THE PASSION ACCORDING TO JOHN.
John 18:1-40; John 19:1-42.
1). THE ARREST OF JESUS.
John 18:1-14.
JOHN 18:1-3. After the Passover meal, the institution of the Lord’s Supper, the Upper Room discourse, and Jesus’ great high priestly prayer, Jesus led His disciples over the brook Kidron to the garden of Gethsemane (John 18:1). Judas, possessed by Satan (cf. John 13:2; John 13:27), had already disappeared into the night (cf. John 13:30). Judas knew where Jesus would be, and turned up with a band of men and officers from the chief priests and Pharisees, who came bearing lanterns, torches, and weapons (John 18:2-3).
JOHN 18:4. Jesus remained in control of the situation. Nobody had been able to lay a finger upon Him prior to this, but now He knew His hour was come (cf. John 13:1a). Before anyone touched him, He stepped forward. “Whom do you seek?” He asked (John 18:4).
Back in the Garden of Eden, it was God who was doing the seeking. There, the guilty man Adam had hidden himself. Here in the Garden of Gethsemane, men were doing the seeking, and the innocent man Jesus willingly stepped forward for man’s salvation.
JOHN 18:5-8. “Jesus of Nazareth,” they answered. “I am,” replied Jesus. Such was His power over them that they immediately went backward and fell to the ground. “Whom do you seek?” asked Jesus again. And they said, “Jesus of Nazareth.” Jesus answered, “I have told you that I am” (John 18:5-8a).
JOHN 18:8-9. Jesus’ love for His disciples (cf. John 13:1b) now came to the fore: “if therefore you seek me, let these go their way” (John 18:8b). Jesus’ high priestly prayer was already being fulfilled (John 18:9; cf. John 17:12). John had already noted that Judas “stood” with those sent to arrest Jesus, aligning himself with them (John 18:5b).
JOHN 18:10-11. Simon Peter, impetuous as ever, drew his sword, and smote off the ear of the high priest’s servant. John knew this man by name. Jesus rebuked Peter, adding, “the cup which my Father has given me, shall I not drink it?” (John 18:10-11).
Jesus’ prayer in Gethsemane had demonstrated His willingness to drink the cup of His sufferings down to the very dregs: ‘not my will, but yours be done’ (cf. Luke 22:42). ‘What shall I say?’ Jesus had asked earlier; ‘Father save me from this hour? but for this cause came I unto this hour' (cf. John 12:27). And thus, He would ‘endure the cross, despising the shame’ (cf. Hebrews 12:2).
JOHN 18:12-13. We see something of the meekness of Jesus in that He who had done no wrong (cf. Luke 23:41) surrendered to them and allowed Himself to be bound (John 18:12). He could have called upon His Father, and He would have sent forth twelve legions of angels to defend Him (cf. Matthew 26:53). Instead, He submitted to the limited power of His foes, and was led away to Annas first (John 18:13), and then to Caiaphas (cf. John 18:24).
JOHN 18:14. “Now Caiaphas was he who gave council to the Jews that it was expedient that one man should die for the people” (John 18:14; cf. John 11:49-50). Thus far the purposes of God, and the plans of men, coincided (cf. John 11:51-53).
2). DENIALS AND TRUTH.
John 18:15-40.
JOHN 18:15-18. Although the disciples all initially scattered immediately after Jesus’ arrest (cf. Matthew 26:56), Simon Peter and “another disciple” thereafter followed Jesus and gained entrance into the palace of the high priest. The girl at the door challenged Peter, but he who had earlier said to Jesus, ‘I will lay down my life for thy sake’ (cf. John 13:37) now denied being Jesus’ disciple. Peter then stood with “the servants and the officers,” with whom Judas had so recently stood (cf. John 18:5), on the pretext of “warming himself” at the fire (John 18:15-18).
How can we pray, ‘Lead us not into temptation’ if we purposely choose to keep company with the Lord’s enemies? This is to place ourselves in temptation’s way.
JOHN 18:19-21. At the other end of the room, the high priest was interrogating Jesus about His disciples, and His teaching. Jesus refused to answer since, as He said, His teaching had been public not secret. It would have been more appropriate to ask those who heard Him (John 18:19-21).
