CHAPTER 19 – Part I
THE REJECTION OF THE SON OF GOD
"Is not the Cup of Blessing we bless a sharing in the blood of Christ; and is not the bread we break a sharing in the body of Christ? Because the loaf of bread is one, we many though we are, are one body, for we all partake of the one loaf."
1 Corinthians 10:16 [New American translation]
"We had all gone astray like sheep, each taking his own way, and Yahweh brought the acts of rebellion of all of us to bear on him. Ill-treated and afflicted, he never opened his mouth, like a lamb led to the slaughter-house, like a sheep dumb before its shearers he never opened his mouth." Isaiah 53:6-7
Some of the Old Testament prophesies fulfilled in John's Gospel
|
Aspects of Jesus' Death in John's Gospel |
Old Testament Reference |
A result of obedience to the Father – 18:11 |
Psalms 40:8 |
Announced by Christ – 18:32 [3:14] |
Numbers 21:8-9 |
Died in place of His people – 18:14 |
Isaiah 53:4-6 |
Died with evildoers- 19:18 |
Isaiah 53:12 |
Was an innocent victim – 18:39;19:5,7 |
Isaiah 53:9 |
Was crucified – 19:18 |
Psalms 22:16 |
Was buried in a rich man's tomb – 19:38-42 |
Isaiah 53:9 |
Please note: The entire 8-day festival which consisted of the feasts of Passover, Unleavened Bread, and Firstfruits were known either as "Passover" or "Unleavened Bread" for the entire week long period of the festival in the first century [see Josephus's Antiquities of the Jews 14.2.1; 17.9.3 and The Jewish War 5.3.1]. Modern Jews, however, usually refer to the entire week as "The Passover" just as St. John does in his Gospel account.
A review of the events of the night Jesus was arrested:
In chapter 12 verse 1 John had set the timetable of events leading up to the Passover sacrifice on Nisan 14th : "Six days before the Passover, Jesus went to Bethany, where Lazarus was whom he had raised from the dead." Six days later [as the ancients count with no 0 place value] is Thursday and Jesus' crucifixion took place the next day on Friday, Nisan 15th. This account agrees with the Synoptic Gospels and with John's statement in John 19:31 that Jesus' crucifixion took place on a Friday, the "Day of Preparation" for the Sabbath [Matthew 27:62; Mark 15:42; Luke 23:54].
Jesus had arrange that a room be prepared for the Passover meal, and He had sent the Apostles Peter and John to make sure that all the preparations had been made [Matthew 26:17-19; Mark 14:12-16; Luke 22:7-13]. This is not to suggest that they would be responsible for cooking the lamb. The lamb would be sacrificed at the Temple between 3 and 5PM on Nisan 14th and then the women would be taken the body of the lamb back and roasted it for the sacrificial meal, which began at sundown. There were other necessary preparations that needed to be arranged before the Temple sacrificial ceremony, which began at 12 noon. These arrangements included the preparation of the tables and seating, having enough holy water available for the ritual purification, and providing for the wine that was necessary for the four ritual communal cups that would be drunk during the meal. In addition, the room must be inspected to make sure that no leaven was to be found on the premises. Leaven was symbolic of sin and for the 7 days of the Feast of Unleavened Bread all leaven was to be removed from every house in Jerusalem. From this point forward in the Gospels and in Acts of Apostles Peter and John will be paired together. This pairing helps us to identify the "beloved", "the unnamed Apostle," as John Zebedee.
That Thursday at 12 noon Jesus and His disciples would have attending the great Liturgical ceremony at the Temple in Jerusalem [Philo of Alexandria: "..of the Passover, which the Hebrews call pascha, on which the whole people offer sacrifice, beginning at noonday and continuing till evening." Special Laws, II, 27 (145)*]. The great Levitical choirs would sing the Hallel Psalms [113-118] with the congregation repeating the first line of each verse, and then after the sacrifice of the second Tamyid Lamb of the daily sacrifice, the sacrifice of the Passover lambs would began, at about 3PM and would continue until 5PM [Flavius Jospehus: "So these high priests, upon the coming of their feast which is called the Passover, when they slay their sacrifices, from the ninth hour (3PM) till the eleventh (5PM)." The Wars of the Jews, 6.9.3].
After each Passover lamb was sacrificed the blood was collected in cups and poured out on God's holy altar. This sacrifice of the Passover lambs in the Temple is the last legitimate Old Covenant sacrifice. It is the end of the Old Covenant sacrificial system. The next sacrifice will be the only true and pure sacrifice of the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ.
Please note if you are using the Navarre Bible Commentary that on page 228 the commentary incorrectly identifies Friday at 12 noon as the sacrifice of the Passover Lambs. This account does not agree with the Synoptic Gospels which all identify the Passover sacrifice as taking place the day before Jesus' trial and execution. Nor does it agree with the first century historians Philo and Josephus on the hour of the liturgical ceremony at the Temple and the sacrifice of the Passover lambs [see the quote from Philo above*]. For more information see the discussion in chapter 18 on the subject of the identification of the day of the Passover sacrifice.
After the Liturgical ceremony at the Temple, each family group will take its lamb and prepare it for the sacrificial meal that night. Under the law the meal began at sundown, which for the Jews was the beginning of the next day and the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread [although in the first century the entire 8 day feast could be referred to as Passover, as John identifies the festival, or as Unleavened Bread, as the Synoptic Gospel writers identify the festival].
The Sacrificial Meal of the Passover lamb was structured around 4 cups of sacramental red wine shared communally by the faithful assembled for the meal. According to the Law only members of the Covenant Church may attend this sacrificial meal.
