John 19:16b-30 - The Death of the King

So I pray that you would work in our hearts through the power of your Holy Spirit, and the preaching of your Word, to change us all into the likeness of your Son, Jesus.

I ask this in his glorious name. Amen.

Intro

We’re getting close to the end of our series through the gospel of John.

And this week we’re looking at Jesus’ death in John 19:16b-30.

Jesus’ death is one of the most significant things that has ever happened in all of history.

I say it’s one of the most significant, because the other most significant things are Jesus’ birth and his resurrection.

It’s interesting to me how many of us go about our daily lives without giving a thought to the significance of Jesus’ death.

We go about our lives consumed with the desires or responsibilities of the moment, or reliving painful memories from our past, or planning for our future or our kids’ future.

And we don’t think about how Jesus’ death affects those things, or how his death can help us think about and make sense of those things.

We know Jesus died for us, but that reality stays in the back of our mind and rarely comes to the front except on Sunday mornings when we come to church.

Jesus’ death stays up in our minds as a nice thought, but in the reality of daily life, his death has no bearing on our actions.

Why do I says this?

How could I know that this is your tendency?

Because it’s my tendency, too.

It’s kind of like knowing that your windshield is there to protect you from the wind, and bugs, and the occasional rock.

But when one of those rocks bounces out of a truck bed in front of you, and you watch it hit the road and bounce up perfectly at eye-level.

Coming straight at your forehead.

The reality of that windshield is forgotten, and you flinch and your heart rate spikes, and you might even swerve a bit.

In that moment you reacted as if your windshield didn’t exist, as if it wasn’t protecting you.

But the reality is that it had been protecting you the whole time.

We can react to sin in our lives like that, too.

When we sin, when the reality of our sin is revealed to us by the Holy Spirit, we react as if Jesus hasn’t died, as if he isn’t protecting us from God’s wrath.

We beat ourselves up, or we try and hide it, or we try to make it right on our own.

We know that we are saved by faith alone apart from works.

We know that Jesus paid it all.

We know that nothing but Jesus’ blood could atone for our own sin.

But in that moment we don’t act like it.

And more often, we don’t act like it when we see others sin.

We hold it over them.

We want their repentance to meet our criteria, like they need to atone for their own sin.

We treat them like Jesus hasn’t died for their sin.

Because of our tendency to live as if we still need to atone for our own sin, God has shown us in John 19:16b-30 four aspects of how his Son Jesus did that for us.

He’s shown us the authority, faithfulness, love, and sufficiency of his Son while he was dying on the cross for you and for me.

And the first aspect of Jesus’ atonement for us is his authority which John describes in verses 16b-22.

John 19:16–18 ESV

So they took Jesus, and he went out, bearing his own cross, to the place called The Place of a Skull, which in Aramaic is called Golgotha. There they crucified him, and with him two others, one on either side, and Jesus between them.

John 19:19–20 ESV

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

John 19:21–22 ESV

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.’ ” Pilate answered, “What I have written I have written.”

Here, we see…

The Authority of Jesus on the Cross (16b-22)

Last week we saw how the religious leaders manipulated Pilate into sentencing Jesus to death even though he didn’t find any guilt in Jesus.

And at the end of that passage, it says that Pilate delivered Jesus over to them to be crucified.

Now, the religious leaders had no authority nor any means to crucify Jesus themselves.

That’s sort of why they went to Pilate in the first place.

So, when John says that Pilate delivered Jesus over to them to be crucified, he’s not saying that the religious leaders were the ones who physically nailed Jesus to the cross.

He’s saying that they were the ones held primarily responsible for Jesus’ crucifixion.

Even though it was the Roman soldiers’ hands that literally nailed Jesus to the cross, his blood was figuratively on the religious leaders’ hands.

So, here in verses 16-18 John brings up three things regarding Jesus being put on the cross, but he does so indicating how the religious leaders were responsible for it, though it was the Roman soldiers who actually performed the task.

The three things John mentions are Jesus carrying his own cross, Jesus being led to The Place of a Skull, and Jesus being crucified between two criminals.

All three of these are a fulfillment of prophecy or the reality of a foreshadow from the old testament.

Jesus bearing his own cross is the reality or significance of the foreshadow of Abraham sacrificing his son Isaac that we looked at last week in Genesis 22:6.