JOHN 18:22-24. After He said this, one of the officers who stood by delivered a blow to Jesus’ face. Jesus’ answer to this was, “If I have spoken evil, bear witness of the evil: but if well, why do you smite me?” According to the Greek text, it was at this point that Annas sent Jesus bound to Caiaphas (John 18:22-24).
“Now Caiaphas was he who gave council to the Jews that it was expedient that one man should die for the people” (cf. John 18:14; John 11:49-50). Thus far the purposes of God, and the plans of men, coincided (cf. John 11:51-53). Jesus’ trial before Caiaphas is recorded by Matthew, Mark, and Luke.
JOHN 18:25-27. Meanwhile, back at the fire, Peter stood warming himself. Again he was asked, “Are you not one of His disciples?” and again he replied, “I am not.” Then a relation of the man whose ear Peter had cut off recognised him, and asked, “Did I not see you with Him in the garden?” Peter denied again, and the cock crowed (John 18:25-27).
JOHN 18:28. John’s account hastens us onward with Jesus into Pilate’s court. The hypocrisy of Jesus’ accusers comes to the fore, as they hand over a man whom they have no evidence against, but refuse to enter the judgment hall lest they be defiled and unable to eat the Passover (John 18:28). Ironically, and unbeknown to themselves, the one who they were handing over to be killed was the true Passover Lamb.
JOHN 18:29-31. The interview between Pilate and Jesus paints a pathetic picture, with Pilate scurrying back and forth between the prisoner within, and His accusers at the door. Pilate needed to hear what accusation they brought against Him, but they evaded the question. So, judge Him by your own law, suggested Pilate. “It is not lawful for us to put any man to death,” admitted the Jewish leaders (John 18:29-31). The sceptre had indeed departed from Judah (cf. Genesis 49:10)!
JOHN 18:32. This fulfilled the saying of Jesus, signifying by what death He would die (John 18:32; cf. John 12:32-33).
JOHN 18:33-35. The King of kings stood accused before the tribunal of an earthly governor. The prisoner appeared so unlike the usual revolutionary that you could almost hear the scorn in the prefect’s voice: “You? The King of the Jews?” Are you asking for yourself, or did others put you up to it? wondered Jesus. “What have you done?” demanded Pilate (John 18:33-35).
JOHN 18:36-38. Jesus assured Pilate that He posed no threat to Rome: His kingdom is of another order. Yet He did not deny that He is the One who was to come, hoped for by Israel, and expected by the Gentiles: and that everyone who is of the truth hears (i.e. obeys) Him. Counselled by none other than the ultimate manifestation and personification of truth, the Emperor’s representative whimpered “What is truth?” and declared to the crowd, “I find no fault in Him" (John 18:36-38).
Some, perhaps, of the Passover crowd had expected a Messiah who would overthrow the Roman government, but this ‘son of David’ (cf. Matthew 21:9) came instead to die for His people. It is not without reason that Jesus said to Pilate, “but now my kingdom is not from hence” (JOHN 18:36).
When Jesus said, “To this end was I born,” (JOHN 18:37), He was acknowledging His incarnation. When He said, “and for this cause I came into the world” (JOHN 18:37), He was hinting at His Messiahship.
Jesus came to bear witness to the truth (JOHN 18:37). He came into the world to save sinners (cf. 1 Timothy 1:15). He came that we might have life and have it more abundantly (cf. John 10:10).
JOHN 18:39-40. Given the choice of a prisoner to release, the fickle crowd chose Barabbas, a robber, rather than their King (John 18:39-40).
3). BEHOLD YOUR KING.
John 19:1-16.
JOHN 19:1. The nineteenth chapter of John’s Gospel opens in the midst of the ridiculous drama of Pilate’s darting back and forth between the hypocritical Jewish leadership on the doorstep, who refused to come into the judgment hall of the palace ‘lest they be defiled and unable to eat the Passover’ (cf. John 18:28), and the prisoner indoors. Pilate wished to wriggle out of the responsibility of condemning an innocent man, as he three times ruled Jesus to be (cf. John 18:38; JOHN 19:4; JOHN 19:6), but nevertheless had Him scourged to appease His accusers (JOHN 19:1). Thus was fulfilled the prophecy, ‘by His stripes we are healed’ (cf. Isaiah 53:5).