1. The meal opened with prayers and the drinking of the first cup called the Cup of Sanctification. This was followed by the first ritual hand washing and the eating of the first dipping of the bitter herbs.
2. The second cup is the Cup of Forgiveness, which is poured out but not passed. Then comes the four ritual questions, the story of the first Passover, and the singing of Palms 113 before this cup is blessed, passed, and consumed.
3. After the drinking of the second cup comes the second ritual hand washing followed by the eating of the unleavened bread, bitter herb, fruit mixture, and the lamb. The lamb is to be completely consumed and afterward no more food is to be eaten. Hands are washed a third time and then the most important cup of the meal, the Cup of Blessing is poured, blessed and passed communally.
4. At the conclusion of the meal the 4th cup it poured out. It is the Cup of Acceptance, which seals and unites those present to Yahweh through the Passover Sacrifice. The assembly sings the remainder of the Hallel Psalms 114-118, the faithful drink the 4th cup and the host cries out "Teltelesti" – "It is finished [fulfilled]".
(vs14) "When the time came he took his place at table, and the apostles with him. And he said to them.
(vs 15) 'I have ardently long to eat this Passover with you before I suffer;
(vs 16) because, I tell you, I shall not eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.' (vs 17) Then, taking a cup, he gave thanks and said, 'Take this and share it among you because from now on,
(vs 18) I tell you, I shall never again drink wine until the kingdom of God comes.'
(vs 19) Then he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, 'This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me.
(vs 20) He did the same with the cup after supper, and said, 'This cup is the New Covenant in my blood poured out for you."
Question: What connection do you see between what Jesus said about the cup of His blood in verse 20 and the blood of the sacrificed lambs at the Temple that afternoon?
Answer: The connection is between the sacrifice of the Passover lambs and the "pouring out" of the cups of the blood of the lambs at the Temple and Jesus' words concerning His sacrifice and the "pouring out" of His blood for us in the Eucharistic cup of the New Covenant. The sacrifice of Eucharist is a true, unbloody sacrifice.
Question: In this passage from Luke's Gospel how many cups of wine are mentioned?
Answer: Two cups in verses 17 and 20. Luke is the only Gospel writer to mention two cups. The first cup Luke mentions is probably the Cup of Forgiveness and the second, the Cup of His precious blood, is the Cup of Blessing: Paul writes in 1 Corinthians "Is not the Cup of Blessing we bless a sharing in the blood of Christ; and is not the bread we break a sharing in the body of Christ? Because the loaf of bread is one, we many though we are, are one body, for we all partake of the one loaf." 1 Corinthians 10:16 [New American translation]
Question: What statement does Jesus make in verse 18 after the passing of the cup which most scholars assume is the Cup of Forgiveness and before the passing of the third cup, the Cup of Blessing? What is the significance of this statement?
Answer: He declares that He will never again drink wine until the kingdom of God comes. It is significant that He makes this statement before He passes the Cup of Blessing. Luke wants us to understand that the Cup of Blessing is no longer wine but is the very blood of Jesus the Lamb of God.
In the Synoptic Gospels this statement comes after the passing of His precious blood. Since St. John does not comment on this difference, as he does not throughout his Gospel when he thinks the other Gospels have adequately related an event, it is likely that Jesus made this declaration twice: before and after passing the Cup of His precious blood. This statement is significant because it means Jesus could not have taken the 4th Cup, the Cup of Acceptance, which must be drunk in order to close the sacrificial meal. Each of the Synoptic Gospels record that the Psalms were sung and then the assembly left for the Mount of Olives without officially ending the Passover meal by consuming the 4th Cup and without the host closing the meal with the ritual statement "It is finished" [fulfilled].
Question: Why is it significant that the Passover meal had not ended and what is the connection to Jesus' sacrifice? Hint: what happened when Jesus separated His body from His blood in what appeared to be bread and wine?
Answer: The separation of the body from its blood is the beginning of death. Jesus did not close the Passover meal as an end of the Old Covenant sacrificial system because His death would be the end of one Covenant and the beginning of the New Covenant "in His blood", which He promised in verse 20 of Luke 22.
The question is "Where does Jesus sacrifice begin and what is the connection between His sacrifice and the Passover. If Jesus' death is the fulfillment of the Passover sacrifice then His Passion must begin in the Upper Room when He says "This is My Body and this cup is the Blood of the New and Everlasting Covenant". When body and blood are separated death begins! Jesus' Eucharistic Sacrifice as the true Passover Lamb of the New Covenant begins in the Upper Room but it is not "finished" there! That is why Jesus would not have uttered the closing words of the Sacrificial Meal "Teltelestai"'"It is finished!" The Passover can't be finished until the true sacrifice is fulfilled.
The true sacrifice of this feast is what Jesus promised in John chapter 6 in the Bread of Life Discourse when He promised "Anyone who does eat my flesh and drink my blood has eternal life, and I shall raise that person up on the last day. For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood lives in me and I live in that person." [6:54-56].
Question: What was the purpose of the sacrifice of animals in the Old Covenant? Was it primarily the death of the animal or is there something more? Hint: see Leviticus 17:11 and Psalms 51:16-17.
