The Cross of Christ
John 19:16b-37
Luke 9:23-24: And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.”
I. A Forsaken King (19:16b-22)
It was customary for the charge against the crucified one to be displayed above them. For Christ: “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.” The haunting, divine irony of the situation is that they are indeed crucifying the true King of all kings. Pilate’s stubbornness communicates this truth in three different languages, symbolic for the universal, world-wide reign of Christ.
“The Crucified One is the true king, the kingliest king of all; because it is He who is stretched on the cross, He turns an obscene instrument of torture into a throne of glory and reigns from the tree.” ~ F.F. Bruce
II. A Forceful Shame (19:23-24)
Though the physical pain of crucifixion would have been unthinkable, the emphasis in the gospel accounts is on the shame, disgrace, and forsakenness of the cross. Jesus’ death was a “curse-bearing” death:
His nakedness echos the nakedness of the Garden of Eden (Gen. 3:7)
He is mockingly given a crown of thorns (Gen. 3:18)
Jewish Law stated that everyone who was “hanged on a tree” was cursed by God (Deut. 21:22-23)
John indicates that there is more going on than we might realize in this scene; he sees the fulfillment of Psalm 22, which Jesus directly quotes in other gospel accounts. The Holy Spirit spoke through David in this Psalm to transcend his own experience and point us to the cross of Christ.
III. A Family Crisis (19:25-27)
Mary’s presence at the cross is a fulfillment of Simeon’s words in Luke 2:34-35 and a reminder of the faithfulness of God from Psalm 22:9-11.
“Even as Jesus’ disciples fled from him in shame, he could cite Psalm 22 while looking out from the cross at his mother. In the moment of his greatest desolation, Jesus could see the invisible outline of God’s mercy and presence there in the one whom, in his human nature, he learned to trust a fathering, nurturing God. He learned that from his mother. And there she stood.” ~ Russell Moore
John (the beloved disciple) is also there with Mary, even though he does not yet believe or understand. Jesus gives them to one another in this moment and this “adoption” is the beginning of the church, a new family joined together by the blood of the cross.
IV. A Finished Work (19:28-30)
John does not present Jesus as a helpless victim who is powerless on the cross; Jesus knows that a greater story is being written. His physical “thirst” (Ps. 22:15; Ps. 69:21) is part of the larger story of God’s plan for redemption that has led to this climactic moment.
Jesus’ cry of “it is finished” is not a cry of defeat or a comment on his impending death. It is a phrase meaning “mission accomplished” and the completion of a task. His death was the fulfillment of his introduction as “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29, 1 Cor. 5:7)
“Jesus is not on the cross by mistake… The crucifixion was not just an unfortunate thing that happened to Jesus on his way to the resurrection. It is not a momentary blip on the arc of his ascent to the Father. It is precisely on the cross that the work of Jesus is carried through to its completion.” ~ Fleming Rutledge
V. A Fulfilled Promise (19:31-37)
The ‘blood and the water’ from Jesus’ side was to show that he really was dead. But even in the aftermath of this horrific scene, John reminds us of the faithfulness of God. His faithfulness and his promises were still true even at the place of the skull.
“The lack of broken bones there at the cross was a sign to Jesus that whatever happened could not go any further than God’s purposes, and that God’s purposes were good… God might seem absent at the cross, but he was not. He was there providentially ruling, even through the most wicked actions imaginable… Jesus could count all his bones because of the mystery of God’s providence, which works behind, and through, even the most awful things that happen to us. Jesus’ intact skeleton was a sign that no matter how much it seemed that he had been abandoned, the steadfast love of God would not depart. God was still there.”~ Russell Moore
