Be prepared for a shock! What we may think is the best life, may prove to be disastrous. Conversely, the life of self-giving, done for the right reason, is generally the most rewarding and fulfilling life possible. The most joyful people are those who are not focused on themselves, but on a cause or person greater than themselves.
Consider the irony that the greatest symbol of Christianity is the cross, which speaks of glory and victory. Yet, the cross was a tool of punishment, extreme torture, and death at the time of Jesus’ crucifixion. The cross stood for the most shameful and despised symbol of rejection and suffering. So, what brought about that change? The death of Jesus and what it accomplished on behalf of humanity. Jesus’ sacrificial death brought victory over sin, death, and judgment. This amazing self-giving by Jesus transformed the cross into a symbol of hope and deliverance. In the conclusion of John 19, we discover how for the joy set before him, Jesus endured the cross, scorning its shame and the result was and is His exaltation. When we consider the great sacrifice Jesus made on our behalf, besides gratitude, what affect should that have on our lives?
Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: ‘Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.[i]
What does it mean to take up our cross and follow Jesus? We see that Jesus took up His cross and the result was the greatest provision in the universe, both for creation and the human family. Jesus explains that we also need to follow Him in this area of our lives as well and Jesus continues by describing what it means.
For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it.[ii]
Even as Jesus willingly gave up his life for us, so we must also be willing to give up our lives by serving Jesus’ will and agenda for our lives. In the crucifixion, death, and burial of Jesus we discover the pattern or steps that produces the Christ-life within us and the enrichment of others. It is about laying down our lives.
THE FIRST STEP IN LAYING DOWN OUR LIVES IS TO BE WILLING TO SUFFER TO ADVANCE GOD’S KINGDOM
Anything worthwhile in life comes at a cost. There is a price that comes with that which is of value. One of the great things in life is raising a family but having those kinds of relationships causes not only great moments of joy, but also times of stress and challenge. If you ask most parents, they will tell you that having a family and serving them is worth it. Peter warns us that, like Jesus, we must have a certain mindset if we are to effectively serve God, by serving others.
Therefore, since Christ suffered in his body, arm yourselves also with the same attitude.[iii]
A. Jesus willingly suffered.
So, let’s look at how Jesus approached His suffering, so that we can learn from Him and approach the challenges that will face us as we serve Him by serving others.
So the soldiers took charge of Jesus. Carrying his own cross, he went out to the place of the Skull (which in Aramaic is called Golgotha). There they crucified him, and with him two others—one on each side and Jesus in the middle.[iv]
The crucifixion was mentioned in the fewest possible words. John, who alone of all the disciples witnessed it, said the least about it. The paragraph merely states the act, the place, and the fact that two others shared the same fate as Jesus. The reticence of the writer indicates that he did not lay great value upon stressing the physical suffering. Besides, in a day when crucifixion was still a current method of execution, it would have been too familiar to need description and too horrible a thought to deserve elaboration.[v]
D. A. Carson in his comments on the gospel of John points out an important omission in the account that is found in all other gospels.
It is important to ask why John omits mention of Simon of Cyrene. [Simon was the man that during the walk to Golgotha was conscripted by the Romans to carry Christ’s cross.] The brief answer is that it does not lend support to his central themes, and would therefore be distracting. …But John, even though he makes room for the suffering (e.g. 12:27–28), greatly emphasizes the sovereign plan of the Father and the Son’s obedience. And so he reports, rightly, that Jesus carried his own cross.[vi]
Gerald Borchert points out the idea that Jesus is seen as willingly giving up his life for others.
The scene John wants us to focus on is Jesus on his way to the cross. Although Jesus has been whipped and condemned as a criminal, he is not a helpless victim but the Shepherd-King laying down his life for his sheep (10:11, 15, 17; 15:13). The King was carrying his own cross to crucifixion and to his glorification. This carrying of his own cross may be reminiscent of the story in Gen 22:6, when Abraham laid the wood on Isaac which the boy carried and which was to be the means of his own sacrifice.[vii]
Crucifixion was one of the cruelest forms of execution and was only reserved for those who had no rights and were the worst offenders. Jesus is now crucified with two others, one on each side. In other words, Jesus is in the middle of these criminals and dies as one as one of them. John is pointing out Jesus’ death was a fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecies of the ‘Suffering Servant,’ found in Isaiah 53.
because he poured out his life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors. For he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.[viii]
One of the features of execution was the sign above the criminal, spelling out their crime.