Answer: Leviticus 17:11 is the reason for animal sacrifice: "For the life of the creature is in the blood, and I have given it to you for performing the rite of expiation on the altar for your lives, for blood is what expiates for a life." But in Psalms 51 the Holy Spirit inspired writer says: "Sacrifice gives you no pleasure, burnt offering you do not desire. Sacrifice to God is a broken spirit, a broken, contrite heart you never scorn." The blood of the sacrifice as atonement for sin is only the first step. The desired result of sacrifice is the restoration of communion with God. It is the Covenantal union...the restoration of the family bond -- the child of God reunited with God the Father-- this is the desired result. This is the desired result of the Passover sacrifice and sacrificial meal in particular. The sacrifice was the first step but the desire was the mystical bond with God through the eating of the sacrifice. Christ is the Passover Lamb, slain for our sins, fulfilling the Old Covenant Passover. At the first Passover in Egypt the lamb was slain, the blood was "poured out" into the threshold, the blood was smeared on the door with a hyssop branch, and then they ate the lamb! It was not enough to make the sacrifice'the lamb had to be eaten [Exodus 12:7-10]. It isn't enough for Jesus to die a sacrificial death'He must be consumed if He is the true Lamb of the Passover of the New Covenant people! We must feast on the flesh of Jesus, the Bread of Life, hidden under the form and appearance of unleavened bread, which becomes for us nothing less the Jesus the Christ, the true Lamb of the New Covenant Passover who provides for us, through His sacrificial death, a true union with the Trinity in the mystical bond of the New Covenant family of God. This is what St Paul means when he writes in 1 Corinthians 5:7 "For our Passover has been sacrificed, that is, Christ; let us keep the feast...". Let us feast on the flesh and blood of Christ, the Lamb of God!
But what about that 4th Cup that Jesus did not take in the Upper Room? For the Host of the sacrificial meal to not take the last cup and to not make the final pronouncement would be like a priest celebrating Mass and forgetting communion. Jewish scholars rightly point out if there was no 4th cup it couldn't have been the Passover meal. But this 4th cup was a cup He announced He could not take, as he said, until "I come into My Kingdom" [Matthew 26:29; Mark 14:25; and Luke 22:18]. It is a cup He cannot take until the Sacrifice is complete. But there is another cup that Jesus will take.--a symbolic cup that He accepts in the Garden of Gethsemane in His "Prayer of Agony."
Question: What prayer does Jesus make three times in the Garden of Gethsemane after the Last Supper? Hint: see Matthew 26: 39, 42, and 44
Answer: In the garden at Gethsemane Jesus prayed three times: "My Father, [...] if it is possible, let this cup pass me by. Nevertheless, let it be as you, not I, would have it."
In the books of the Old Testament Prophets God's holy Prophets use four reoccurring image clusters to express Yahweh's messages of judgment and renewal. The drinking of wine is one of these image clusters that express the joy of the drinking of wine as the bond of the Covenant relationship. When the Covenant people rebel against God and misuse His blessings, the prophets express this rebellion in images of becoming drunk with wine. This rebellion imagery is followed by judgment and the drinking of the "Cup of Yahweh's Wrath", and finally the image of repentance and restoration which is the Covenant people rejoicing in the best "New Wine" of the Covenant. The cup that Jesus sorrowed over in the garden is the "Cup of God's Wrath" which we all should drink, judged dead in our sins, but which Jesus will drink for our justification through His Passion and sacrificial death.
The true Passover sacrifice to redeem God's people from slavery to sin began in the Upper Room but it will end on the Cross.
As is John's practice, the "Prayer of Agony" in the garden and Jesus' trial before the Sanhedrin, covered in the Synoptic Gospels, are not repeated in the 4th Gospel .
Please read John 19:1-11 The Trial of Jesus before Pilate continues:
Verses 1-3 "Pilate then had Jesus taken away and scourged; and after this, the soldiers twisted some thorns into a crown and put it on his head and dressed him in a purple robe. They kept coming up to him and saying, 'Hail, king of the Jews!' and slapping him in the face."
Pilate orders his soldiers to have Jesus scourged in the apparent hope that this sufficiently terrible punishment would satisfy the Chief priests and Pharisees [see Luke 23:16].
The Romans had three forms of bodily punishment. These are associated with beatings with fists, canes or whips. The first is known as fustigatio or beating with fists, the second as flagellatio or flogging, and the third as verberatio or scourging; all in ascending gradation. The most fearsome whip was the flagrum that was used in gladiatorial combats as well as an instrument of punishment. It was a whip with thongs tipped with dumb-bell shaped metal pellets that ripped and shredded flesh. Beating was used as a form of corrective punishment in itself but more severe punishment was a part of the sentence for one condemned for a capital offence [Livy, History of Rome, xxxi,29]. The figure of the man on the Shroud of Turin had been beaten all over his body by a Roman flagrum.
Eusebius, Bishop of Caesarea wrote about scourging in his letter to the Church in Smyrna. He wrote that it was a punishment that was inflicted on those to be executed which produced terrible results: "veins were laid bare, and [...]the very muscles, sinews, and bowels of the victim were opened to exposure." [Epistle of the Church in Smyrna]. This was the kind of torture our Savior endured before He even reached the cross!
The beating and the crown of thorns were historical acts that had been prophesized by the Old Testament prophets as well as by Jesus Himself. The prophet Isaiah wrote in his prophecies of the Suffering Servant of Yahweh:
· "I have offered my back to those who struck me, my cheeks to those who plucked my beard; I have not turned my face away from insult and spitting." [Isaiah 50:6'the Greek Septuagint translates this passage as "I gave my cheeks to be slapped..."]
· "As many people were aghast at him'he was so inhumanly disfigured that he no longer looked like a man..." [Isaiah 52:14}
· "He was despised, the lowest of men, a man of sorrows, familiar with suffering, one from whom, as it were, we averted our gaze, despised, for whom he had no regard. Yet ours were the sufferings he was bearing, ours the sorrows he was carrying, while we thought of him as someone being punished and struck with affliction by God; whereas he was being wounded for our rebellions, crushed because of our guilt; the punishment reconciling us fell on him, and we have been healed by his bruises." 53:4-5
And Jesus had prophesized His Passion in Matthew 20:17-19 "Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, and on the road he took the Twelve aside by themselves and said to them, 'Look, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of man is about to be handed over to the chief priests and scribes. They will condemn him to death and will hand him over to the gentiles to be mocked and scourged and crucified; and on the third day he will be raised up again.'" [Also see Luke 18:32].
