The Death of the King - John 19

Sermon Series: Extraordinary

Many of you are aware of the fact that the Denver Broncos (an NFL franchise) recently signed Peyton Manning to a contract to be their team’s quarterback. It became national news for two reasons: The first is that Peyton Manning has played his entire career with another franchise, the Indianapolis Colts. So this will be the first time that the guaranteed Hall of Famer will wear another team’s jersey. (2) The second reason is that the Denver Broncos were in the spotlight a lot last season due to the surprising success of their starting quarterback, Tim Tebow. In the middle of the season the Broncos were heavily pressured by their fan base to make a change at quarterback. Neither the team’s owner, coach, nor the national media had much confidence in Tebow’s ability to perform as a starting quarterback. But to everyone’s surprise, Tebow found ways to win and even led the Broncos to the NFL playoffs and a first round win in the playoffs. The fans were pumped about the progress. Many in the national media were eating their words. But apparently the coach and owner still did not have the confidence in the young Tebow, jumping on the opportunity to sign the aging and questionably healthy Manning.

Earlier this week Tebow held his first press-conference after signing a contract with the NY Jets. Tebow didn’t say anything wrong in his press-conference this week, but the press-conference did get a lot of extra attention because Tebow said over and over again how ‘excited’ he was that he was going to be a part of the NY Jets’ franchise. Many media personalities gave Tebow a hard time about his repeated use of the word ‘excited’ saying he needed to get a thesaurus and that there was no question about how Tebow felt about being a part of the Jets’ team.

Tebow’s repeated use of the word ‘excited’ made it clear how he felt. Those watching and listening to the press-conference recognized that the repeated use of the word ‘excited’ was purposeful (in a sense) because Tebow wanted everyone to know that this wasn’t something that he was discouraged by or frustrated by. The media was quick to notice the repetition and was quick to point out its significance.

In the same way that Tebow used the word ‘excited’ over and over again in his press conference, the authors of the Bible will on occasion use repetition to draw the attention of their readers to significant points they want to emphasize. Our job as readers is to make sure that we note those repetitions and then note what makes them so significant. We have the opportunity to do that with our text this week. This week we are going to be examining the text of John 19. The Gospel of John is the fourth book in the NT and it gives an account of Jesus’ life and ministry from the perspective of Jesus’ closest disciple. And the particular text we are going to examine today tells another one of the most extraordinary stories in the Bible. But before we get to the text we need to make note of a particular word that we are going to see used over and over. In just a matter of 30 verses (John 18:33-19:22) we see John use the word ‘king’ 12 times to describe Jesus and the word ‘kingdom’ another 3 times in regards to Jesus’ rule and authority. John repeats 15 times the word ‘king’ (or its derivative) in this passage because John wants to make abundantly clear who Jesus is in one of the most gruesome stories in all of the Bible. So keep that in mind as we begin wading into John 19.

To set the stage for John 19 we have to briefly look back at what has led up to these moments. Jesus had been in Jerusalem with his disciples for nearly a week getting ready to celebrate the Passover feast. This was the biggest holiday in Jewish culture and the Jews would travel to Jerusalem by the thousands to make an entire week out of the celebration; preparing themselves ritually and making arrangements to celebrate the dinner together with family and friends. Late the night before Jesus had been out in a nearby garden with his disciples spending time in prayer, preparing to fulfill the mission that His Father had sent Him to accomplish. While He was in the garden praying, a band of soldiers and some of the chief priests and Pharisees arrived on the scene led by one of Jesus’ twelve disciples. They had come with the purpose of arresting Jesus (although they had no clear charge against Him that would hold up to any credible testimony or investigation). After arresting Him, they led Him away to the home of the High Priest, where He was illegally tried by a group of religious leaders who knew well the procedures they were supposed to follow. Then, having stood trial before this group of religious leaders Jesus was led away to the governor’s headquarters where this group of religious leaders sought the help of the Roman governor, Pilate, who had the authority to condemn individuals to death. Jesus had ruffled their feathers and their nests and was becoming a nuisance to their teachings and their leadership style. They were tired of His teachings. They were tired of His rebukes. And they wanted Him out of their hair permanently. Pilate asked Jesus to give him some clarification regarding the accusations that were being brought towards Him. But after Pilate had had an opportunity to ask Jesus several questions He found neither guilt in Jesus nor any reason that He ought to be put to death. But the Jewish leaders proved to be persistent and would not take anything less than crucifixion for Jesus. So we enter John 19 with Jesus still in Pilate’s possession and the Jewish leaders still refusing to allow Jesus to be released.