B. The execution notice.
Pilate had a notice prepared and fastened to the cross. It read: JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS. Many of the Jews read this sign, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and the sign was written in Aramaic, Latin and Greek. The chief priests of the Jews protested to Pilate, ‘Do not write “The King of the Jews,” but that this man claimed to be king of the Jews.’ Pilate answered, ‘What I have written, I have written.’[ix]
Here the sign was produced so that the common Jewish people who spoke Aramaic could read the charges against Jesus. It was also written in Latin, the language of the Romans and was the legal language of the time. It was also written in Greek, the universal language of the ancient Mediterranean world.
Carson explains why this need for communication to a wider audience.
The reason for such linguistic enthusiasm is obvious: the Romans had a vested interest in publicizing the nature of the crime that resulted in such punishment, as a warning to every segment of the populace.[x]
Gerald Borchert relates the significance that John ascribes to this exchange between Pilate and the Jewish religious leaders.
There is little doubt that John saw in this entitlement an ironic declaration that Jesus was in death being declared universally the expected Messiah, the King of the Jews.[xi]
This posting of Jesus’ “crime” angered the religious leaders who saw this as an act of derision on the part of Pilate.
C. The crowd at the cross of Jesus.
John immediately brings to us the different people at the cross. The first group that he mentions were the executioners, the soldiers who were fulfilling their role and receiving their reward.
When the soldiers crucified Jesus, they took his clothes, dividing them into four shares, one for each of them, with the undergarment remaining. This garment was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom. ‘Let’s not tear it,’ they said to one another. ‘Let’s decide by lot who will get it.’ This happened that the scripture might be fulfilled that said, ‘They divided my clothes among them and cast lots for my garment.’ So this is what the soldiers did.[xii]
The seamless garment, rather than tear it was given by deciding who would receive it by “casting lots” for it? There has been much speculation as to the significance of the garment. D. A. Carson ties this seamless garment and Jesus’ death to what had happened earlier in the upper room, where Jesus had washed his disciples’ feet as a prefigured action pointing forward to the cross.
The one association that has some merit, precisely because Jesus’ clothes and Jesus’ death come together in both passages, is the one that ties 19:23–24 to the footwashing (13:1–20). Jesus laid aside his garments, his outer garments, when he washed his disciples’ feet, in an act that anticipated the cleansing that would issue from his death. So here he loses his clothes, all his clothes. The same self-humbling operates, but here to the last degree, as he lays aside his glory, and by this act, in the divine paradox, is glorified. Yet while his last earthly possessions are stripped from him, he remains under his Father’s sovereign care, even as his tunic is not torn and destroyed.[xiii]
Unwittingly, all of these actions at the cross were part of the prophetic drama being played out which God had revealed to His servants and recorded hundreds of years beforehand. They were now fulfilling the plan of God’s mighty salvation secured through the death and ultimately, the resurrection of Jesus. This great salvation experienced when we put their trust in Jesus and follow Him.
In Psalm 22:15-18, we hear the prophetic words of the psalmist which are now being played out. Psalm 22 is one of the Messianic Psalms which was fulfilled in Jesus’ death. Psalm 22 speaks of the thirst, the people surrounding the cross like a “pack of villains,” mocking Jesus. We read of piercing of the nails being driven into the cross at his hands and feet and finally the division of His clothes.
My mouth is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth; you lay me in the dust of death. Dogs surround me, a pack of villains encircles me; they pierce my hands and my feet. All my bones are on display; people stare and gloat over me. They divide my clothes among them and cast lots for my garment.[xiv]
D. In contrast to the executioners and mockers are the faithful followers of Jesus.
Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother, his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to her, ‘Woman, here is your son,’ and to the disciple, ‘Here is your mother.’ From that time on, this disciple took her into his home.[xv]
While the soldiers exploit the small contribution of Jesus’ earthly possessions, and others stood around mocking as expressed in the other gospels, which John omits, we have the contrast of the devoted followers of Jesus following Him to the very end. John now names two of the four women standing there. When we compare the other gospels, it seems that these women were Mary, the mother of Jesus, Mary’s sister Salome, who was the mother of James and John, the sons of Zebedee (cf. Mt. 27:56), Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene.
Here we see that even in death, Jesus, who as the first of Mary’s children, was responsible for her care, makes a provision for her in His death by assigning that responsibility to the disciple whom he loved, which is John, the one who is the writer of this gospel.
Jesus is also showing us that the spiritual relationship between believers transcend even our earthly families. We can also surmise from this that one of the most important responsibilities of a follower of Jesus is to care for our families. Paul reminds us in his letter instructing Timothy that we should not neglect the care of our families, which is described as a denial of our faith.
