John Chapter Nineteen: Crucifying a King
By: Deji Yesufu
When one of the arguments that men that do not profess any religion posit against Christianity is that the Christian message and practice is not any different from other world religions, one is forced to refute them. They say that Christianity has an object of faith and adherents are required to follow a number of rules and regulations. Our defense against this accusation is that Christianity indeed has many points of differences with other religions, and one of those differing points is clearly exemplified in what happened in the nineteenth chapter of John. It was the Apostle Paul who told the Corinthians that the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men (1 Corinthians 1:25). In this magnificent chapter, that depicts the crucifixion of the King of the world, God displays his might through the weakness and death of his Son, Jesus Christ. To write a summary on this chapter, I will be looking at three people or persons: The Jews; Pilate; and a Crucified King.
The Jews
It is not an accident that the gospel accounts take the time to describe the Jews’ enmity against Jesus. In the time of writing this essay, the nation of Israel is carrying a war of its life against its Muslim neighbors. On the 7th of October, 2023, the land of Israel was invaded by a terrorist group called Hamas, which led to the death of no less than 1,200 Jews – many of them young people. Israel has since declared war against countries like Iran, Lebanon, Yemen, and Syria. They have killed thousands of people in the process. Israel’s biggest ally in this war is the United States of America, which is still fundamentally a Christian nation. It is interesting that after 2,000 years of the Jews crucifying the Savior, Christians are today the biggest ally of Israel.
However, in John Chapter Nineteen, the Jews were the biggest enemies of Jesus. They considered Christ a charlatan, even though they could not deny the obvious cases of miracles that were proceeding from his ministry. They also saw in Jesus a remarkable fulfilling of their own prophecies, yet they were bent on denying the fact that he could not be the long-promised Messiah God was to send to the Jews. When Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, the Jews had had enough. They decided to do away with Jesus. They did not have the ability to kill him legitimately, so they went to Pilate and tried to coerce him to carry out their murderous intent. We see in the previous chapter how the great biblical doctrine of substitution was enacted. The guilty (Barrabas) was exchanged for the innocent – Jesus; which is the only way you and I can be saved. Christianity is the only true religion in the world because it retains a paradox. It is God displaying his strength in weakness; it is the innocent dying for the guilty; it is God’s foolishness triumphing over the world’s wisdom. And, ultimately, the Jews may return to consider the Messiahship of Jesus Christ, when Christians join the Jews to defeat their greatest enemies today – Islam.
Pilate
Pilate was the political head of Judea. He was the representative of the Romans in the land of the Jews, and quite naturally the Jews detested him. But to crucify Jesus, they saw in Pilate a ready ally. Pilate maintained one testimony about Jesus throughout the trial: “… I have found no fault in this man…” In fact, the gospel writers said that Pilate could tell that the Jews were trying to destroy Jesus because they envied him. Yet he gave into their murderous desires and had Jesus crucified. You then wonder how this happened. It has something to do with the nature of politics. Politics is the art of governing a people. Many times, politics comes with a lot of give and take. The ruler might wish to have the people do something; he then gives in to something of a demand or desire of the people. Most times the political demand might not even be on the table, but a ruler understand the idea of one good turn deserving another. Pilate knew that if he crucified Jesus with the might of the Romans, he could return to make certain demands from the Jews.
But despite giving in to the demands of the Jews, Pilate never could shake off something that he saw in Jesus. He saw a regality that was quite apparent in the Savior. Pilate was used to royalty and he could tell when a king spoke and walked. Despite his sufferings, Jesus never lost that the heavenly royalty in him. Quite naturally, Pilate decided to begin to call him the “King of the Jews”. It was a phrase that was meant to, in one hand refer to what he could see in Jesus. In the other hand, it was a phrase that he meant to vilify the Jews. In other words, while all the world honored their kings, the Jews demand that their own King be crucified. This was so clearly depicted by Pilates interaction with the Jews in verses 21 to 22, where they came to Pilate and requested that the sign over the crucified Jesus be changed to read “He said I am the King of the Jews”, as against “The King of the Jews” that Pilate had written. Pilate shot back: “What I have written, I have written”.
Crucifying a King
The end of Jesus’ earthly ministry is quite unique. Jesus did two things in his earthly ministry: he preached the New Covenant message, which centered around God saving sinners through him the Messiah and Son of God. Then Jesus proved this message by working miracles. The miracles were actually meant to show that Jesus was an Apostle in the same category with men like Moses and Elijah. Now, all would have been well if Jesus had concluded his ministry by entering a chariot of fire and riding it into heaven in the sight of the Jews. At such a time, the whole of the nation of Israel that witnessed that event would have turned and declared that Jesus is Lord. God had other plans. God brought the ministry of his eternal Son to an end on earth by ensuring that men crucified him on a Roman cross. As they crucified him, they also vilified him as a king who could not save himself. All of this was within God’s plan. This brings us to some very important lessons concerning God’s dealing with his people today.
- Suffering: When Christians suffer, they enter into a union with Jesus Christ that cannot be described on this side of heaven. Jesus told us that it is incumbent upon us to carry our cross and follow him. The Christ we follow as we carry that cross, is also carrying his cross. Peter describes it as this: “…But rejoice, in as much as ye are partakers of Christ’s sufferings… if ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye; for the spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you…” (1 Peter 4:13-14). It is that “spirit of glory” that cannot be described here. What I can say, though is this: Christians should labor to do the right thing always – whether or not it leads them to suffer.
- Providence: Two men appear to receive the body of the crucified Jesus. They are Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus. His disciples were no where to be found. The latter of these men had approached Jesus secretly in John 3. But here, he exemplified true faith in the Savior by identifying with him publicly. We learn about providence here by showing that God will provide for his own. It does not matter those who forsake us; God will raise up help for his good purposes to be fulfilled.
- God’s Purposes, Plans, and Power: John 19 shows us God’s purposes – to save humanity from sin. God’s plan – to ensure that his Son becomes the Lamb of the world that will take away the sins of men. God’s power – in weakness his defeats the might of the devil. If ever we are in doubt of where God is in our lives, we can read the story of the crucifixion again, and rejoice. Knowing that light follows the darkest hours of our lives. Amen.
Conclusion
One prevailing theme of our world today is that there is continual battle between good and evil. Sometimes it is difficult to know where to stand on the battle field. The story of the crucifixion should tell us to not be afraid of standing with what is right. Despite the positive commentaries Pilate gave on Jesus during the trial, the fact that he decided to remain politically correct and to please the Jews has put him on the wrong side of history. The Apostolic Creed tell us that Jesus was “crucified under Pontious Pilate”. How the creed might have read differently if he had chosen to do the right thing. You and I come to these crossroads daily. May God grant that we choose the path of right as against the path of might. Amen.
Deji Yesufu is the pastor of Providence Reformed Baptist Church Ibadan. He is the author of HUMANITY. He can be reached on [email protected]
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