Isaac carried the wood for the sacrifice on his own back.

Jesus being led to The place of a Skull is the reality of the foreshadow of the sin offering in Leviticus 16:27.

And the author of Hebrews mentions this connection in Hebrews 13:11–12 “For the bodies of those animals whose blood is brought into the holy places by the high priest as a sacrifice for sin are burned outside the camp. So Jesus also suffered outside the gate in order to sanctify the people through his own blood.”

Jesus being crucified between two criminals is the fulfillment of a prophecy in Isaiah.

In chapter 53 verses 9 and 12 it says “And they made his grave with the wicked… and he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors.”

John left out some details that the other gospel writers included, but I don’t want to focus on what’s NOT in John’s account, I want to focus on what IS in John’s account.

Suffice to say that John was laser focused, and anything that he skipped over in this narrative was sufficiently conveyed in the other gospel accounts and simply didn’t add to John’s goal.

And his goal in writing this particular section was to show Jesus’ authority as the true king of Israel.

In verses 19-20 John tells us about the inscription Pilate had written and attached to Jesus’ cross which proclaims his authority as king for all to see.

This inscription is a little ironic because it specifically named the city Jesus was from, Nazareth.

Remember Nathanael’s reaction to hearing that Jesus was from Nazareth back in John 1:46 “Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?””

That was the predominant view of people from Nazareth, and Pilate has written that this guy from Nazareth is the king of the Jews.

Pilate is subtly saying that the only king the Jews are worthy of is a king from the slums.

And Pilate put it on a sign for everyone to read.

Jesus was crucified on a hill that had a lot of foot traffic, so many of the Jews would have walked passed and seen the sign.

Remember there were many more Jewish people in Jerusalem than normal because of the Passover.

And he wrote this sign in three different languages, Aramaic, Latin, and Greek.

The official Jewish language was Aramaic, the official Roman language was Latin, and the commonly spoken language was Greek.

Pilate wanted to make sure everyone saw and understood that Jesus of Nazareth is King of the Jews.

Then in verses 21 and 22 the religious leaders tried to get Pilate to change the inscription because they didn’t agree with the wording, but Pilate rejected their suggestion.

The sign seemed to state Jesus’ kingship over the Jews as a fact, but the religious leaders denied that Jesus was their king.

They wanted Pilate to change it, to soften it in their favor.

Instead of saying that Jesus IS the king of the Jews, they wanted it to say that he CLAIMED to be king of the Jews.

They want to distance themselves from Jesus as much as possible especially in light of Pilate’s last little jab at the Jews…

Apparently their king was from the worst town imaginable.

So they asked Pilate to change the sign, but he refused.

He had enough of these Jews and their manipulations and veiled threats.

So, he refused their request saying, “What I have written, I have written.”

But just like Caiaphas had spoken better than he knew in predicting Jesus’ death for the whole nation.

Also, Pilate had written better than he knew.

Pilate meant for this inscription to be a slight against the Jewish people who had a king from Nazareth of all places.

But his inscription was perfectly accurate in its statement that Jesus is the king of the Jews.

Jesus is the rightful ruler of the nation of Israel, the descendent of King David.

He has all authority because he is also king of creation.

So, the first aspect of Jesus’ atonement for us was his authority on the cross.

Next up, we’re going to see his faithfulness in verses 23 and 24.

John 19:23–24 ESV

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, 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,

Here we see…

The Faithfulness of Jesus on the Cross (23-24)

This section at first glance is simply depicting what the soldiers are doing with Jesus’ clothes.

They divided his garments into four parts, one for each soldier, then they cast lots to see who would get the valuable seamless tunic because they didn’t want to rip it up and devalue it.

But when John mentions that this was to fulfill Scripture, and then he directly quotes from Psalm 22, it draws our attention to Jesus’ faithfulness to fulfill the prophecies about his death.

We read Psalm 22 earlier in the service, so I won’t read it over again.

Interestingly, in Matthew 27:46 and Mark 15:34 Jesus is recorded from the cross saying “My God, my God why have you forsaken me.”

And what Jesus says there is actually the first line of Psalm 22, as if he’s drawing peoples’ minds to the entirety of that Psalm in that moment.

Because he’s fulfilling that entire Psalm in that moment.

