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v.2
The Roman soldiers mocked Jesus,
who claimed to be the King of the Jews, by plaiting a crown of thorns for Him and dressing him in an old purple robe. Thorns are the result
of man's sin (GEN 3:18). Therefore,
it is appropriate that Jesus wore this painful and shameful crown of thorns because He came to bear our sins. Purple is the colour of the Roman emperors. Jesus willingly wore this robe of
contempt and shame so that we may have His "robe of righteousness" (ISA 61:10).
v.3 Romans greeted the Emperor with the address
"Ave Imperator" (ie. Hail Emperor). Few things are more difficult to bear than ridicule, especially when
it is undeserved and when it is received from contemptible men. Roman soldiers hated the arrogant, stubborn and
troublesome Jews but had little opportunity to vent their anger on them. But here they are given by their governor,
not only the opportunity, but also the commandment to smite
Jesus. Therefore, they vented their pent-up anger on the One who called Himself the King of the Jews. It is usual
for each person in a mob to try to outdo his predecessor to prove that he is braver and stronger. Therefore, each
subsequent Roman soldier probably smote Jesus with greater and greater violence. A band (JOH 18:12) of soldiers tortured Jesus, ie, over five hundred soldiers. Jesus'
appearance after His beating by this violent, angry mob of Roman soldiers is clearly described by Isaiah (ISA 52:14).
This gives us a glimpse of Christ suffering the emotions of cruel mocking by the Gentiles
upon His rejection by His own chosen people.
v.4 When Pilate was satisfied that Jesus looked so pitiful that even His
most hardened enemies would feel pity for Him, he brought Jesus forth to present Him to them. For the third time
Pilate declares that he finds no fault in Jesus (see also JOH 18:38, 19:6). Indeed, Jesus was the
spotless Passover Lamb of God (EXO 12:15).
v.5 Pilate challenges the Jews to behold the pitiful Jesus. He
is confident that they will feel sorry for Him.
v.6 Pilate underestimated
the envy, hatred and hard-heartedness of the chief priests and the Jewish officers. [2]
v.7 The Jews realised that Pilate disbelieved their accusation that Jesus
was a rebel who intended to overthrow the Romans. Therefore, they accuse Jesus that "he made
himself the
Son of God." The sin of blasphemy is punishable by death (LEV 24:16). Therefore, they tell Pilate that Jesus ought to die. [3] To the Jews, the expression
"the Son of God" meant a claim of being God (see JOH 5:18, 10:33). Jesus' miracles were clear proof of His claim that He was God.
v.9 [4] Pilate brings Jesus again
into the privacy of the judgement hall to find out if He is indeed the "Son of God." Jesus had thus
far patiently answered Pilate's questions and told him that He was indeed the King of the Jews, though His kingdom
was not of this world (JOH 18:36).
However, Pilate had unjustly punished him though he was convinced that Jesus was innocent. Now Pilate's time of
grace had passed, therefore Jesus gave him no answer. Each of us has a time of grace, during which we must receive God's mercy. Once our time of grace is over
it is too late (PRO 1:24, 28).
We must all be extremely careful when we reject God's mercy because we do not know when His time of grace for us
ends.
v.10 He feared the Jewish mob but speaks arrogantly to
Jesus, the One who raised the dead and the One whom he suspected might be God. Men usually think they have more
power than they actually do, and fear men rather than God. The word '"power" can also
mean "authority" or "commission."
v.11 Jesus, who will not answer Pilate's questions, mercifully warns
him to stop his arrogant talk. He tells Pilate an important truth, namely, that we all have no power at all, except if were given from God, ie, ultimately all power is from God. Pilate, a pagan, was less
aware of this great truth than the Jews were. Therefore, the Jews who delivered Jesus into Pilate's hands were
guilty of the greater sin because they foolishly thought that
they had the power to silence the One whom they knew to be God![5]
v.14 [6] It was the day of preparing
for the Passover Sabbath. Pilate makes one last attempt
to appeal to their sense of pity and pleads with them to behold
Jesus' pitiable condition. He calls Jesus "your King" hoping that they would be ashamed that they had accused such
a meek and pitiable one as a rebel attempting to overthrow Caesar.
v.15 The Jewish crowd is instigated by the chief priests to demand Jesus'
crucifixion. Pilate, knowing how much the Jews hated the Romans, asks whether they would want him, a Roman, to
crucify, their King, a Jew? Very seldom have a people rejected their own king for a foreign ruler. The Jews used
to say 'The Lord God is our King," (PSA 89:18), and "We be Abraham's seed. And were never in bondage to any man " (JOH 8:33). Now they claim that they have no king but Caesar, thus fulfilling
Jacob's ancient prophecy (GEN 49:10). They also fulfilled Isaiah's prophecy (ISA
47:7).
