April 2, 2014: John Chapter 19

The Gospel According to John Chapter 19

Originally posted Tuesday, April 29, 2008 

John Chapter 18:40b-19:16a Jesus' Before Pilate Part II

As far as John's community is concerned, Jesus is the King of the Jews. In the previous chapter he has clearly established this position in the interchange between Jesus and Pilate. That the Jewish leadership has rejected Jesus as anything other than a false Messiah is evident. They are determined to rid themselves of this threat to their power and their authority to be the sole interpreters of Judaism for the people of Palestine and beyond in the Diaspora. The irony of the choice of Bar'Abbas, a murderer, instead of a seemingly innocent Jesus continues in Pilate's next action. He turns Jesus over to the soldiers for the usual flogging and taunting met by all who face the cross. The soldiers dress him in the purple robe of royalty. They mock him as the King of the Jews and place a crown of thorns on his head. Pilate presents him again to the chief priests who shout for his crucifixion, disregarding Pilate's attempts to dissuade them of their insistence that Jesus die.

In his frustration with their obstinance Pilate tells them to crucify Jesus themselves, knowing they will not do so even if he were to grant his permission. The Jews had seen enough crucifixion in their history and rejected this form of execution which was considered a curse upon the victim. Also there would be a consideration of the day. It was the Day of Preparation and Passover would begin at sundown raising questions of ritual impurity. The original charge was political - Jesus is a revolutionary making himself out to be the new King in opposition to the Roman Emperor. Now the leadership cites the law and adds the religious charge of blasphemy that Jesus has claimed to be the Son of God. Pilate's reaction of fear (vs. 8) arises from Hellenistic superstition regarding the divine man, the performer of magic (see MT 27:19 on Pilate's wife's dream). Pilate's actions betray the depth of his fear. He questions Jesus' origins but without response. Pilate threatens him with his power. Jesus' answer does not assuage Pilate's anxiety. Jesus has spoken of his kingdom which is from above. He now invokes that mental image in Pilate's superstitious mind and draws upon the principle of power: the only power Pilate has is what has been given to him (in this situation) "from above," the source of Jesus' kingdom.

Pilate is more convinced than ever that he must find a way to release this man. But the chief priests raise an even greater fear - the Emperor who also is a divine son of god with visible powers and a long reach. They threaten him with the fate of those who displease Caesar. If he will not honor their religious customs (death for blasphemy) he will be dishonoring his Emperor for Jesus' claiming to be a king "sets himself against the Emperor." This Pilate will not do. What he has seen will outweigh what he has not. He brings Jesus out and has him sit on the judgment bench set up on a raised platform. Traditionally the Judge would sit on this bench to pass judgment but John's sense of the irony of the situation sees Jesus as the true judge of the world, sitting there, replacing the power of this world. For John not only is the power of Satan passing away, the power of this world, including its Emperor, is also challenged.

The entire event before Pilate has taken approximately six hours. It is almost noon on the Day of Preparation. The priests will soon be at their tables in the Temple precincts beginning the slaughtering of the Paschal lambs and collecting their blood for the Sanctuary altar. In the remaining minutes before the rules of Passover take effect, Pilate presents Jesus before the chief priests with his own parting insult to them, "Shall I crucify your King?" In a moment of their own blasphemy and self condemnation they cry out, "We have no king but Caesar!" The gathered priests, about to celebrate the festival commemorating God's deliverance of the Hebrews from Egypt, have exchanged the Son of God for an insurrectionist (Bar'Abbas) and a god of an earthly empire (Caesar) for the God of the universe. By doing so John has completed his indictment of the "Jews" for Jesus' execution. At the same time he has created an image of Roman power as weak and unstable, as unknowing agents in what John understands to be the irresistible will of God.

John Chapter 19:16b-30 Crucifixion [see MK 15:21-32; MT 27:32-44; LK 23:26-43]

The general details of the crucifixion are common for all four writers. In the Synoptic Gospels Jesus is crucified on Friday, Passover Day. In John crucifixion is also on Friday but it is the day before Passover and the beginning of the Great Sabbath as well. In John no one carries the cross bar but Jesus, an added part of the suffering servant image. The upright part of the cross was approximately nine feet tall and remained at the crucifixion site. Only in John do the Jewish authorities ask Pilate (unsuccessfully) to alter the titulos (sign) to read "this man said, I am King of the Jews."

