Sermon on John 19:1-37 St John's 2pm Good Friday 2007
By Revd Gordon Thomas
AN HOUR AT THE CROSS WITH JOHN
John 19:1-37
John 19:1-37 Then Pilate took Jesus and had him flogged. 2 And the soldiers wove a crown of thorns and put it on his head, and they dressed him in a purple robe. 3 They kept coming up to him, saying, "Hail, King of the Jews!" and striking him on the face. 4 Pilate went out again and said to them, "Look, I am bringing him out to you to let you know that I find no case against him." 5 So Jesus came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. Pilate said to them, "Here is the man!" 6 When the chief priests and the police saw him, they shouted, "Crucify him! Crucify him!" Pilate said to them, "Take him yourselves and crucify him; I find no case against him." 7 The Jews answered him, "We have a law, and according to that law he ought to die because he has claimed to be the Son of God." 8 Now when Pilate heard this, he was more afraid than ever. 9 He entered his headquarters again and asked Jesus, "Where are you from?" But Jesus gave him no answer. 10 Pilate therefore said to him, "Do you refuse to speak to me? Do you not know that I have power to release you, and power to crucify you?" 11 Jesus answered him, "You would have no power over me unless it had been given you from above; therefore the one who handed me over to you is guilty of a greater sin." 12 From then on Pilate tried to release him, but the Jews cried out, "If you release this man, you are no friend of the emperor. Everyone who claims to be a king sets himself against the emperor." 13 When Pilate heard these words, he brought Jesus outside and sat on the judge's bench at a place called The Stone Pavement, or in Hebrew Gabbatha. 14 Now it was the day of Preparation for the Passover; and it was about noon. He said to the Jews, "Here is your King!" 15 They cried out, "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 the emperor." 16 Then he handed him over to them to be crucified. So they took Jesus; 17 and carrying the cross by himself, he went out to what is called The Place of the Skull, which in Hebrew is called Golgotha. 18 There they crucified him, and with him two others, one on either side, with Jesus between them. 19 Pilate also had an inscription written and put on the cross. It read, "Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews." 20 Many of the Jews read this inscription, because the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city; and it was written in Hebrew, in Latin, and in Greek. 21 Then the chief priests of the Jews said to Pilate, "Do not write, 'The King of the Jews,' but, 'This man said, I am King of the Jews.'" 22 Pilate answered, "What I have written I have written." 23 When the soldiers had crucified Jesus, they took his clothes and divided them into four parts, one for each soldier. They also took his tunic; now the tunic was seamless, woven in one piece from the top. 24 So they said to one another, "Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it to see who will get it." This was to fulfill what the scripture says, "They divided my clothes among themselves, and for my clothing they cast lots." 25 And that is what the soldiers did. Meanwhile, standing near the cross of Jesus were his mother, and his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. 26 When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing beside her, he said to his mother, "Woman, here is your son." 27 Then he said to the disciple, "Here is your mother." And from that hour the disciple took her into his own home. 28 After this, when Jesus knew that all was now finished, he said (in order to fulfill the scripture), "I am thirsty." 29 A jar full of sour wine was standing there. So they put a sponge full of the wine on a branch of hyssop and held it to his mouth. 30 When Jesus had received the wine, he said, "It is finished." Then he bowed his head and gave up his spirit. 31 Since it was the day of Preparation, the Jews did not want the bodies left on the cross during the sabbath, especially because that sabbath was a day of great solemnity. So they asked Pilate to have the legs of the crucified men broken and the bodies removed. 32 Then the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first and of the other who had been crucified with him. 33 But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. 34 Instead, one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and at once blood and water came out. 35 (He who saw this has testified so that you also may believe. His testimony is true, and he knows that he tells the truth.) 36 These things occurred so that the scripture might be fulfilled, "None of his bones shall be broken." 37 And again another passage of scripture says, "They will look on the one whom they have pierced." [NRSV]
John 19:1-
JESUS IS SENTENCED TO DEATH (JOHN 19.1-
I confess I spent some time agonising where to start the reading. A few verses earlier perhaps when Pilate brings Jesus out to the crowd to barter him for the murderer Barabbas? Earlier still when Jesus is first brought to Pilate? Jesus's betrayal? Or his entry into Jerusalem? In a way my choice is arbitrary and convenient: the beginning of a chapter; the middle of Jesus's interrogation by Pilate, although to be fair the temperature does seem to change here. Pilate wants to find a way to let Jesus escape the horror of crucifixion, and in his compassion (!) he has him flogged. That's what Romans do when you're innocent and they want you let off!