The Crucifixion
v.16 No one protested
Jesus' deliverance
to be
crucified. Of the thousands who had benefited from his miraculous
healings, not one raised his voice to protest Jesus' unjust treatment. The crowd had a reverential fear of the
chief priests, but more so they, like us, had a fearful and ungrateful heart. It is difficult to imagine that the
Jews who had witnessed and benefited from Jesus' ministry could cry out "Crucify him." Years of compromise
with fear, ingratitude, seeking man's praise, worldly pleasures and honours produced this unbelievable spiritual
condition. Many Christians who have experienced Jesus' goodness just as readily deny Him for "a piece of bread."
v.l7 It was common Roman practice for the one who was to be crucified to
carry his own cross. When the victim bore his cross to the crucifixion site, he suffered shame and humiliation
as he staggered past the people. We too should be willing to bear our "'cross" of shame and suffering
for the Lord. Instead Christians wear beautiful golden crosses as ornaments! [7]
v.18 Roman crucifixion was reserved for the vilest criminals. It is the most cruel
form of physical punishment ever invented. Possibly, only the damned in hell suffer more physical pain. Though
it causes the greatest pain, it causes little damage to the vital organs.
Therefore, the victim suffers great pain for a prolonged period (sometimes up to three days before expiring). The
other forms of capital punishment invented by men cause much less pain and much swifter death, eg. hanging, beheading,
shooting, electric-chair. The cross or simple beam on which the victim was crucified was placed on the ground.
The cross is placed on the ground, and the victim is made to lie on it. If a cross is used, the victim's arms are
stretched across the cross-beam of the cross. If a simple beam is used, then the victim's arms are outstretched
above his head. Large nails are hammered into the wrists, between the two bones of the forearm (ie, the radius
and ulnar bones). The nail pierces through a large nerve (ie, the median nerve) which is situated between these
two bones. This causes an unimaginably excruciating pain that shoots up, like a huge electric impulse, from the
wrist to the brain. It is similar to the pain that is experienced when a dentist accidentally drills into a nerve,
but is very much more severe because the median nerve is very much larger than dental nerves. The feet of the victim
are placed one on top of the other and a nail is hammered between the bones of the feet (ie, the metatarsal bones).
When the victim is securely nailed to the cross, the cross is lifted up vertically. The lower end of the cross
fits into a hole that is specially prepared for it. As the full weight of the victim hangs upon the nails, the
pierced nerves are stretched and produces a sharp shooting pain. If the victim remains totally motionless for a
while, the sharp pain becomes a duller severe aching pain. However, because of the awkward outstretched position
of the victim's arms, breathing becomes very difficult. This is the reason why the Lord's sayings on the cross
consisted of very short sentences. When the victim felt suffocated from lack of oxygen, he extended his legs to
relieve the tension on his arms and his chest. This shifting caused movements that produced severe sharp nerve
pains at both the wrists and the feet. After standing in this position for a while, the victim developed cramps
in his calf-muscles. He then had to take the weight off his legs by hanging by his arms. However, the tension on
his arms and chest produced suffocation again and he had to extend his legs again. This recurring cycle of agony
of cramps and suffocation, plus the sharp pains caused by movements are described as the endless '"waves and
billows" of sufferings (PSA 42:7).
The weight of the body upon the joints caused multiple dislocations of the joints, eg. the vertebral bones, shoulder
(PSA 22:14). Joint dislocations
are extremely painful. The victim's agony and physical struggles cause profuse sweating (PSA 22:14). Furthermore, much moisture is lost through the mucous membranes
of the mouth as the victim gasps for air. This heavy fluid loss, plus the blood loss from His whip wounds, caused
Jesus' volume of blood to fall to a critically low level. Because of this low blood volume, there was insufficient
blood to supply oxygen to His heart muscles, thus producing an heart-attack. The sharp "hot" pain of
Jesus' heart-attack is described by the Psalmist -"my heart is like (melted hot) wax: it is melted in the
midst of my bowels" (PSA 22:14). The loss of fluid was so severe that He stopped sweating and "dried up like a potsherd" and
His "tongue cleaveth to His jaws" (PSA 22:15). Though death does
not usually come quickly in crucifixion, Jesus died in six hours because He had also suffered other severe injuries
before He was crucified. More importantly, after He had finished His mission of suffering
for our sins, He "gave up the ghost" (JOH 19:30). [8]
Yet, in spite of all these extreme physical and emotion suffering Jesus underwent in our behalf, the Gospels did
not record a single instance that Jesus cried out in pain because of the physical torment. The one time Christ cried out in anguish while He hung on that cross
was with the words, “My God, My God Why Hast Thou Forsaken Me?” (MAT 27:46,
cf. HAB 1:13; 2CO 5:21;
GAL 3:13) This reveals that as torturous as the physical afflictions were on the cross, it was the separation
of God the Son from God the Father in that moment when He carried the sins of the world upon Himself that caused
Him the greatest grief and pain. In that moment, Jesus suffered the ultimate torment and pain of hell
because of our sin in our behalf.