Anyone who does not provide for his relatives, and especially for their own household, has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.[xvi]
THE SECOND STEP IN LAYING DOWN OUR LIVES IS TO BE WILLING TO DIE TO OUR EARTHLY DREAM TO ADVANCE GOD’S ETERNAL KINGDOM
God’s plan, for each of us is ultimately greater than any human dream that we may cherish. His will is always in our best interests and the interests of others. Often, the only way to discover what that is, is to lay aside our agenda and allow God to direct us into something far more life-giving and meaningful. Like Jesus, we need to understand that before resurrection comes death and before glory and exaltation comes humiliation and suffering. We need to be faithful to fulfill our purposes before we shall one day stand before our Lord and Savior. What is fascinating is that the God-dream that He places in our lives will come to pass if we lay down our own dream. The God-dream is always superior in that it makes us a godly and better person and benefits those around us. Selfish purposes may satisfy for a season, but they will prove hollow and at a terrible expense to us and those who we care the most about.
A. Fulfilling our Purpose.
Later, knowing that everything had now been finished, and so that Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, ‘I am thirsty.’ A jar of wine vinegar was there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put the sponge on a stalk of the hyssop plant, and lifted it to Jesus’ lips. When he had received the drink, Jesus said, ‘It is finished.’ With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.[xvii]
The wine vinegar here is not the sedative designed to lessen the pain, the “wine mixed with myrrh” (Mk. 15:23), but the “wine vinegar” the cheap sour wine that the soldiers were drinking. In Jesus’ actions we find that he is fulfilling or completing God’s perfect redemptive plan. The use of the word “finished,” speaks to accomplishing all that God wanted done on behalf of sin and its consequence of death upon both humanity and creation.
D. A. Carson relates that each action was directed by the Father’s will, and we see the Son’s compliance to it.
John wants to make his readers understand that every part of Jesus’ passion was not only in the Father’s plan of redemption but a consequence of the Son’s direct obedience to it.[xviii]
John expresses Jesus’ death with the final words, “‘It is finished.’ With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit (v. 30)”. Jesus willingly gave up His life. That’s the point. Even as Jesus obeyed in accomplishing the Father’s purpose, we also need to have that same attitude and desire. The apostle Paul understood this as he was nearing the end of his life. In writing to Timothy, he states it so clearly.
For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time for my departure is near. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is store up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.[xix]
We need to understand that this life is not the totality of our being. We are running a race toward eternity. Our earthly journey will one day come to an end, and how we lived here is shaping our relationship with Christ. Will we, like Jesus, surrender to God’s will for our lives?
B. The ironic request and the certainty of Jesus’ death.
Now it was the day of Preparation, and the next day was to be a special Sabbath. Because the Jewish leaders did not want the bodies left on the crosses during the Sabbath, they asked Pilate to have the legs broken and the bodies taken down. The soldiers therefore came and broke the legs of the first man who had been crucified with Jesus, and then those of the other. But when they came to Jesus and found that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. Instead, one of the soldiers pierced Jesus’ side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water. The man who saw it has given testimony, and his testimony is true. He knows that he tells the truth, and he testifies so that you also may believe. These things happened so that the scripture would be fulfilled: ‘Not one of his bones will be broken,’ and, as another scripture says, ‘They will look on the one they have pierced.’[xx]
There are many thoughts that can be developed from these verses, of which I will mention four.
1. It was the day of preparation that Jesus died and that this was a special Sabbath because it was during the week of Passover. It struck John that the very day that Passover lambs were being slaughtered for this Passover, was the very hour that ‘the lamb of God’ was slaughtered to be our Passover lamb, our lamb of deliverance from the slavery of sin.
2. Then we see once again the irony of the religious leaders who are concerned about being ceremonially pure and therefore asking that the bodies be removed from the crosses.
3. Another idea that John is conveying is the actuality of Jesus’ death. John writing decades after the event is already dealing with some that are denying that Jesus died.
4. Finally, the purpose of John’s testimony as an eyewitness is to help us come to believe his testimony and experience eternal life.
This leads to the final step in laying down our lives, which is the willingness to openly testify about Jesus.
THE FINAL STEP IN LAYING DOWN OUR LIVES IS TO BE WILLING TO OPENLY IDENTIFY WITH JESUS DESPITE THE COST
There are so many people who claim to be Christians but are ashamed of the gospel and its message. They fear that being open about their faith may cost them ridicule, prestige, and position. For others they fear hostility, persecution, and financial losses.