The Roman soldiers made a "crown" – a sign of "kingship", to mock the man who claimed to be "King of the Jews". They made it with thorns. The declaration of the soldiers that "This, then, is the King of the Jews!" is verbally identical in the Greek with Matthew 27:28. The soldiers were probably imitating the crown of laurel leaves worn by the Roman Emperor, but thorns in the Old Testament were figuratively used to describe the results of sin. In Genesis 3:18 when man fell from grace God cursed the soil of the land and said "Accursed be the soil because of you! Painfully will you get your food from it as long as you live. It will yield you brambles [thorns] and thistles,..." , and in Hosea 10:8 "...thorns and thistles will grow over their altars. They will say to the mountains, 'Cover us!' and to the hills, 'Fall on us!" Jesus, in His suffering, took upon Himself the curses of the Covenant on our behalf [for more on the Covenant curses see Deuteronomy 28:15-46].
The Roman soldiers completed this mock coronation with a "purple robe", another sign of kingship and cried out "Ave" as they would to Caesar, as they slapped Jesus in the face.
Question: John wants to draw our attention to the irony behind these events. What is it that is so ironic about this treatment Jesus received from the gentile Romans who not only acknowledge the Roman Caesar as their king but also worship him as a god?
Answer: Despite this tragic parody of the Romans the truth is that only Jesus of Nazareth is the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords!
Verses 4-5 "Pilate came outside again and said to them, 'Look, I am going to bring him out to you to let you see that I find no case against him.'" Jesus came out wearing he crown of thorns and the purple robe."
Pilate had gone into the Praetorium to order the scourging and now he comes out to make another appeal to the Jews to let the scourging be the end of Jesus' punishment. Pilate shows a strange reluctance to condemn Jesus, and for a second time Pilate declares that he "finds no case" against Jesus. Some Biblical scholars find this reluctance surprising when considering what contemporary historians wrote about Pilate. According to the historical record Pontius Pilate's contempt for the Jewish community engendered protest, unrest and resentment. The Jewish historian and theologian Philo of Alexandria described Pilate as "a man of inflexible disposition, and very merciless as well as very obstinate" [On the Embassy to Gaius, 38.301]. One of his first acts in office was to order the Roman garrison to enter the city of Jerusalem with their military standards bearing the image of the Emperor Tiberius. This was an inflammatory act. Previous Roman governors had ordered these images removed to avoid offending the devout Jewish population who viewed such images of the Roman Emperor as pagan idolatry. Pilate's act evoked a vehement protest that reached all the way to the ears of the Roman Emperor and he eventually was forced to back down and remove the images from the Holy City [Antiquities of the Jews 18.3.1].
The Jewish historian Josephus also reported that the excessive force which Pilate used to quell riots often resulted in great loss of life [Antiquities of the Jews 18.3.2]. The Gospel of Luke 13:1 supports Josephus' claim by mentioning certain Galileans "whose blood Pilate mingled with their sacrifices". It was Pilate's job to keep peace and order. Eventually his failure to accomplish this task would lead to his removal from office. Pilate's brutal dispersion of a crowd of Samaritan pilgrims at Mount Gerizim would finally bring about his downfall when the Samaritan leaders protested to the Roman legate in Syria, Pilate's superior, who ordered Pilate to return to Rome to answer for his conduct in 36AD [Antiquities of the Jews 18.4.1-2].
Perhaps Pilate's reluctance was from an unwillingness to cooperate with the Jewish authorities, or perhaps it was because Pilate had spoken with his wife who told him of a dream she had about this innocent man, or perhaps it was because the heart of a cold and hard Roman had been moved in the presence of God.
It cannot be overlooked that Pilate's wife must have had some influence. In Matthew 27:19 we are told "Now as he was seated in the chair of judgment, his wife sent him a message, 'Have nothing to do with that upright man; I have been extremely upset today by a dream that I had about him.'" Tradition has given her the name Procula Claudia. A non-canonical apocryphal Gospel, the Gospel of Nicodemus, describes her as a convert to Judaism and Greek Orthodox Catholics as well as Coptic Christians place her [and Pilate] in their Catalogue of the Saints. Perhaps Procula Claudia had been a Jewish convert, like the wife of the previous Roman governor, Saturninus [Antiquities of the Jews, 18.3.5], and it is also not impossible that she had not only known of Jesus but had heard Him preach. In any event, pagan Romans were extremely superstitious and the fact that his wife had a dream about this man could have made Pilate reluctant to condemn Him.
Bishop Eusebius [quoting the 2nd century priest, apologist and Roman lawyer, Tertullian], in his 4th century Church History writes that both Pilate and his wife became converts to Christianity. Eusebius reports that Pilate made a full report of Jesus' resurrection to the Emperor Tiberius, who referred the matter to the Roman Senate with a recommendation that Jesus of Nazareth be declared a god, but the Senate rejected the proposal. Modern scholars scoff at this notation in Eusebius' history, however, the historical record supports that there was no persecution of Christians during the Emperor Tiberius' reign. That was not the case under the reign of his successor and Eusebius reports that Pilate was forced to commit suicide because of his Christian faith by the Roman Emperor Caligula . [see Eusebius, History of the Church 2.21-27]
Verses 6-7 "Pilate said, 'Here is the man'. When they saw him, the chief priests and the guards shouted, 'Crucify him! Crucify him!' Pilate said, 'Take him yourselves and crucify him: I find no case against him.' The Jews replied, 'We have a Law, and according to that Law he ought to be put to death, because he has claimed to be Son of God.'"