If you've studied John's Gospel this Lent you'll have noticed how this master story teller uses irony so brilliantly. His narrative is full of people saying profound truths they don't mean or understand. It's the same here:
The Roman soldiers hail Jesus as "King of the Jews". They put a mock robe and a crown on him: not any old crown but one they have woven from thorns. Jesus as King is a central theme of John's gospel; now the soldiers, the oppressors, the torturers use the term as one of abuse and humiliation taking up the mockery started by Pilate a little earlier. The irony is that what they say is true; they say what the priests can't! Is John preparing his readers to see that gentiles too will acknowledge the kingship of Jesus as all his followers become the new Israel?
The second piece of irony is Pilate's: Here is the man as he displays Jesus, still in the crown and robe. It's true of course: here is the man. And 2000 years later we can see in Jesus at this moment perfect obedience; perfect courage; perfect calmness; perfect love. Yet we know that even this isn't the half of it. Because I now grasp that the place to start reading this story is the beginning of the book: the passage we read, not today, but Christmas Day. In the beginning was the Word. And we read on to the climax: the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. Here is the profound truth of Pilate's outburst whether he had any idea or not! The one who was with God; the one who was God from the beginning is the abused and tortured and crucified man: God's love is literally spilled out as the man gives his life for us. And the priests make their final decision to accept or reject him and his kingship.
Their fury boils over. Crucify him they scream. Here is perhaps the clearest example of another of John's themes: there are no half-
And it's now, in their victory, that they make the most terrible statement of belief. It's pretty clear from John's account that Pilate doesn't want Jesus executed. Shall I crucify your King? he pleads with the Jews. We have no king but the emperor they retort. What a devastating cry of judgement they call down on their heads. Everything in their faith and scriptures forbids such a statement:
o God is the true King
o The Messiah is God's King
o Pagan rulers typified by the emperor are a sham; pretenders; idolaters
What would Isaiah have said? What would the psalmists say? What does God say? In the deepest sense the chief priests not Jesus have been on trial. They have passed verdict and sentence on themselves. In finally rejecting Jesus they reject God and embrace the world in the shape of the emperor.
Yet this gives them what they want: Pilate succumbs and sends Jesus to be crucified against his instincts. Who says good triumphs over evil?
JESUS IS CRUCIFIED (JOHN 19.16B-37); WHO IS IN CONTROL?
So who does say that good triumphs over evil? Well, us I guess, or we may as well be in the garden. But why do we believe it on this day of all days? I guess the answer we give at least partly depends on who we see as being in control throughout these events. We have to go back a bit:
Yet this gives them what they want: Pilate succumbs and sends Jesus to be crucified against his instincts. Who says good triumphs over evil?
JESUS IS CRUCIFIED (JOHN 19.16B-
So who does say that good triumphs over evil? Well, us I guess, or we may as well be in the garden. But why do we believe it on this day of all days? I guess the answer we give at least partly depends on who we see as being in control throughout these events. We have to go back a bit:
o Jesus is helpless; humiliated and tortured, under the power of Pilate, the chief priests and the soldiers
o Jesus the King is a term, not of honour, but contempt
o A combination of Pilate's weakness and the chief priests' wickedness lead inevitably to Jesus's crucifixion
o The humiliation and torture continue on the cross Jesus first carries until he finally accepts that it is all over and he dies.
