John 19:17-20:10 - Jesus Changes Everything

Introduction

Everyone who knows anything about Christianity knows that the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ is a central feature of Christian faith or belief. Even liberal theologians (who allegorize Jesus’s death and resurrection; they don’t believe Jesus actually rose from the grave, but they believe that this story is an allegory or a mere symbol of love or self-sacrifice or victory amid defeat)… even liberals understand that this theme of life from death is itself central to Christianity.

So, we who really believe that this story is true… we who believe that Jesus of Nazareth really did live and really did die and really did come back from the dead, never to die again… there’s a sense in which we celebrate Jesus’s resurrection every day. This central feature of the gospel message – that Jesus died for sinners and conquered death, promising a resurrection to come for all who love and trust Him – this central feature of the gospel is the hope to which we cling every day.

So it is good for all of us to be reminded of this simple and yet profound reality… and today is as good as any for us to focus our attention more squarely on the death and resurrection of Christ.

I will read the account from John’s Gospel this morning, and we will make several observations and consider some application for us today.

Scripture Reading

John 19:17–20:10 (ESV)

16b So they took Jesus, 17 and he went out, bearing his own cross, to the place called The Place of a Skull, which in Aramaic is called Golgotha.

18 There they crucified him, and with him two others, one on either side, and Jesus between them.

19 Pilate also wrote an inscription and put it on the cross. It read, “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.”

20 Many of the Jews read this inscription, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and it was written in Aramaic, in Latin, and in Greek. 21 So the chief priests of the Jews said to Pilate, “Do not write, ‘The King of the Jews,’ but rather, ‘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 garments and divided them into four parts, one part for each soldier; also his tunic. But the tunic was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom, 24 so they said to one another, “Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it to see whose it shall be.”

This was to fulfill the Scripture which says, “They divided my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots.”

So the soldiers did these things, 25 but standing by 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 nearby, he said to his mother, “Woman, behold, your son!” 27 Then he said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother!” And from that hour the disciple took her to his own home.

28 After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said (to fulfill the Scripture), “I thirst.” 29 A jar full of sour wine stood there, so they put a sponge full of the sour wine on a hyssop branch and held it to his mouth. 30 When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, “It is finished,” and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

31 Since it was the day of Preparation, and so that the bodies would not remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a high day), the Jews asked Pilate that their legs might be broken and that they might be taken away.

32 So 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 But one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and at once there came out blood and water.

35 He who saw it has borne witness—his testimony is true, and he knows that he is telling the truth—that you also may believe. 36 For these things took place that the Scripture might be fulfilled: “Not one of his bones will be broken.” 37 And again another Scripture says, “They will look on him whom they have pierced.”

38 After these things Joseph of Arimathea, who was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear of the Jews, asked Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus, and Pilate gave him permission. So he came and took away his body.

39 Nicodemus also, who earlier had come to Jesus by night, came bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds in weight. 40 So they took the body of Jesus and bound it in linen cloths with the spices, as is the burial custom of the Jews.

41 Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb in which no one had yet been laid. 42 So because of the Jewish day of Preparation, since the tomb was close at hand, they laid Jesus there.

1 Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb. 2 So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.”

3 So Peter went out with the other disciple, and they were going toward the tomb. 4 Both of them were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. 5 And stooping to look in, he saw the linen cloths lying there, but he did not go in.

6 Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen cloths lying there, 7 and the face cloth, which had been on Jesus’ head, not lying with the linen cloths but folded up in a place by itself. 8 Then the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed; 9 for as yet they did not understand the Scripture, that he must rise from the dead.

10 Then the disciples went back to their homes.

Main Idea:

Jesus was the long-awaited Christ, and His death and resurrection are historical fact; and because Jesus was/is the Savior-King, He changes everything.

Sermon

1. Jesus is King

Our passage ended with an anticlimactic sentence: “Then the disciples went back to their homes” (Jn. 20:10). It would be several weeks before the disciples of Jesus would be filled with the Holy Spirit, supernaturally enabled both to believe and to proclaim the good news that Jesus Christ had died and had risen to life again. At the close of our brief narrative, the disciples are still surprised, confused, and pretty anxious about the whole thing.

But the steady drumbeat of our passage today (indeed a reverberating theme of the whole Bible) is that the events of human history always unfold according to God’s plan. And this was no more emphatic than in the life and ministry (and even the death) of Jesus Christ. Just consider the number of times John tells us that what happened in our passage was “to fulfill the Scripture” (Jn. 19:24, 28) or “that the Scripture might be fulfilled” (Jn. 19:36).