Pilate calls out "Ecce homo" by which he meant, "See the poor fellow!" Scholars tell us this is a classical expression of pity.
Question: What is Pilate's motive in exhibiting Jesus in this way before the Jewish authorities? What is the result?
Answer: He is making at attempt to move the priests and Pharisees to compassion by exhibiting a beaten, disfigured, and disgraced Jesus to them. Pilate's words that he finds Jesus without guilt only enflames the anger of the Jewish authorities who call for Jesus' crucifixion...a Roman death penalty.
Question: Why does Pilate tell them to "Take him yourselves and crucify him" when he knows the Sanhedrin does not have that power? The Jewish historian Flavius Josephus reports in Antiquities of the Jews that from the time the Romans took control of Judea, only Rome had the power to execute offenders of the Law.
Answer: Most historians and Biblical scholars believe Pilate, in his frustration, is taunting the Jewish authorities as he did previously in 18:31, although he now adds "and crucify him". Pilate knows that the Sanhedrin cannot legally do this.
Question: How many times has Pilate pronounced Jesus "not guilty"?
Answer: This is the third time Pilate has pronounced that he can find no just cause for a death sentence to be imposed on this man [see 18:38 and 19:4]. John, like Luke [see 23:4, 14, & 22] is careful to record that Pilate had confirmed Jesus' innocence three different times during the trial.
Question: Now the chief priests give an unexpected response to Pilate's taunt. For the first time they actually lay out the charge against Jesus. What do they tell Pilate?
Answer: They tell Pilate that Jesus has blasphemed by claiming to be the Son of God and that according to Jewish law Jesus must be put to death. It was the Roman practice to respect the customs and laws of their conquered provinces and the Jewish authorities remind Pilate of this obligation on his part as Rome's representative.
Question: What is ironic about the call of the priests for strict observation of Jewish law? Hint: see Leviticus 24:16, Deuteronomy 17:7 and Mark 14:56.
Answer: They are unable to legally convict Jesus according to the Jewish law. First, the Jewish authorities did not call a legal assembly of the Sanhedrin. Next, even though Jesus is condemned by the Sanhedrin for blasphemy by claiming to be the Son of God [also see John 8:53 & 10:36], Leviticus 24:16 directs that a blasphemer should be stoned to death. But the chief priests knew this Law of the Sinai Covenant could not be enacted in Jesus' case because the witnesses against the accused must agree and according to the Law those who bore witness against the accused must cast the first stone [Deuteronomy 17:7]. The witnesses against Jesus did not agree [Mark 14:56], and therefore, there were no witnesses to cast the first stone. The Sanhedrin, unable to convict Jesus under Jewish law, is content to let that responsibility lie with Pilate.
Verses 8-11 "When Pilate heard them say this his fears increased. Re-entering the Praetorium, he said to Jesus, 'Where do you come from?' But Jesus made no answer. Pilate then said to him, 'Are you refusing to speak to me? Surely you know I have power to release you and I have power to crucify you?' Jesus replied, 'You would have no power over me at all if it had not been given you from above; that is why the one who handed me over to you has the greater guilt.'"
Question: When Pilate heard the Jewish authorities call for Jesus' crucifixion why did his "fears" increase? What has caused Pilate to be afraid?
Answer: The cause of Pilate's fear is not clear.
¨ It could be his superstitious nature. To a Hellenistic cultural but Roman political mind the title of "God's Son" would indicate a divine man with supernatural powers. Certainly Pilate has heard of the miracles Jesus has been working these past 3 years and his wife has already indicated that this man has some power over her dreams; even St John Chrysostom, a Bishop and a Roman citizen of the 4th century, comments that "..his wife's dream should have been sufficient to terrify him." [Homilies on the Gospel of St John, LXXXV.1]
¨ Or, perhaps the root of his fear is political. The only "Son of god" a Roman can acknowledge is the current Caesar. If he allows another to carry that title this breach could allow his enemies to report his conduct to Rome.
¨ It is also possible he fears that in refusing to honor the Jewish authority's request to order the death of a man he finds innocent but who the Jews find guilty of blasphemy under Jewish Law that Pilate is violating respect for the local religious laws and practices which is protected under the Roman provincial justice system.
¨ And finally, it is possible that, having now realized that they are determined to obtain Jesus' death that Pilate has become afraid that now he can not be successful in his plan to prevent the death of Jesus by releasing Barabbas.
Re-entering the Pratertorium for the 3rd time Pilate questions Jesus.
Question: What did Pilate mean when he asked Jesus where He came from? Hint: see John 1:11-13
Answer: Some would say Pilate could simply be asking, "Where is your hometown," but most Biblical scholars indicate that the Greek text suggests Pilate is instead asking "What is the secret of your origin? Who are you really?" This is the question that has already been asked 6 times in John's Gospel. The question was first asked by the members of the wedding party at Cana in 2:9, then by the Samaritan woman in 4:11, followed the Apostles and the multitude in 6:5, and three different times by the Jewish leaders in 7:27f, in 8:14, and in 9:29. Now Pilate is faced with the mystery of Jesus' origin, which is the theme of John's entire Gospel! [see John 1:11-13 "He came to his own and his own people did not accept him. But to those who did accept him he gave power to become children of God, to those who believed in his name who were born not from human stock or human desire or human will but from God himself."]
Question: Jesus' silence before Pilate and before Herod Antipas in Luke 23:8-12 is the fulfillment of what Old Testament prophecy?
