The Crucifixion of King Jesus, Son of the Living God (John 19:16b-42)
Why was Jesus crucified?
Friends, Jesus was crucified for the sins of the world.
He was not crucified because He committed a crime. He was not crucified because He committed treason. He was not crucified because He was a bad person
He was crucified because God so loved the world, He was crucified so that whosoever believe in Him will not perish but have everlasting life. He was crucified because The Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. He was crucified to pay for the penalty for our sins. He was crucified to appease the wrath of God towards us. He was crucified in obedience to His Father in Heaven, in the garden of Gethsemane, where He prayed not my will but Yours be done!
Jesus was not crucified on the cross because He had sinned. He was crucified an innocent Man who is without sin. He was crucified to bear our sins.
Who is this Man on the middle cross?
We know Him. Pastor Ryan preached about Him last Sunday appealing to us to behold our King. We learnt last Sunday, He was no typical King, He is a King, whose word will accomplish its purpose, whose kingdom is not of this world, He is the king who clothed us with His righteousness ands give us life, whose authority is from above. He is our humble King who came to save us.
This morning let us continue to behold our King.
The Cross-bearing King who was humiliated and crucified for our sins.
The big idea for our sermon this morning is: The Cross-bearing King who was humiliated and crucified for our sins.
The Cross Bearing King (John 19:16b-22)
The passage begins with Jesus being taken and made to carry His own cross. This was the Roman custom. Each condemned criminal carried the horizontal beam (Latin: patibulum) on his shoulders to the place of execution. There the upright beam was already fixed. The victim was laid on the ground, his arms stretched out and tied or nailed to the beam, before being hoisted up and attached to the upright. Sometimes a small seat-like block (sedecula) was attached — not to relieve pain, but to prolong agony.
Jesus was taken to the place called The Place of a Skull — Golgotha. Christians sometimes call it “Calvary,” from the Latin word calvaria (skull).
Quoting D.A. Carson, “Here, in this public place where all could see him, the soldiers crucified him. In the ancient world, this most terrible of punishments is always associated with shame and horror. It was so brutal that no Roman citizen could be crucified without the sanction of the Emperor. Stripped naked and beaten to pulpy weakness, the victim could hang in the hot sun for hours, even days. To breathe, it was necessary to push with the legs and pull with the arms to keep the chest cavity open and functioning. Terrible muscle spasm wracked the entire body; but since collapse meant asphyxiation, the strain went on and on. This is also why the sedecula prolonged life and agony: it partially supported the body’s weight and therefore encouraged the victim to fight on.”
To die on a cross is one of the most horrendous deaths imaginable. But a greater horror was borne by Jesus: He bore the unimaginable wrath of God for sinners like us.
Who is this Man on the middle cross?
John 19: 19 tells us: “Pilate also wrote an inscription and put it on the cross. It read, ‘Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.’”
This inscription was meant to state the charge against Him. The chief priests objected and demanded that Pilate write, “This man said, ‘I am the King of the Jews.’” But Pilate replied, “What I have written, I have written.”
We do not know why Pilate insisted, but God used Pilate’s pen to proclaim to the world that Jesus is King. Written in three languages, the sign announced it to all.
At the foot of the cross, the soldiers divided Jesus’ garments and cast lots for His seamless tunic. In their greed, they fulfilled the exact prophecy of Psalm 22.
Beloved, before us stands the sovereignty of God. What He declares, He accomplishes.
There on the cross hung the King — not only of the Jews, but of the world. His humility and glory were on display. Humanity tried to destroy Him; instead, He was lifted up. Even the soldiers’ greed fulfilled Scripture.
Friends, the man on the middle cross is the King of kings and Lord of lords. He is our King.
Listen, our King chose to go to the cross. No one had the power to crucify Him apart from the will of His Father. He chose to stay on the cross. He chose to die.
Why?
To pay the penalty of our sins.
To appease God’s wrath.
To give us eternal life.
Our King loves us. He loves us enough to be humiliated. He loves us enough to bear our sins. He loves us enough to endure God’s wrath. Jesus loves us — and this we must never forget.
While to die on a cross is one of the most horrendous deaths imaginable. But a greater horror was borne by Jesus: He bore the unimaginable wrath of God for sinners like us.
Our King loves us. He loves us enough to be humiliated. He loves us enough to bear our sins. He loves us enough to endure God’s wrath. Jesus loves us — and this we must never forget.
Our cross bearing King is also a compassionate King. Where do we see that?
The compassionate King (John 19:25-27)
It is easy to understand why John includes the words of the Saviour to Mary and the corresponding words to that disciple into whose care she was committed. The reason is that John was himself that disciple. Consequently, the charge was his charge and the importance of it came home to him as to no other.
Jesus was stripped of everything, yet He leaves rich legacies. In His words to John and Mary he grants a continuing legacy of the most tender love. By this word he gives a son to his mother and a mother to his friend.
