An Intimate Portrayal

PASSAGE FOR THE DAY:

So the soldiers took charge of Jesus. 17 Carrying his own cross, he went out to the place of the Skull (which in Aramaic is called Golgotha). 18 There they crucified him, and with him two others—one on each side and Jesus in the middle.

19 Pilate had a notice prepared and fastened to the cross. It read: jesus of nazareth, the king of the jews. 20 Many of the Jews read this sign, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and the sign was written in Aramaic, Latin and Greek. 21 The chief priests of the Jews protested to Pilate, “Do not write ‘The King of the Jews,’ but that this man claimed to be king of the Jews.”

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

23 When the soldiers crucified Jesus, they took his clothes, dividing them into four shares, one for each of them, with the undergarment remaining. This garment was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom.

24 “Let’s not tear it,” they said to one another. “Let’s decide by lot who will get it.”

This happened that the scripture might be fulfilled that said,

“They divided my clothes among them
    and cast lots for my garment.”

So this is what the soldiers did.

25 Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother, his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. 26 When Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to her, “Woman, here is your son,” 27 and to the disciple, “Here is your mother.” From that time on, this disciple took her into his home.

28 Later, knowing that everything had now been finished, and so that Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, “I am thirsty.” 29 A jar of wine vinegar was there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put the sponge on a stalk of the hyssop plant, and lifted it to Jesus’ lips. 30 When he had received the drink, Jesus said, “It is finished.” With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

31 Now it was the day of Preparation, and the next day was to be a special Sabbath. Because the Jewish leaders did not want the bodies left on the crosses during the Sabbath, they asked Pilate to have the legs broken and the bodies taken down. 32 The soldiers therefore came and broke the legs of the first man who had been crucified with Jesus, and then those of the other. 33 But when they came to Jesus and found that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. 34 Instead, one of the soldiers pierced Jesus’ side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water. 35 The man who saw it has given testimony, and his testimony is true. He knows that he tells the truth, and he testifies so that you also may believe. 36 These things happened so that the scripture would be fulfilled: “Not one of his bones will be broken,” 37 and, as another scripture says, “They will look on the one they have pierced.”

38 Later, Joseph of Arimathea asked Pilate for the body of Jesus. Now Joseph was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly because he feared the Jewish leaders. With Pilate’s permission, he came and took the body away. 39 He was accompanied by Nicodemus, the man who earlier had visited Jesus at night. Nicodemus brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds. 40 Taking Jesus’ body, the two of them wrapped it, with the spices, in strips of linen. This was in accordance with Jewish burial customs. 41 At the place where Jesus was crucified, there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb, in which no one had ever been laid. 42 Because it was the Jewish day of Preparation and since the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there. (John 19:16b-42, NIV)

REFLECTIONS:

John crafts the narrative of Jesus’ death and burial in a way that is quite different from the other three Gospels.  John wrote this well after the fact, a man reflecting on who Jesus was.  Remember, John started his Gospel declaring Jesus was the Word made flesh; he now ties in various Scriptures that are fulfilled with Christ’s crucifixion.  There is the fulfillment of lots being cast for His clothes, the fulfillment of vinegar on hyssop, and the fulfillment of no broken bones only a pierced side.  John uses the written Word (Scripture) to prove the living Word (Jesus).

The Gospel of John is a stand-alone Gospel.  The other three Gospels are known as the Synoptic Gospels, meaning that they derive from each other (Matthew and Luke have Mark as their basis); John is the only one that claims eye-witness status.  So, John has an exceptionally unique approach and it is seen within this passage.  (Click here if you'd you’d like to see the gospels in comparative form.)

Two areas where John provides a different perspective than the other Gospels are found in his more historically accurate portrayal of the day of Christ’s crucifixion and in his intimate account of the crucifixion.

According to John, it was the day of Preparation (verses 31, 42) when Jesus died.  While the other Gospels record this day as well when speaking of Jesus’ burial, prior (at the Last Supper) they mention it being the first day of Unleavened Bread (which occurs after the Day of Preparation).  Now, I do not mention this to cause distress or to bring into question the other Gospels.  It is simply one of those details that becomes more important when one is writing, as John was, with a goal of proving who Christ was.  John is all about proving Jesus’ divinity and, in this passage, His role as the Passover Lamb. 

On the 14th day of Nisan (the first month of the Biblical Jewish new year), the Passover lambs were sacrificed; commemorating the release from exile in Egypt.  This was the Day of Preparation and the sacrifices would occur between noon and sometime before the sun’s setting.  Jesus’ death also occurred during these hours.  To echo John, this was to fulfill the Scripture, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!”

So, while John notes the specific day of Christ’s crucifixion, it seems his attention to detail has deeper roots.  And it is in looking carefully, we discover that he is not merely playing a detached historian or reporter; he is weaving together the final hours of his dearest friend.  John describes the scene more intimately than the other Gospels—he inserts himself at the foot of the cross, listening to Jesus until the very end.  This was a man who hadn’t bolted.  He was there, with the women, watching his beloved teacher and friend die.  Gone from John’s Gospel are the dramatic scenes of the temple curtain ripping in two, the thunder, the shouts of the mockers, and the cry of “My God, my God why have You forsaken me?”  Instead we are given a more subdued account.  Jesus interacts with John at the cross.  This is the account given by a man so enraptured with Christ that none of the loud, violent declarations around him could capture his attention.  All he knows is Jesus.  All he hears is Jesus.  Only John hears Jesus say He thirsts.  Only John records the piercing of Jesus’ side.  Drama is happening all around him but his only focus is Jesus.  These are the signs of intimacy.  These are the clues into the relationship John had with Jesus.

When my best friend killed herself in high school, for years afterwards all I could remember were the little things.  The last places we talked, the last plans we made, the last time we laughed.  Gone were the memories of going to hear President Reagan speak, or the score of our school’s basketball game, or anything bigger that was transpiring in the world (globally and locally) around the time of her death.  All that mattered were the intimate moments we shared; the rest was simply noise.

This is how I imagine it was for John.  And as he tells his story of Jesus’ death, he invites us into the same intimacy he and Jesus shared.  We are brought to the foot of the cross; brought face-to-face with the greatest friend we will ever know.  Larger-than-life dramatic scenes are drowned out because His love is quietly thundering in our hearts as His gaze rests on us.  The powerful truth of who He is:  the Lamb of God, sacrifice for our sins; the Living Word of God, even as He is dying, enlightens our minds as we realize He is the fulfillment of every prophecy and every promise given to us by God.

PRAYER:

Jesus, thank You for being willing to endure incredible torture and death for us.  Thank You for looking at me when You were on the cross, for choosing me.  Thank You for being the final and complete sacrifice for my sins.  My heart aches to think of what You went through and yet I am flooded with the deepest gratitude that You, Most High God, would choose to bear our suffering.  I love You.

WHO AM I?

I am Beth Peeples and as I was reading this passage, my mind and heart kept moving back to when I was so very privileged to visit Israel, and Jerusalem.  This picture is of one of the corners of the Via Dolorosa.  It is commonly known as the place where Jesus fell as He carried the cross, and a man named Simon of Cyrene was chosen to bear that cross the rest of the way to Golgotha.  I cannot fathom what impact it must have had on his life:  chosen to bear the cross of the Christ.  And yet, isn’t that, in part, what we are also chosen to do…