Read John 19:17-37.

Introduction⤒🔗

The old Negro spiritual asks the question, “Were you there when they crucified my Lord?”

In response to that question we would have to reply, “No.” Physically we were not there at the place called Golgotha on the day they crucified our Lord.

But what about those who were present that day? Those who were there when they crucified our Lord? What was the response of the Jews when Pilate identified the crucified Christ as the King of Israel? What was the response of the soldiers as they sat at the foot of the cross dividing among themselves the garments of the crucified Christ? What was the response of the Apostle John as he witnessed the final hours of the crucified Christ and saw the Old Testament Scriptures being fulfilled before his very eyes?

If there had been such a thing as a roving reporter back in those days, going about interviewing eyewitnesses, what would have been the responses of those who actually were there when they crucified our Lord?

The old Negro spiritual asks the question, “Were you there when they crucified my Lord?”

Yet in a very profound way, you and I are confronted with the crucified Christ through the preaching of the gospel: “Before your very eyes Jesus Christ was publicly presented as crucified” (Gal. 3:1). Thus, you and I also must consider the way we respond to the crucified Christ. Because we, too, encounter Him through the gospel, each of us must personally consider the question, “How do I respond to the crucified Christ?”

Like the Jews, Do You Reject Christ’s Kingship over You?←⤒🔗

It was the common practice of the Roman authorities to post the name of the criminal together with his crime. So it was that Pilate inscribed on a placard the words, “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews,” and then fastened the placard to the cross. Pilate had this inscription written in the three common languages of the day: Hebrew, Latin and Greek; thus, he was proclaiming to the whole world the fact that Jesus is the King of Israel.

But when the chief priests saw what Pilate had written, and that it was being read by everyone who passed by, they protested to Pilate, demanding that he alter the words to read: “He says, ‘I am king of the Jews.’” Their effort was an attempt to transfer the title, “King of the Jews,” from the realm of fact, “This is the King of the Jews,” to the realm of opinion, He is not necessarily the King of the Jews, that is only what He says, that is only His view.

The whole effort of the chief priests was to distance themselves from Christ’s rightful lordship over their lives. They refuse to acknowledge Christ as their King and refuse to submit their lives to His sovereign Lordship. They desire to maintain their own position of authority in Israel, even though it meant submitting to the rule of Caesar, “they shouted, Away with [him]! Away with [him]! Crucify him! Pilate asked them, Shall I crucify your King? The chief priests answered, We have no king but Caesar!” (vs. 15) Furthermore, they had no desire to be identified with Christ in His suffering and humiliation; no desire to risk the loss of their status, their wealth, and even their lives.

How do you respond to the crucified Christ? Like the Jews, do you reject His lordship over your life? Do you find that you do not want to risk your status and sacrifice your pride to become identified with this King who willingly submits Himself to humiliation and humble service? Allegiance to Christ always causes ostracism from the world, because His kingdom and His ways are foreign to the world and a threat to all that the world holds in high regard:

Jesus said to them, The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them; and those who exercise authority over them call themselves Benefactors. ²⁶But you are not to be like that. Instead, let the greatest among you be as the younger, and the one who rules as the one who serves. ²⁷Who is greater, the one who is at the table or the one who serves? Is it not the one who is at the table? But I am among you as one who serves. Lk. 22:25-27

The writer of Hebrews gives the following exhortation to all who would belong to the Lord Jesus:

And so Jesus also suffered outside the city gate so that he might sanctify the people through his own blood. ¹³Let us, then, go to him outside the camp, bearing the disgrace he bore, ¹⁴for here we do not have an enduring city, but we are looking for the city that is to come. Heb. 13:12-14

Note: To “sanctify the people” means to set them apart for God.