We see that two of the religious leaders who were secret followers of Jesus now after Jesus’ death, openly risk everything to identify and minister to Jesus’ earthly body in His death.
Later, Joseph of Arimathea asked Pilate for the body of Jesus. Now Joseph was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly because he feared the Jewish leaders. With Pilate’s permission, he came and took the body away. He was accompanied by Nicodemus, the man who earlier had visited Jesus at night. Nicodemus brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds. Taking Jesus’ body, the two of them wrapped it, with the spices, in strips of linen. This was in accordance with Jewish burial customs. At the place where Jesus was crucified, there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb, in which no one had ever been laid. Because it was the Jewish day of Preparation and since the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there.[xxi]
It was prophesied about the suffering servant that he would be buried among the rich. Think of the incredible contrast of dying among the transgressors and then buried among the rich. God had foretold this through the prophet Isaiah.
He was assigned a grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death, though he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth.[xxii]
Colin Kruse explains God’s provision for Jesus even in death.
According to Roman custom, the bodies of executed criminals were not buried, but left to be devoured by vultures. The Mishnah indicates that it was Jewish custom to bury criminals’ bodies in common graves provided by the Sanhedrin.[xxiii]
However, John tells us that Joseph had been a secret disciple of Jesus because he was afraid of being ostracized by his peers.
Yet at the same time many even among the leaders believed in him. But because of the Pharisees they would not openly acknowledge their faith for fear they would be put out of the synagogue; for they loved human praise more than praise from God.[xxiv]
We probably can safely say that both Nicodemus and Joseph were among this number, but this crisis caused them to re-evaluate their actions. What to do about Jesus? So, now in his death, they both come forward as they are both convinced that Jesus is the Messiah. They may not fully understand the total ramifications of His death, but I’m sure after the resurrection and the day of Pentecost, we would find them among the early church.
To bring seventy-five pounds of spices suggest that they may have anticipated the death of Jesus. F. F. Bruce answers the significance of this weight of spices for the burial of one man.
But why so great a weight of aromatic spices to prepare one man’s body for burial? One would not be surprised if it were for a royal burial–but that is precisely what Jesus’ burial was in the eyes of Nicodemus, and probably of Joseph too. To them he was in fact what the inscription on the cross proclaimed him to be in mockery- ‘The King of the Jews’.[xxv]
The irony of the location as mentioned by John of the crucifixion and the tomb was that there was a garden there. When we consider the origin of human sin happening in the garden of Eden, and now come to this garden where Paul describes Jesus as the second Adam. In Jesus’ obedience in this garden, sin is overcome and its effects now in reversal.
So, how can we experience the best out of life? First, it begins with personally accepting Jesus as Lord and Savior and publicly acknowledging that He died and rose again for us. If we believe in our hearts, then we must confess with our mouths. Then we begin to follow Him by “carrying our cross,” which simply means that we embrace the attitude that we are prepared to suffer with Christ in serving others and finally accepting God’s will and purpose for our lives, rather than pursing a dream outside of His will.
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[i] Mark 8:34, The New International Version of the Bible, Zondervan, 2011.
[ii] Mark 8:35.
[iii] 1 Peter 4:1a.
[iv] John 19:16b-18.
[v] Merrill Tenney, John the Gospel of Belief: An Analytic Study of The Text, (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1975), 265.
[vi] D. A. Carson, The Gospel According to John, The Pillar New Testament Commentary, (Grand Rapids, Mi: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1991), 609.
[vii] Gerald Borchert, John 1–11 Vol. 25B, (Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1996), 261.
[viii] Isaiah 53:12b.
[ix] John 19:19-22.
[x] D. A. Carson, The Gospel According to John, 611.
[xi] Gerald Borchert, John 1–11 Vol. 25B, 265.
[xii] John 19:23-24.
[xiii] D. A. Carson, The Gospel According to John, 614-15.
[xiv] Psalms 22:15-18.
[xv] John 19:25-27.
[xvi] 1 Timothy 5:8.
[xvii] John 19:28-30.
[xviii] D. A. Carson, The Gospel According to John, 619-20.
[xix] 2 Timothy 4:6-8.
[xx] John 19:31-37.
[xxi] John 19:38-42.
[xxii] Isaiah 53:9.
[xxiii] Colin C. G. Kruse, John: An Introduction and Commentary, Vol. 4 Tyndale New Testament Commentary, (InterVarsity Press, 2003), 367.
[xxiv] John 12:42-43.
[xxv] F. F. Bruce, The Gospel of John, (Grand Rapids, Mi: William Eerdman’s Publishing Company, 1983), 379.
