Bible Study John 19:17-42 The Death of Jesus & Your Verdict

Q1 What can you tell about the Crucifixion of Jesus from John 19?

1. Jesus carried His cross at first v17. The other gospels recorded that Jesus, being too weak after the great torture, fell and the Romans just picked one from the crowd, Simon of Cyrene,  to carry for Jesus (Mat 27:32).
2. The location is Golgotha, meaning a Skull v17-18.
3. Two others, between Jesus, were crucified with Jesus v19. Luke 23:39-43 told us more about these two men and their conversation with Jesus.
4. There was an inscription placed by Pilate, in Aramaic, Latin, and Greek (the common languages then so that whoever was there could understand), "Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews" v21.
5. Jesus' outer garments were divided into four parts and given to the soldiers v23. The inner cloth, the tunic, seamless (good quality and likely expensive) was given by drawing of a lot to a soldier v24.
6. John mentioned it was to fulfill the scripture Ps 22:18. (Ps 22 had an accurate description of the death of Jesus which we shall see).
7. John was the only disciple to be with Jesus most of the time. The others had gone hiding. 
8. At the cross, Jesus' mother, the mother's sister, and Mary Magdalene were there as well. v25.
9. Jesus asked his disciple John to take care of His Mother Mary. John did that from then on. v24-27.
10. Jesus said "I thirst" and sour wine on a hyssop branch was given to Jesus. See Ps 51:7.
11. After Jesus tasted the sour wine (vinegar), he said "It is finished" and gave up His spirit v30.
12. Since the next day was Sabbath with the Passover, they did not want the dead bodies to defy their holy day. So they wanted all three of them to be dead and buried before the end of the day. The usual practice to hasten death is to break the leg bones so that there would be no support for the upper body and cause death by the inability to breathe. They broke the legs of the other two. But when they came to Jesus, they found him already dead. So no bone was broken v33. But a smart Alex soldier pieced Jesus to make sure he was doubly dead. Blood and water comes out to show that Jesus was indeed a man and there were no acting as some others claimed later. v34
13. John specifically mentioned these two unusual events as fulfilling the scripture written in that: Exo 12:46 Num 9:12 as the Passover lamb;  Psa 22:14 pour out as water, Psa 34:20 no bones broken. Zech 12:10 The Coming King. John wanted us to believe in his testimony about Jesus - The Son of God, the Messiah v35.

Q2 What is the significance of the inscription "Jesus, King of the Jews"?

1. Pilate maybe wanted to show his last respect for Jesus as he at least understood Jesus was someone special with a Kingdom. It was also a warning to the Jews who wanted to rebel against the Romans. 
2. The religious leaders, they were not so happy. They did not recognize Jesus as their King at all. They wanted Pilate to change it to "He said he is the King of Jews" v21.
3. For the common people, it is to tell them that Jesus was the Messiah, the son of King David who would become King forever. For those who studied the Old Testament, the Jews, and the Gentiles, this inscription offer yet another evidence that Jesus was the Messiah.

Q3 How was Jesus buried?

1. Two secret disciples of Jesus showed up. 
2. Joseph of Arimathea asked Pilate for the body of Jesus and was granted v38. 
3. Nicodemus (of John 3, the Night Visitor) came to help to embalm the body with 75 pounds of myrrh and aloes v39.
4. They bound Jesus with linen cloths with the spices v40
5. They put Jesus in a new tomb v41.

Q4 What is your verdict about Jesus? Who is He?