Do you find that you do not want to sacrifice your own will and submit your life to this King who demands to be the absolute Lord over all of your life? True faith in Christ always results in the surrender of our will unto Him, because He is the King who has a just and absolute claim upon our life both by creation (note Psalm 24:1-2) and by redemption (note 1 Corinthians 6:19b-20):

The earth is the LORD’s, and everything in it, the world, and they who live in it; ²for he founded it upon the seas and established it upon the waters. Psl. 24:1-2

You are not your own; ²⁰you were bought at a price. Therefore, glorify God with your body. 1 Cor. 6:19b-20

In responding to the crucified Christ, let us not be like the chief priests and the Jews, rejecting His Lordship over us. To do so is to forfeit His blessing. Note that all the blessings enumerated in Psalm 23 are the result of knowing and accepting the LORD as our Good Shepherd and submitting our lives unto Him:

[Because] the LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. ²He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, ³he restores my soul. He guides me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. ⁴Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. ⁵You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. ⁶Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.

By rejecting His rightful lordship over us, we also make ourselves susceptible to incurring His righteous indignation and wrath. Jesus told this parable:

¹²A man of noble birth went to a distant country to have himself appointed king and then return... ¹⁴But his subjects hated him and sent a delegation after him to say, 'We will not have this man to reign over us.' Upon his return, the man declared, ²⁷But those enemies of mine who did not want me to be king over them, bring them here and kill them in front of me.Lk. 19:12,14,27

By means of this parable, the Lord Jesus indicates the fate of those who defy and reject the rightful claims of the King of heaven over their lives. May we, by the grace of God, take to heart the counsel of the Psalmist:

Serve the LORD with fear and rejoice with trembling. ¹²Kiss the Son [an act of homage], so that he will not be angry and you be destroyed in your way, for his wrath can flare up in a moment. Blessed are all who take refuge in him. Psl. 2:11-12

Like the Soldiers, Are You Only Concerned with What You Can Take from Christ?←⤒🔗

John next focuses our attention on the soldiers and the scene they played out at the foot of the cross.

As was the common practice at the time of a crucifixion, the soldiers were dividing among themselves the victims’ garments and personal belongings, apparently ripping the garments up into equal shares. But when they came to Jesus’ undergarment, finding it to be a seamless garment and of some value, they determined not to rip it up, but rather to cast lots for it. So here sit the soldiers at the foot of the cross, oblivious as to the true identity of Christ, callously insensitive to His suffering, interested only in the garments they have stripped from His body.

How do you respond to the crucified Christ? Like the soldiers, are you only interested in what you can take from Him? The soldiers only saw value in Christ’s garment, Christ Himself they treated with the utmost contempt and blasphemy. When we consider our own response to the crucified Christ, do we find that we treat Him in much the same way as did those Roman soldiers? Do we seek to derive a personal benefit from Christ’s death on the cross while treating Christ Himself with contempt and blasphemy? That is to say, do we look to Christ’s death as the means of providing for us a source of forgiveness for our sins without any intention of giving up those sins and surrendering them to Christ? Do we view Christ’s sacrifice as a means of providing for us a means of practicing “safe sin”? Do we wrongly and foolishly view His sacrifice as a convenient means by which we are allowed to continue practicing sin without having to worry about the consequences of sin?

Such a view of Christ’s atoning death is not only a horrible misunderstanding of the purpose of Christ’s sacrifice, but it demonstrates blasphemous contempt for Christ Himself. The purpose of Christ’s sacrifice is not merely to save us from the consequence of our sins, but to save us from the sins that merit the awful consequence of the righteous judgment of God. At the time of Jesus’ birth, the angel Gabriel declared to Joseph with regard to Mary, “She shall bear a son, and you shall name him JESUS; for it is he that shall save his people from their sins” (Matt. 1:21).

The purpose of Christ’s sacrifice is not merely to save us from the consequence of our sins, but also to save us for a life of holiness and devotion to God: “[Jesus Christ] gave himself for us, so that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purify for himself a people for his own possession, [a people who are] zealous for good works” (Titus 2:14). The benefits of Christ’s sacrifice cannot be received apart from Christ Himself, they can only be enjoyed “in Christ;” that is to say, in a living relationship with Christ and by entrusting yourself into His hands. As the Apostle Paul points out in Ephesians 1:7, “in [Christ] we have our redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses.”