Many of us already know that “Christ” is not Jesus’s last name. Jesus’s common name is right there in v19, “Jesus of Nazareth” (Jn. 19:19). It is a somewhat modern development for common people (those of us who aren’t members of a royal dynasty) to have a first and a last name. It used to be common to attach one’s hometown to their name in order to distinguish them. “This is Ben from Gilmer, and that over there is Betty from Diana.”[i]

Why, then, is Jesus so frequently called “Christ” in the NT?

Well, it’s because “Christ” is the NT Greek word for an OT Hebrew word, “Messiah,” which means “anointed one” (1 Sam. 2:10). Throughout the OT, the use of the word “anointed” is basically employed in reference to something or someone being designatedor set aside for service to the God of the Bible.

Priests were “anointed” (Ex. 40:15) for their religious service. Israel’s kings were “anointed” (1 Sam. 10:1, 16:12-13) for their civil service. And everything that was used in formal worship (from the priest’s cloths to the furniture and utensils for the tabernacle), all of it was “anointed” too (Ex. 29:36, 30:26, 40:9).

But the OT speaks specifically of an “anointed one” that is to come – a “Messiah” (Hebrew) or “Christ” (Greek) – one who is a “king” who will “judge the ends of the earth” (1 Sam. 2:10), one who is a “faithful priest” who will always mediate the glorious presence of God (1 Sam. 2:35), and one who would both prophesy and fulfill the prophecyof “the year of the LORD’s favor, and the day of [the] vengeance of God” (Is. 61:1-2).

This is why many first-century Israelites were looking for the arrival of the “Messiah” or the “Christ.” When Jesus was talking with a woman at a well (in John 4), she said, “I know that Messiah is coming (he who is called Christ). When he comes, he will tell us all things” (Jn. 4:25). And wouldn’t you have liked to see her face when Jesus told her, “I who speak to you am he” (Jn. 4:26).

Of the three offices associated with the “Messiah” or “Christ” (prophet, priest, and king), the one that got the most attention during the centuries leading up to the birth of Jesus was that of “king.” They had heard Jeremiah’s prophecy, “Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness…” (Jer. 23:5). And when Jesus was born, there were men looking to find the one who had been “born king of the Jews” (Matt. 2:2).

In an earlier part of John 19 (just before the passage we read today), this whole business of Jesus being the “King of the Jews” had reached a fever-pitch. Pilate (who was the Roman governor of Judea) asked Jesus, “Are you the King of the Jews” (Jn. 18:33). The Roman soldiers who mocked Jesus taunted Him by saying, “Hail, King of the Jews” even as they beat Him (Jn. 19:3).

And in our passage, the Jewish leaders wanted Pilate to take down the inscription (or at least re-word it), so that it would only appear that Jesus was calling Himself the “King of the Jews” (Jn. 19:21), and not that anyone else had actually affirmedsuch a ridiculous idea.

But this was no ridiculous idea. This was and is a fact of reality. God’s anointed king was sent into the world to rule (of that there is no doubt), but first the Messiah of old would suffer and die. Indeed, the Bible teaches us that Jesus Christ won a great victory through dying… but we will get to that in just a bit.

2. Jesus did Die

This might seem to some of us an unnecessary point in a sermon like this. Hardly anyone argues that Jesus did not die. But that’s not exactly what I’m intending to argue against in this second point of my sermon. What I’m after here is the fact that Christianity is not merely a set of moral principles or just a dramatic story that touches on deeply rooted themes of love, self-sacrifice, and evil.

No, Christianity is centered on the person and work of Jesus Christ. To say anything about who Jesus is and what Jesus did is certainly to step into the realm of theology. But these are not just theological claims; they are historical as well.

The Bible is far more than a history book, but it is not less. The Bible teaches us of the character and nature of God, it speaks to the questions of our own troubled soul (Why do I feel guilty? Why do I fail so often to do what I know is right? Why are my relationships so easily broken or dysfunctional? What is the solution to all this?), and the Bible also tells us about the grand purpose for which all of creation exists – namely to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever.

These are all far more than historical facts! But it is also true that the Bible is a book that tells us of the real historical unfolding of God’s plan to bring salvation through judgment for countless sinners through the person and work of Jesus Christ. God the Son really did take on human flesh. Jesus of Nazareth really did live and preach and perform miracles, demonstrating that He was the long-awaited Messiah or Christ. And this same Jesus really did die on a Roman cross just outside of the city of Jerusalem.

Each of the Gospel writers record various features of this event, but they all emphatically mean to tell the reader that Jesus really died. Crucifixion was not uncommon in first-century Rome (lots of people died this way), but this penalty was usually for the worst of criminals. It was intended (by design) to be a humiliating and excruciating way to die.