And John does the same thing but from a slightly different angle.

He highlights another part of that Psalm because Matthew and Mark had already done so with the first line.

But he also highlights this particular part because it’s the part that applies the most to what Jesus was going through in that moment.

The part that John highlights is from verse 18 which says,

Psalm 22:18 “they divide my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots.”

It’s the exact same Psalm as Matthew and Mark recorded Jesus quoting the first line.

And John’s mention of this specific fulfillment of one verse is meant to function in a similar way.

Jesus fulfilled all of that Psalm in his death on the cross.

But I think John is directing our attention to the context of that verse.

Psalm 22:16–18 “For dogs encompass me; a company of evildoers encircles me; they have pierced my hands and feet— I can count all my bones— they stare and gloat over me; they divide my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots.”

Jesus was surrounded by evildoers, specifically the religious leaders but also the Roman soldiers.

They had pierced his hands and feet in the act of crucifying him, nailing his hands to either side of the cross beam and his feet to the upright beam.

His pain went throughout his entire body, and he could count every bone that ached while he hung on the cross.

All the people passing by and the evildoers who had pierced his hands and feet stared at him and gloated over him as they had been victorious.

And the part that John draws our attention to is that the soldiers divided up his garments and cast lots for his valuable tunic.

All of this happened exactly as God had prophesied through David in Psalm 22.

He was faithful to his word.

He said long ago through a Psalm of David that he would die in this way to save his people, and here he is faithfully fulfilling his promise.

Jesus was faithful to keep his promise on the cross, so we can be sure that he is faithful to fulfill all of his promises.

We can be sure that he will save us if we have faith, repentant faith in him.

We can be sure that he will come back for us.

We can be sure that he will wipe away every tear from our eyes.

We can be sure that we will live forever with him.

So, John has described two aspects of Jesus’ atonement so far, his authority on the cross and his faithfulness on the cross.

Next, we’re going to see Jesus’ love in verses 25-27.

John 19:25–27 ESV

but standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, “Woman, behold, your son!” Then he said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother!” And from that hour the disciple took her to his own home.

Here we see…

The Love of Jesus on the Cross (25-27)

Not everyone surrounding Jesus on the cross was against him.

Some of his followers ventured close, specifically John mentions four women and himself here.

None of the other gospel writers mentioned Jesus’ mother or what Jesus said here, but all of them mentioned a group of women and identified a few of those women.

Matthew 27:55–56 “There were also many women there, looking on from a distance, who had followed Jesus from Galilee, ministering to him, among whom were Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James and Joseph and the mother of the sons of Zebedee.”

Mark 15:40 “There were also women looking on from a distance, among whom were Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James the younger and of Joses, and Salome.”

Luke 23:49 “And all his acquaintances and the women who had followed him from Galilee stood at a distance watching these things.”

From our passage in John and these other accounts we can piece together that there were three different Mary’s there, (1)Jesus’ mother, (2)James and Joseph’s mother who was also the wife of Clopas, and (3)Mary Magdalene.

And the fourth woman John identifies as Jesus’ mother’s sister, Matthew identifies as the mother of the sons of Zebedee, and Mark names her Salome.

This is John’s mom, which means that John is Jesus’ cousin.

But Jesus only addressed his mother and John, his cousin, the disciple whom he loved.

First he addressed his mother saying, “Woman, behold your son,” indicating that he wanted her to view John as her son.

And then he addressed John saying, “Behold, your mother,” indicating that he wanted John to care for her as if she were his own mother.

It might seem strange to us that Jesus called his mom, “Woman.”

But he did that same thing at the wedding in Cana back in chapter 2.

In John 2:4 Jesus said to his mother, “Woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come.””

Jesus calling his mother, “Woman,” is actually not as rude as it seems in our culture.

In that culture this was a sign of respect, but it was still a term that distanced Jesus relationally from his mom.

Sort of the opposite of calling God, “Abba,” which could be translated, “Daddy.”

When Jesus called his mom, “Woman,” he was distancing himself from her in a very honoring way.

But the distance he put between them here was immediately replaced with a new relationship between Jesus’ mom and John, the disciple whom Jesus loved.

This almost sounds like a legal adoption.

But Jesus knew that from this moment on, his and his mom’s relationship would never be the same.