In responding to the crucified Christ, let us not be like the Roman soldiers who were only interested in what they could take from Christ. To do so will mean missing out on the very benefit you seek, for forgiveness and redemption are only found “in Christ.” Note Romans 8:1, “There is...no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” To respond to the crucified Christ in the manner in which the Roman soldiers did is an unconscionable abuse of Christ’s sacrifice, for which the LORD will finally hold you accountable. In Jeremiah 7:9-10, 15a, the LORD declares,

Will you steal and murder, commit adultery and perjury, burn incense to Baal and follow other gods you have not known, ¹⁰and then come and stand before me in this house, which bears my Name, and say, We are safe, safe to do all these detestable things? ...¹⁵I will thrust you from my presence.

This was the LORD’s warning to Old Testament Israel when they abused His grace. How much more does this apply to those who abuse His ultimate expression of grace as it is offered in the sacrificial death of His Son Jesus Christ upon the cross of Calvary!

Like John, Do You Recognize and Receive Christ as the Promised Savior?←⤒🔗

In beholding the crucified Christ, John sees the Scriptures of the Old Testament being fulfilled before his very eyes.

John records the Jews’ request that the bodies be removed from their crosses (vs. 31). It was contrary to Old Testament law to allow the dead bodies of executed criminals to hang exposed upon a tree after sunset:

If a man guilty of a capital offense is put to death and his body is hung on a tree, ²³you must not leave his body on the tree overnight. Be sure to bury him that same day, because anyone who is hung on a tree is under God’s curse. You must not desecrate the land the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance. Deut. 21:22-23

All the more imperative was it to remove the bodies because this was the time of preparation for the Sabbath, and a special Passover Sabbath at that. Therefore, at the command of Pilate, who was acting in response to the request of the Jews, the soldiers proceed to break the legs of the two criminals executed on either side of the Lord Jesus (vs. 32). But when they come to Jesus, they find that He is already dead; and, therefore, they refrain from breaking His legs (vs. 33). But perhaps as a means of insuring the fact of His death, one of the soldiers takes his spear and thrusts it into Jesus’ side (vs. 34).

In solemn astonishment, John witnesses the Old Testament Scriptures being fulfilled before his very eyes, and he records his testimony:

The man who saw this has given his testimony, and his testimony is true. He knows that he is speaking the truth, and [he gives his testimony] so that you also may believe. ³⁶These things happened so that the Scripture might be fulfilled, 'Not one of his bones shall be broken.' ³⁷And again another Scripture says, 'They shall look at the one whom they pierced.'Jn. 19:35-37

John is referring to such passages as Exodus 12:46, (a reference to the Passover Lamb); Psalm 34:19­ 20, (a reference to the Righteous One of God); and Zechariah 12:10,

It must be eaten inside one house; take none of the meat outside the house. Do not break any of the bones. Ex. 12:46

A righteous man may have many afflictions; but the LORD delivers him out of them all. ²⁰He protects all his bones; not one of them is broken. Psl. 34:19-20

I will pour out upon the house of David and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication. They will look at me, the one they have pierced, and mourn for him as one mourns for an only child, and grieve bitterly for him as one grieves for a firstborn son. Zech. 12:10

John is now fully aware of the fact that he is standing in the presence of the promised Savior: the divine Son of God sent into the world by God the Father to offer up this most sacred sacrifice of His own holy body for the redemption of all who believe in Him. John realizes that he is looking at the One promised through the prophet Isaiah:

...he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed. ⁶We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. Isa. 53:5-6

How do you respond to the crucified Christ? Like the Apostle John, may we recognize Him to be the promised Savior and entrust our lives unto Him:

...for God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, so that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. Jn. 3:16

...as many as received him, to them he gave the right to become children of God. Jn. 1:12

Discussion Questions←⤒🔗

1. What was Simon of Cyrene recruited to do? See Mk. 15:21/Lk. 23:26. Although they laid the cross upon Simon’s shoulders, did Jesus permit him to bear it? See Jn. 19:17. What is significant about the fact Jesus alone bore His cross to Calvary? Note Isa. 53:5-6/1 Pet. 3:18,