Quoting a commentator, “This gives us an example to follow. When we are in our deepest stress, disappointment, or suffering even, we can still and should still look after the needs of others. But more than an example to us, Jesus is a substitute for us. By pointing how Jesus treated His mother as He was dying, is not ultimately a sad story — not finally a defeat or a failure or a funeral. The death of Jesus is where Jesus saves, loves, looks after, redeems, restores, and rescues his followers. He looks down from the cross and establishes love between his followers and a home for the mother losing her son. At the moment of his greatest pain, Jesus is working out the moment of greatest redemption.”
The sin bearing King (John 19:28-42)
Right there, hung on the cross, our Lord fulfilled what was written in scripture regards His death, I thirst (John 19:28). At this moment He fulfilled Psalm 69:21: ". . . and gave me vinegar for my thirst.". John makes it a point to state that Jesus said these words to fulfil the Scripture. He was obedient to Hs very last breath. Because He was obedient to His last breath, today we have all the hope of everlasting salvation.
“I thirst” cried our Lord while on the cross. “I thirst” not only points us to the humanity of Christ but it reveals to us His suffering.
How are we to understand this?
This is how the Bible describes the suffering of our Lord, turn with me to Psalms 22:14-15, “I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint; my heart is like wax; it is melted within my breast; my strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to my jaws; you lay me in the dust of death.” As our Lord suffered, He cried out “I thirst” and was given a sponge dipped in a cheap wine like vinegar.
“I thirst” must speak to our suffering.
It speaks of the reality of suffering. The suffering of our Lord was real. Suffering is also a reality even for those who are in Christ.
It speaks to our faith. In the face of suffering, faith does not tell us to remain stoic, no it tells us we have a Lord who understands our suffering, and we can cry out to Him.
It speaks to our view of suffering. Quoting from Boice, “We are to avoid suffering. We are to do everything in our power to have good times and good experiences. Is this biblical? Not at all. True, the Bible acknowledges good times and pleasures and encourages us to be thankful to the Lord for them. But we are not told to avoid the sufferings of life. Rather, we are to identify with those who are suffering and enter into their sufferings in order to help them by taking some of their pain to ourselves. If the Lord had followed the course of the hedonists, he would not have become a man at all.”
One final word on how it speaks to our suffering. “I thirst” came from the mouth of an innocent man hung on the cross for sins that is not His own. We have a tendency to assume that when we suffer, it is because we have done something wrong. Thus, when we don’t know why we suffer, we will ask what I have done to deserve this. What did Jesus do to deserve the cross? He obeyed His Father. When face with trials and tribulations, let us heed the word of James and remain faithful by considering it all joy when we meet trials of various kinds (c.f. James 1:2).
With one final cry, Jesus declared “It is finished”.
What do you hear?
Do you hear a cry of submission? Do you hear the groaning of defeat?
Or do you hear a declaration, a shout of victory.
In the Greek, “ it is finished” was only one word, “τετέλεσται" and it means completed. this is in the Greek perfect tense, what it implies is "It is finished and always will be finished!"
Beloved when Jesus cried out “It is finished” it was a not a whimpering cry, it was an emphatic shout of victory. For our Lord at that moment has accomplished what He was sent to accomplished. He came to fulfil the law, to live the life that we were supposed to live. He came to pay the penalty for our sins and that was all accomplished at the cross. “It is finished” declares our Lord and indeed it is. And with that, “he bowed his head and gave up his spirit” revealing to us a final display of His humanity, God the Son died that day as a man would die.
Let us move on unpack the piercing of Jesus in John 19:31-37.
Why are these details important? Jesus has died. But it is important. It is important in view of the later claims regarding the resurrection. It matters because there were claims Jesus had merely fainted and Jesus had not merely swooned to revive later in the cool of the tomb and He did not die.
He really died and He was really resurrected. The soldiers verified his death and thus did not break His legs. To be doubly sure He is dead, they pierce Him.
It is important because it points to Jesus as the Passover Lamb slain for sins of His people.
In the institution of the Passover it was explicitly indicated that not a bone of the Passover lamb should be broken. Exodus 12:46 declares, “It shall be eaten in one house; you shall not take any of the flesh outside the house, and you shall not break any of its bones.” In Numbers 9:12, it says, “They shall leave none of it until the morning, nor break any of its bones; according to all the statute for the Passover they shall keep it. Numbers 9:12” These details are in accordance with the providence of God identifying Jesus as the Passover Lamb through whom we have a spiritual deliverance.
It is important because it fulfils the scriptures. Humanly it is quite impossible for this to happen. The soldiers had come to break Jesus’ legs along with the legs of the two thieves, and they had no intention at all of piercing Him with the spear. But what was prophesied in God’s word will come to pass.
Here we have seemingly two impossible prophecies being fulfilled. In Psalm 34:20, “He keeps all his bones; not one of them is broken.” Zechariah 12:10 says, “for mercy, so that, when they look on me, on him whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for him, Zechariah 12:10”. One said that the Saviour’s bones must not be broken; the other said that the Saviour must be pierced.
Moreover, it was the exact opposite of these two prophecies that the soldiers set out to fulfil. Yet they ended up fulfilling the prophecies. How can brutal men be kept from one act of violence, for which they had specific commandment, and be led to enact another for which they had no commandment? There is only one answer. By overruling circumstances, the God who inspired the prophecies made sure that they were fulfilled. Friends, what God say He will do in His word, it will come to pass. Because it will come to pass, we can rest assured in our eternal security.