Attempting to Humble the King

[Read vs. 1-7] In verses 1 through 7 we see some of man’s most gruesome efforts to humble the King. Verse 1 says that Pilate, rather than having Jesus released, took Jesus and had him ‘flogged.’ This ‘flogging’ was the same thing the other gospel authors referred to as ‘scourging.’ It remains to this day one of the most gruesome and brutal punishments ever inflicted upon a person. An individual who was scourged/flogged would have his wrists fastened to a post so that his upper body (back, sides, chest, etc.) was completely exposed. Then Roman soldiers would stand on opposite sides of the individual and begin to alternate turns striking the individual with a special kind of whip called a ‘cat of nine tails.’ The whip had at its end nine individual leather pieces which had protruding from each piece a sharp piece of metal, glass, or bone. So when an individual was struck across the back the weighted ends of the whip possessed a momentum that would carry the end of the whip quickly around to the individual’s chest/stomach where the sharp pieces of metal, glass, and/or bone would painfully imbed themselves into the individual’s chest/stomach. Then with a brutal jerk the Roman soldier would yank the whip back to themselves causing the sharp ends of the whip to literally tear apart the individual’s flesh. The Roman soldiers would continue the beating until the officer overseeing the beating gave the command to stop. These scourgings were so brutal that the victims would sometimes die and eyewitness accounts report that after these beatings many victims would have parts of their bones and/or organs left exposed. So those who did live through these floggings were not only suffering from excruciating pain but also overwhelming humility. A beating of that nature in which one was helpless to resist and left clinging to life would have rendered one feeling completely desperate and hopeless. And this is where we first find Jesus, the King, as we wade into chapter 19.

Verses 2 and 3 continue with the attempt of men to humble ‘the King.’ After having flogged Jesus so brutally and with a man standing before them whose flesh was probably hanging from his body in many places, these Roman soldiers added to His humiliation by mocking Him. Verse 2 says that the soldiers “twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head and arrayed him in a purple robe.” Then verse 3 adds that “they came up to Him, saying, ‘Hail, King of the Jews!’ and struck him with their hands.” Following the severe flogging the Roman soldiers began to mock Jesus (in an extremely painful way) treating Him as though He was some king. Why did they do this? The answer most likely lies in the previous chapter. [Read John 18:33-38] In 18:33 Pilate asks Jesus directly, “Are you the King of the Jews?” Jesus doesn’t respond with a direct answer but rather responds with a question of his own. Pilate follows up Jesus’ question with another question in verse 35, “What have you done?” Then Jesus, though not directly claiming to be King, answers Pilate by claiming to be in a position of authority over a separate kingdom. “My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world” (vs. 36). Three times in this one verse Jesus uses the phrase “my kingdom” and he also make references to “my servants.” So while Jesus does not directly call Himself a king, He does imply that he has authority over another kingdom and has servants who are subject to Him and His commands. He may not exactly take the title for himself but He most certainly suggests that He has the role of a king. Even Pilate picks up on this in verse 37 saying, “So you are a king?” Again, Jesus avoids directly answering the question but acknowledges Pilates response in what seems to be an affirming tone. With this conversation between Pilate and Jesus having transpired in the verses preceding verses 2 and 3 it seems to shed some light on the actions of the Roman soldiers. This man standing before them claimed to be a king. Yet in these moments he had no army. He had not subjects fighting for Him. He had no power at all. In fact, He was clinging to life with almost all He had. These Roman soldiers saw only a man whose very life seemed to be in their hands. But because of His audacious claims to be a king they took the opportunity to mock Him by pressing a crown of painful thorns upon His head, dressing Him in purple (the color of royalty), and then mockingly called out to Him, “Hail, King of the Jews.”