Side note: The word itself (excruciating) comes from this concept of crucifixion; it is the combination of two words that mean “out of the cross.”

John assumes that his readers will all know what he means when he says, “they crucified him” (Jn. 19:18; cf. Jn. 19:23, 32). We can learn something of the manner of Jesus’s death by noting that He “went out, bearing his own cross” (Jn. 19:17). Whether this was the horizontal beam by itself or both the horizontal and vertical beam, the point is that Jesus’s body was about to be set upon this wooden post for the purpose of a slow and painful death.

We can also learn something of the humiliation of Jesus’s death by noting that the “soldiers” took Jesus’s “garments and divided them” amongst themselves (Jn. 19:23), including a “tunic” that they “cast lots for” (Jn. 19:24). Casting lots is like shooting dice, but the details here tell us that Jesus was crucified naked… A truly shameful and humiliating public display.

I said before that all the Gospel writers give us various details, and these correspond to the particular emphasis of each writer in his Gospel. Together, these Gospel accounts provide a pretty full and completely harmonious description Jesus’s death. But John tells us something about a confirmation of death that Matthew, Mark, and Luke do not. They all affirm that Jesus died, but John says the soldiers came to break the legs of all three of the crucified men (the two criminals and Jesus).

This was at the request of the Jewish leaders, who did not want the dead men to remain hanging upon their crosses on the Sabbath (which began at nightfall on Friday). Historical records outside of the Bible and the Gospel accounts themselves indicate that the actual cause of death for someone who was crucified was asphyxiation (or suffocation) and heart failure. The bodily trauma and the loss of blood would eventually overwhelm the heart. But until then, every breath was agonizing, since the position of the body hanging from upraised arms would require the man to push himself with his legs in order to inhale and exhale.

John tells us, however, that “when [the soldiers] came to Jesus” they “saw that he was already dead,” and “they did not break his legs” (Jn. 19:33). Instead, “one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and at once,” John says, “there came out blood and water” (Jn. 19:34). John even adds the emphatic stamp of his own eyewitness testimony when he says, “He who saw it has borne witness” (Jn. 19:35). In other words, “I saw it with my own eyes, and I’m telling it to you.”

Jesus of Nazareth, who was the promised Messiah or Christ or Priest-King of old… He really did die. He died in one of the most humiliating and agonizing ways man has invented. And both the Roman soldiers and all those observing the horrific event that day saw proof of Jesus’s death… It is a fact of real history.

3. Jesus Rose Again

Because Jesus of Nazareth is a real person in human history, and because He really did die on a Roman cross outside of Jerusalem… the hanging question (one which we all must answer) is “How do you explain the empty tomb?”.

Mary Magdalene said what she initially thought. John tells us that she “came to the tomb early” on “the first day of the week” (Jn. 20:1), and when she saw “that the stone had been taken away,” she reported to Peter and John that someone had “taken the Lord out of the tomb” (Jn. 20:2). In other words, she thought someone had stolen His body.

Matthew’s Gospel tells us that the chief priests and Pharisees suspected that this might happen, so they posted guards at Jesus’s tomb to “make it as secure as you can” (Matt. 27:65). But those guards came later and told the chief priests that they had seen and heard “an angel of the Lord” (Matt. 28:2) roll back the stone and announce that Jesus had “risen from the dead” (Matt. 28:7). And when the chief priests heard the guards’ story, they paid them off and told them “Tell people [that] his disciples came by night and stole him away” (Matt. 28:13).

In both cases (Mary Magdalene not yet believing that Jesus actually rose from the dead, and the Jewish leaders opposed to even the possibility), the fact remains that the tomb was empty. Mary’s response was shock: “O, my… Where has Jesus’s body gone?!” Those who opposed Jesus, their response was to make up some explanation: “Jesus’s disciples want it to appear that He was raised from the dead, so they have stolen His body away.”

But, again, the historical and practical fact remains: the tomb was empty.

Just as I said earlier, Christianity is more than mere history, but it is not less. Friends, if you’ve never understood why Christians sometimes seem like they are unwilling or unable to “get with the times” in their beliefs or their behavior, then consider this. Christians don’t just have a moral philosophy, a list of rules or principles for deciding what is right and what is wrong; and Christians don’t just have a mythological framework to conceptualize why the world is the way it is.

What Christians have is a Savior-King, who stepped onto the pages of human history and declared His own authority over everything… ethics, doctrine, behavior and belief… And to display and confirm Jesus’s authority over everything and everyone in all creation, He showed His authority over the most undefeatable enemy we’ve ever had – death.