Finally, let us unpack the burial of Jesus in John 19:38-42.
Jesus earlier in John 12:23-24 said these words to His disciples, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.”
That hour has now come, we are seeing the first fruits.
We begin with Joseph of Arimathea. John describes him as a secret disciple because he feared the Jewish leaders. From the records found in the gospels we know he was a rich man (Matt 27:57) and a member of the Jewish ruling council (Mark 15:43), who had not consented to the decision of the council (Luke 23:51). What Joseph did in this very moment was anything but secret. He was bold enough to request from Pilate the body of Jesus.
The next person is someone whom we are familiar with. He is the man who came to Jesus at night probably not wanting to be seen by his fellow Pharisees. The man was Nicodemus and John was intentional in pointing out that when Nicodemus first came to Jesus it was at night. But now he came in broad day light bringing with him a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds in weight for the burial of Jesus. The number of spices brought was very considerable and speaks volumes of Nicodemus’s devotion to Jesus. It also a reflection of how Nicodemus had now emerged from the ‘night’ in his relationship to Jesus.
Both men face potential danger in identifying with Jesus who was just executed for sedition and blasphemy. Even if their lives were not in danger, their reputations certainly were.
These two men indeed can be seen as being among the firstfruits of the great harvest that will come from Jesus’s death. Indeed, the hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.
In the garden, at the place where Jesus had been crucified, there was a brand-new tomb where no one had been laid, and there they buried him.
John made it a point to mention the “new tomb in which no one had yet been laid”
Again I believe John was intentional in highlighting this to show how Scripture is fulfilled. In Psalm 16:10 it was written, “For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol, or let your holy one see corruption.” The new tomb can only imply that the body of Jesus did not come into contact with corruption.
The King is dead, buried in the tomb and it is finished.
Beloved we know this is not the end of the story, is it? We know there will be a resurrection, we know the King will conquer death but we will wait till next week to ponder upon the resurrection of the King.
For this morning, let us consider what the death of the King on the cross means for us.
Friends, we all have sinned. We have made a deliberate choice to reject God and His rule over us. We desire to be the masters of our lives. Our sin and rebellion brought upon us the wrath of God. God is angry with sin. Our rebellion has consequences; there is a penalty to pay — and that penalty is death for all eternity in the fiery pits of hell.
But there is hope.
King Jesus chose to go to the cross to pay the penalty for our sins.
King Jesus chose to go to the cross to pay the penalty for our sins. He did it to appease the wrath of God. He did it to deliver us from certain death. He did it to bring us back to God. He did it to give us the hope of new and everlasting life.
I invite you to come to King Jesus. He alone can save. All King Jesus asks of us is to confess our sins, believe in Him, and repent by surrendering our lives to Him. Come speak to me or any of the elders — we are the ones with the red lanyards — or speak to the friend who brought you here.
Dear ones, we live in a sinful world. Life can be hard, and work can be challenging. Our problems and struggles are real. But do you know what else is real? Our King’s love for us. If we ever doubt His love, look to the cross.
Look to the cross-bearing King.
Look to our compassionate King who cared for His own amid His suffering.
Look to the King who bore our sin — who was hung, pierced, and buried because of our sins.
Beloved, our King loves us and He cares for us.
Coming to Jesus does not mean all our problems will go away. Christians still suffer. Some die from starvation. Some fall ill. Some endure painful diseases or mental distress. What does Christ’s death on the cross mean for those suffering while others prosper? Does God love some more than others? Does He care for some more?
My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, when our King was crucified on the cross, it was to pay the penalty for your sins and mine. God sent His only begotten Son because He loved the world — those who prosper and those who suffer.
King David, wrote in Psalm 23:4, “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.”
Why would a good Shepherd lead His sheep into such a valley?
We may not understand the reason for our pain, but when we look to the cross, we know we have a King who understands our pain — a Shepherd who is leading and guiding us through the dark valley. We are not victims of our circumstances; we are pilgrims traveling a difficult path in order to arrive at where God intends us to be. I do not know why some paths are darker than others, but I know we are never alone, and I know our Father is in control. Let us not focus on the valley, but on the destination beyond it.
Dear ones, we live in a world hostile to King Jesus. Sometimes it feels easier to be a secret disciple because the world sees us as fools for following Him. They may view our faith as an emotional crutch, exposing our weakness. We may be humiliated for following Jesus.
But listen — our King loved us enough to be humiliated. He loved us enough to bear the weight of our shameful sins upon Himself. It is not shameful to admit that we are weak. So what if the world sees our reliance on Jesus as weakness? Reality is we need Jesus and He is there for us.
If we ever doubt Jesus’ love for us, look to the cross.
If we ever feel that God does not care, look to the cross and see His Son hanging there.
If we ever feel our sins are too great to be forgiven, look to the cross—to the King who bore our sins.
Listen to what our King says to us in 2 Corinthians 12:9-10, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”