Answer: Isaiah 53:7 "...he never opened his mouth, like a lamb led to the slaughter-house, like a sheep dumb before its shearers, he never opened his mouth."
Jesus' demeanor of complete control and presence of mind must have unnerved this Roman governor so used to men acting subservient or cringing in fear in his presence because, as he reminded Jesus, he has the power over life and death. It has been suggested by some scholars that Jesus simple forgot to take the 4th cup of the Passover meal because He was so unnerved by what He must face, but His actions before Pilate do not indicate anything other than a Jesus who is completely in control of His own destiny.
Question: When Pilate tries to tell Jesus that He is completely in his power what is Jesus' reply and of whom is He speaking?
Answer: Jesus tells Pilate he [Pilate] has no real power. Jesus' power comes "from above"; the word in the Greek is anothen. It is the same word Jesus used in speaking of re-birth with Nicodemus in chapter 3. Jesus tells Pilate that no one can take anything from Him unless it is willed from heaven. Any power over Jesus must come from God. Speaking on this theme in Acts 4:27-28 St. Peter treats Pontius Pilate as a tool of God in the unfolding of the divine plan. In speaking of His betrayal Jesus uses the present tense which most scholars suggest indicates that Jesus is not speaking specifically about Judas but about the Jewish authorities who were presently in the act of bringing about His death. The singular "the one who", literally "he who" is probably a reference to the High Priest Caiaphas who serves as the leader and the chief representative of the Jewish authorities.
Please read verses 12-16: Jesus is condemned to be crucified
Verse 12 "From that moment Pilate was anxious to set him free, but the Jews shouted, 'If you set him free you are no friend of Caesar's; anyone who makes himself king is defying Caesar.'"
Pilate exits the Praetorium again. Jesus' words had a profound impact on the Roman administrator and he is determined to release the man he has already pronounced innocent. The Greek word expressing Pilate's desire to release Jesus can be translated as "was anxious", or "was eager" or "was striving". In Acts of Apostles 3:13 St. Peter comments on Pilate's intentions when he says to the Jewish crowds that it was "...Jesus whom you handed over and then disowned in the presence of Pilate after he had given his verdict to release him."
Question: But with what threat does the Jewish authority counter Pilate's desire to free Jesus?
Answer: They threaten Pilate with Caesar's judgment. The term "friend of Caesar" was an honorific title bestowed in recognition of service to the Empire but it is not clear that is the meaning here. This is probably the year 30AD and as an official title there is little evidence found for it before the time of the Roman Emperor Vespasian who ruled from 69-79AD. There is some evidence of it as an unofficial title designation for those who found favor with the Emperor [see Josephus Antiquities 12.7.3]. In any event, the implication is that Pilate will not be counted as a "friend of Caesar" if he releases a man who under Roman law of is guilty of claiming Caesar's titles of King and Son of God. In the mind of the emperor Tiberius, he is the King of the Jews, and he is the son of god. This was no empty threat and Pilate knew it. He could not afford to have it reported to the emperor that he had acquitted a man who was accused of claiming the title of King of the Jews, an act of treason against the Empire.
Verses 13 "Hearing these words, Pilate had Jesus brought out, and seated him on the chair of judgment at a place called the Pavement, in Hebrew Gabbatha. It was the Day of Preparation, about the sixth hour."
Pilate seats Jesus on the judgment seat at the place John identifies by two names: Lithostrotos in Greek meaning "the pavement" [a name also used in the Septuagint in 2 Chronicles 7:3 for the pavement of Solomon's temple] and the Aramaic name Gabbatha, meaning mound or high place, which may not refer to the "pavement" area at all but in general to the location of the judgment seat on the height of the Antonia fortress which overlooked the Temple area.
"It was the Day of Preparation...." The Greek text reads: on de paraskeue tou pascha = "now it was the preparation of the Passover." This is the third passage in John's Gospel that arouses so much controversy. The first issue is what does John mean by "The Day of Preparation" or "preparation of the Passover"? Taken out of context some scholars understand this clause to mean that it was the day Jews prepared for the Passover sacrifice. Some scholars believe John finds the other three Synoptic Gospels in error when they identify the Passover sacrifice as occurring the day before Jesus' death. They maintain that John is identifying the day of Jesus' crucifixion as the "Day of Preparation" for the Sacrifice of the lambs at the Temple that very day. But the reference to "the Passover" could just as easily mean the week-long festival since sacrifices were offered each day for 7 days [see the discussion in chapter 18 on verse 28].
However, John gives a clear definition of this term paraskeue = "preparation" in verse 31 when he writes: "It was the Day of Preparation (paraskeue), and to avoid the bodies remaining on the cross during the Sabbath...." Clearly John is referring to the "Day of Preparation" as the Friday of Passover Week, the day before the Saturday Holy Sabbath, when special preparation must be made, and in this case, a special concern for the Jews who desire Jesus' death because the execution must be completed before the Sabbath begins at sundown.
The Synoptic Gospels also identify Friday, the day of Jesus crucifixion as "Preparation Day" in Matthew 26:62; Mark 15:42; and Luke 23:54, meaning preparation for the Sabbath. John uses the term "the Day of Preparation" or "Preparation Day" three times in John 19:14; 31;and 42. In John 31 and 42 he identifies this day as the day before the Sabbath [Saturday]. Then too, if it was "the day of preparation" for the Sacrifice of the Passover Lambs it would have to be the day before the day of the sacrifice which would mean the lambs would be sacrificed on Saturday! A "day of preparation" always proceeds the special day by 24 hours! That is why Friday is the "day of preparation" for the Sabbath on Saturday. This interpretation is supported by the fact that in every other occurrence of the word paraskeue in the New Testament [including the two other uses in John] the term unambiguously means the day before the Sabbath!
