The record of Jesus’ death, burial, resurrection, and proof through His appearances is the heart of the gospel! And all of it is included in these two chapters. Seems like maybe these chapters are pretty important.
Rather than choose a segment to dig into I’m going to back up and give an overview of the things that really stand out to me. There are four collections.
Collection One | the trials
Chapter 19 begins with the final trial that Jesus faced. I see it as the culmination of six trials. These six trials are found in John 18:12-24; Matthew 26:57-68; Matthew 27:1-2; Luke 23:1-5; and finally this one, also written about in Luke 23:13-25. This final trial includes Jesus’ sentence. He is to hang on a cross, punished not for an earthly crime, we read at the end of this mockery that Pilot finds no fault in Jesus. But the “crowd” of Jews insist upon Jesus’ death. They have worked themselves up into a frenzy. It seems somewhat like a term that keeps popping up these days called, Groupthink. Today groupthink is defined a psychological phenomenon that occurs within a group of people in which the desire for harmony or conformity in the group results in an irrational or dysfunctional decision-making outcome. Or maybe it was “mob” or “herd” mentality. Either way, the crowd (remember the city of Jerusalem was CROWDED at this time to observe the Passover) who welcomed Jesus into Jerusalem with singing and shouting “hosanna!” a few days before is now angrily chanting “CRUCIFY HIM!”
Pause for a moment. Can you place yourself in this crowd where everyone around you seeks the most cruel of executions? Maybe you begin by hearing a lot of noise? You push your way closer to find out what it’s all about? You’re curious. At first you see wrath spewed from a few of the respected men. Then more join in, before you know it you’re one of them and you don’t even know why.
Do you see yourself being enveloped in groupthink today? Reset with the WORD of God. What ever things are true, these are the things that a Christ-follower is to focus on. Was it true that Jesus was guilty? No. Not of His own sin. Yet, in his blameless state, He chose to take on the sin of the world and therefore He chose to suffer all six trials, and the sentence handed down.
Collection Two | The Gospel
The gospel is clearly spoken by Paul in 1 Corinthians 15:1-8 and the critical elements of his message are contained in John 19-20. The death, burial, resurrection, and a few of the many appearances which solidified Christ’s work done for the sake of the good news of salvation.
Think about this; if Jesus had resurrected from the dead and ascended immediately to heaven to be with His Father, how would anyone have known? He could have spoken in visions, and appeared to the 11 disciples like He did later to Paul in a vision, but that isn’t the way Jesus operated, is it? Jesus could have done His entire ministry from the comfort of His “easy chair”. Think of attending church online. He could have sent messengers like He did to Mary and to Joseph. He could have “phoned in” His message to the disciples, similarly to the way the patriarchs and prophets of the Old Testament heard the messages they needed to act upon. But Jesus would not have been able to beam down His death on the cross. He had to be born of flesh and blood. He had to learn and grow, and walk among men. He had to show them how and watch them minister. And ultimately He had to die, be buried, be resurrected, and then show the people who would take over His ministry that all of this was very real, and they were very capable of going forward in His place.
Ask yourself this. What earthly good are you doing today? Are you out seeing people and helping people? How about this? What heavenly good are you doing today? Are you pointing people to a healing, hope-filled, relationship with Christ? Jesus had a much better excuse to not get involved with humanity than I could ever come up with in my life. He was perfect. He was holy. He was busy. He didn’t need to walk among the filth of sinful man, or did He? So what is my excuse or yours to not get physically involved, doing good and speaking the truth of the gospel?
Collection Three | The appearances
The appearances of Christ are something that I have overlooked in the past. As I alluded to above without these encounters, how was the message of Jesus’ resurrection going to be real? Years ago when I began studying God’s word in earnest, I was surprised at this collection. I knew that Jesus had seen Mary, and the disciples, but I would have guessed that was about it. In fact, no. There were many more who saw Jesus and heard His final messages. You can read about them in John 20:11-18; Matthew 28:9-10; Luke 24:13-32; John 20:19-25; John 20:26-31; John 21:1-35; Matthew 28:16-20; 1 Corinthians 15:7; and Luke 24:44-48.
Can you imagine the utter JOY of seeing Jesus again after you were convinced all hope was lost? When you have moments of despair now, do you realize that you have the same hope seeing the risen Lord that all of these witnesses did? You might not see Him physically today, but you can know Him and be in a very real relationship with Him. “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believed.” You have the ability to connect with Him every moment of every day. As a believer you have the same message to share, and the same power to tell it as all of those people Jesus left behind did 2,000 years ago. Rejoice!
Collection Four | The prophecies
In the margins of my Bible I can see the references of 3 prophecies that were fulfilled in John 19 alone. We see the prophecy in Psalm 22:18 when the soldiers divided up Jesus’ clothes. Did they frame them in a display case? Or sell them on eBay? I wonder. Secondly, we see the prophecy of the sponge being lifted to try and bring some comfort to Christ on the cross in Psalm 69:21. Finally we see the prophecy recorded in Zechariah 12:10 of Jesus side being pierced, and the mourning of the loss of Jesus, God’s only Son. Mary was there and she definitely mourned the loss of her first son, but not only son. She and the others, however, bitterly mourned the loss of God’s only Son.
It is a beautiful thing to see God’s word come full circle. Months ago in our study we read of many prophets speaking of the coming Messiah. We could see the hope that was to come to Judah from the line of David. We read of the King that would rule over all of the world, this was what tripped up the Jews who awaited a physical King to rule them and set them free from Roman rule. God had a much bigger plan. It wasn’t just for the Jews, it wasn’t just for that time and place when Jesus first came to the earth. It was forever. The final pieces are yet to come.
My last question is have you fallen in love with the word? The book of John opens with “in the beginning was the Word”. This Word isn’t any word that is written down, like these words you know read. LOL are you still tracking with me? The Word is “logos”: the expression of a thought, a concept or an idea. In the beginning is the Word, it was expressed as Jesus created the world. It is seen, felt, and heard through what we physically experience every day. Time and space and rhythm and life; all an expression of Jesus. Falling in love with the Word, means falling in love with Jesus who is expressed all through the pages of the Bible and expressed through what we physically, intellectually, and spiritually experience every day- when we are paying attention.
I really hope that this helps you know and understand the significance of John 19-20 and because you do, the lives of people in your life are changed. Blessed are you who have not seen but believe! Do something that expresses what you believe today.
