Wednesday in the Word...John 19:17-27...The cross and Jesus' company there

I am amazed that it has worked out that I am handling some of the same material on Sunday morning going through the Gospel of Luke as I am on Wednesdays going through the Gospel of John.  I am getting a double dose of walking with Jesus through this final week before the cross.  Today the focus is not just on Jesus but all the people that were around Him:  criminals, convicters, crucifiers, and company.  The prophecy details continue to pile up as the mathematical probability gets smaller and smaller for one to hit everyone of them.  The number is now higher than all the people who have ever lived.  I wonder when we can stop counting and calculating? 

Today's Wednesday in the Word is John chapter 19 and verses 17 through 27, which read,

v.17 - They took Jesus, therefore, and He went out, bearing His own cross, to the place called the Place of a Skull, which is called in Hebrew, Golgotha.

We come out of the trials, Jesus is sentenced, and He is carrying the cross beam of His cross.  "Deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow Me."  The physical example of Jesus is played out in front of His disciples eyes and ours also.  Jesus was doing this before His Father.  This was the common practice of the Romans to have the criminals carry their own cross.  We know in Jesus' case that at some point another was commanded to take up His cross, Simon of Cyrene, and now we have a mere human playing this out.  Also to note, the Place of the Skull, Golgotha, was a site outside the city walls that was probably named this because of the shape of the rock formation.  

v.18 - There they crucified Him, and with Him two other men, one on either side, and Jesus in between.

Crucifixion was the preferred death sentence of the Romans.  It allowed the criminals to suffer before they expired and also allowed the public to see the punishment if anyone went against the establishment.  Our term, "cruel and unusual punishment" doesn't come close to what happened to Jesus on that day.  Jesus has company.  Two other men are with Him who are in the same league as Barabbas, a notorious guerrilla fighter. Tremendous sin was on each side of Him while the solution of sin hung on Himself between them.  It is not recorded here but one criminal would turn to call Him King and the other, as much as documented for us, did not.  We don't know which one, either the criminal on Jesus' left or right who called out to Him but I have always wondered if it was the one on His right to mirror the sheep and the goats analogy found in Matthew 25.

v.19-22 - Pilate also wrote an inscription and put it on the cross.  It was written, "JESUS THE NAZARENE, THE KING OF THE JEWS."  Therefore many of the Jews read this inscription, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city; and it was written in Hebrew, Latin and in Greek.  So the chief priests of the Jews were saying to Pilate, "Do not write, 'The King of the Jews'; but that He said, 'I am King of the Jews.'"  Pilate answered, "What I have written I have written."

Was this Pilate's last dig at the religious leaders for bringing him an innocent man to get rid of?  A placard was made for each criminal and put around their necks as they made the way to the crucifixion site.  It was taken from their necks and then attached to the vertical beam of the cross above their heads for all to see why they are hanging there.  What was Jesus accused of?  He was accused of saying He was the king of the Jews.  The religious leaders are right in pointing this out but Pilate pulls his political clout that the placard would not be changed.  The inscription would stay an official objective declaration rather than a subjective statement.  Always remember that what Jesus says is of the same weight as what is written.  So if Jesus said "I am King of the Jews" then it carries as much weight as any of the declarations of the Bible.  "For I tell you" and "for it is written" are coming from the same source.  

Amazing is the power of words.  Here is Jesus, beaten, whipped, and completely humiliated nailed to a cross and the leaders are concerned about some words above His head.  What could He do in the state He was in?  Maybe they had seen too much of what Jesus had done to deduct that with this One anything was possible.  Needlessly, being near the city and in all the known languages of those gathering at this time for the Passover, the religious leaders are afraid of a few words on a placard above the head of a shredded man named Jesus.  

v.23-25a - Then the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took His outer garments and made four parts, a part to every soldier and also the tunic; now the tunic was seamless, woven in one piece.  So they said to one another, "Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it, to decide whose it shall be"; this was to fulfill the Scripture: "They divided My outer garments among them, and for My clothing they cast lots."  Therefore the soldiers did these things.

We are given more prophetic details here of what would happen to the Messiah.  These are so specific.  We deduct that there are 4 Roman soldiers here but Jesus must have had 5 garments.  A decision had to be made on how to divide that last one that was seamless so instead of ripping it into 4 pieces, a lot was cast and the winner takes all of it.  This is happening while Jesus is in the air above them and the Scriptures about Him was again playing out in front of Him in real time.  Psalm 22:18 says,

They divided my garments among them, 

and for my clothing they cast lots.

All 4 gospel writers records this event.  The garments of this Psalm expresses the outer clothing and the clothing signifies the tunic.  The garments would be divided but the clothing would be gambled for.  A prophecy given a thousand years prior to Jesus' coming was played out with the precision of a doctor and his scalpel.  Every detail is a witness of Jesus as the Messiah.

v.25b-27 - 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 then 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!"  From that hour the disciple took her into his own household.

 We have the criminals hanging with Him.  We have the convicters arguing about Him.  We have the crucifiers taking from Him.  We have the company weeping before Him.  There are either 3 or 4 women represented here:  Jesus' mother, Jesus' mother's sister which probably is Salome the mother of James and John, another named Mary who was also the mother of some of the other disciples, and Mary Magdalene.  Mary, the mother of Jesus, has here support group but Jesus fulfills His role as the eldest son.  

Jesus' earthly father was not there which indicates that he had probably died awhile ago.  None of Jesus' half brothers were there either and this could be because at this point they didn't believe Him to be the Messiah.  The eldest son was to take care of his mother if his father was gone.  Jesus looks to the disciple whom He loved which we surmise is John, the author of this gospel, and gives him this responsibility.  John would be the disciple who would live the longest.  He would be persecuted for the sake of Christ but would not be crucified, burned at the stake, or stoned as some of the others.  He, assumed the youngest, would be able to fulfill this assignment for Jesus' mother before his death after writing the book of Revelation.  

Each time reading about the crucifixion of our Lord I am amazed not only at the details and especially relating to prophecy but the details of Jesus' attention to what and who is around Him.  He sees the criminals; He sees the convicters; He sees the crucifiers; and He sees the company.  He will reach out to one of the criminals; He will not smote on the spot His convicters; He will pray for His crucifiers; and He will provide for His company.  This is all done while hanging on a cross as the all sufficient sacrifice for sin.  Our Jesus is an awesome God!

Pastor Adam