John 19:17-42 Sermon
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
Gameplan
See the cross from the enemy’s viewpoint
See it from Jesus’ perspective
Look at it from that new perspective
The Cross
The Cross
16 So he delivered him over to them to be crucified. 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.
Jesus is hung on the cross
After being beaten Jesus would have to carry a beam of the cross to Golgotha
Nails would be driven into his wrists between the bones where all of his weight would hang
He would have a little seat to help him breathe - would prolong torture for days
We think high and lifted up but it was something more like this
The pain of the cross goes beyond and the physical.
People weren’t indifferent to the cross. It wasn’t just any kind of death. It was completely and utterly offensive and obscene. It’s a death that brings shame, and in a way that has no good modern parallel.
We can think of people who fell from grace:
Bill Cosby
Lance Armstrong
But it’s not just the shame of being publically ridiculed and being called a liar or hypocrite. It’s the shame of being completely crushed and destroyed. Of being at the complete mercy of the other and being unable to change anything about it.
Maybe we could compare it to the shame Jews in Nazi Germany might have felt as they walked around with the star of David, and eventually numbers on their arms.
Think of the shame you would feel after being accused of some embarrassing or scandalous crime and having the media drag your name through the mud just because they could.
The cross was a humiliation that we are unlikely to ever experience. It’s a humiliation that tries to make you something less than a person.
Complete Defeat
Complete Defeat
That was why Rome loved crucifying its enemies so much - especially it’s political opponents.
It was a way for Rome to tell everyone else in Israel “This is what happens when you call yourself a king and compete with Caesar. This is what happens when you try to start your own kingdom. You lose in the worst possible way.”
All of this made Jesus an offense to the Jews and foolishness to the Greeks:
23 but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles,
A dead Messiah was no Messiah at all to the Jews. And to the Greeks? What kind of God gets himself killed by his own creation?
To see someone on the cross was to see someone:
Pathetic
Weak
Helpless
King
King
But above him reads a sign
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.
“Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews”
Written in three languages
Everyone would see this insult to the Jewish people
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.”
The Jews can’t escape this reality
This is your king, whether you like it or not
It is ‘written’ and nothing will change it - much like scripture
Christ’s glory, God’s glory, looks like this
This is the king seated on his throne
John doesn’t want us to miss the point
He starts quoting scripture much more often
He wants us to see that Jesus is the completion of a work that God began long ago
Fulfillment
Fulfillment
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,
There are four Roman soldiers
They get to take the dead men’s clothing
They divide four items up but cast lots for the fifth - a cloak
What looks like a pragmatic decision ends up being something seen by God long ago
Fulfillment of Psalm 22
We’re familiar with Psalm 22:1, John is pointing us to Psalm 22:18
We could have been pointed in any number spots in Psalm 22
David and Jesus Were Mocked
David and Jesus Were Mocked
6 But I am a worm and not a man, scorned by mankind and despised by the people. 7 All who see me mock me; they make mouths at me; they wag their heads; 8 “He trusts in the Lord; let him deliver him; let him rescue him, for he delights in him!”
Thew Chief Priests were mocking him, “He could save others, why not himself?”
Excessive Thirst
Excessive Thirst
15 my strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to my jaws; you lay me in the dust of death.
We’ll see this in John 19:28
Pierced Hands and Feet
Pierced Hands and Feet
16 For dogs encompass me; a company of evildoers encircles me; they have pierced my hands and feet—
The normal means of crucifixion
Divided Garments
Divided Garments
18 they divide my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots.
The passage John brings to our attention right now
Symbolism of the Garment
Symbolism of the Garment
Some have seen symbolism in the garment itself, not just that it was taken away
High priest wore a seamless cloak
Divided cloaks represented divided kingdoms
Saul tore Samuels cloak - the kingdom is torn away and given to another
Jeroboam’s cloak was torn and given 10 pieces back
I Thirst
I Thirst
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.
More than fulfilling scripture
These three words are all the same - he finished scripture
Some suspect Psalm 69:21, which might be the case
I think it’s possible that he finished scripture - completed all that God had had promised
“It is finished” and he dies
I thirst
He finishes scripture more than fulfills it
Maybe Psalm 69:21?
He has completed everything that God has been working on since the beginning
Jesus says it is finished
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, 4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love 5 he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will,
God has been working on a rescue plan for since before time began
We were loved before we were born
We were loved while we were captured by sin
We were loved on the cross
We were loved and brought into the household of God
It started before the foundations of the world. It was finished with Jesus’ dying breath.
What It Means
What It Means
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.
Again, we have a series of events that would seem completely normal to the Romans, but follow the pattern of God
They want to break their legs so they would die sooner
It was wrong to let a criminal hang overnight - especially on the Passover feast
But they come to Jesus and he’s already dead - legs aren’t broken
36 For these things took place that the Scripture might be fulfilled: “Not one of his bones will be broken.”
Think about the picture of Jesus John has been putting together for us
29 The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!
This is what John wants us to see Jesus as - the Passover lamb
He is slaughtered on the day the lambs were
They could not break a bone of the lamb and none of his were
As our Passover lamb, we’ve been rescued
As the Jews were celebrating their national freedom from Egypt, while enslaved to Rome, Jesus was fighting a bigger battle
Since the moment sin took us captive God has been preparing for our freedom
Instead of breaking his legs, they pierce his side
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.
Water has been a symbol in John’s gospel
We’re to be born of water and Spirit
Jesus offers living water to the Samaritan woman
37 On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. 38 Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’ ” 39 Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.
Out of Jesus heart flow living water
His death enables us to receive the Holy Spirit
Through his death we have eternal life as we are recreated by the Spirit into something good
This is yet another fulfillment of scripture
37 And again another Scripture says, “They will look on him whom they have pierced.”
10 “And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and pleas for mercy, so that, when they look on me, on him whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for an only child, and weep bitterly over him, as one weeps over a firstborn.
The people have pierced God himself
But he doesn’t rebuke or destroy
He gives a spirit of belief - they realize who they’ve pierced and cry out for mercy
The events of that continue into Zechariah 13
1 “On that day there shall be a fountain opened for the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, to cleanse them from sin and uncleanness.
Summary
Summary
To the Romans, Jesus on the cross was a loser.
To the Jews, a scandal.
But Jesus saw it as his throne.
Now we look on it as our life.
Conclusion
Conclusion
This is the picture of everything Jesus has taught us about love
1 Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.
What will you do for the one who did everything for you?