The tomb was empty, and John says that the Scripture already foretold that Jesus “must rise from the dead” (Jn. 20:9). The tomb was empty, and several women along with several soldiers all testified to an angelic announcement that Jesus had “risen from the dead” (Matt. 28:7). The tomb was empty, and all of Jesus’s disciples along with more than 500 others saw Him alive (and better than well) before they watched Jesus (with their own eyes) ascend into heaven, promising to return again “in the same way” as He went (Acts 1:11).

Friends, the tomb was empty, and the way the Bibleexplains this is to tell us that Jesus Christ rose from the dead… just as the Scriptures foretold, just as He said He would, and just as we might have expected… if we had been paying attention to who Jesus was and why He came the first time.

4. Jesus Died for Sinners

As we read through the NT, it might be helpful for us to know that the Gospels and the NT letters are not all doing the same thing. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John (and to a certain degree the book of Acts as well), these are all “the gospel described.” Whereas the rest of the NT – the letters to specific churches (which is most of them), letters to particular pastors, and those letters written to a general Christian audience – these are all “the gospel explained.” (What it means that Christ died for sinners, how sinners like us can become partakers in what Christ has done, and how believers are now to live in light of this good news – past, present, and future).

The Gospels largely tell us what happened during Jesus’s earthly ministry (that He preached, that He performed miracles, that He died, and that He rose again), but they don’t explain with much detail the why. Of course, we can see some of the whyin the Gospels, but to get a fuller explanation of the why, we must turn to the NT letters… where Christ-commissioned Apostles explain how the OT always pointed forward to the person and work of Christ, and what it means that Jesus had finally come.

In our passage this morning, we can read at least one of the statements Jesus made from the cross. Again, each Gospel writer included the details that were relevant to his own emphasis of the story, and John highlights what we see there in chapter 19, verse 28 and following. John wrote, “After this…” that is, after Jesus made earthly arrangements for the care of His mother, so that John would take her into his own home… an interesting and profound feature of this story we don’t have time to delve into… “After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said (to fulfill the Scripture), ‘I thirst’” (Jn. 19:28).

Then, having squeezed a bit of “sour wine” from a “sponge” on the tip of a “hyssop branch” (another interesting feature that we must pass by), Jesus said, “It is finished,” and “he bowed his head and gave up his spirit” (Jn. 19:30). It’s a single Greek word translated here, “It is finished.” The word tetelestai is rendered and framed on a piece of very simple artwork in my home, because this word is one that I love and one that frequently reminds me of what Christ has done.

It’s a word often used for accounting purposes in the ancient world. When a debtor took out a lone for some amount, the creditor would keep an account of all the payments made against it until the debt was finally paid in full. When the last payment was made, the creditor would stamp or write the word “tetelestai” upon the document… signifying that all was “paid in full.”

The Apostle Paul explains what Jesus meant here, in his letter to the church in Colossae. The Scripture says there, “you, who were once dead in your trespasses and [uncleanness], God made alive together with [Christ], having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he [God] set aside, nailing it to the cross” in the person of His own Son (Col. 2:13-14).

J.I. Packer wrote (in a wonderful book called In My Place Condemned He Stood), “Had we been among the watchers at Calvary, we should have seen nailed to the cross Pilate’s notice of Jesus’ alleged crime. But if by faith we look back to Calvary from where we now are (knowing the description of the Gospels and the explanation of the NT letters), what we see is the list of our own unpaid debts of obedience to God, for which Christ paid the penalty in our place.”

Friends, this is the heart of the good news of Christ. If Jesus died like every other human since Adam, then He may be all sorts of things, but He is no Savior. But if He died to suffer in the place of guilty sinners like you and me, then we may see here the long-awaited Christ, who is the Savior-King. We may look to Jesus as the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. We may see here how God Himself is both the just (since He did punish sin) and the justifier of those who turn to Christ in repentance and faith.

And this, then, leads me into the last point of my sermon today.

5. Jesus Changes Everything

Everything I’ve said up to now is true for everyone everywhere. It is not just my truth; it’s not just true for those who believe. It’s the real truth, the absolute truth, the truth that is true whether you believe it or not.

But all that I’ve said up to now ought to provoke a question in our minds (at least one). The main question we must ask upon hearing that Jesus is the long-awaited King / Messiah / Christ… upon hearing that Jesus’s death and resurrection are historical fact… upon hearing that Jesus was and is the Savior-King God sent into the world… the first time to save… and the Savior-King who will return to bring the completion of His perfect rule and reign over all the earth… The main question we must ask upon hearing all of this is: “What must I do to receive salvation or rescue or blessing from Christ?”