The attempts to humiliate this ‘king’ did not end there, however. They continued to be piled on as verses 4 and 5 tell us that this charade wasn’t just carried out within the headquarters of the governor, but that Pilate brought Jesus out of the headquarters in this ‘royal garb’ and presented Him to the Jews this way. The context of the passage seems to suggest that Pilate may have been looking for a way out of this mess. The Jews had come to him asking that Jesus be put to death, but he had found no guilt in Jesus. It’s possible that Pilate had Jesus flogged and then allowed Him to be mocked to the extent that He was, so that when the Jews observed Him having been ridiculed and beaten to the point that He was clinging on to life their desire for punishment would have been satisfied and Pilate could have gotten himself out of the predicament without having put an innocent man to death. Unfortunately Pilate’s efforts did not work. When the Jews saw Jesus they cried out “Crucify Him, crucify Him!” Pilate declares once more that he is unwilling to crucify Jesus because he can’t find any fault within Jesus making Him deserving of crucifixion. But the Jewish leaders seem to differ and make an accusation that demonstrates how clearly they had misunderstood. The Jewish leaders say in verse 7, “We have a law, and according to that law He ought to die because He has made himself the Son of God.” The Jewish leaders declared that Jesus was deserving of death because He had committed blasphemy. They had rightly understood Jesus’ assertions at different times in His ministry that He was in fact God. In their eyes this was a sin worthy of death because they believed Jesus to be nothing more than a mere man, and whenever a man claimed to be God that was blasphemy. The problem was they had gotten things completely backwards. The truth was that Jesus had done things the other way around. Jesus was not a man who had “made Himself the Son of God;” Jesus was the Son of God who had made Himself a man! This is indeed the very place that John begins his gospel account (John 1:1-3, 14), “And the Word (God the Son) became flesh and dwelt among us . . .”

In verses 1 through 7 we see this great attempt by men to humble Jesus because He claimed to be the Son of God and claimed to be a King. The religious leaders saw a need to humble Him because although they believed Him to be a mere man, He was making Himself out to be the Son of God. The Romans needed to humble Him to show Him that He wasn’t a true king and that He was ultimately subject to them. As a result both parties worked together to try to humble Jesus in the most brutal of forms. What they failed to understand though was that their most gruesome attempts to humble Jesus (i.e. flogging Him, mocking Him, beating Him, spitting upon Him, and ultimately crucifying Him) could not surpass His own display of humility when He left His throne in Heaven, took on flesh, entered our sin-filled world, and then took the punishment for our sins upon Himself. Jesus was not a king who needed to be humbled – He is the King who humbled Himself.

A Greater Authority

[Read vs. 8-11] After hearing the accusation of the Jews the text tells us that Pilate becomes fearful and brings Jesus back into his headquarters. There Pilate begins to question Jesus about His origins, but Jesus refuses to give him an answer. So Pilate proceeds to try to provoke a response from Jesus by intimidating Jesus with his authority, saying to Jesus, “Do you not know that I have authority to release you and authority to crucify you” (vs. 10). Pilate, though uncertain of who Jesus really is and what (if any) authority He really has, begins to lean on his own authority. And in leaning on his own authority Pilate tells the Author and Sustainer of life that he ultimately holds Jesus’ life in his own hands. This absolutely provokes a response for Jesus, the true King. Jesus says in verse 11, “You would have no authority over Me at all unless it had been given you from above.” Jesus does His best to correct Pilate in this moment. Pilate was not the greatest authority present at the time – Jesus was. And neither did Pilate hold Jesus’ life in his hands – Jesus held Pilate’s life in His hands.

