Tyndale Open Study NotesJohn 19

Pilate had Jesus beaten after his sentencing (Mark 15:15). However, John here describes an earlier beating. This was likely Pilate's attempt to show that Jesus had been punished and he could release him (John 19:4). When this failed, Pilate passed his sentence and handed Jesus over to the Jewish leaders for crucifixion (19:16).

• The crown of thorns might have come from a date palm tree (compare 12:13–14). There are Greek coin images showing such crowns, with the stems woven and the thorns radiating upward above the crown.

• The purple robe was probably a soldier's robe. It was dark red, completing the picture of mock royalty.

• Pilate wanted to show Jesus to the crowd, hoping they would see his injuries and agree to release him. After being beaten with a whip with lead tips, Jesus was bleeding heavily.

• Pilate again declared that Jesus was not guilty, but the crowd loudly demanded his death (19:6).

Pilate knew that a riot could happen when a man popular with the masses was executed, so he shifted responsibility to crucify Jesus to the temple leaders.

• During the trial before Caiaphas, the charge of blasphemy (calling himself the Son of God) was determined to be the true crime Jesus had committed (see Mark 14:61–65).

• The leaders had already tried to set Jesus against Roman interests and they would do it again (John 18:33; 19:12). Now they challenged the governor in different way. Pilate had to maintain peace by enforcing local law, even if it did not matter to Rome. Claiming to be God's son was not illegal. Even Israel's kings did this (Psalms 2:7; 89:22–27). However, Jesus claimed to have God's divine authority, which they considered blasphemy (see John 5:18).

• Pilate … was even more afraid: Pilate was superstitious, and stories of gods appearing in the world were not uncommon (Acts 14:11). He sensed more than a political fight was happening, so he asked Jesus, "Where are you from?" Pilate was not asking where Jesus was born. He was asking if Jesus was a divine man who came down from heaven.

• Why Jesus did not answer is uncertain. Perhaps Pilate would not have understood that true power comes only from God, who had empowered Jesus (compare John 19:11).

You would have no authority over Me: Pilate had the power to crucify Jesus, but only because God gave him this temporary power. He allowed Pilate to have this power so that Jesus could advance toward the cross (see 10:18).

• Pilate tried to release Jesus each time they talked. Despite his efforts, he failed.

• friend of Caesar: This was an official title for those, like senators, who showed great loyalty to the Roman emperor. The Jewish religious leaders implied they would damage Pilate's career by claiming he did not support Rome's interests. They probably knew that Pilate was also having a personal crisis.

  Pilate’s patron in Rome, Sejanus, was the chief administrator of the empire under Tiberius Caesar. Sejanus had fallen from favor and was executed in AD 31. Pilate had every reason to be afraid.

• Pilate sat on the governor’s judgment seat to give his verdict. In Greek, the word for this seat is bēma (compare Acts 25:6, “seat in court”).

• The Stone Pavement was the platform for the judgment seat. From there, Pilate spoke with the authority of his office.

The day of Preparation for the Passover: Here, Passover refers to the entire Feast of Unleavened Bread, not just the Jewish Passover meal from the night before. It was Friday, the preparation day for the Passover Sabbath. The Sabbath would start when the sun set (compare Mark 15:42; Luke 23:54).

The final words of the priests, “We have no king but Caesar,” are a contradiction of the Old Testament belief that God was Israel’s king (compare Judges 8:23; 1 Samuel 8:7; 10:19). Jerusalem and its religious leaders were killing their true king while honoring Caesar, the pagan king of Rome (John 18:37).

Pilate handed Jesus over to the Roman soldiers. They prepared him for crucifixion with a second flogging, which nearly killed him (Mark 15:15). Jesus bled heavily, and his clothes were soaked in blood. The crown of thorns pressed deeply into his head. Nearly in shock, the soldiers forced Jesus to march to a site outside the city.

• The vertical beam (Latin staticulum) of the cross usually stayed at the crucifixion site. The victim carried only the heavy cross beam (Latin patibulum).

• Crucifixions were public executions near major roads. The Romans designed them to shock and warn the people.

• The Place of the Skull (Hebrew and Aramaic Golgotha; Latin calvariae, “Calvary”): Most archaeologists agree that the crucifixion of Jesus happened at the site of the modern Church of the Holy Sepulchre. This is in the Christian Quarter of the old walled city of Jerusalem.

  An alternative site, Gordon’s Calvary (north of the Damascus Gate), shows what the scene might have looked like. However, it only has a tomb from the 500s BC, so it is unlikely to be where Jesus was crucified and buried.

