Joh 19 | TNotes | STEP | Summary for John 19:1-16: 19:1-16 Jesus was also beaten after his sentencing (Mark 15:15 ), but here John records an earlier beating, which was likely Pilate’s attempt to show that Jesus had been punished and could be released (John 19:4 ). When this failed, Pilate passed his sentence and handed Jesus over to the Jewish leaders for crucifixion (19:16 ).

Summary for John 19:1-16: 19:1-16 ^a Jesus was also beaten after his sentencing (Mark 15:15 ^b), but here John records an earlier beating, which was likely Pilate’s attempt to show that Jesus had been punished and could be released (John 19:4 ^c). When this failed, Pilate passed his sentence and handed Jesus over to the Jewish leaders for crucifixion (19:16 ^d).
19:2 ^e The crown of thorns might have come from a date palm (cp. 12:13-14 ^f), the thorns of which can exceed twelve inches. 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—dark red to complete the picture of mock royalty.
Summary for John 19:4-6: 19:4-6 ^g Pilate’s intention was to bring Jesus out to display the marks of his punishment to sway the crowd to let him go. After being flogged with a lead-tipped whip, Jesus was bleeding profusely.

• Pilate announced his verdict of not guilty a second time, but he was met with a strident call for Jesus’ death (19:6 ^h).
19:6 ⁱ 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.
19:7 ^j During the trial before Caiaphas, the charge of blasphemy—calling himself the Son of God—was determined to be Jesus’ true crime (see Mark 14:61-65 ^k).

• The leaders had already tried pitting Jesus against Roman imperial interests (John 18:33 ^l), and would do so again (19:12 ^m). Now they challenged the governor on another level: Pilate must keep the peace by upholding local law, even when it was irrelevant to Rome. Claiming to be God’s son was not illegal, because Israel’s kings did this (Pss 2:7 ⁿ; 89:22-27 ^o). However, Jesus claimed to have the divine authority of God himself (see John 5:18 ^p), which they saw as blasphemy.
Summary for John 19:8-9: 19:8-9 ^q Pilate ... was more frightened than ever: He was superstitious, and the idea of gods appearing in the world was not uncommon (Acts 14:11 ^r). He sensed that more than a political fight was going on, so he asked Jesus, Where are you from? He did not mean Jesus’ birthplace, but whether Jesus was a divine man who had descended from heaven.

• Why Jesus gave no answer is unclear. Perhaps it was because Pilate would not have been able to understand the answer—that true power comes only from God, and God had empowered Jesus (cp. John 19:11 ^s).
Summary for John 19:10-11: 19:10-11 ^t You would have no power over me: Although Pilate had the power to ... crucify Jesus, it was only because God had given him this temporary power so Jesus could advance toward the cross (see 10:18 ^u).
19:12 ^v Each time he had a conversation with Jesus, Pilate tried to release him: He kept trying, but his repeated efforts were fruitless.

• “Friend of Caesar” was an official title given to individuals such as senators who showed exceptional loyalty and service to the emperor. The Jewish leaders were implying that they would ruin Pilate’s career by reporting that he was not working in Rome’s interests. They probably knew that Pilate was also having a personal crisis. His patron in Rome, Sejanus (the chief administrator of the empire under Tiberius Caesar), had fallen from favor and was executed in AD 31. Pilate had every reason to be afraid.
19:13 ^w Pilate took the governor’s judgment seat (Greek bēma, cp. Acts 25:6 ^x, “seat in court”) to render his verdict.

• The Stone Pavement was the platform holding the judgment seat; from there Pilate now spoke with the authority of his office.
19:14 ^y the day of preparation for the Passover (or the day of preparation during the Passover): Here, Passover does not refer to the Jewish Passover meal, which had taken place the night before, but to the whole Festival of Unleavened Bread. It was now Friday, the day of preparation for the Passover Sabbath, which would begin at sundown (cp. Mark 15:42 ^z; Luke 23:54 ^aa).
19:15 ^ab The final words of the priests, “We have no king but Caesar,” stood in direct contradiction to the Old Testament understanding that God was Israel’s king (cp. Judg 8:23 ^ac; 1 Sam 8:7 ^ad; 10:19 ^ae). Jerusalem and its leaders were in the process of killing their true king (John 18:37 ^af) while paying homage to Caesar, the pagan king of Rome.
19:16 ^ag Pilate turned Jesus over to the Roman garrison, who prepared Jesus for crucifixion by a second flogging (Mark 15:15 ^ah), which brought him near death. Bleeding profusely, his clothes soaked in blood, his thorn-laced crown now digging deeply into his head, and nearly in shock, Jesus was marched to a site outside the city.
19:17 ^ai The vertical beam (Latin staticulum) of the cross was generally kept at the crucifixion site, and the victim was forced to carry only the heavy crossbeam (Latin patibulum).

• Crucifixions were public executions that took place near major roadways. They were designed to shock and warn the people.