JOHN 19:2-3. Jesus had been arrested by His own people without a reasonable charge, and was now exposed to the cruel indignities of the Roman garrison. The cruel crown of thorns, which they would have thrust upon His head causing it to bleed; an old cast off purple robe to parody His kingship; the striking of His face with their hands, crying ‘Hail, King of the Jews’ in mocking disgust (John 19:2-3). Is there no end to the malice which a fallen world feels towards their Creator?
JOHN 19:4-5. Pilate went outdoors again, to inform the Jewish leadership that he was bringing Jesus out to them, and that he “found no fault in Him.” The spectacle continued with Jesus coming behind him, a pitiful sight with the crown of thorns on His head, His mangled bleeding body wearing the purple robe. And Pilate announced, “Behold the man” (John 19:4-5). Yes, Pilate, ‘the man Christ Jesus’ (cf. 1 Timothy 2:5-6).
JOHN 19:6. If it was Pilate’s intention to shame Jesus’ accusers into sympathy with their victim, he was sadly mistaken. The chief priests and the officers (the temple police) cried, “Crucify, crucify.” Pilate still wished to metaphorically wash his hands of the whole affair - a metaphor that he acted out in Matthew 27:24 - and suggested that they should crucify Him since they were the ones who wished Jesus dead (John 19:6).
JOHN 19:7. It seems that the conversation was going round in circles. Pilate had already told them to judge Jesus by their own law, to which they had replied that it was illegal for them to put anyone to death (cf. John 18:31). But now the Jewish leaders argued, “we have a law, and by our law He ought to die, because He made Himself the Son of God” (John 19:7). Yet the Jewish law would have required death by stoning (cf. Leviticus 24:16).
Jesus had already prophesied by what death He was to die (cf. John 3:14; John 12:32-33). It was prophesied, too, in the Old Testament: ‘they pierced my hands and feet’ (cf. Psalm 22:16; cf. Zechariah 12:10). The curse of the law; the curse that is upon mankind as a result of his eating of the forbidden tree, is borne away by Jesus becoming a curse for us by ‘hanging upon a tree’ (cf. Galatians 3:13).
JOHN 19:8-9. When Pilate heard the accusation that Jesus had claimed that He is the Son of God, he became even more alarmed. He took Jesus indoors and demanded of Him, “Where do you come from?” Jesus kept His dignity, and refused to answer (John 19:8-9; cf. Isaiah 53:7).
JOHN 19:10-11. Frustrated, Pilate threatened, “Do you not know that I have power to crucify you, and have power to release you?” To which Jesus did reply, “You could have no power against me unless it were given you from above: therefore he that delivered me to you has the greater sin” (John 19:10-11).
JOHN 19:12. The Jewish priesthood should have known better, and therefore had the greater sin than Pilate. Now Pilate tried again to release Jesus, “but the Jews cried out, ‘If you let this man go, you are no friend of Caesar: whoever makes himself a king speaks against Caesar’” (John 19:12).
Pilate did hold an honorary title given to him by Tiberius Caesar, which was “Friend of Caesar.” The man who had nominated Pilate to receive this title had since been stripped of the title himself, so the last thing Pilate wanted to do was to upset his Emperor. At the same time, the Levitical priesthood was gradually stripping itself of any entitlement to be termed ‘friend of God’!
JOHN 19:13-14. Pilate brought Jesus forth, and sat in the judgment seat. John reminds us that the season was Passover. Paul would later write, ‘Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us’ (cf. 1 Corinthians 5:7). Pilate now presented Jesus once more to the Jews: “Behold your King!” (John 19:13-14).
JOHN 19:15. But they cried out, “Away with _, away with _, crucify Him.” Pilate’s response was, “Shall I crucify your king?” To which the chief priests, answered “WE HAVE NO KING BUT CAESAR!” (John 19:15). All thought of the theocracy had departed from their minds!
JOHN 19:16. So now at last ‘the sceptre had departed from Judah’ (cf. Genesis 49:10). And in one fell swoop, the Levitical priesthood had unwittingly forfeited their position in favour of a new and better priesthood (cf. Hebrews 7:14-17). Pilate had Jesus led away to be crucified (John 19:16).
4). THE CROSS AND BURIAL OF JESUS.
John 19:17-42.
JOHN 19:17. “Went forth.” The ultimate sin-offering, outside the gate (cf. Hebrews 13:12-13).
