The King Crucified

1. The Place and Procedure of His crucifixion, 19:17-18.

We do not have the details mentioned by John—what is mentioned is that Jesus carried His own cross, went out from the city to outside its walls to a location called the Place of The Skull, or Golgotha in the Aramaic; Calvary in Latin.

Everyone at the time of John’s gospel knew what crucifixion was.

It was common practice for the condemned to carry the crossbeam of the cross (called the patibulum) to the site of execution where soldiers would attach it to the permanent upright stake (stipes) by means of a mortise and tenon joint. To delay death and prolong agony, the executioner attached a seat (sedile) between the victim’s legs.

The execution detail laid the patibulum on the ground and attached it to the top of the stipes, using a mortise and tenon joint to form a giant capital T. The victim was stripped naked and placed against the wood and attached to the cross with his arms outstretched and feet flat against the face of the stipes. The victim was usually tied to the cross rather than nailed. Nails were expensive and the Romans wanted to extend the process of dying, which took much longer when suspended with rope instead of nails.

If, however, the executioner wanted to hasten death, he nailed the victim to the cross through the base of the palms and through the tops of the feet. Simulations, along with close examination of historical records, reveal that death usually came by way of exposure, dehydration, starvation, or fatigue asphyxia. In the case of asphyxia, the victim became too exhausted, dehydrated, and malnourished to pull in his next breath, which led to suffocation.

A victim nailed to a cross, like someone tied in place, also had to keep his body in constant motion to relieve the pain in his arms, chest, and legs, which only agitated the damaged nerves in the nail wounds. Unless the guards broke the legs of the victim, the primary causes of death for nailed victims were likely hypovolemic shock (excessive blood loss), traumatic shock, or cardiac and respiratory arrest.

We know Jesus was nailed to the cross because, later in John’s Gospel, the disciple Thomas refers to the imprint of the nails in Jesus’ hands (20:25–27).

John 20:25–27 NASB95

So the other disciples were saying to him, “We have seen the Lord!” But he said to them, “Unless I see in His hands the imprint of the nails, and put my finger into the place of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe.” After eight days His disciples were again inside, and Thomas with them. Jesus came, the doors having been shut, and stood in their midst and said, “Peace be with you.” Then He said to Thomas, “Reach here with your finger, and see My hands; and reach here your hand and put it into My side; and do not be unbelieving, but believing.”

Furthermore, the Romans remained sensitive to Jewish sensibilities, so they hastened death to ensure the men would not be left hanging on their crosses during a very special Sabbath.

Placing Jesus in the center was the place of greatest shame.

2. The Title of the King, 19:19-22.

Pilate ordered the titulus for Jesus to list His “crime” as being the King of the Jews. This title placed above His head was intended to mock both Jesus and the Jews.

The title was important as evidence by its trilingual nature in the three major languages of the Mediterranean world in that day.

Hebrew (Jewish Aramaic), the labguage of the Jews;

Latin, the language of Rome and vernacular of government; and

Greek, the language of the rest of the cultured world and the vernacular of trade and commerce.

The title posted above Jesus announces “the universal condemnation of those who condemned Jesus, and the universal offer of salvation to the universally condemned” (Barrett, John, 549).

The chief priests of the Jews reject the title, responding with sharp disapproval, demanding that the sign be changed, redirecting the charge they felt (correctly) in reference to them to be focused on Jesus.

They claimed Jesus said He was king of the Jews; however Jesus was specific that His kingdom was “not from this world” (18:36). That very thing, the otherworldliness of His kingship, was itself being declared as He hung on the cross, the place of His exaltation.

Pilate silences all further discussion, allowing the title to stand by using two perfect tense verbs, “I have written”. In the text the first perfect functions more like an aorist; this suggests that the use of two perfects increases the strength of finality.

3. The Tunic of Our High Priest, 19:23 -25a.

Below the crucified Christ, we see the garments of Jesus lying on the ground beneath Him. Why so much detail about garments? It suggests that what is happening here is important.

There is nothing surprising about the behavior of the soldiers. The confiscation of the criminal's possessions was a common penalty attending executions or other sentences of judgment. Roman crucifixions were performed with the victim naked, which heaped greater public shame on the criminal.

Four soldiers took the freedom they had as executioners to claim Jesus’s clothes, both outer and inner garments. The outer garment was probably a traditional rectangular-shaped cloth, or cloak, draped around the body. It might also have included a belt, sandals, and even a head covering. The inner garment (tunic) was normally “worn next to the skin and was essentially a long, tight-fitting shirt made of two pieces of cloth sewn together,” often sleeveless and made of “wool, linen, or leather” (James S. Jeffers, The Greco-Roman World of the New Testament Era: Exploring the Background of Early Christianity (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1999), 43).

The outer garment was divided among the four, either the cloak into four parts at the seams, or by giving one of the likely four items to each of the soldiers.

The tunic seems to have a more symbolic significance. We learn that the tunic is seamless, woven in one piece, pointing out details that are important. What is the symbolic significance of the tunic?