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Footnotes
[1]
Jesus received a far more severe scourging than other victims because Pilate wanted him to look so pitiful that
the Jews would feel that He had suffered enough and therefore request Pilate to release Him. Pilate unknowingly
fulfilled Isaiah's prophecy (ISA 53:5). The scourging was most likely done
in the Praetorium (ie, common hall) which was a kind of guardroom where Roman soldiers waited in readiness to perform
the governor's commandments.
[2]
The word "cried out
means "loud shout." Pilate realises that his plan to move them to pity failed, and in frustration he
tells them to crucify Jesus themselves. He himself would
not crucify Jesus because he found no fault in
him.
[3]
The Jewish leaders appear so keen to obey God's law by demanding Jesus' death, and yet freely disobey His law to
love, to be honest, to judge righteously, etc. Men freely use God's laws to further their own objectives.
[4] v.8
Pilate was also afraid because he had heard of Jesus' miracles (especially of the recent resurrection of Lazarus),
and had been warned by his wife (MAT 27:19).
Furthermore, like most Romans (and Greeks) he believed that gods often came down to earth in human form.
[5]
Furthermore, the Jews were guilty of the greater sin because they knew of the Messiah's coming and His distinguishing
marks: they, unlike Pilate, had personally seen Jesus' miracles, and heard His teachings; and they committed this
sin maliciously unlike Pilate who committed it out of fear. Those who commit sin against their own knowledge are
more guilty than those who commit sin ignorantly. Therefore, the greatest sins are often committed by those in
Christian families and churches. This verse teaches us that though God hates all sin, there are different degrees
of sin.
[6] v.12 Pilate is fearful and from this point more actively sought
to release
Jesus by persuading the Jews to agree to release Him. The Jews sensed that Pilate desired to release Jesus, with
or without their assent, so they warn him that they would report to Caesar that he had released one who wanted
to usurp Caesar's throne. Pilate was frightened of Emperor Tiberias Caesar, who was a very cruel and suspicious
man. Furthermore, there were many malpractices in Pilate's administration which could be exposed by the Jews.
v.13 This threat scared Pilate, and he finally sits down in the judgement
seat. In Greek the place where the judgement seat was
called "the Pavement"
which means "the marble." In the Roman provinces justice was administered in the open air, and the judge's
chair was usually placed on an area paved with marble. In Hebrew, this place was called "Gabbatha"
which means "raised place" because the judge's seat was placed on a raised place. This is the fifth time
that Pilate has come forth to try to persuade the Jews. If he had done right from the beginning, he would not have
got himself into this mess. In difficult situations, "playing politics" usually appears the best way
out of the difficulty but in the long run it leads to greater and
greater difficulties. On the other hand, doing what is right usually appears the most difficult way but in the
long run it is the easiest way.
[7]
John tells us that Jesus bore his
cross, but the other three Gospels record that Simon of
Cyrene bore the cross. There is no contradiction. Jesus was first made to carry His cross but because of His severe
scourging He was unable to do so (MAT 27:32). The scourging caused long
furrows upon Jesus' back (PSA 129:3) thus cutting His back muscles (ie,
latissimus dorsi) muscle - which held His shoulder-blade to His spinal column. Therefore, He was unable to carry
anything on His shoulder. The place where Jesus was crucified was called "the
place of
a skull”
possibly because there was a rock there that resembled a skull. The Hebrew word for "skull"
is "Golgotha."' In Latin the word for "skull"
is "calvaria." Therefore, the place where Jesus was crucified was also called "Calvary" (LUK 23:33).
The exact location of the place is uncertain, and there are several places outside present-day Jerusalem which
are claimed to be the crucifixion site. Though the exact site is unknown, the Bible gives us some information regarding
it. Firstly, it was outside the city of Jerusalem (HEB 13:12). Jesus had
to be crucified outside the city because He was the perfect sin-offering (LEV
16:27). We too should be willing to suffer "without the camp bearing his reproach" (HEB
12:13), ie, as those who are rejected by society as foolish and worthless. Secondly, it was "nigh to the
city" (v.20). Thirdly, it was by a highway (MAT 27:39). The idea that
Jesus was crucified on a hill or mount is not found in the Bible at all.
[8]
Jesus' cross is sometimes referred to as the "tree" (ACT 5:30,
10:39, 13:29, IPE
2:24), suggesting that it was a simple beam rather than a cross.
When Emperor Titus destroyed Jerusalem shortly after Jesus' crucifixion, he crucified many Jews. Josephus, the
reputable Jewish historian, recorded that there were so many crucifixions that there was a shortage of space in
Jerusalem to crucify any more Jews. The wicked Jews reaped
what they had sowed. Emperor Constantine, who supposedly "converted" to Christianity, ended crucifixion
as a form of capital punishment about three hundred years after Jesus' crucifixion.