None of the writers of the Gospels focus on the details of being nailed to the cross because people already knew it was horrible. The soldiers used the cross as a tool for torture. They wanted victims to live for a while, sometimes for days.

Because the Sabbath would begin when the sun set, they sped up the crucifixion of Jesus (19:31). Jesus had been severely beaten with whips tipped with stone or metal, so his back was deeply cut, and he was bleeding heavily.

Pilate posted a sign on the cross. Roman soldiers usually provided a written notice of the criminal’s name and crimes. As a possible act of revenge against the Jewish high council, Pilate ordered the sign to identify Jesus of Nazareth as the King of the Jews. The sign was posted in three languages for the whole world to understand.

As was their common practice, the Roman soldiers divided his clothes. The soldiers gambled for his valuable robe, which was seamless, rather than dividing it up.

• This is the only reference to the sister of the mother of Jesus in the New Testament. She might have been the wife of Zebedee and the mother of James and John (compare Matthew 27:56). This would make Jesus and John cousins. If so, it would help explain why Jesus asked the disciple he loved (John) to care for Mary (John’s aunt).

• This is the only place that mentions Mary, the wife of Clopas. She might be the same as Mary, the mother of James and Joseph (compare Matthew 27:56).

• Jesus healed Mary Magdalene, a woman from the village of Magdala (Mark 16:9; Luke 8:2).

• Woman was a respectful and polite way of speaking in that culture (see John 2:4).

Here is your mother: Jesus used a Jewish family law to assign one person's care to another. This scene had additional importance: The people present represented the new community of the church that was born at the cross. Jesus wanted them to care for each other, following his command to love one another (13:34; 15:12, 17).

In Egypt, people used the hyssop bush to apply lamb's blood on door posts and its upper threshold (lintel) during the first Passover (Exodus 12:22). Jesus is God's Passover lamb, and his blood also saves (John 1:29, 36).

Jesus called out in triumph and exhaustion that he had finished the work he set out to do. On the cross he was not a victim, but a servant doing God’s bidding.

The Jewish authorities, eager to complete the crucifixion before Sabbath began at dusk, asked Pilate to break the legs of the men. It was common to break the legs of those crucified with a tool. It caused them to stop breathing and bleed excessively because the victim could not push themselves up to breathe.

• To confirm that Jesus was dead, a Roman soldier stabbed his side with a spear.

• blood and water flowed out: This has several levels of meaning:

  1. The spear probably cut through the pericardium, the sack around the heart, releasing these fluids.

  2. John might have been thinking of more Passover symbolism. The Passover lamb’s blood had to flow as it died.

  3. The water flowing from the side of Jesus is similar to the language of "living water" that Jesus had mentioned earlier (see 4:10–14; 7:37–39).

John stood at the foot of the cross (19:26). He did not just collect stories about Jesus. He witnessed the events and gave an accurate account of the life of Jesus (see 21:24). This same confidence is also evident in the opening words of John's first letter (1 John 1:1–4).

"Not one of His bones will be broken": God did not allow for the Passover lamb to have broken bones (Exodus 12:46; Numbers 9:12). Jesus was the final Passover lamb (compare Psalm 34:20; see also 1 Corinthians 5:7).

“They will look on the One they have pierced”: Zechariah 12:10 describes how Israel would look on a prophet or the Messiah and lament their own tragic lack of faith.

• According to Luke's Gospel, Joseph of Arimathea was a brave man "waiting for the kingdom of God" (Luke 23:50–51). He was a wealthy and influential leader in Jerusalem and a member of the Jewish high council (Matthew 27:57; Mark 15:43). He disagreed with the decision to kill Jesus. He asked Pilate for permission to bury Jesus in his own tomb.

• Joseph was a secret disciple (compare John 12:42–43). But his bold action showed his public support for Jesus.

• Nicodemus (see 3:1; 7:50) was a member of the Jewish high council. He knew these bodies had to be buried before the Sabbath (19:31, 42). His public support, like that of Joseph of Arimathea, might show he was becoming a disciple (see study note on 7:49–51).

• Myrrh was a commonly used powder that smelled good.

• The aloes were fragrant powdered sandalwood often used as perfume.

• seventy-five pounds: This large amount of spices was fit for royalty. Jesus, the king, received a royal burial.

a new tomb: People have discovered more than 900 first-century burial tombs in Judea, carved into the limestone hills.

because it was the Jewish day of Preparation: See study note on 19:14. It was almost the Sabbath, so Joseph and Nicodemus planned to return later to finish the burial process (19:38–39).