I think that's a reasonable reading of what happened and leads us to the conclusion that the forces of darkness have their way. Evil has triumphed. But another way of reading it may lead us to a different conclusion:
o the soldiers speak the truth about Jesus however ironically
o the religious deny their own faith as they find a way to dispose of Jesus
o the dialogues between Jesus and Pilate. Previously Pilate had tried to find a middle way in the struggle between truth and the world. He is frustrated by the world's intransigence as he tries to set Jesus free. Now he still can't find a middle way as he finds truth in the person of Jesus equally unhelpful to him. Incredulous, he reminds Jesus of his power to set him free or have him crucified. But Jesus wants to talk about God's power over Pilate. This isn't a lecture about Pilate's God-given right to power. This is Jesus making it clear to Pilate what he has already told only the disciples: no-one can take his life from him. He alone has the power to lay it down. He is at the hour appointed by his Father and he will lay down his life on his terms, in his time. Jesus agrees that Pilate has the power of life and death but only because God has given it to him. Jesus; not Pilate; nor chief priests; nor soldiers, is in control of his life and death. We can read this story as one about the hour of darkness. It is though Jesus's hour which has come; he is to be lifted up on the cross.
This becomes even clearer as the trial ends. John slips in (as is his wont) the time. It is about noon on the Day of Preparation for the Passover. That's why Jerusalem is full of people and right now the paschal lambs are starting to be slaughtered for the feast, the great annual celebration of God rescuing the Jewish people from slavery in Egypt. Our minds go back to the beginning of Jesus's ministry and John the Baptist's strange greeting: Here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! It's another supreme irony: at the moment thousands of young, innocent, unblemished lambs are being sacrificed to celebrate God delivering the people of Israel into freedom, Jesus is being sacrificed as he goes to his crucifixion. Why? to deliver freedom to his chosen.
John's account is remarkable for what is left out as well as for what is included. There are very few details about the horror of crucifixion. It is interesting that the gospel writers don't feel the need to do this. John in particular is not so interested in what they do to Jesus but why and how he responds. Film makers please note! Nor, after the trial, is John that interested in other people: there's no Simon of Cyrene to carry the cross; Jesus is crucified with two others: it's not important whether they are criminals or bandits; penitent or braggart; there is no taunting from the crowds; no praising God by the centurion. Even Jesus's mother says nothing as he cares for her in his last act and the beloved disciple becomes her son.
So what is there is presumably pretty important, often reinforcing what we saw in the trial:
Pilate has written over the cross an inscription that inflames the chief priests: Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews. It's a pretty obvious snub to the chief priests, a sort of getting his own back by Pilate and all four gospels include it. But there is a deeper meaning too. In chapter 12 of the gospel Jesus speaks of when he will be lifted up and will draw all people to (him)self. Here we see him lifted up on the cross, crowned, proclaimed King and, in another little aside, John tells us that the Pilate's inscription is in three languages: Hebrew or Aramaic, the local language; Latin, the language of the empire, and Greek the international language. The message of the crucified King will find its way beyond Israel to the whole known world: to all people.
As with Pilate, the soldiers again unwittingly play their part as they fulfil Psalm 22 by gambling for Jesus's clothes. The other gospels draw on the same psalm as Jesus cries out its first awful words: My God, my God, why have you forsaken me. John doesn't record that, dwelling instead on the verse which as it were ends the psalmist's despair and moves him on to hope and trust in God.
As Jesus is close to death he is thirsty. John is probably making links with Psalm 69 written in persecution and the psalmist given poison for food and vinegar to drink. We can't also help though recall Jesus's encounter with the Samaritan woman: those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty Jesus tells her; neither will those who believe in him he later says. Now Jesus is thirsty. And he receives not living water; not the best wine such as he changed the useless water into in the first sign of who he was at the wedding feast in Cana. Jesus gets sour wine. It's horrible. What's this about Jesus being in control? It goes with the mocking crown of thorns; the robe; the title. And I think John is saying: "Yes that's all true: it is horrible and disgusting. But Jesus will see this through. He chooses to come to the lowest place we can imagine in his death. There he fulfils scripture. That he is glorified. So he dies with three words.
It is finished. We say this isn't a cry of desolation but a cry of triumph. I'm not sure how we know this. But I think it is. I think it is a cry of triumph in this sense: Jesus has obediently fulfilled his Father's will. He has finished what God gave him to do. He has loved his followers right to the end. The scriptures are fulfilled even after his death as none of his bones are broken to quicken death and the image of Jesus, the unblemished sacrificial lamb is preserved. Jesus's hour has come. Jesus is lifted up; Jesus has taken the sins of the world ; Jesus is glorified. It is finished and he gives up his spirit.