"...about the sixth hour." The sixth hour in Hebrew time is 12 noon [please see the chart on the Tamyid Daily Sacrifice]. If John is identifying Jesus' time before Pilate as "about the 6th hour" Hebrew time it would be sometime between 12noon and 1PM. This time does not agree with the Synoptic Gospels [please see the chart "The Harmony of the Gospels: the Crucifixion" in the resource section]. All three of the Synoptic Gospels are in agreement:
¨ Mark 15:25 "They crucified him, and shared out his clothing, casting lots to decide what each should get. It was the third hour when they crucified him." The third hour Hebrew time is 9AM, the time of the morning sacrifice.
Mark continues:
¨ Mark 15:33 "When the sixth hour came there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour. And at the ninth hour Jesus cried out.." The 6th hour Hebrew time is 12 noon and the 9th hour is 3PM. These times correspond to the second lamb of the daily sacrifice being tied to the altar and then sacrificed at 3PM
¨ Matthew 27:45-46 "From the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour. And about the ninth hour, Jesus cried out in a loud voice..." 6th hour = 12 noon; 9th hour = 3PM
¨ Luke 23:44 "It was now about the sixth hour and the sun's light failed, so that darkness came over the whole land until the ninth hour."
According to tradition, and modern scholarship, the fourth Gospel was written later in the first century. According to tradition St. John the Apostle wrote his Gospel account when he was the Bishop of the powerful city of Ephesus in Asia Minor. Ephesus was the 3rd most powerful and influential city in the Roman Empire after Rome and Alexandria, Egypt. It was a city with a large Roman population. It was a city dedicated to the worship of the Roman Emperor. John's church at this time was already predominately gentile. Why would the Bishop of a mostly gentile Roman culture city use Hebrew time? Why wouldn't he use Roman time? The Romans began their day at 12 midnight [Pliny the Elder, Natural History 2.79.188. See quotation in "Resources" #9 at the end of this lesson]. As a matter of fact, we keep Roman time! If Jesus is first with Pilate some time around 6AM Roman time [assuming sunrise is about 5:30AM] then John's account agrees perfectly with the Synoptic Gospels and there is more than enough time for Jesus to walk the "Way of Sorrows" and to reach Golgotha by 9AM which is the time of crucifixion according to Mark 15:25. [Actually Mark and John's account uses the Greek word "proi" for the time that the Sanhedrinists took Jesus to Pilate. The signal of "cockcrow" is at 3AM and then "Proi" is the name of the 4th watch, which is from 3AM to dawn].
There are three more pieces of evidence that may support John's reference to Roman time:
1. In verses 20-22 John tells us the plaque that Pilate had written to identify Jesus as the "King of the Jews" was written in three languages: Hebrew, Latin and Greek [verse 20]. It is significant that it is only John who includes the information that there was a Latin inscription. It was the familiar INRI that we see above the crucifixes in our churches that would have been the Latin transcription: Iesus Nazarenus Rex Iudaeorum.
2. Then too, in John 1:39 it is recorded that John the Baptist's two disciples "stayed with him [Jesus] that day. It was about the tenth hour." If John was using Hebrew time they only stayed with Jesus from 4PM [the 10th hour Hebrew time] until the end of the day at sundown. At sundown, approximately 6PM, the next day began which means the disciples only stayed with Jesus about 2 hours. But if John was using Roman time they stayed with Jesus from 10 in the morning all that day until sundown. 10AM Roman time fits the text far better than 4PM Hebrew time.
3. The third argument supporting Roman time concerns the solar eclipse. While John does not repeat the Synoptic Gospel's testimony that an eclipse occurred and the sky was dark from the 6th hour until the ninth hour, which in Hebrew time = 12 noon to 3PM [see Matthew 27:45; Mark 15:33; and Luke 23:44], the writings of the Church Fathers and Church tradition has always supported this event. Mark even records in his Gospel that "When the sixth hour came there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour." If John was using Hebrew time and Jesus is with Pilate and the Jewish crowd at 12 noon and an eclipse suddenly occurred would the superstitious Romans and Jews have continued with His execution or would they have withdrawn in fear? After all, this man claimed to be the Son of God; wouldn't such a phenomena, at a time of the month when a natural eclipse was unheard of [eclipses only occur at the new moon not during the full moon and there was a full moon on the 14th the day before], have completely unnerved the entire assembly? There will be more information on this phenomena later in the lesson.
The final point is this: if you reject the possibility that John was using Roman time then wouldn't it be John's Gospel that is in error by setting the Crucifixion at 12 noon instead of Mark and the other the Synoptic Gospels which identify the Crucifixion as occurring earlier? After all, the 3 Synoptic Gospels are all in agreement in stating that Jesus had already been on the cross for some time by 12 noon. Mark's Gospel records that Jesus was on the cross 3 hours by 12 noon. All 3 Synoptic Gospels were written within a decade'and not later than two decades, after Jesus' Resurrection; but John's Gospel, at the earliest, was written either sometime just prior to 70 AD [theory of scholars favoring an early date], 40 years after the Resurrection, and not later than 100AD [scholars favoring a later date], which would be70 years after the Resurrection. It seems more reasonable to assume that the accounts written closed to the historical event would be more accurate. But, if you believe that the Gospels do not contradict each other and that there is no error in Sacred Scripture then that John is using Roman time is the only possibility that unites the testimony of all four Gospel accounts.
