Then Pilate took Jesus and had him flogged. The soldiers also twisted together a crown of thorns, put it on his head, and clothed him in a purple robe. And they kept coming up to him and saying, “Hail, king of the Jews!” and were slapping his face.
Pilate went outside again and said to them, “Look, I’m bringing him out to you to let you know I find no grounds for charging him.” Then Jesus came out wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. Pilate said to them, “Here is the man!”
When the chief priests and the temple servants saw him, they shouted, “Crucify! Crucify!”
Pilate responded, “Take him and crucify him yourselves, since I find no grounds for charging him.”
“We have a law,” the Jews replied to him, “and according to that law he ought to die, because he made himself the Son of God.”
When Pilate heard this statement, he was more afraid than ever. He went back into the headquarters and asked Jesus, “Where are you from?” But Jesus did not give him an answer. So Pilate said to him, “Do you refuse to speak to me? Don’t you know that I have the authority to release you and the authority to crucify you?”
“You would have no authority over me at all,” Jesus answered him, “if it hadn’t been given you from above. This is why the one who handed me over to you has the greater sin.”
From that moment Pilate kept trying to release him. But the Jews shouted, “If you release this man, you are not Caesar’s friend. Anyone who makes himself a king opposes Caesar!”
When Pilate heard these words, he brought Jesus outside. He sat down on the judge’s seat in a place called the Stone Pavement (but in Aramaic, Gabbatha). It was the preparation day for the Passover, and it was about noon. Then he told the Jews, “Here is your king!”
They shouted, “Take him away! Take him away! Crucify him!”
Pilate said to them, “Should I crucify your king?”
“We have no king but Caesar!” the chief priests answered.
Then he handed him over to be crucified.
Then they took Jesus away. Carrying the cross by himself, he went out to what is called Place of the Skull, which in Aramaic is called Golgotha. There they crucified him and two others with him, one on either side, with Jesus in the middle. Pilate also had a sign made and put on the cross. It said: JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS. Many of the Jews read this sign, because the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and it was written in Aramaic, Latin, and Greek. So the chief priests of the Jews said to Pilate, “Don’t write, ‘The king of the Jews,’ but that he said, ‘I am the king of the Jews.’”
Pilate replied, “What I have written, I have written.”
When the soldiers crucified Jesus, they took his clothes and divided them into four parts, a part for each soldier. They also took the tunic, which was seamless, woven in one piece from the top. So they said to one another, “Let’s not tear it, but cast lots for it, to see who gets it.” This happened that the Scripture might be fulfilled that says: They divided my clothes among themselves, and they cast lots for my clothing. This is what the soldiers did.
Standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother, his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple he loved standing there, he said to his mother, “Woman, here is your son.” Then he said to the disciple, “Here is your mother.” And from that hour the disciple took her into his home.
After this, when Jesus knew that everything was now finished that the Scripture might be fulfilled, he said, “I’m thirsty.” A jar full of sour wine was sitting there; so they fixed a sponge full of sour wine on a hyssop branch and held it up to his mouth.
When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, “It is finished.” Then bowing his head, he gave up his spirit.
Since it was the preparation day, the Jews did not want the bodies to remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a special day). They requested that Pilate have the men’s legs broken and that their bodies be taken away. So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first man and of the other one who had been crucified with him. When they came to Jesus, they did not break his legs since they saw that he was already dead. But one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and at once blood and water came out. He who saw this has testified so that you also may believe. His testimony is true, and he knows he is telling the truth. For these things happened so that the Scripture would be fulfilled: Not one of his bones will be broken. Also, another Scripture says: They will look at the one they pierced.
After this, Joseph of Arimathea, who was a disciple of Jesus—but secretly because of his fear of the Jews—asked Pilate that he might remove Jesus’s body. Pilate gave him permission; so he came and took his body away. Nicodemus (who had previously come to him at night) also came, bringing a mixture of about seventy-five pounds of myrrh and aloes. They took Jesus’s body and wrapped it in linen cloths with the fragrant spices, according to the burial custom of the Jews. There was a garden in the place where he was crucified. A new tomb was in the garden; no one had yet been placed in it. They placed Jesus there because of the Jewish day of preparation and since the tomb was nearby.
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In preparation for today’s sermon, read this devotional from Kraig McNutt, M.Div.
“Tragic” Was Not the Final Word
based on John 19
“Then bowing his head, he gave up his spirit." —John 19:30
Tucked away in John 19:30 is a simple yet profound statement, “he gave up his spirit.”
Though the method of death for our Lord was crucifixion—as horrible as that was—it was far from tragic. Certainly, it looked like a tragedy, including how the disciples and Jesus’ very own mother experienced it. But our passage clearly shows that the final word was Jesus’: “It is finished”—and he willingly gave up his spirit.
How can the ultimate victory be tragic? Jesus laid down his life at his own wish and command.
In earlier Scripture passages Jesus had already told those around him he was in full command of his life—and death:
“No one takes it from me, but I lay it down on my own. I have the right to lay it down, and I have the right to take it up again. I have received this command from my Father” (John 10:18).
The timing of Jesus’ death surprised Pilate (Mark 15:44). This shows again that Jesus was in full control of when he would give up his spirit. Crucifixion could take days and often did, but his took hours because it was on his timetable, not Pilate’s.
Notice, too, how often John uses the phrase “handed over.” Jesus was handed over by Judas, handed over by the chief priests, and handed over by Pilate. But the very moment of the death of Jesus was different by an order of great magnitude. He handed over his spirit as he said he would. No one took his life—he willingly laid it down.
What does this mean for us?
Some things in life are hard, and we often experience them as tragic. It could be a miscarriage, a wayward child, a strained marriage or relationship, a job loss, a financial setback, or even a cancer diagnosis.
But the crucifixion of Jesus itself reminds us that a seeming tragedy is never the final word when we place it in the Father’s hands.
That’s exactly what Jesus did. With his last breath, he prayed Psalm 31:5: “Father, into your hands I entrust my spirit” (Luke 23:46).
May what Jesus prayed with his last breath be our first breath today. Pray it with him. No matter what you’re facing, you are neither abandoned nor alone. You are with God.
Ask God for opportunities to love people well as a community of faith and for ways to be an obedient community in the spaces where you spend most of your time.
If you are also following the BibleProject’s One Story That Leads to Jesus reading plan, complete today’s reading.