It took a while for fearful disciples to make sense of it all: To see that they were forgiven people, living in a new covenant with God; the new Israel; no more barriers between them and God: no more sacrifices; all dealt withbroken through the death of Jesus.
It can take a while too for us to take on board the enormity of what Jesus did for us that day but one day we see that Jesus hanging on the cross is the life and light about whom John writes at the very beginning of his gospel.
Let's end at the beginning:
John's account is remarkable for what is left out as well as for what is included. There are very few details about the horror of crucifixion. It is interesting that the gospel writers don't feel the need to do this. John in particular is not so interested in what they do to Jesus but why and how he responds. Film makers please note! Nor, after the trial, is John that interested in other people: there's no Simon of Cyrene to carry the cross; Jesus is crucified with two others: it's not important whether they are criminals or bandits; penitent or braggart; there is no taunting from the crowds; no praising God by the centurion. Even Jesus's mother says nothing as he cares for her in his last act and the beloved disciple becomes her son.
So what is there is presumably pretty important, often reinforcing what we saw in the trial:
Pilate has written over the cross an inscription that inflames the chief priests: Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews. It's a pretty obvious snub to the chief priests, a sort of getting his own back by Pilate and all four gospels include it. But there is a deeper meaning too. In chapter 12 of the gospel Jesus speaks of when he will be lifted up and will draw all people to (him)self. Here we see him lifted up on the cross, crowned, proclaimed King and, in another little aside, John tells us that the Pilate's inscription is in three languages: Hebrew or Aramaic, the local language; Latin, the language of the empire, and Greek the international language. The message of the crucified King will find its way beyond Israel to the whole known world: to all people.
As with Pilate, the soldiers again unwittingly play their part as they fulfil Psalm 22 by gambling for Jesus's clothes. The other gospels draw on the same psalm as Jesus cries out its first awful words: My God, my God, why have you forsaken me. John doesn't record that, dwelling instead on the verse which as it were ends the psalmist's despair and moves him on to hope and trust in God.
As Jesus is close to death he is thirsty. John is probably making links with Psalm 69 written in persecution and the psalmist given poison for food and vinegar to drink. We can't also help though recall Jesus's encounter with the Samaritan woman: those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty Jesus tells her; neither will those who believe in him he later says. Now Jesus is thirsty. And he receives not living water; not the best wine such as he changed the useless water into in the first sign of who he was at the wedding feast in Cana. Jesus gets sour wine. It's horrible. What's this about Jesus being in control? It goes with the mocking crown of thorns; the robe; the title. And I think John is saying: "Yes that's all true: it is horrible and disgusting. But Jesus will see this through. He chooses to come to the lowest place we can imagine in his death. There he fulfils scripture. That he is glorified. So he dies with three words.
It is finished. We say this isn't a cry of desolation but a cry of triumph. I'm not sure how we know this. But I think it is. I think it is a cry of triumph in this sense: Jesus has obediently fulfilled his Father's will. He has finished what God gave him to do. He has loved his followers right to the end. The scriptures are fulfilled even after his death as none of his bones are broken to quicken death and the image of Jesus, the unblemished sacrificial lamb is preserved. Jesus's hour has come. Jesus is lifted up; Jesus has taken the sins of the world ; Jesus is glorified. It is finished and he gives up his spirit.
It took a while for fearful disciples to make sense of it all: To see that they were forgiven people, living in a new covenant with God; the new Israel; no more barriers between them and God: no more sacrifices; all dealt withbroken through the death of Jesus.
It can take a while too for us to take on board the enormity of what Jesus did for us that day but one day we see that Jesus hanging on the cross is the life and light about whom John writes at the very beginning of his gospel.
Let's end at the beginning:
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him,.... What has come into being was life, and the life was the light of al people. The light shines in the darkness and the darkness did not overcome it.
He was in the world, and the world came into being through him; yet the world did not know him. He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him. But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh, or of the will of man, but of God.
And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father's only son, full of grace and truth.
Rev Gordon Thomas © 2007