There is also another reason John may have mentioned that it is now "about the 6th hour". You may recall that he told us in 12:1 that it was "6 days before the Passover". John may be drawing our attention to the symbolic nature of the number 6. When I suggested this theory to a friend he warned me to be careful about "reading too much symbolism into Scripture". But we fail to appreciate that these are people who saw symbolism in everything! All ancient people were very attuned to symbolism in their daily lives'all primitive societies in this century are also very conscious of symbolic phenomena: an eclipse signals the death of an person of importance'a new star the birth of a king! This is before the age of the Industrial Revolution –before the age when science provided answers to how the universe worked and gave probable explanations for so many mysteries of life. Numbers were very important to ancient peoples. For the Hebrews every number had a symbolic meaning.
Question: Why might John want us to think about the symbolic nature of the number 6? Hint: see Genesis 1:27-31
Answer: Six was the number of man. It was on the 6th day of Creation that man was created.
Question: If in Creation, the 7th day is the Sabbath, Saturday, what day was the 6th day and what is the connection to John 19:14?
Answer: The 6th day is Friday and Jesus is going to die for the sins of man [symbolized by the number 6] on the 6th day of the week. [see the document "The Significance of Numbers in Scripture" in the charts and resources section], by suffering 6 hours on the cross [another controversy we will address in the next lesson].
Verses 14-16 " 'Here is your king,' said Pilate to the Jews. But they shouted, Away with him, away with him, crucify him.' Pilate said, 'Shall I crucify your king?' The chief priests answered, 'We have no king except Caesar.' So at that Pilate handed him over to them to be crucified."
Question: How does Pilate taunt the Jewish leaders one last time?
Answer: By asking, "shall I crucify your king?"
Question: What do the Jewish leaders call out to Pilate and what is the horrible implication of their reply?
Answer: In the Sinai Covenant Yahweh set Israel aside to be a holy nation who would worship Him as their Only God and their true King. In the Old Testament Yahweh is Israel's true King [see Deuteronomy 33:5; Numbers 23:21; 1Kings 22:19; Isaiah 6:5], but when the people of Israel wanted to copy the neighboring peoples and asked the prophet Samuel for a king God allowed Israel to have a human king who, like David, was anointed to rule as His representative. Now they shout out that they have no King, and by inference, no god, except the Roman Emperor Tiberius Caesar who is worshiped as a god by the Roman people. This statement is a major breach of the Covenant! It is a violation of the first and third commandments! [See Exodus 20:3, 5]. They have rejected the easy "yoke" of Christ [see Matthew 11:30] and seek to bring down the full weight of Rome, in the form of a cross, on to the body of the Messiah. They have rejected God Himself in favor of a murderer named Barabbas who is a false "son of the father" and a pagan Roman who claims to be a god.
St. John Chrysostom writes that in this rejection of the Messiah the people who stubbornly refused to come into the New Covenant by choosing Rome over Christ pronounced their own judgment: "They themselves submitted to the punishment; therefore, the Lord handed them over. Thus, because they unanimously rejected God's government, the Lord let them be brought down through their own condemnation: for, rejecting the dominion of Christ, they brought upon themselves that of Caesar." [St John Chrysostom, Homilies on the Gospel of St. John, 83].
In 70AD the Roman army would destroy Judea, burn down the city of Jerusalem and the Temple, and sell the survivors into slavery.
"So at that Pilate handed him over to them to be crucified."
It is important to remember that the Jews collectively are not responsible for Jesus' death. No human agency had power over Jesus. This is God's plan. The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches: "The Jews are not collectively responsible for Jesus' death: "The historical complexity of Jesus' trial is apparent in the Gospel accounts. The personal sin of the participants (Judas, the Sanhedrin, Pilate) is known to God alone. Hence we cannot lay responsibility for the trial on the Jews in Jerusalem as a whole, despite the outcry of a manipulated crowd and the global reproaches contained in the apostles' calls to conversion after Pentecost. Jesus himself, in forgiving them on the cross, and Peter in following suit, both accept 'the ignorance' of the Jews of Jerusalem and even their leaders. Still less can we extend responsibility to other Jews of different times and places, based merely on the crowd's cry: "His blood be on us and on our children!" a formula for ratifying a judicial sentence. As the Church declared at the Second Vatican Council: 'Neither all Jews indiscriminately at that time, nor Jews today, can be charged with the crimes committed during his Passion.... The Jews should not be spoken of as rejected or accursed as if this followed from Holy Scripture.' All sinners were the authors of Christ's Passion." CCC# 597
Resources:
1. Antiquities of the Jews, Josephus
2. The Jewish War, Josephus
3. The Anchor Bible Commentary – The Gospel According to John
4. The International Critical Commentary – St. John
5. The Navarre Bible Commentary – St. John
6. The Gospel of Nicodemus
7. The Works of Philo
8. Church History, Bishop Eusebius
9. Natural History, Pliny the Elder: "The Babylonians count that period between 2 sunrises, the Athenians that between 2 sunsets, the Umbrians from midday to midday, the common people everywhere from dawn to dark, the Roman priests and the authorities who fixed the official day, and also the Egyptians and Hipparchus, the period from midnight to midnight." 2.79.188 [Pliny the Elder, Roman statesman and naturalist 23-79AD].
10. The Historically Reliability of John's Gospel
11. Homilies on the Gospel of St John, St. John Chrysostom [The Post-Nicene Fathers volume 14]
12. The Bible Review, volume XIX, number 6, December 2003, "How Pilate Became a Saint" by Dr. Robin M. Jensen, and "The Dark Side of Pilate", by Dr. Stephen J. Patterson.
13. History of Rome, Livy, [Everyman Library].
14. Catechism of the Catholic Church
|
19:11 |
600* |
|
19:12 |
596* |
|
19:15 |
596* |
|
19:16 |
597 |