The scene at the cross is rich with pathos. Besides the soldiers who have cast lots and divided his garments (Ps. 22:17) are four women who, in the Synoptics were standing at a distance. In John they are standing near the cross: Jesus' mother, Mary; his mother's sister; Mary the wife of Clopas; and Mary Magdalene. With them is "the disciple whom he loved" standing beside Jesus' mother. Here John demonstrates how important this person, paired with Mary, is, both to Jesus and to John's community. Jesus' words are no mystery if taken literally as a typical deathbed scene in which a dying person places his parent in the care of a trusted friend and the adoption of the other as a son by the parent. There is probably more than this in John's mind. Early Christian tradition places Mary in Ephesus as part of John's community with the disciple whom Jesus loved who plays a pivotal role in the formation of this Gospel. In some traditions Mary becomes known as the mother who gives birth to the church at the moment of Jesus' words from the cross and the disciple as symbolic of all those who will henceforth be "born from above" as children of God through the church (see Isa. 49:20-22, 66:7-11). Perhaps this is John's equivalent of Jesus' comment to Peter inMT 16:18, "And I tell you, you are Peter and on this rock I will build my church." Perhaps this is the rock upon which John believes the church to have been born.

The new community having been vouchsafed to Mary and the disciple whom Jesus loved, Jesus' work is done, "it is finished," and all that remains is to return to the Father. He breathes his last, gives up his spirit to the God who sent him and he dies.

John Chapter 19:31-37 The Pierced side

Only John writes of the request by "Jews" that Pilate have the three men's legs broken to ensure a swift death (by suffocation) so they can be buried before sundown. An example of this practice was found in the discovery of the remains of a man crucified in Palestine during the first century. Both of his legs had been broken. Their haste was not in keeping with typical Roman practices of leaving the bodies hanging from the cross to serve as examples to others who might contemplate tempting the power of Rome. However, it was close to the beginning of a Great Sabbath, the coinciding of Passover and Sabbath on the same day, an especially holy day. There is no reason to think Pilate would not have acquiesced to their wishes. The alternative may have been a major riot within the city resulting from this sacrilege against a holy day.

After the soldiers had broken the legs of the two men who had been crucified with Jesus they came to him and found that he had already died (see Ps. 34:20). To be absolutely certain, one soldier stabbed Jesus in the side with his lance to see if he would react in a sign of life (see Zach. 12:10). The only reaction was the release of blood and water from the wound. We have already read of John's understanding of the flowing water as symbolic of the Spirit. In the story of the woman at the Samaritan well, the living water wells up to eternal life. In the scene during Tabernacles Jesus speaks of the living water welling up from within him as rivers of living water, representing the life giving spirit his believers were to receive. Coupled with the event of death, the water represents the release of his spirit into the world. In John the living water is compared (as replacement) with the water flowing from the rock struck by Moses in the wilderness.

The flow of blood may be symbolic of the proscription against allowing the blood of the sacrificial animal to congeal. Blood had to be captured as free flowing so it could be sprinkled on the altar. If John had this in mind Jesus would represent the Passover lamb, a key understanding in Paul and the Synoptics. While we cannot rule this out there may be more symbolism in the order of blood first and water second. The purpose of the soldier's stabbing Jesus' side was to determine if he was really dead. The blood in Jewish thought was the life of the animal. This would lead to an understanding that it was only in death that the spirit could be released and the blood represents the giving up of life. This seems more appropriate in view of the fact that the Passover lamb was not a sacrifice for the forgiveness of sins. It was a remembrance of God's act of saving the Hebrews in Egypt as the angel of death passed over their dwellings. The blood - life, of the lamb is offered up to God on behalf of the people. The lamb is then returned to the people to share. Jesus can still be the Passover lamb, but now as one who does not die to atone for human sin but to release the life-giving spirit which brings eternal life to those who believe. The distinction may be a bit opaque but might shed some light on the meaning of the cross.

John Chapter 19:38-42 Jesus' Burial

All four Gospels mention Joseph of Arimathea as the "secret" disciple who petitions Pilate for Jesus' body. Only John mentions Nicodemus (3:1-10) as assisting Joseph in the solemn duty of burying a fellow Jew. He brings an enormous amount of spices (fit for a king?) to apply to the body before wrapping it in linen cloths. Because the time was so close to sunset, the two men found a tomb that had been newly dug in a nearby garden and commandeered it to bury Jesus. We can suppose that their intent was to leave the body there until the Sabbath had passed and they could relocate it to a final place. If not, there is reason to see a connection to the resurrection garden mentioned in 20:15.

Much has been written about the likelihood of Pilate granting permission for anyone to take Jesus' body for burial. Other gruesome alternatives are offered for the ultimate fate of a crucified criminal. We can site the evidence already mentioned about the buried body of a crucified man from first century Palestine. We can also note a report by Philo, a Jewish theologian and philosopher in Alexandria, Egypt. He mentions the Roman Prefect Aulis Avilius Flaccus who had been appointed by Tiberius Caesar in 32 CE who had given permission to the family of a crucified man to take the body for burial. Since Flaccus was known for his own cruelty, such an act of compassion (but probably with bribery involved) we should expect no less from Pilate.