Then they compelled a certain man, Simon a Cyrenian, the father of Alexander and Rufus, as he was coming out of the country and passing by, to bear His cross. Mk. 15:21

Now as they led him away, they laid hold of a certain man, Simon a Cyrenian, who was coming from the country, and on him they laid the cross that he might bear it after Jesus. Lk. 23:26

So [the soldiers] took charge of Jesus. Carrying his own cross, he went out to the place called 'The Place of a Skull,' in Hebrew it is called, 'Golgotha.'Jn. 19:17

But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment was laid upon him for our peace, and by his wounds we are healed. ⁶We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; but the LORD has laid upon him the iniquity of us all. Isa. 53:5-6

Christ indeed died for sins once for all, the Righteous One for the unrighteous ones, so that he might bring us to God. He was put to death in the flesh but made alive [again] by the Spirit. 1 Pet. 3:18

2. What notice did Pilate fasten to the cross (cf. Jn. 19:19); how did the Jews want him to revise it (cf. Jn. 19:21)? What is the difference between Pilate’s version of Jesus’ claim and the Jews’ version? Do you accept the authoritative claims of the Lord Jesus Christ (cf. Jn. 14:6), or do you seek to dismiss them as one religious opinion among many?

Pilate had a notice prepared and fastened to the cross. It read, JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS. ²⁰Many of the Jews read this notice, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near to the city; and it was written in Hebrew, Latin, and Greek. ²¹Therefore, the chief priests of the Jews said to Pilate, Do not write, 'The King of the Jews;' but that he said, 'I am King of the Jews.' Jn. 19:19-21

Jesus said to him, I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, except by me. Jn. 14:6

3. Whose version of the notice prevailed, Pilate’s, or the Jews’ (cf. Jn. 19:22)? In what languages was the notice written (cf. Jn. 19:20)? What is the significance of all this? As a Christian, despite the present perversity and deceit that characterize society, do you take solace in the fact that God’s truth and righteousness shall prevail? Note Phil. 2:10-11,

...before the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, ¹¹and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. Phil. 2:10­-11

4. What does Jesus say when He sees His mother and His beloved disciple standing at the foot of the cross? See Jn. 19:26-27. What is significant about His concern for His mother? Note Ex. 20:12. What does this tell us about our Lord’s commitment to His calling (cf. Matt. 5:17), and His love for His own (cf. Jn. 13:1b)?

When Jesus saw his mother, and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, Woman, here is your son! ²⁷Then he said to the disciple, Here is your mother! From that time on, the disciple took her into his own home.Jn. 19:26-27

Honor your father and your mother, that your days may belong upon the land that the LORD your God is giving you. Ex. 20:12

Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. Matt. 5:17

Knowing [already] before the Passover that his hour had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father, and having loved his own who were in the world, [Jesus now] loved them to the fullest extent.Jn. 13:1

5. In Jesus’ words addressed to His mother and His beloved disciple, we see our Lord’s obedience to His Father’s commandments; what do we see in His words recorded in Luke 23:46? See, also, 1 Pet. 2:23b. What does this tell us of Jesus’ confidence in His Father and the promise He made to the Messiah in Psalm 16:10? Not only did our Lord fulfill the Law by His complete obedience to His Father, but also by His complete trust in His Father (cf. Matt. 23:23). As a Christian, do you appreciate the fact that true love for the LORD our God consists in both obedience to Him and trust in Him?

And when Jesus had cried out with a loud voice, he said, "Father, 'into your hands I commit my spirit.'" Having said this, he breathed his last.Lk. 23:46

When they insulted him, he did not insult them; when he suffered, he did not threaten; rather, he committed [himself] to him who judges righteously. 1 Pet. 2:23

...you will not leave my soul in Sheol, nor will you allow your Holy One to see corruption. Psl. 16:10

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, but have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone. Matt. 23:23