John 19

http://www.esvbible.org/John+19/

In the beginning, John describes how Pilate had Jesus brutally beaten by the temple guards. While they were doing so, the made a crown of thrones and placed it on His head. Imagine the pain he took on of 39 lashes to the back with whips that had sharp bones and other terrible objects attached and of the thrones digging into His head. At that time, a criminal was beaten in the back 39 times because since there is no major blood vessel in the back, you could survive being whipped there more than anywhere else, and the magic number of the most lashes someone could survive was 39. The guards also placed a purple cloak around Jesus, and at the time, purple was the color of royalty. They mocked Him and called Him the King of the Jews in His crown and cape.

Pilate is again worried about being just, so after He has Jesus beaten, he takes Him back to the Jews to tell them that he again finds Jesus at no fault for anything. But the crowd shouts at Pilate to crucify Jesus. Crucifixion is a very lowly way to die. It's incredibly painful as the final result is you wait nailed to a rough splintery tree until your lungs fill with blood and you drown. Meanwhile, your body is on public display for all to watch you die, and you remain hanging there after you die to be an example to others. Jesus fears the Jews, so he goes back to questioning Jesus. He asks Jesus where He's from. When Jesus doesn't answer, Pilate asks Him if He knows Pilate has the power to free or kill Him. Jesus says he would not have that power if it hadn't been given to Him from God. At this point, Pilate wants to free Jesus more than ever, but the Jews said that Jesus claimed to be a king, and if anyone in the Roman Empire claimed to be a king, he was putting himself above the Emperor. This made Pilate even more afraid, so he tried Jesus in front of the Jews and sent Him off to be crucified.

Jesus is forced to carry His own cross up a hill to where He will die as weak as He was from the beatings. He was crucified between two criminals.Pilate put a sign above Jesus' head that said, "Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews" to mock Him. The chief priest said it should read he claimed to be the king of the Jews, but Pilate refused to change it. He wrote it in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin, so all men in that part of the ROman Empire could read it. The soldiers meanwhile divided up Jesus' clothes, but when they got to his cloak, it had no seam, and they didn't want to rip it, so they rolled dice for it. This fulfilled a prophesy from the Old Testament. Jesus looks down and sees his mother, her sister, and Mary of Magdala standing in front of Him with John. He tells Mary, his mother, "Look, here's your son!" And He told John, "Look, here's your mother!" For this reason, many believe that John was one of Jesus' half brothers, and after that, Mary lived the rest of her days with John.

After a while, Jesus says that He is thirsty. He does this so that scripture can be concluded. The guards soak a sponge in a jar of vinegar and wine and lift it up to Jesus. After He finishes drinking, he says, "It is finished!" and promptly dies. After a while longer, the priests ask Pilate to break the men's legs so that they will die and be buried. Since it was the Sabbath approaching and Passover, the priests did not want the bodies to remain on the crosses like they normally would. The guards brok the men's legs who surrounded Jesus, but when they saw that Jesus was dead, they did not break His legs, and another prophecy was fulfilled that said that none of His bones would be broken; however, one guard pierced Jesus' side with his spear and blood and water poured out. This fulfilled another prophecy that said they will look on the one they stabbed. John says that the man who stabbed Jesus is a witness and implies that John interviewed him. John says that he believes and testifies so that we might believe.

A man named Joseph, who was a secret disciple of Jesus, asked Pilate if he could take down Jesus' body, and Pilate allowed it. Nicodemus, who was the Pharisee who came to Jesus in Chapter Three, helped Joseph prepare Jesus' body to be buried. Then, they went to a new tomb, in which no one had yet been buried, and that's where they buried Christ.