AM May 7th John 19

May 7^th              John 19                        Pilate condemns the Lord

1: Then Pilate therefore took Jesus, and scourged him. 2: And the soldiers platted a crown of thorns, and put it on his head, and they put on him a purple robe, 3: And said, Hail, King of the Jews! and they smote him with their hands. 4: Pilate therefore went forth again, and saith unto them, Behold, I bring him forth to you, that ye may know that I find no fault in him. 5: Then came Jesus forth, wearing the crown of thorns, and the purple robe. And Pilate saith unto them, Behold the man! 6: When the chief priests therefore and officers saw him, they cried out, saying, Crucify him, crucify him. Pilate saith unto them, Take ye him, and crucify him: for I find no fault in him. 7: The Jews answered him, We have a law, and by our law he ought to die, because he made himself the Son of God. 8: When Pilate therefore heard that saying, he was the more afraid; 9: And went again into the judgment hall, and saith unto Jesus, Whence art thou? But Jesus gave him no answer. 10: Then saith Pilate unto him, Speakest thou not unto me? knowest thou not that I have power to crucify thee, and have power to release thee? 11: Jesus answered, Thou couldest have no power at all against me, except it were given thee from above: therefore he that delivered me unto thee hath the greater sin. 12: And from thenceforth Pilate sought to release him: but the Jews cried out, saying, If thou let this man go, thou art not Caesar's friend: whosoever maketh himself a king speaketh against Caesar. 13: When Pilate therefore heard that saying, he brought Jesus forth, and sat down in the judgment seat in a place that is called the Pavement, but in the Hebrew, Gabbatha. 14: And it was the preparation of the passover, and about the sixth hour: and he saith unto the Jews, Behold your King! 15: But they cried out, Away with him, away with him, crucify him. Pilate saith unto them, Shall I crucify your King? The chief priest answered, We have no king but Caesar. 16: Then delivered he him therefore unto them to be crucified. And they took Jesus, and led him away.

The Lord is crucified

17: And he bearing his cross went forth into a place called the place of a skull, which is called in the Hebrew Golgotha: 18: Where they crucified him, and two other with him, on either side one, and Jesus in the midst. 19: And Pilate wrote a title, and put it on the cross. And the writing was, JESUS OF NAZARETH THE KING OF THE JEWS. 20: This title then read many of the Jews: for the place where Jesus was crucified was nigh to the city: and it was written in Hebrew, and Greek, and Latin. 21: Then said the chief priests of the Jews to Pilate, Write not, The King of the Jews; but that he said, I am King of the Jews. 22: Pilate answered, What I have written I have written. 23: Then the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took his garments, and made four parts, to every soldier a part; and also his coat: now the coat was without seam, woven from the top throughout. 24: They said therefore among themselves, Let us not rend it, but cast lots for it, whose it shall be: that the scripture might be fulfilled, which saith, They parted my raiment among them, and for my vesture they did cast lots. These things therefore the soldiers did. 25: Now there stood by the cross of Jesus his mother, and his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalene. 26: When Jesus therefore saw his mother, and the disciple standing by, whom he loved, he saith unto his mother, Woman, behold thy son! 27: Then saith he to the disciple, Behold thy mother! And from that hour that disciple took her unto his own home.

And so we come to the crucifixion, the centre of all biblical truth and the centre of history, the centre of eternity. Pilate took Jesus and scourged him. One wanders why this was necessary, but it was part of Roman custom to scourge those who were to be crucified. The scourging was usually so punishing that many died before crucifixion and it hastened death dramatically. One of the soldiers made a crown of thorns thus risking his own life to make a mockery of Jesus. They thought it was fun to abuse and torture him. They dressed Jesus in a robe of authority and the pretended to bow and worship him punched him in the face. When they had had their fun, Pilate brought Jesus out to the people stating that he found no fault in him. The crowd stirred by the hatred of the religious leaders called for his death. Pilate was amazed at their hatred and told them to take him and murder him. But they responded that they were unable to kill him because of Roman law and that he was the Son of God. Pilate was now even more reticent. He spoke to Jesus asking him where he was from. But there was no answer. Then Pilate exasperated said, why do you not answer me? Don’t you know that l have the power of life or death over you. Christ responded that He could have no power over him unless it was permitted from Heaven. And that those who had betrayed him were more guilty of this crime. From this point Pilate tried to find a way to release Jesus. However the crowd said that if Pilate did release Jesus then he would not be a friend to Caesar. This touched a nerve. So he brought Jesus in and condemned him to death unjustly. Then Pilate handed Jesus over to the soldiers to crucify him. The cross was laid on Jesus and he went forth to the place of execution. At the place of the skull they crucified him with two criminals. Pilate wrote the accusation against him and put it on the cross Pilate wrote, Jesus of Nazareth the King of the Jews. The Religious leaders complained about how it was written but Pilate stood firm. The title was written in Hebrew, Greek and Latin. These three languages represented the whole world. The soldiers took possession of Christ belongings. At the cross Christ’s mother stood to watch it all with two other Mary’s. When Jesus saw his mother and John standing there, he committed the trust and care of his mother to him. John took her to his home that day.