Strength in Suffering: The Path to Resurrection (John 19:1-16)

Strength in Suffering: The Path to Resurrection

Bible Passage: John 19:1–16

Summary: In John 19:1–16, we witness the immense suffering of Jesus as He is beaten and mocked before His crucifixion. Despite the agony He endures, there is a profound revelation of strength and purpose behind His suffering, showcasing how pain can lead to triumph.

Application: This sermon can help Christians understand that suffering is not in vain; rather, it is often a precursor to spiritual growth and resurrection in our lives. By embracing our own sufferings, we may discover strength we never knew we had and see God work through our trials.

Teaching: The central teaching here is that suffering can transform us and lead us closer to understanding God’s grace. Jesus’ suffering was purposeful and redirecting toward establishing His Kingdom, which can inspire believers to find meaning and strength in their own trials.

Big Idea: Our suffering is not without purpose; it equips and strengthens us for God's work, ultimately leading to our resurrection and new life.

1. Strength Amidst Suffering

John 19:1–5

Perhaps you can start by depicting the physical and emotional agony Jesus endured during His flogging and mocking. Despite the intense suffering, this part of the narrative reveals Jesus’ extraordinary strength and purpose; He is the Lamb of God who chooses not to resist His captors. This point can emphasize faith in God’s plan when we face personal suffering, knowing that there is a transformative strength that comes from enduring trials.

‎This Roman three-thonged scourge incorporated pieces of bone or metal into its thongs and could be lethal. Before they crucified Jesus, Roman soldiers beat him with a scourge like this one (Matt 27:24–26). Paul escaped a similar beating by asserting his rights as a Roman citizen (Acts 22:24–25). Jewish whips didn’t normally include bone or metal.

Those who understand God’s sovereignty have joy even in the midst of suffering, a joy reflected on their very faces, for they see that their suffering is not without purpose.

R. C. Sproul

Suffering dispels the illusion that we have the strength and competence to rule our own lives and save ourselves. People “become nothing through suffering” so that they can be filled with God and his grace.

Timothy Keller

Not only does Pilate call Jesus the King, but his soldiers also dress him up and present him as a king (19:1–5). Pilate mocks Jesus and the Jews. The soldiers who strike Jesus do so to taunt him, but they don’t understand that Jesus is a King unlike any king this world has ever seen. He’s a King who humbles himself to die so he might deliver those who hate him and rebel against him. The garments they place on him and the horrible crown they force him to wear reveal he is a humble King who rules through his suffering. The suffering of Jesus reveals the wickedness of our sin, our inability to please God, his grace in saving us, and the certainty of future acceptance. The horrible mistreatment of Jesus gives us confidence in God’s promises and reminds us Jesus is our ultimate treasure, for only his death could satisfy the debt of sin we owed. The suffering of Jesus that day so long ago reminds us of truths and realities we easily forget and overlook. Charles Spurgeon once said, I received some years ago orders from my Master to stand at the foot of the cross until he comes. He has not come yet, but I mean to stand there until He does. (Quoted in Mahaney, “The Pastor’s Priorities,” 133) We stand at the foot of the cross because the cross is the ground of our faith and the foundation of our hope.

2. Silent Authority Speaks Volumes

John 19:6–11

Jesus stands accused before Pilate. Despite the wrongful accusations and His seeming helplessness, Jesus’ quiet authority and resolve reflect His divine mission. His knowledge of His own purpose, sourced in the Father, provides an example to believers about discerning God’s purpose in times of struggle.

Pilate was exasperated after he first presented Jesus to the crowd and they still pushed for his crucifixion. He went back inside his palace and had a conversation with Jesus where he tried to once again get something that would allow him to release Jesus. Pilate pressed Jesus with “Where are you from?!” There seemed to be astonishment that a guy from Nazareth could stir up all this trouble. Jesus remained silent and so Pilate pressed him again leaning on his authority, “do you not know that I have authority to release you and authority to crucify you?” Pilate thought he was in control but his authority came from God and God could have easily removed that power from Pilate’s hands. When you compare the crucifixion accounts between the gospels you see moments like this in John compared to the other gospels. John really wants his readers to walk away knowing that Jesus had authority and power and went to the cross willingly for our redemption. 

The picture we get of Pilate is not particularly flattering. But the true human villains in this account are the Jewish leaders. They deliver Jesus to Pilate (18:35). They choose to pardon Barabbas (a thief, murderer, and thug) (v. 40). With that choice their flimsy shield of spirituality is torn away, and their wicked hearts are exposed. They incite the mob to chant at the top of their lungs, “Crucify!” (19:6). They appeal to God’s law as the reason for killing Jesus (v. 7). They threaten to bring questions about Pilate’s loyalty before Caesar (v. 12). Finally, they claim Caesar as their only king (v. 15).

