John 19:16-27

John 19:16–27: The Crucifixion of Jesus

We are in the middle of the most significant event in Jesus’ life—Christians would argue the most important even in the history of the world: the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus. He has been arrested, tried, found innocent, and sentenced to death anyway. (See 18:1–24, 18:25–32, 18:33–40, and 19:1–16.)

Passage

In this passage we get to the actual crucifixion—though not to Jesus’ death, which comes in the next passage.

The soldiers have Jesus carry his cross to “the Place of a Skull” (“Golgotha” in Aramaic; verse 17)—no mention is made of Simon carrying Jesus’ cross for him, John elides that detail—and then crucify him along with two others. Again, John doesn’t give much detail on the ones who are crucified alongside Jesus, we need the other Gospels for those details.

Pilate has a “notice” prepared and fastened to the cross—I think this was common practice—which reads, “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.” Because it’s written in Aramaic, Latin, and Greek it’s easily readable by anyone who comes by. The chief priests ask Pilate not to write “the King of the Jews” but that he said he was the King of the Jews, but he answers, “What I have written I have written” (verse 22).

While Jesus is on the cross some soldiers divide up his clothes, including his undergarment, which they “cast lots” for since they don’t want to tear it (think of it like rolling dice). I don’t think this has any spiritual significance, except that the Old Testament Scriptures prophesied that this was going to happen in Psalm 22.

And then Jesus sees his mother, John, and some other folks nearby, and gives some final instructions:

When Jesus 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!” And from that hour the disciple took her to his own home. (verses 26–27)

Thoughts

A lot of this passage is straightforward story telling, giving us the events leading up to Jesus’ death, but once again, I’m confronted with confusion about how I should understand Pilate’s actions/words¹ in the Gospels. In the notice attached to Jesus’ cross he writes that Jesus is “THE KING OF THE JEWS.” The Jewish religious leaders don’t like that, but he answers, “What I have written I have written.”

Is he just trying to provoke them? Is he unhappy with sentencing an innocent man to death, and this is a form of petty revenge against the ones who instigated this? Does he really believe Jesus is the King of the Jews?

And personally, this might be surprising but I kind of think it’s the latter: I think Pilate really thinks Jesus is the King of the Jews. Not in the kind of treasonous way the Jewish religious leaders are accusing him of—I see no hint that Pilate wants to treat Jesus as a political leader of any kind, which really would call for a death sentence—I think he’s kind of closer to the heart of the matter, and seeing Jesus as a religious leader. We saw in the previous passage that Pilate had heard Jesus claimed to be “the Son of God,” and actually became afraid to crucify him.

Do I think Pilate was a Christian? That he came to faith in Jesus? No. I don’t see any indication of that. But you can believe facts about Jesus without having faith in Him, and I think Pilate was starting to understand some of the truth about who Jesus is.

Honestly, I see it as a warning: believing facts about Jesus or about God is not enough. Remember what James said:

You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder! (James 2:19)

You can know all kinds of stuff about God, about Jesus, about Christianity, and still not be a Christian—still not be saved from your sin. I don’t know what Pilate had figured out and what he was still fuzzy about, but I think he knew that there was something special about Jesus—though he crucified him anyway.

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1. I originally wrote, “how I should judge Pilate,” then didn’t feel comfortable with the word “judge” there… ↩︎