So they took Jesus, 17 and carrying the cross himself he went out to what is called the Place of the Skull, in Hebrew, Golgotha. 18 There they crucified him, and with him two others, one on either side, with Jesus in the middle. 19 Pilate also had an inscription written and put on the cross. It read, “Jesus the Nazorean, the King of the Jews.” 20 Now many of the Jews read this inscription, because the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city; and it was written in Hebrew, Latin, and Greek. 21 So the chief priests of the Jews said to Pilate, “Do not write ‘The King of the Jews,’ but that he said, ‘I am the King of the Jews.’” 22 Pilate answered, “What I have written, I have written.” 23 When the soldiers had crucified Jesus, they took his clothes and divided them into four shares, a share for each soldier. They also took his tunic, but the tunic was seamless, woven in one piece from the top down. 24 So they said to one another, “Let’s not tear it, but cast lots for it to see whose it will be,” in order that the passage of scripture might be fulfilled [that says]: “They divided my garments among them, and for my vesture they cast lots.” This is what the soldiers did. 25 Standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary of Magdala. 26 When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple there whom he loved, he said to his mother, “Woman, behold, your son.” 27 Then he said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother.” And from that hour the disciple took her into his home. 28 After this, aware that everything was now finished, in order that the scripture might be fulfilled, Jesus said, “I thirst.” 29 There was a vessel filled with common wine. So they put a sponge soaked in wine on a sprig of hyssop and put it up to his mouth. 30 When Jesus had taken the wine, he said, “It is finished.” And bowing his head, he handed over the spirit.
The Gospel of John does not give many details about the physical aspects of the crucifixion (v. 18). Jesus carried his own cross to Golgotha unlike the accounts in the synoptic Gospels where Simon of Cyrene was forced to carry the cross for Jesus (Mk. 15:20b-21; Mt. 27:31b-32; Lk. 23:26-32). In John’s theology, Jesus was always in control (Jn. 10:17-18). Jesus was crucified with two robbers, one on either side (Mt. 27:38). The chief priests confronted Pilate about the inscription he had put on the cross (v. 19), but Pilate dismissed them (vv. 21-22). Pilate has been insistent on proclaiming the truth that Jesus is the King of the Jews (Jn. 18:33, 37,39; Jn. 19:14, 15, 19) even if it was to mock the Jewish leadership. The inscription affirmed the universal truth about Jesus as Pilate had the inscription written in the major languages of the Roman Empire at that time.
The soldiers took the garments of Jesus and divided them into four parts (v. 23). They rolled dice to see who would get the seamless tunic (v. 24; Ps. 22:19). John was at the foot of the cross with Jesus’ mother Mary and two other women (v. 25). Jesus entrusted his mother to the care of the beloved disciple and his mother was to accept the beloved disciple as her son, another indication that Jesus was still in control. Jesus has established a new family. Jesus has come to the end of his life and by drinking the “common wine (v. 29)” he was drinking the cup his Father gave him to drink (Jn. 18:11). Then “It is finished (v. 30).”
Almighty God, they buried our King and sealed his tomb in an effort to silence truth. Help us, O Lord, to bury and seal our sins with the Blood of Christ so that truth may live in our hearts. This we pray through the same Christ our Lord. Amen!
References
Chiu, José Enrique Aguilar, et al. The Paulist Biblical Commentary. Paulist Press, 2018.
Brown, Raymond Edward, et al. The New Jerome Biblical Commentary. Upper Saddle River, NJ, United States, Prentice Hall, 1990.
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