What did Jesus do to cause them to respond with this level of hatred? Jesus challenged what they held most precious. Their system of religion was the most important part of their lives. They treasured more than anything the control they wielded over the nation—control through guilt and fear. Jesus came to offer freedom from guilt and fear. He taught that their religion wasn’t the answer, but the gospel—God’s free gift of grace—is what people need. Why do men and women need the gospel? Because the human heart is like a pigsty. It’s dirty and nasty, full of filth. It smells rotten. Mud and waste fill every corner. Religion looks at that pigsty and says, “I can fix it.” It gets some wood and builds a nice shed and places it right over the pigsty. It picks out beautiful colors to paint the shed, plants flowers around the outside, and places a hand-carved “Welcome” sign over the door. It looks great at a glance, but when you open the door, the stench of pigs wallowing in their own filth leaks out. Religion only succeeds in changing the appearance, not the heart. Jesus takes a wrecking ball to the shed the religious leaders have built. He exposes their hearts, filthy and defiled. The gospel doesn’t deal in cosmetics. It gets dirty. It takes a shovel to the heart’s pigsty and starts digging out the muck of sin. It isn’t pleasant at first because exposed sin is ugly, but the gospel expels sin and transforms the heart. We need our hearts changed. We don’t need our morals reformed or our behavior modified. If we attempt to change through religion, that is, through what we do—church attendance, charitable giving, disciplined living, strict moralism—we may succeed in putting a fresh coat of paint on our outsides, but inside our hearts will still be pigsties.

The filthy stench of their hearts is exposed in their statement claiming Caesar as their only king (19:15). They’re lying—outright, bald-faced lying. Earlier (ch. 8) they told Jesus they were enslaved to no one. They don’t view Caesar as their king. They don’t have a king! They’re more honest than they intend. They have no king because they’ve rejected the rule of God and the reign of his Son. Back in chapter 19, verse 7, they said their law was the basis for Jesus’s death, but they don’t have just any law: they have God’s law. What is God’s law about? It’s about the coming King. It’s about Jesus. The law they use to condemn Jesus to death is written about the coming of Jesus. They have the gospel—the life-transforming message is theirs—and they treat it like a code of conduct. “Do this.” “Don’t do that.” “Paint the outside this color.” “Plant these flowers.” They ignore the life-giving gospel and embrace dead religion. It’s their chants of “Crucify! Crucify!” that eventually convince Pilate to deliver Jesus to be crucified (vv. 16–18). This all takes place during the Passover Festival (v. 14). On the day they celebrate their salvation from the king of Egypt, they kill their own King.

I find great hope in Jesus’s final response to Pilate (19:9–11). All human authority is granted by God. Pilate has no authority over this event—the trial and crucifixion—unless God hands it to him. In this moment we see the superiority of Jesus’s kingdom. The King of the Jews is about to die, but his kingdom will not be shaken. In human kingdoms, if you take out the king, you create turmoil and the kingdom becomes vulnerable to attack. But Jesus’s kingdom is not in danger of being overthrown. He is sovereign over the proceedings. His death will not make his kingdom more vulnerable; it makes his kingdom victorious. His death instituted the spiritual effects of his kingdom. We are liberated from captivity to sin, death, and Satan, and we are citizens in his kingdom. But his kingly reign will someday take a grander form. Jesus will not just rule spiritually; he will bring everything into subjection to himself. He will return and establish a never-ending kingdom governed in perfect righteousness. His kingdom has come but only in part. There will be a day when the King returns and every knee will bow and every tongue confess he is Lord.

3. Purposeful Perseverance

John 19:12–16

Maybe conclude by highlighting Pilate’s internal conflict and ultimate surrender to the crowd’s will. Jesus, though the suffering servant, is unwavering and prepared to fulfill His mission. This section may suggest that true strength is perseverance in the face of opposition, focusing on Christ’s ultimate act of love and sacrifice as a model for facing our trials with courage and hope.

When we comprehend who Jesus is and commit ourselves to Jesus as King, our lives will change. We’ll see the world and our role in it differently. Our King has given us a mission, and we’ll die trying to accomplish it. We’ll live with a wartime mentality, using our time, energy, and resources to serve our King and carry out his orders. There’s a big difference between a peacetime and wartime mentality. It might be best illustrated by the ocean liner Queen Mary. The Queen Mary was built in 1937 to carry passengers between England and the United States. It was a gorgeous ship and featured the best amenities. It was in every sense a luxury liner. But when World War II started, there was little need for a luxury liner. The Queen Mary was retrofitted and used as a troop transport. Instead of first-class cabins and luxury staterooms, it now had barracks and a mess hall. Shuffleboard courts were replaced with antiaircraft guns. The luxury was stripped away because there was a war to be fought. Our King did not come in luxury, and he doesn’t call us to luxury. He calls us to carry out his mission. We go to the nations and tell them death is defeated, shame has surrendered, and Jesus is King.