The Subjects Sentencing the King

[Read vs. 12-16] Verses 12 through 16 reveal an interesting portion of this story. It appears that Pilate is convinced of Jesus’ innocence because the text tells us that Pilate tried to have Jesus released. It also appears that Pilate is convinced that Jesus is, in some form, King of the Jewish people because the text tells us that Pilate brings Jesus out once again and presents Jesus to the Jews as their King. Yet at the same time he still seems confused about Jesus’ authority over him. When the Jews continued to cry out to have Jesus crucified, Pilate seems to acknowledge Jesus’ authority over the Jewish people, calling Him, ‘your King,’ but does so in the context of asking them if he should crucify Jesus. While Pilate seemed to have recognized some authority in Jesus, He still seemed convinced that he held more authority and had the ability to sentence Jesus to crucifixion.

John, once again, intentionally and repetitively uses the word ‘king.’ The word shows up four times in these five verses. So once again the reader is forced to notice the emphasis on Jesus’ position as King. But the irony in these verses is that while Jesus is King, He is being sentenced by His subjects. Notice that it is the Jews making accusations in verse 12 (“Everyone who makes himself a king opposes Caesar.”) and the Jews asking for sentencing in verse 15 (“Away with Him, away with Him, crucify Him!”). Then we see Pilate in verse 16 carrying out the sentence that the Jews requested (“So he delivered Him over to them to be crucified.”). By placing an emphasis in these verses on Jesus’ role as King John is wanting his readers to understand that Jesus is superior to both Pilate and the Jews. That sets the stage for the irony of these verses – that it is the ones who are ultimately subject to the King who are sentencing and carrying out a sentence of death upon the One they are supposed to be subject to.

The King Crucified

[Read vs. 17-24] After sentencing Jesus to crucifixion verse 17 tells us that they took Jesus out “bearing His own cross” (imagery we saw foreshadowed in Genesis 22 when Abraham placed the wood on Isaac’s back and Isaac was forced to carry it to the place of the sacrifice). The text tells us that when they arrived at “The Place of the Skull” the Roman soldiers crucified Jesus. Crucifixion was one of the most torturous forms of death an individual could experience. And in Jewish culture it wasn’t just a painful experience but it was also a shameful experience because OT law had declared that anyone who was hung on a tree was cursed (Deuteronomy 21:22-23). Crucifixion consisted of fastening an individual to a wooden cross by driving metal stakes through the individual’s wrists and feet. Then the cross would be dropped into a hole so that the individual would be held upright. Depending on whether or not an individual was scourged before their crucifixion and depending on the severity of that scourging, some individuals would actually remain alive on their crosses for days. Because no major arteries were severed when an individual’s wrists or legs were nailed to the cross, individuals would not bleed to death. Instead they would eventually die from shock, heart failure, or from being unable to breathe. It was a death that was “excruciatingly painful, prolonged, and socially degrading” (J. Edwards). And John makes a point once again to emphasize that this is what they did to the King because right after declaring that Jesus was crucified (vs. 18) he tells us in verse 19 that “Pilate also wrote an inscription and put it on the cross. It read, ‘Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.”

The Jews had gotten what they had asked for. They had requested and pushed for Jesus to be crucified and Pilate had finally given into their requests. They had seen Jesus scourged within inches of his life and now He was hanging on a cross. Those Jewish leaders knew that it was only a matter of time before Jesus was dead and He was no longer causing problems for them. But the Jewish leaders also saw the inscription above Jesus’ head and they were not happy with it. The Jewish leaders did not want the statement to read that Jesus was the king of the Jews, but rather that He had claimed to be the king of the Jews. But Pilate was unwilling to give into their requests this time. The inscription would not be changed to articulate that Jesus claimed to be King of the Jews; it would remain as it had already been written – that Jesus was the King of the Jews. The picture here is incredibly clear! The individual hanging on the cross wasn’t a man who claimed to be a king – it was the King who had been crucified!

