John: Radical Love

John 19:1-16

During Passover, releasing a prisoner was customary. When Pilate offered the crowd a choice between a notorious criminal and Jesus, he thought he had found a sure way to free Jesus. But the people, many of whom on Sunday had shouted “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord,” now called for Barabbas, a criminal, to be released and for Jesus to be sentenced to death. 

Pilate was still not ready to hand Jesus a death sentence, so he ordered Jesus to be flogged. There were three forms of flogging, each increasing in severity. The first was a beating, the second a flogging, and the third, the one he ordered for Jesus, was a severe flogging that was a prelude to crucifixion. Flogging was carried out with a whip that had fragments of bone or pieces of metal embedded in the leather straps. Using this whip tore a person’s body open and cut muscles and sinew to the bone. Many people died while being flogged. John’s wording may be an allusion to Isaiah 50:6, “I gave my back to those who scourge me.”^[1]

Jesus endured the brutal flogging and was then mocked by the soldiers. They twisted long thorns into a crown and pressed it onto his head. They dressed him in a purple robe, the color of royalty, and “came up to him, saying, ‘Hail, King of the Jews!’ and struck him with their hands” (John 19:3).

Pilate, again, presented Jesus to the crowd, thinking that his shocking condition might be enough to end the punishment. Pilate said to them, “Behold the man!” (John 19:5). Some believe that Pilate was being sarcastic, as in, “This is your king?” Others think he meant, “Look at this poor fellow,” to evoke pity. However, John uses Pilate’s words as an allusion to Zechariah 6:12, “Behold, the man whose name is the Branch.” John implies that Pilate was unknowingly presenting Jesus as the Messiah. 

John 19:6-8
When the chief priests and the officers saw him, they cried out, “Crucify him, crucify him!” Pilate said to them, “Take him yourselves and crucify him, for I find no guilt in him.” The Jews answered him, “We have a law, and according to that law he ought to die because he has made himself the Son of God.” When Pilate heard this statement, he was even more afraid. 

Crucifixion was the harshest form of punishment in the Roman Empire, reserved for the most serious crimes. Roman citizens were usually not subjected to crucifixion, except in cases like treason. The Roman statesman and orator, Cicero, called it “a cruel and disgusting penalty.” The Jewish historian, Josephus, referred to it as the worst of deaths.^[2]

Pilate kept insisting he saw no reason to sentence Jesus to death. However, the Jewish leaders argued that Jesus committed blasphemy by claiming to be the Son of God. John notes that when Pilate heard this, he “was even more afraid.” 

Remember, Pilate’s wife warned him not to harm Jesus. During the trial, she sent word to her husband, warning him, “Have nothing to do with that righteous man, for I have suffered much because of him today in a dream” (Matt. 27:19). So, Pilate had a private conversation with Jesus.

John 19:9-12
He entered his headquarters again and said to Jesus, “Where are you from?” But Jesus gave him no answer. So Pilate said to him, “You will not speak to me? Do you not know that I have authority to release you and authority to crucify you?” Jesus answered him, “You would have no authority over me at all unless it had been given you from above. Therefore he who delivered me over to you has the greater sin.” From then on Pilate sought to release him….

But the Jews refused to accept anything less than the death penalty. They appealed to Pilate’s greatest fear. “If you release this man,” they shouted, “you are not Caesar’s friend. Everyone who makes himself a king opposes Caesar” (John 19:12). Pilate was in a delicate political position. Sejanus, the man who had appointed Pilate, had been tried and executed for treason. Sejanus’s associates were also suspected of being involved in the plot. If news reached the paranoid emperor that Pilate had freed a man claiming to be a king, Pilate would likely face execution.

So, Pilate brought Jesus out to the judgment seat called The Stone Pavement. By this point, Jesus was weakened from the flogging. A crown of thorns had cut into his scalp, and the soldiers had repeatedly struck him in the face. It would have been very difficult to recognize the Lord after the flogging and beatings, with his face swollen and bloodied. Isaiah described it this way: “He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not” (Isa. 53:3). 

This was the look of radical love.

John 19:14-16
Now it was the day of Preparation of the Passover. It was about the sixth hour. He said to the Jews, “Behold your King!” They cried out, “Away with him, away with him, crucify him!” Pilate said to them, “Shall I crucify your King?” The chief priests answered, “We have no king but Caesar.” So he delivered him over to them to be crucified. 

Let’s conclude with a statement Jesus made during his conversation with Pilate. At one point, Pilate asked, “Do you not know that I have authority to release you and authority to crucify you?” (John 19:10). Jesus replied, “You would have no authority over me at all unless it had been given you from above” (John 19:11). 

This statement is a reminder that Jesus was not just a victim of the crowd’s foolishness and evil plans. Everything happened under God’s sovereign control. The Father’s love for us drove his only Son to die on the cross. Concerning the Messiah, the Old Testament prophet said that “it was the will of the Lord to crush him…” (Isa. 53:10). The Son willingly went to the cross in obedience to the Father’s plan. Such is the indescribable, immeasurable love of God. 

PERSONAL TIME WITH GOD
Time in the Word: Read and reflect on John 19:1-16. Consider God’s radical love for you. Our sins were paid in full, but at a terrible price. 

Talking to God: How do you respond daily to the amazing love of Jesus? 

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