Last Supper. Luke 22:14 also mentions only apostles at the Supper, where “the disciple whom Jesus loved” was beside him (John 13:23). Besides that, the “disciple whom Jesus loved” was among the fishermen in John 21; there’s never any indication that Lazarus was a fisherman.
28-30 To fulfill scripture, Jesus tells them he is thirsty, and they give him sour wine to drink from a sponge. He says “It is finished” and gives up his spirit.
Jesus’ Side Is Pierced
31-34 With the sabbath approaching, the Jewish leaders don’t want bodies left hanging on the cross, so they request that the soldiers break the legs of those crucified to hasten death. But Jesus is already dead. They spear his side; blood and water come out. Oh, how the Jewish leaders want to be “proper.” Yet they don’t seem to mind crucifying an innocent man.35-37 John writes that he is a witness of this, testifying so that we might believe. Also, in these actions two scriptures are fulfilled: “None of his bones shall be broken,” and “They will look on the one whom they have pierced.”
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