“It is Finished”

[Read vs. 28-30] Verse 28 tells us that Jesus had the insight to understand that He was about to die. The King, having experienced a severe scourging and now hanging on the cross was most likely incredibly dehydrated. So Jesus asked for a drink and was given sour wine, fulfilling what was written in Psalm 69:21. Verse 30 then says, “When Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, ‘It is finished,’ and He bowed His head and gave up His spirit.”

Make sure that you don’t read over too quickly Jesus’ declaration “It is finished!” This one word in the Greek is one of the most amazing declarations with some of the most amazing implications that you can imagine. In the Greek it is a perfect tense verb which means that it is a completed action, but that it has on going effects. And in Jesus’ last moment before His death He cried out “It is finished!” But the question remains, “What was finished?” And the answer is Jesus’ mission. Jesus’ mission had been accomplished! God had wrapped His Son in flesh and sent Him to earth to conquer sin and Satan and to once again glorify God by making right all that sinful humanity had screwed up when we chose to sin and exalt ourselves rather than God. The promise went back all the way to Genesis 3:15 when God made a promise to Satan, “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heal.” So Jesus had come and during His life he accomplished what we could not. He fulfilled completely the OT law by living a life of complete righteousness and perfection. In this time on earth Jesus never committed any sin but had lived His life in complete obedience to His Father. The life that God had intended for us to live, but which we screwed up, Jesus had accomplished. So a perfect and righteous sacrifice was finally available that could become a sacrifice for ALL of humanity. Jesus had resisted Satan’s temptations to sin, Jesus had honored God in everything He had done, and by dying for sin and rising again Jesus proved Himself to be more powerful than Satan – proving to be victorious over him. Jesus had also finished His mission to give His life as a ransom for sinful humanity. Matthew records a statement in his gospel that Jesus, the King, makes and which gives us great insight into part of His God-assigned mission. “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. It shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be your slave, even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many” (Matthew 20:25-28). Jesus taught that people’s sin had not only separated them from God but it also had caused them to become enslaved to sin and Satan. He teaches here that in order for sinners to be set free from the one holding them captive that a ransom had to be paid – His very life. And in the last moment of life as Jesus is hanging on the cross He is able to cry out “It is finished!” because He knows that the giving of His life as a ransom for many has come to fulfillment. In addition to the fulfillment of the OT law and the giving of His life as a ransom, Jesus can also declare that His mission is finished because through His shed blood and death He has made a way for man to be reconciled to God. Paul writes in his letter to the Romans, “For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly . . . Since, therefore, we have now been justified by His blood, much more shall we be saved by Him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by His life. More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation” (Romans 5:6, 9-11). When Jesus died on the cross an unbelievable substitution was made for us. Our sin (past, present, and future) deserves nothing other than the wrath of God. The gruesome death that Jesus experienced is in reality exactly what you and I deserve. On the flip side, the gruesome death that Jesus experience wasn’t at all anything that He deserved. He had lived a perfect life and was in no way deserving of any form of death – much less the brutal one that He did experience. But Jesus came to earth to be our substitute – to stand in our place. Jesus, knowing full well what we deserved, came to endure the wrath of God for us. In an unimaginable demonstration of grace, compassion, and love Jesus took upon Himself the sin of all humanity and received for it the full measure of God’s wrath poured out on Him. And in exchange, taking our sin, He know offers to us His perfect righteousness so that we can be reconciled to our God and Father. This is the work of the King on our behalf. And because our King is the perfect Son of God, we can have assurance that at the cross our ransom was paid in full! We can have assurance that at the cross reconciliation had been made in full! Nothing was left undone! And praise God that those completed actions are still having on-going effects – making salvation available to every generation that comes along!

