Good Friday

John 19:1–3 ESV

Then Pilate took Jesus and flogged him. And the soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head and arrayed him in a purple robe. They came up to him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” and struck him with their hands.

If this was a seince in the movie, it would be R-Rated for volience. What we see happening here is beyond belief. With the simple phrase, Then Pilate took Jesus and flogged him. A series of terrifing and horrific events were put in motion.

Pilate would have handed Jesus over to the Lictor. This person was a master of inflicting pain and suffering.

General Klap in a James Bond book.

It was said that Rosa Klebb would let no torturing take place without her. There was a blood-spattered smock in her office, and a low camp-stool, and they said that when she was seen scurrying through the basement passages dressed in the smock and with the stool in her hand, the word would go round, and even the workers in SMERSH would hush their words and bend low over their papers – perhaps even cross their fingers in their pockets – until she was reported back in her room

Just like Gerenal Klap, the lictors, enjoyed their work. They had made the suffering of other an art form.

the flogging

the pause

the humiliation

John 19:1–17 ESV

Then Pilate took Jesus and flogged him. And the soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head and arrayed him in a purple robe. They came up to him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” and struck him with their hands. Pilate went out again and said to them, “See, I am bringing him out to you that you may know that I find no guilt in him.” So Jesus came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. Pilate said to them, “Behold the man!” When the chief priests and the officers saw him, they cried out, “Crucify him, crucify him!” Pilate said to them, “Take him yourselves and crucify him, for I find no guilt in him.” The Jews answered him, “We have a law, and according to that law he ought to die because he has made himself the Son of God.” When Pilate heard this statement, he was even more afraid. He entered his headquarters again and said to Jesus, “Where are you from?” But Jesus gave him no answer. So Pilate said to him, “You will not speak to me? Do you not know that I have authority to release you and authority to crucify you?” Jesus answered him, “You would have no authority over me at all unless it had been given you from above. Therefore he who delivered me over to you has the greater sin.” From then on Pilate sought to release him, but the Jews cried out, “If you release this man, you are not Caesar’s friend. Everyone who makes himself a king opposes Caesar.” So when Pilate heard these words, he brought Jesus out and sat down on the judgment seat at a place called The Stone Pavement, and in Aramaic Gabbatha. Now it was the day of Preparation of the Passover. It was about the sixth hour. He said to the Jews, “Behold your King!” They cried out, “Away with him, away with him, crucify him!” Pilate said to them, “Shall I crucify your King?” The chief priests answered, “We have no king but Caesar.” So he delivered him over to them to be crucified. 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.

Some believe Pilate hoped the flogging would satisfy the blood lust the Jewish leaders. Seeing Jesus broken, bleeding, near death, would appeal to their humanity. But no. They were more determined then ever to see him dead.

Life Application Bible Commentary, John Pilate Hands Jesus Over to Be Crucified / 18:38–19:16 / 232

But the bloodthirsty chief priests and officials responded: “Crucify him! Crucify him!” NRSV That they demanded crucifixion reveals their intense hatred of Jesus. Crucifixion was a shameful death reserved for criminals, slaves, and rebels. Jesus was none of these, and Pilate knew it. But the Jewish enemies of Christ wanted not only to kill him but also to discredit and humiliate him thoroughly.

When Pilate heard this, he was even more afraid. NIV Pilate’s fear may have had its origin in a combination of three factors:

1. Romans were inclined to believe in human deities; so Pilate may have sensed that the man in his presence was a god.

2. According to , Pilate’s wife may have influenced his thoughts about Jesus, for she had had a troublesome dream, and had sent word to Pilate: “Have nothing to do with that just Man, for I have suffered many things today in a dream because of Him” (NKJV).

3. Pilate may well have been concerned that a riot was about to break out among the Jews. Hatred for Romans and the extremely crowded conditions in Jerusalem created a powder keg of unrest that needed only a good spark to become explosive.

Barton, Bruce B. John. Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House, 1993. Print. Life Application Bible Commentary.

Barton, Bruce B. John. Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House, 1993. Print. Life Application Bible Commentary.

Mark 15:20–21 ESV

And when they had mocked him, they stripped him of the purple cloak and put his own clothes on him. And they led him out to crucify him. And they compelled a passerby, Simon of Cyrene, who was coming in from the country, the father of Alexander and Rufus, to carry his cross.

New Testament II: Mark Why Simon Was Compelled to Carry the Cross

They gave the cross, then, to Simon of the city of Cyrene, who had also two sons by the name of Alexander and Rufus.2 They did this not because they pitied Jesus, and wished to lighten his load, but be-cause they ever more eagerly wanted to put him to death speedily. THE GOSPEL OF NICODEMUS 10.1.3

Song must Jesus bear the cross alone

Must Jesus bear this cross alone And all this world go free? There's the cross for everyone And the the cross for me