Then Pilate took Jesus and flogged him. And the soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head and arrayed him in a purple robe. They came up to him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” and struck him with their hands. Pilate went out again and said to them, “See, I am bringing him out to you that you may know that I find no guilt in him.” So Jesus came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. Pilate said to them, “Behold the man!” (Jn. 19:1-5)
- Pilate says he does not find him guilty for the second time. (v.4) (The first time was in John 18:38)
- The suffering of Christ
- He was beaten. (v.1, 3)
- He was mocked and ridiculed. (v.2-3)
- He was publicly humiliated. (v.4-5)
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.” (Jn. 19:6)
- Pilate says he does not find him guilty for the third time. (v.6)
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. 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.” (Jn. 19:7-11)
- Jesus submits to the authorities. (v.11)
From then on, Pilate sought to release him, but the Jews cried out, “If you release this man, you are not Caesar’s friend. Everyone who makes himself a king opposes Caesar.” So when Pilate heard these words, he brought Jesus out and sat down on the judgment seat at a place called The Stone Pavement, and in Aramaic Gabbatha. Now it was the day of Preparation of the Passover. It was about the sixth hour.[c] 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. (Jn. 19:12-16)
- Christ is sentenced to die. (v.16)
Theological Principal
The Suffering of Christ
Here we see Christ enduring an enormous amount of suffering and humiliation. And for what? For us!!!
With his wounds we are healed (Is. 53:5).
And why? Because he loves us!!!
For greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends (Jn. 15:13).
Not only did Jesus lay down his life for us, his friends, but he endured an incredible amount of pain and suffering in the process. He took what we all deserve, bore it on his shoulders, and died so that we could live.
A while back, I was challenged by a certain pastor to begin developing my worldview. What has turned out to be the largest part of that is tackling the problem of suffering. I documented my findings and views on the subject and have yet to share them with anyone. However, I think now is as good a time as any as I believe they help to paint a good picture of what is happening in this passage and just why he had to suffer the way he did because everything I found points to this very moment in the life of Christ.
Suffering is a reality of the broken world in which we live. A world shattered by the sin and evil that lives in the hearts of all humanity passed down by the first man Adam (Gn. 3:1-19; Rm. 5:12). God allows for suffering to exist in the world for many reasons, all of which we’ll likely never fully understand.
Believers sometimes suffer because of disobedience (Dt. 28:15-68), persecution (Jn. 15:18-25; Acts 7:54-60), as a testimony to others (Heb. 11), for spiritual pruning (Jn, 15:2; Rm. 5:3-4), or to come to a closer relationship with Christ (Pp. 3:8-10).
For the unbeliever, God sometimes allows suffering as an act of justice in response to sin (Acts 12:22–23; Ob. 1–11; Rm. 13:4; Am. 1:1–2:3). However, God also allows the suffering of unbelievers to draw them nearer to Himself (Lk. 13:1-4).
In either case, for the believer or the nonbeliever, suffering is sometimes the result of the sinful choices made by others (Gn. 50:20; Ec. 4:1).
Perhaps most importantly, there are times when God not only allows suffering, but uses it for His glory (Jn. 9:2-3), and to carry out His sovereign will (Gn. 50:20; Jn. 19:1-3, 16-34).
All of this ties together perfectly when God himself came to this broken world as the man Jesus Christ. He came and lived a sinless life and, because of the sin of man, he too suffered. He was persecuted, at the hands of unbelievers, to pay the price for our disobedience so that justice could be served. His life, and the suffering he endured, serves as a testimony to the world, can be used for spiritual pruning, and draws us into a closer relationship with him. Ultimately, Christ’s suffering lead to his death and was followed by his resurrection, bringing glory to God as sin and death were finally defeated, just as God had planned from the beginning.
Without Blemish
The Old Testament Jewish law demanded that sacrifices be perfect and without blemish. Anything else was deemed unacceptable in providing atonement for sin. Here I believe we see a picture of Jesus meeting that requirement.
Looking back at the tail end of chapter 18, we see Pilate declare not once, not twice, but three times that he finds no guilt in Jesus (Jn. 18:38; 19:4; 19:6). Shortly after that, despite his own reluctance and due to increasing pressure from the Jews, we see Pilate take the judgment seat (Jn. 19:13). It is here where he passes judgment and, despite having found him blameless, he sentences Jesus to death (Jn. 19:16).
Something I never noticed in this passage before was the role of judge played by Pilate. Sure we all know that Pilate was ultimately the one to sentence Jesus to death, but I think there is more going on here. Pilate is clearly the figure of authority in the passage. Although, as Jesus mentions that authority comes only from God (Jn. 19:11). So what we have here is a picture in which Pilate plays the role of God, the judge, and Jesus, who is God in the flesh, plays the role of humanity. Only because he was blameless, without blemish, could he serve as a substitute for us. And that is precisely what happened when he received the full judgment that we all deserve.
Application
The suffering of Christ ought to give us hope in our suffering. Nothing this world can throw at us can compare to the pain that he endured. He was beaten, mocked, ridiculed, publicly humiliated, and sentenced to an agonizing death on the cross. All for our sake. He deserved none of it. Yet he took the full weight of our sin. He gave it all so that we could live.
Should we not then live for Christ? Most of us won’t come anywhere near dying for him. Most of us probably won’t even ever take a beating for him the way he did for us. Mocked, ridiculed, and humiliated perhaps, but these things pale in comparison to what he endured for us.
In the same way that Jesus went before the judgment seat of Pilate, we too go before the judgment seat of God. However, because of Christ’s sacrifice, because he received the verdict we deserve, we will receive the verdict he deserved. Instead of a verdict of death, we receive a verdict of life. So let’s live for him the way he died for us.