The King is Dead

[Read vs. 31-42] Chapter 19 concludes with verses 31 through 42 in which John does his best to demonstrate that Jesus did in fact die. Jesus didn’t simply pass out and fall unconscious while on the cross – He died. The text tells us that the Sabbath was approaching and that the Jews didn’t want the bodies of Jesus and the thieves remaining on their crosses. So once again we find them making a request of Pilate – this time asking to have the legs of the three crucified individuals broken so that death might set in more quickly. Pilate consented and the soldiers broke the legs of both of the thieves which had been crucified with Jesus. But when they came to Jesus to break His legs the text says that they “saw that He was already dead.” So the Roman soldiers refrained from breaking Jesus’ legs. This might serve to strengthen the case of those who suggest that Jesus just fell unconscious on the cross because they might argue that because Jesus’ legs weren’t broken He was able to escape the death that would have set in more quickly. But the text also tells us that the Romans didn’t just leave Jesus hanging there. The text tells us that after the Roman soldiers observed that Jesus was dead they also made certain of it. The text tells us that “one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and at once there came out blood and water” (vs. 34). By recording this act of the soldier John is making sure to emphasize the fact that Jesus was without a doubt dead.

Then, having given evidence of the death of Jesus, John goes on to share what was done with Jesus’ body. A man named Joseph of Arimathea, who was secretly a follower of Jesus, asked Pilate if he could take possession of Jesus’ body, and was granted permission. So Joseph came to the cross, and with the help of Nicodemus, the two took Jesus down from the cross, wrapped Him in linen cloths, and then placed Jesus in a tomb. Jesus hadn’t been rescued from death and taken to Joseph’s home where Joseph and others tended to Jesus’ wounds and helped him recover. Jesus wasn’t taken down off of the cross and then taken to a physician to see if he could be resuscitated and restored to health. Jesus’ death was certain and clear and so they took His body and laid it in a tomb. Chapter 19 of John ends with the unmistakable truth that the King was dead!

So much of this story has to be explained to readers in the 21st century. We are quick to read over words like ‘scourging’ and ‘crucifixion’ because we’ve never actually scene one and don’t know the gruesomeness of them. John didn’t have to explain those terms to his readers. They had seen scourgings and crucifixions first hand. John didn’t need to go into the gruesome details because his readers had seen the gruesomeness themselves. He needed only to record the words and his first century readers would have known the horror of this story. The fact is, this story is one of the most extraordinary stories in the Bible because it recounts for us a gruesome and horrific murder. But what puts this story over the top is that this gruesome and horrific murder was inflicted upon the Son of God – Jesus – the King of Kings! And why did the Son of God allow Himself to be subjected to such a gruesome and horrific murder? Because it was the mission that He was sent to accomplish! He was sent to earth to live a completely perfect life. He was sent to earth to pay the ransom for sinful humanity by giving His life. And He was sent to earth to make reconciliation between God and man. And all of this was designed to take place through His death!

This is the good news of how salvation was made available to us. We couldn’t earn God’s favor on our own. We couldn’t earn God’s forgiveness on our own. And we couldn’t pay the debt that we owed to God. We were without any form of hope. But God didn’t leave us hopeless. The Bible teaches us that God wrapped His only Son in flesh and sent Him to earth to accomplish what we could not. And now Jesus freely offers the salvation He made available to us. He calls us to recognize the sin that exists in our lives, the hopeless state that sin has left us in, and our need for a Savior. He calls us to recognize that He is the only One who has made a way for us to have the forgiveness and cleansing we need and to turn from our sin and from chasing after our own selfish desires to follow after Him. This is what it means to trust in Jesus as Savior and Lord. And when we do that we can have the assurance that we have been redeemed and reconciled to God the Father! That is extraordinary news!