And she was very likely a widow at this point, and Jesus knew that she would need to be cared for in that society.

You see, Jesus’ brothers weren’t believers yet, and Jesus’ mom had been a believer from the moment the angel told her that she would bear the Son of God into the world.

Jesus knew that his mother would need to be cared for by another believer, one who had the capacity to care for his mom both physically and spiritually.

So, he put her in the care of John, her nephew, who could physically care for her with the proceeds of the family fishing business, and who could spiritually care for her as a true disciple of Christ.

And from that moment forward John cared for Jesus’ mom as a part of his own household.

This is the level of love and provision that Jesus has for all of us, not just his mom.

As he was dying on the cross he took thought to make sure his mom was cared for because he loves her.

Also, as he was dying on the cross he took thought of you, his true child of the faith, to make sure that you have everything you need to be saved from sin and death because he loves you.

He loves you so much that he laid down his life for you.

What does that love do in your heart?

When you hear about how much Jesus loves you, it ought to encourage you to love him all the more.

And we show our love for him by obeying him, by doing what he told us to do, by loving each other with his love.

So far John has described three aspects of Jesus’ atonement, his authority, faithfulness, and love all while he hung dying on the cross for our sins.

Finally, we’re going to see his sufficiency in verses 28-30.

John 19:28–30 ESV

After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said (to fulfill the Scripture), “I thirst.” 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. When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, “It is finished,” and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

Here we see…

The Sufficiency of Jesus on the Cross (28-30)

Jesus knew that he had accomplished everything that the Father had sent him to the earth to do.

All was now finished.

There was nothing else for Jesus to do prior to his death to fulfill the Scriptures.

The only thing left was to die.

And Jesus wanted to proclaim his victory for all to hear, but he was parched.

He needed a small drink so that he could announce the completion of his mission.

By this time he was probably very weak and in a ridiculous amount of pain and very thirsty in the hot sun next to the dry dusty road.

So he gathered what little strength he had left and barely managed to croak out the words, “I thirst.”

He had something important, something victorious and glorious to say, and he needed to be able to say it, so he asked for a drink.

And the people standing by wanted to hear what Jesus had to say.

Some may have wanted Jesus to further incriminate himself.

Some may have simply wanted clarification because they were confused about why a man from Nazareth was being crucified as the King of the Jews.

Some may have wanted Jesus to work a miracle with his voice like he had done the night before making all the soldiers and officers bow before him as he claimed his divine name, “I Am.”

Regardless of why they wanted to hear what Jesus had to say, they provided him with a bit of cheap wine from a sponge on the end of a hyssop branch.

So, once Jesus had wet his throat, he declared the most victorious statement in all of the Bible, “It is finished!”

I say this is the most victorious statement not because the statement itself is a victory, but because of what exactly this statement indicates as finished.

Jesus, declared, “It is finished!”

But what exactly had been finished?

In verse 28 John wrote, “Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said (to fulfill the Scripture), “I thirst.””

But this kind of gives the impression that Jesus saying, “I thirst” was somehow a fulfillment of prophecy.

Some other translations give a slightly clearer sense of what John was trying to convey.

The Christian Standard Bible renders this verse like this, “After this, when Jesus knew that everything was now finished that the Scripture might be fulfilled, he said, “I’m thirsty.””

Basically, when Jesus said, I thirst, it was because he knew that everything to fulfill the Scriptures had been accomplished, and he wanted to announce that.

So the thing that had been finished was everything Jesus came to fulfill from the Scriptures.

Now there were still some things that had yet to be fulfilled regarding his resurrection, and even his second coming.

But everything God had prophesied in the Scriptures about the life and death of the Christ had been accomplished.

Jesus had done it!

He was the Lamb of God, and through his perfect life and his sacrificial death he took away the sins of the world.

Atonement had been made.

God’s wrath had been appeased.

And nothing else was necessary for us to give or do to be reconciled to God.

That’s what Jesus’ statement means.

He is victorious over sin and death, and his victory is sufficient to save YOU from sin and death.

You don’t need anything more than what Jesus has done for you on the cross.

And as a sort of bookend of Jesus’ authority, after he declared the completion of the prophesied atonement, he gave up his spirit.

It wasn’t taken from him.

He gave it up willingly because he has authority to lay down his life, and he has authority to take it up again.