JOHN 19:18. “Where they crucified Him.” Typology of the brass serpent (cf. John 3:14). A hanged man is cursed by God (cf. Deuteronomy 21:23), and Jesus became a curse for us to redeem us from the curse of the law (cf. Galatians 3:13). Others crucified with Him (cf. ‘numbered with transgressors,’ Isaiah 53:12).
JOHN 19:19. Jesus was crucified as “King.” This writing, and what (and who) it represented, ‘blotted out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to His cross’ (Colossians 2:14).
JOHN 19:20. The three languages proclaim the universality of His kingdom (cf. Matthew 2:2).
JOHN 19:21. “The chief priests of the Jews” versus “the king of the Jews.”
JOHN 19:22. “What I have written I have written.” Having yielded already to them, Pilate will yield no more. ‘Surely the wrath of man shall praise thee: the remainder of wrath shalt thou restrain’ (cf. Psalm 76:10).
JOHN 19:23-24. The soldiers’ parting of His garments unintentionally serves to verify Scripture (cf. Psalm 22:18). “These things the soldiers did” is the Apostle John’s eyewitness testimony.
JOHN 19:25. The women at the cross. Their courage and perseverance (cf. Romans 12:12). Such hope rewarded later at the tomb.
JOHN 19:26-27. Jesus’ compassionate care for His grieving mother. “The disciple whom Jesus loved” is the Apostle John’s own signature (cf. John 13:23; John 20:2; John 21:7; John 21:20).
JOHN 19:28. After this, we read, Jesus knowing that all things, literally “have been finished.” (This is the same verb as the one word statement in John 19:30.) “That the Scripture might be fulfilled,” said, “I thirst” (cf. Psalm 69:3; Psalm 22:15). Everything about His death, you see, was ‘according to the Scriptures’ (cf. 1 Corinthians 15:3-4), both foretold in word of prophecy and prefigured in typology in the Old Testament.
JOHN 19:29. The use of a hyssop branch to reach a sponge full of vinegar to our Lord’s lips (cf. Psalm 69:21) reminds us of that used to apply the blood of the Passover lamb to the doorposts just before the exodus (cf. Exodus 12:22). David’s famous prayer of repentance contains the words, ‘purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean’ (cf. Psalm 51:7).
JOHN 19:30. “Finished!” translates as “It has been finished” (cf. John 17:4). His work for our salvation is completed, ‘to finish transgression, to make an end of sins, to make reconciliation for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and the prophecy’ (cf. Daniel 9:24). Jesus was still in control, to His very last breath (cf. John 10:18), and now at last “bowed His head” and literally “delivered up the spirit.” Read John 10:11 and Philippians 2:8.
JOHN 19:31-33. The leaders of the Jews now requested of the Roman Governor, because it was the day of preparation before the Passover sabbath, that the legs of the executed men might be broken to smithereens in order to speed up death, and the bodies taken away from their crosses. But when the soldiers came to Jesus, they were surprised to find that He was already dead, and so had no need to break His legs.
JOHN 19:34. Instead, one pierced His side with a spear, but instead of a gush of blood alone, as they might have expected; there was a pouring forth of “blood and water,” medically explained as an efflux of blood clots and serum. In other words, Jesus’ heart was ruptured, broken. Symbolically, ‘a fountain is opened, for sin and uncleanness’ (cf. Zechariah 13:1). John refers to the water and blood elsewhere (cf. 1 John 5:6-8).
JOHN 19:35-37. John bears witness to what he has seen. These are facts of our faith, and he shares them that we might believe (cf. John 20:31). John quotes two more Scriptures in verification of the fact that “a bone of Him shall not be broken” (cf. Numbers 9:12), and “they shall look on Him whom they pierced” (cf. Zechariah 12:10).
JOHN 19:38-42. After the flow of blood and water, two hitherto “secret” disciples (cf. John 7:13) stepped forward: Joseph of Arimathea, and “Nicodemus who first came to Jesus by night” (cf. John 3:1-2). Pilate granted them permission to take custody of the body of Jesus. Nicodemus brought enough spices (cf. Psalm 45:8) for the burial of a king, which is singularly apt. With all due haste on account of the approaching sabbath, the two men “bound” the body, and laid it in an unused tomb in a garden nearby (cf. Isaiah 53:9).
The scene was set for the Resurrection.