The larger context of this section of the gospel of John lends credence to the symbolism of the high priest.

1st century would recognize this kind of clothing as at least ceremonial, even more so in the context of the Jewish temple.

Priestly garments reflect the glory and honor of both the priesthood and the God it represents.

More specifically, the adjective “woven” only occurs in the LXX when referring to priestly garments.

Being “seamless” adds to its priestly nature, since those garments were created and preserved with great care.

John’s gospel has taken great care to present Jesus as the true Priest. He has also been portrayed as the priestly king; both depicted as king and authority (18:28-19:16) surrounded by the depictions of jesus as priest (18:1-27) and sacrifice (19:17-42).

Thus if verses 19-22 are declaring Jesus to be the true King, then these verses (vs. 23-24) are declaring Jesus to be the true Priest—the Priest of the Most High God (cf. Hebrews 7).

John (Explanation of the Text)

It is fitting that the tunic is no longer being worn by Jesus, for “it is Jesus, and no longer an earthly Jewish high priest, who takes away the sins of the world. God’s people are about to be reconstituted around the person of Jesus, and the role and functions once reserved for the high priest—intercession, sacrifice, reconciliation, cleansing, and forgiveness from sin—are now fulfilled and superseded by Jesus himself.”

There is a much bigger reason for not tearing the seamless tunic of Jesus. The soldiers are fulfilling Psalm 22:18, declared hundreds of years earlier.

Psalm 22:18 NASB95

They divide my garments among them, And for my clothing they cast lots.

The first part of verse 25, the closing statement serves as an emphatic statement: they did this, unknowingly fulfilling the Scriptures.

4. The Family of the Son, 19:25b-27.

Now looking in front of the cross, the very public nature of crucifixion is seen, where the family and friends can stand before the crucified one. In contrast to the four soldiers, four women are named:

Jesus’ mother, whose name is never given in John’s gospel, but is revealed to be Mary in the synoptics. This is probably done so by John to facilitate the contrast between the mother of Jesus and His Father. We have seen this distancing in John 2:3-4; we will see it again in v. 26.

His mother’s sister, who is not named, but simply designated as the sister of Mary, the mother of Jesus. This makes her Jesus’s aunt on her mother’s side.

Mary the wife of Clopas. Traditionally, Clopas was the brother of Joseph, the husband of Mary, the mother of Jesus. if this is so, then this related this Mary more directly to Jesus, who is the son of Clopas’s brother, Joseph, and therefore is Jesus’s aunt on His father’s side.

Mary Magdalene, the best known woman disciple of Jesus in the early church. Her intimate connection to the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus explains the emphasis given to her by the Gospel of John and the other Gospels. She serves as “an apostle to the apostles” in the event immediately following the crucifixion, becoming the first witness of the resurrected Christ.

Jesus observes His family gathered there, specifically His mother and one of His disciples, whom Jesus briefly addresses.

Every statement Jesus makes from the cross, as recorded by the gospel writers, has a symbolic significance. “Woman” draws attention away from Mary’s blood relationship with Jesus to focus on a much greater and more foundational relationship between the unique Son and the Father.

The particle of exclamation “behold” before a noun serves as a “marker of strong emphasis” (BDAG, 468). When John does this, there is a challenge to perceive with the mind a truth not outwardly evident to human eyes.

The beloved disciple is clearly included among those who personally witness the final words and death of Jesus. Jesus’s statement makes the “son” intimately connected to the mother of Jesus and therefore to the family of Jesus.

He is positioned by Jesus in this verse to be the object of the maternal focus of Jesus’s mother. It is striking that the mother is mentioned first; traditionally, priority would be the son taking care of the mother. But the significance is found in the relationship between them. By His statement Jesus intended to establish the true nature of sonship. It is the cross that most clearly distinguishes the sons (children of God) from the Son, it also is the cross alone that unifies them in the same Father. Jesus addresses the needs of the son before the needs of His mother as He hangs on the cross . In the context of Jesus’s mission from the Father, the mother of Jesus is no less in need of this “sonship” then the Beloved Disciple, for by this act she too becomes a child of the Father. Jesus is emphasizing the vertical nature of sonship.

In verse 27, the emphasis is on the horizontal nature of the same sonship, that His disciples, including His own kin, have been declared by Him to be a newly created family. 2 Cor. 5:17

2 Corinthians 5:17 NASB95

Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.

Jesus announces by His death the formation of a new family with new family relations, represented by the two people with whom He was likely the closest.

The unique nature of this new community will be reflected by their relationship.

Mary, by being distanced from her role as the mother of Jesus, from now on will represent the maternal nature of the children of God and their corporate life together.

The Beloved Disciple , by being distanced from his role as the biological son of another, from now one will represent the adopted nature of the children of God and their continued work together.

The closing statement of John as the narrator speaks more about the place to which Jesus is going. For as Jesus explained in the farewell discourse, His departure is less an ending and more a new beginning John 14:18-20

John 14:18–20 NASB95

“I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. “After a little while the world will no longer see Me, but you will see Me; because I live, you will live also. “In that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you.