• Place of the Skull (Hebrew and Aramaic Golgotha; Latin calvariae, “Calvary”): Most archaeologists agree that Jesus’ crucifixion was at the site of the present-day Church of the Holy Sepulchre, located in the Christian Quarter of the old walled city of Jerusalem. An alternate site, Gordon’s Calvary (north of the Damascus Gate), provides a model of what the scene possibly looked like, but it holds only a tomb from the 500s BC and therefore is unlikely to be the authentic site of Jesus’ crucifixion and burial.
19:18 ^aj None of the Gospel writers dwell on the details of being nailed ... to the cross because they were well known and horrific. The soldiers used the cross as a means of torture; they wanted victims to survive for a while, in some cases for days. Because the Sabbath would begin at dusk (19:31 ^ak), they expedited Jesus’ crucifixion. Jesus had been thoroughly beaten with stone- or metal-tipped whips, so his back was thoroughly lacerated, and he was bleeding profusely.
Summary for John 19:19-22: 19:19-22 ^al Pilate posted a sign on the cross: It was customary for the Roman soldiers to provide a written public notice of the criminal’s name and crimes. Perhaps as a final act of revenge against the Jewish high council, Pilate ordered that the sign should identify Jesus of Nazareth as the King of the Jews. Jesus’ kingship was posted in three languages for the whole world to understand.
Summary for John 19:23-24: 19:23-24 ^am 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.
Summary for John 19:25-26: 19:25-26 ^an This is the only reference to Jesus’ mother’s sister in the New Testament. She might have been the wife of Zebedee and the mother of James and John (cp. Matt 27:56 ^ao), which would make Jesus and John cousins. If so, it would help explain why Jesus assigned the disciple he loved (John) to care for Mary (John’s aunt).

• Mary (the wife of Clopas) is only mentioned here. She might be the same person as Mary the mother of James and Joseph (cp. Matt 27:56 ^ap).

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

• Dear woman was a formal and polite form of address (see John 2:4 ^as).
19:27 ^at Here is your mother: Jesus employed a Jewish family law that assigned the care of one person to another. The scene had an additional significance: The people who were present represented the new community of the church that was born at the cross. Jesus wanted them to care for each other in obedience to his command to love one another (13:34 ^au; 15:12 ^av, 17 ^aw).
19:29 ^ax The hyssop bush had been used in Egypt to brush lamb’s blood on the doorposts and lintels during the first Passover (Exod 12:22 ^ay). Jesus is God’s Passover lamb (John 1:29 ^az, 36 ^ba), and his blood likewise saves.
19:30 ^bb 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.
Summary for John 19:31-33: 19:31-33 ^bc The Jewish authorities, eager to complete the crucifixion before Sabbath began at dusk, asked Pilate to break the legs of the men. Breaking the legs with a mallet was common: It promoted asphyxiation and hemorrhaging, because the victim could no longer push up to breathe.
19:34 ^bd To confirm that Jesus was dead, a Roman soldier pierced his side with a spear.

• blood and water flowed out: This has several levels of meaning: (1) The spear probably punctured Jesus’ pericardium, the sac 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 Jesus’ side reminds readers of the language of living water that Jesus had used earlier (see 4:10-14 ^be; 7:37-39 ^bf).
19:35 ^bg John was at the foot of the cross (19:26 ^bh). He was not simply a collector of traditions about Jesus, but an eyewitness giving an accurate account of the events of Jesus’ life (cp. 21:24 ^bi). This same confidence can be seen in the opening of John’s first letter (1 Jn 1:1-4 ^bj).
19:36 ^bk “Not one of his bones will be broken”: The Passover lamb could have no broken bones (Exod 12:46 ^bl; Num 9:12 ^bm); Jesus was the perfect Passover lamb (cp. Ps 34:20 ^bn; see also 1 Cor 5:7 ^bo).
19:37 ^bp “They will look on the one they pierced”: Zechariah 12:10 ^bq describes how Israel would look on a prophet or the Messiah and lament their own fatal lack of faith.
19:38 ^br According to Luke, Joseph of Arimathea was a courageous man who was waiting for the Kingdom of God (Luke 23:50-51 ^bs). He was a wealthy (Matt 27:57 ^bt) and influential leader in Jerusalem and a member of the high council (Mark 15:43 ^bu) who disagreed with the decision to kill Jesus. He asked Pilate for the favor of burying Jesus in his personal tomb.

• Joseph was a secret disciple (cp. John 12:42-43 ^bv), but his bold deed brought out his public support of Jesus.
19:39 ^bw Nicodemus (see 3:1 ^bx; 7:50 ^by), a member of the high council, understood that these bodies had to be buried before the upcoming Sabbath (19:31 ^bz, 42 ^ca). His public support, as with Joseph of Arimathea, might indicate that he, too, was becoming a disciple (see study note on 7:49-51).

• Myrrh was a commonly used aromatic powder.

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

• seventy-five pounds: This enormous amount of spices was appropriate for royalty; Jesus, the king, was given a royal burial.
19:41 ^cb a new tomb: More than 900 first-century burial tombs have been discovered in Judea, carved into the limestone hills.
19:42 ^cc because it was the day of preparation for the Jewish Passover: See study note on 19:14. The Sabbath was approaching, so Joseph and Nicodemus (19:38-39 ^cd) would return to complete the burial process later.