John: The Via Dolorosa

John 19:17-24

Pilate was caught between a rock and a hard place. He saw no reason to declare Jesus guilty, and moreover, his wife told him she had been warned in a dream not to punish the righteous man. When he learned that Jesus claimed to be the Son of God, “he was even more afraid” (John 19:8). Making things more difficult for Pontius Pilate was that his career and life were in danger. Sejanus, the trusted official who had appointed Pilate as governor of Judea, was executed for treason by the paranoid emperor Tiberius. Now, all of Sejanus’s friends were seen as suspects. The Jewish leaders argued that if Pilate released a man claiming to be a king, then he was no friend to Tiberius; so, Pilate gave in and handed Jesus over to be crucified.  

Again, I want to emphasize that the sovereign God holds the heart of the ruler in his hand and guides it like a channel of water, whichever way he desires (Prov. 21:1). The emperor’s paranoia, Sejanus’s execution, Pilate’s self-protection, and the religious leaders’ determination to eliminate Jesus all were part of God’s plan that he established back in Genesis 3:15 when he promised to send one born of a woman to crush Satan’s head, take on sin’s penalty, and defeat death forever. 

John 19:16-17
So they took Jesus, and he went out, bearing his own cross, to the place called The Place of a Skull, which in Aramaic is called Golgotha. 

It was customary for the condemned to carry part of the cross as they headed to the execution site, which was located outside the city. The vertical post of the cross usually remained in the ground at the site. Most likely, Jesus was carrying the heavy crossbeam that rested on his shoulders and was tied with a rope to his wrists. The crossbeam (called patibulum in Latin) weighed between 75 and 125 pounds. 

The road to Golgotha would have been crowded with people watching those sentenced to death as they were paraded along the route. Today, that road is called the Via Dolorosa, which in Latin means “the Sorrowful Way” or “the Way of Suffering.” It started at the Antonia Fortress, believed to have been Pilate’s residence in Jerusalem, and ended at the current site of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, where it is thought the actual crucifixion took place. The distance is about 2,000 feet, just under half a mile.  

By this point, Jesus was weakened from blood loss and the pain caused by severe flogging and repeated beatings. Although the Gospels do not state it explicitly, it seems that Jesus stumbled under the weight of the cross. This might explain why the soldiers forced a man named Simon of Cyrene to carry Jesus’ crossbeam. Luke says, “as they led him away, they seized one Simon of Cyrene, who was coming in from the country, and laid on him the cross, to carry it behind Jesus” (Luke 23:26).  

Jesus was led to the location known as “The Place of the Skull.” In Greek, the word for skull is kranion, from which we get the English word cranium. The Latin word for kranion is calvaria. When the King James Version was translated in 1611, the scholars chose to use the Latin word, which is translated as Calvary in English (see Luke 23:33 in the KJV). Over the centuries, many hymns have been written about Calvary as the place of our Lord’s sacrifice. When I sang the old hymn, At Calvary, growing up, I had no idea I was singing a Latin word! 

On Good Friday, two other criminals were crucified—"one on either side, and Jesus between them” (John 19:18). Pilate had a sign placed above Jesus’ head on the vertical beam of the cross. The inscription on the sign typically displayed the reason for the person's execution, but this notice read “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews,” written in Aramaic, Latin, and Greek so everyone in Jerusalem or passing through could read it (John 19:19-20). The religious leaders objected. 

John 19:21-22
So the chief priests of the Jews said to Pilate, “Do not write, ‘The King of the Jews,’ but rather, ‘This man said, I am King of the Jews.’” Pilate answered, “What I have written I have written.” 

Pilate’s response does not show that he believed Jesus was the Son of God or the Jews’ Messiah. Instead, it reveals that he was no longer willing to yield to the demands of the Jewish leaders. After realizing he couldn't reason with the crowd calling for Jesus to be crucified, Pilate symbolically washed his hands, declaring, “I am innocent of this man’s blood…” (Matt. 27:24). 

The stories about what happened to Pilate after Jesus’ crucifixion are fascinating. The Jewish historian Josephus writes that in AD 37, Pilate was summoned to appear before Tiberius because he mishandled a Samaritan uprising. However, Tiberius died before Pilate reached Rome. One historian, Eusebius of Caesarea, recorded that, after losing power, Pilate took his own life sometime between AD 37 and 43. The Ethiopian Orthodox Church claims that he repented and put his faith in Christ. They honor Pilate as a saint. Still, most of church history views Pilate as a weak man who only cared about saving himself, for he declared that Jesus was innocent, but still sentenced him to death. 

The Roman soldiers were accustomed to brutality. After reaching The Place of the Skull, they placed the vertical beam on the ground and attached the crossbeam. Then they laid Jesus on the cross, stretched out his arms, and nailed spikes through his wrists and the arches of his feet, keeping his knees slightly bent. Next, they hoisted up the cross and slid the vertical beam into a hole. The jolt of the beam hitting the bottom of the hole probably dislocated Jesus’ shoulders. 

Execution by crucifixion was so terrible and painful that a word was created to describe the horrendous nature of this type of execution. The word “excruciating” comes from the Latin word excruciatus, meaning “out of the cross” or “tormented.” We will explore this cruel form of punishment further in the Weekend Recharge. 

To thoroughly humiliate the victim, now suffering the agonizing pain of the cross, Jesus’ clothes had been stripped away, and he hung naked. The four soldiers took the garments they had taken and divided them, “one part for each soldier” (John 19:23). However, they had a different plan for Jesus’ tunic.

John 19:23b-24
But the tunic was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom, so they said to one another, “Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it to see whose it shall be.” This was to fulfill the Scripture which says, “They divided my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots.”

The fulfilled Scripture John quotes is from Psalm 22:18. This psalm, written by David, begins with the words Jesus cried out from the cross, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Psalm 22:1; Matt. 27:46; Mark 15:34). While Jesus only said the opening line, he was referencing the entire psalm. 

We’ll pick up here next time. 

PERSONAL TIME WITH GOD 
Time in the Word: Read and reflect on John 19:17-24. Take time to consider the humiliation and suffering Jesus willingly endured for you. 

Talking to God: How does knowing that God sovereignly orchestrated every step to the cross— even through human weakness and injustice—shape your trust in him during your seasons of suffering or confusion?

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