John says it right here in our passage, and he says it again near the end of his Gospel. In chapter 19, verse 35, John wrote, “He who saw it has borne witness – his testimony is true, and he knows that he is telling the truth – that you also may believe” (Jn. 19:35). Later, John wrote, “Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these [things] are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name” (Jn. 20:30-31).

Friends, because Jesus is the Christ, the Savior-King, His life and death and resurrection changed everything back then. No longer would God provide pictures and prophecies about the Savior to come; He came! The old covenant was rendered obsolete, and the New Covenant was ratified. The gospel of Jesus Christ was and is from that point on to be proclaimed… Jesus died for sinners, and everyone should repent and believe… everyone should turn away from their sin, stop giving themselves over to a life of disobedience and unbelief… and everyone should believe or trust or have faith in the One who has the power to forgive sin, the power to grant life, and the power to save sinners.

The Scripture puts it this way in Romans 2. “We know that the judgment of God rightly falls on those who practice [sin]. Do you suppose, O man… that you will escape the judgment of God? Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?” (Rom. 2:2-4).

This question is posed for those who think that just because they are better than someone else… or just because God has promised salvation to some… that they will most definitely enjoy God’s blessings of grace on the last day. But this is not so! Only those who turn from their sin and believe in Christ will receive God’s grace. All other sinners are assured of God’s judgment.

In fact, the Scripture continues on… “But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed” (Rom. 2:5). “On that day,” says the Bible, “God [will] judge the secrets of men by Christ Jesus” (Rom. 2:16).

Friends, on the last day and right this very moment, Jesus is the Savior-King for all who repent and believe. For them, the truths I’ve been proclaiming are a bittersweet draft, and they drink it in with both tremendous sorrow and unspeakable joy. We who know the forgiveness of Christ, we feel (all at once) the shame of our sin, the grief that our disobedience causes us and others around us, and the overwhelming sorrow that it was our sin that nailed Jesus to the cross.

But for those who remain in their sin, for those who hear this good news and continue on with business as usual, for those who learn that Jesus has died for sinners and risen again, but they go on unchanged… unchanged in their thinking (placing the highest value or priority on all the things that the unbelievers around them do), unchanged in their speaking (they talk only of worldly things – wealth, politics, social status, personal gain, and temporal progress – just like all the unbelievers around them), and they are unchanged in their doing (they act as though Christ has given no commands or warnings about the way we live)… For these, the present reality is that they remain under God’s condemnation. And when Christ returns on the last day, He will not give them salvation, but only judgment.

Christ is King of all, and for those who remain indifferent to Christ or in rebellion to Christ, this is terrible news… but for those who love and trust Him, this is glorious news.

If all that I’ve said about Jesus today is true, this changes everything.

It means that sinners can be forgiven… It means that there is a Savior we can trust… It means that death has been defeated… It means that Christ’s victory over sin and death can be shared by anyone who will turn from their sin… trust in Christ as Savior and Lord… and give themselves to following and obeying and loving Him forevermore.

If what I’ve said about Jesus today is true, then we should all confess ourselves utterly guilty… we should throw ourselves upon the mercy of God in Christ… we should trust that all in Christ are forgiven and welcomed into God’s family of complete blessing… and we should give the rest of our lives (however long or short they may be) to serving Christ… honoring Him, obeying Him, learning about Him, and following Him… and we should help others do the same.

Jesus changes everything… and if we believe what the Bible says about Him, then we will be changed too.

Endnotes

[i] It was also common in the ancient world for sons to be named with their father. For example, “John the son of Zechariah” (Lk. 3:2), the genealogy of Jesus Christ is full of “son of” distinctions (Lk. 3:23-38), and Jesus Himself was called “Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph” (Jn. 1:45).

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Aland, Kurt, Barbara Aland, Johannes Karavidopoulos, Carlo M. Martini, and Bruce M. Metzger, eds. Novum Testamentum Graece. 28th ed. Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, 2012.

New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. Logos Research Edition. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.

Sproul, R. C., ed. The Reformation Study Bible: English Standard Version (2015 Edition). Logos Research Edition. Orlando, FL: Reformation Trust, 2015.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. Logos Research Edition. Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016.

The Holy Bible: King James Version. Electronic Edition of the 1900 Authorized Version. Bellingham, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 2009.

The Holy Bible: New International Version. Logos Research Edition. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1984.

The NET Bible First Edition. Logos Research Edition. Biblical Studies Press, 2005.