As he said back in chapter 10 verse 18.

Conclusion

So, after looking at the death of Christ in this passage, the Death of the King, how are you going to respond to his authority, his faithfulness, his love, and his sufficiency?

It’s my prayer that this reminder, at least for a little while, that it would help you to live in light of the reality of Jesus’ death rather than living like it’s just a story.

The reality of Jesus’ authority as King of the Jews, King of creation, King of your life… ought to compel you to submit to his rule and obey what he has told you to do.

As king of your life he hasn’t commanded the impossible, far from it, he’s commanded you to live the way you were created to live.

To love him and love each other no matter how others might mistreat you.

His commands are not burdensome, they are a relief.

So, submit to his rule, and stop trying to rule your own life.

Live in the reality of Jesus’ authority on the cross and submit to him.

The faithfulness of Jesus to do what he said he was going to do ought to compel you to have faith in Jesus.

Our faith is not blind or baseless, it’s based on Jesus’ faithfulness, his track record of keeping his promises.

We have faith in Jesus because he has proven himself as the Christ, the Son of God.

And we have faith in what he did because he has proven himself trustworthy.

He promised that we will be saved from sin and death if we confess that he is Lord and believe in our heart that God raised him from the dead.

So, step out in faith, do the hard work of telling others about Jesus, give abundantly and in faith knowing that Jesus has promised to provide everything you need.

Live in the reality of Jesus’ faithfulness on the cross, and step out in faith.

The love of Jesus in caring for his mother as a picture of how he loves and cares for you ought to compel you to love likewise.

Jesus said in John 15 that he is the vine and we are the branches, we can only truly love when we are relying on his love and loving with his love.

And Jesus’ love is not only the source of our love, it is also the motivation for our love.

1 John 4:19 “We love because he first loved us.”

So, boldly love each other as a response to Jesus’ love for you on the cross.

The sufficiency of Jesus in completing all that the Father had given him to do, completing all that God had prophesied in Scripture… ought to compel you to rest in his hope.

He’s done it!

He completed everything!

It’s finished!

You don’t have to add anything to what Jesus did.

You don’t have to be perfect because he was perfect for you.

You don’t have to pay for your sins because he paid it for you.

You don’t have to bear the shame of your sin because he bore it for you.

That means that when you sin, you can freely repent and move on.

There’s no such thing as Purgatory.

There’s no point in penance.

There’s no absolution in repetitive prayers.

There’s only forgiveness, free and full in Christ.

It is finished.

Now, if you haven’t put your faith in Jesus yet, then I beg you to do that right now.

He’s the king, the ruler of everything, and the ruler of your life, and it’s much better to live submitting to his authority than it is living in competition with his authority.

He’s faithful to do what he promised, so you can have confidence that putting your faith in him is not a blind leap of faith.

He loves you, and he wants you to love with his love.

And his sacrifice on the cross is sufficient to save you from sin and death, to reconcile you back to God.

You don’t need to do anything more.

Just have faith in him, repentant faith that desires to obey him because of his love, faithfulness, and authority in your life.

If you put your faith in him, then let him know in prayer.

He’s listening, so just tell him that you have faith in his Son Jesus, and ask him to help you to live in light of his work on the cross.

Live in light of the death of the king.

Pray

Father, thank you for the cross.

Thank you for loving us so much that you would send your Son to die for us, so that we could be forgiven and reconciled to you.

I pray that you would help us remember the reality of this significance and live in light of it.

Help us to deal with our desires and responsibilities in light of Jesus’ authority, and faithfulness, and love, and sufficiency.

Help us to remember our past pain and failures through the lens of Jesus death on our behalf, so that we can see him and his glory there.

Help us to look forward to our future and plan for our future in the hope that Jesus’ atonement brings.

Father, we don’t have to pay for our sins because Jesus already paid for them through his death on the cross.

That’s so amazing!

And, Lord, I pray that you would help us to extend this to those around us in sin as well.

If they have been forgiven by you through faith in your Son, then help us to interact with them in the same way.

And if they haven’t been forgiven because they don’t have faith in Jesus, then I pray that our response would be pity for their eternal state, and a desire to tell them the gospel so they could believe and be forgiven.

Father, help us to like in the reality of Jesus’ death every moment.

It’s in Jesus’ name we pray all this. Amen.

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