“16 So the soldiers took charge of Jesus. 17 Carrying his own cross, he went out to the place of the Skull (which in Aramaic is called Golgotha). 18 Here they crucified him, and with him two others—one on each side and Jesus in the middle.
19 Pilate had a notice prepared and fastened to the cross. It read: JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS. 20 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. 21 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.” 22 Pilate answered, “What I have written, I have written.”
23 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.
24 “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 which said, “They divided my garments among them and cast lots for my clothing.” So this is what the soldiers did.
25 Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother, his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. 26 When Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, “Dear woman, here is your son,” 27 and to the
disciple, “Here is your mother.” From that time on, this disciple took her into his home.
”
I want you to think about a big event in your own life—maybe it was something tragic, maybe it was something happy; the key is that it was undeniably important. Since this was such a big event in your life, you’ve doubtlessly thought about it from time to time. Sometimes you focus on the consequences of it. Sometimes you try to give meaning to it. Sometimes you wonder what your life would be like if it never happened, and sometimes you think about the details of the event itself. You think about that same event in so many different ways precisely because it is so important.
The same is true when it comes to the cross. If the cross is a big event in your life, you think about it in different ways. You focus on the consequences of it in your life. You consider the meaning of it. You wonder what your life would be like if it never happened, and tonight you are going think about the details of it.
We think about the cross in different ways, and are trained by the apostles to do so, because the cross is important to the Christian life. Just as you think about that big event in your life in so many different ways because it is so important, so you think about the cross in all these different ways because it is so important. Tonight we look at the details because those are important. The details of the crucifixion are important because the cross is important; that’s the claim of this sermon.
We will see that in four points. First: the crucifixion. Second: the notice. Third: the clothing. Fourth: the mother. In verses 16-18, we see the crucifixion. In verses 19-22, the notice; verses 23-24, the clothing; and verses 25-27, the mother.
First: the crucifixion. As you read the gospels you get used to seeing Jesus as the subject and not the object of the narrative. He sets the agenda. He does the verbs. When we come to the crucifixion, however, we are struck by a reversal; verse 16, “So the soldiers took charge of Jesus.” Jesus is now the object of someone else’s doings.
The soldiers took Jesus to the place of the skull; verse 17, “Carrying his own cross, he went out to the place of the Skull (which in Aramaic is called Golgotha).” Jesus was crucified at a specific location just like that big event in your life happened at a specific location. That’s how events in history happen.
There are different theories for why this location was called the place of the skull. Some think that the rockface looked like a skull. We refer to certain locations based on what they look like. This first slide is the Old Man on the Mountain in New Hampshire, or at least it was until it collapsed.
This second slide is Elephant Rock in Iceland.
They might have called this next rock face the place of the skull because part of it looked like a skull.
This third slide is what’s known as Gordon’s Calvary, which is one of the potential sites of the crucifixion. Can anyone see the skull? Two thousand years ago it may have looked much more like a skull. Other people think the site became known as the place of the skull because it was where David displayed Goliath’s skull at Jerusalem as recorded in 1 Samuel 17. Whatever the reason, what better place to execute criminals than at a place called the place of the skull?
We are told that Jesus carried his cross here, and this most likely means that he carried the cross bar—the horizontal part of the cross. The vertical part of the cross was already at the crucifixion site. When the condemned man reached the site with the crossbar, he would lay down, be nailed to it, and then the horizontal and vertical portions would be nailed together. So the walk to Golgotha described in verse 17 probably looked more like this fourth slide than like this fifth and last slide.
The purpose of that walk, and of the entire crucifixion, was to shame the accused. As DA Carson put it, “in the ancient world, the most terrible of punishments is always associated with shame and horror.” You see the truth of that when you compare their view of torture and execution with ours. The Romans tortured in public; when we do it, we do it in private because we don’t want anyone to know about it. Remember the Abu Ghraib photos? We have very different views of torture than they had in ancient Rome. We have very different views of execution. The states that do practice the death penalty don’t televise the events. They would have in Rome. Their goal was to heap maximum shame on the accused.
The mechanics of crucifixion were horrible. We won’t focus on them tonight, but it’s enough to know that it was so horrible that no Roman citizen could be crucified without the sanction of the emperor himself. Jesus, of course, wasn’t a Roman citizen and so the local governor, Pilate, could decide his case. It’s something to consider that the apostle Paul had more legal rights than God Himself when he took on flesh.
The arrangement of the crosses mattered; verse 18, “here they crucified him, and with him two others—one on each side and Jesus in the middle.” John tells us about this arrangement for the same reason you talk about how the cars were arranged when an accident happened. You include that information because that’s the way it happened. This is what eyewitness testimony sounds like.
John may have also been thinking about Isaiah 52-53, which is Isaiah’s prophecy of the cross, “he poured out his life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors.” In being crucified between two criminals, Jesus was certainly numbered among the transgressors showing that he suffered what the worst sins deserve.
It’s important to remember that even as Jesus was crucified, other people were living their lives too. We can get so focused, and rightly focused, on this one man during this moment, that we forget about what else was going on. We see that in our second point: the notice.
While Jesus was on the cross, Pilate and the Jewish leaders were having a spat. It was about the notice on Jesus’ cross. It was the custom to publicize the crime of the executed man. They did it to intimidate the populace, which explains why it was written in Aramaic, Latin, and Greek. The message was clear to everyone who could read any of those languages—if you get out of line, Rome can do this to you too. That’s what’s going on with this notice and Pilate had a bit of fun the one on Jesus’ cross; verse 19, “Pilate had a notice prepared and fastened to the cross. It read: JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS.”
There was often tension between Pilate and the Jewish leaders. As governor Pilate had the right to appoint the Jewish high priest, which obviously bothered the Jewish leaders. Pilate had a history of cruel pettiness, and we see it come out in the way he used Jesus to taunt the Jewish leaders. Before the crucifixion we read about how Pilate presented Jesus bloody and battered to the Jewish leaders saying, “Here is your king.” When they demanded that Pilate sentence Jesus to death, Pilate asked, “Shall I crucify your king?” This was all tongue in cheek. Pilate didn’t believe that Jesus was their king. He was taunting them. He thought this whole business was ridiculous and resented the way the Jewish leaders whipped up the people to try to force him to do what they wanted. This notice saying, “JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS,” was just Pilate’s way of rubbing the Jewish leaders’ nose in the fact that the Romans and not the Jews were in charge of Judea.
The chief priests saw that. The people saw that; verse 20, “Many of the Jews read this sign, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city.” This was an intentional slight against all Jews and so the Jewish leaders asked Pilate to change the sign; verse 21, ‘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.”’ Controlling the message is important in politics in our day. It was important then too. The chief priests knew that.
So did Pilate; verse 22, ‘Pilate answered, “What I have written, I have written.”’ Pilate didn’t say that because he thought good leadership sticks by its guns. Pilate didn’t say that because he was too lazy to change the sign. He said that because he could. He was in charge and he wanted the Jewish leaders to remember that.
This petty squabble was going back and forth while Jesus was being crucified, but God had purposes even for this. The sign was more accurate than Pilate or the Jewish leaders knew; “JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS.” Jesus, in fact, was the Messiah, the Christ. God publicized that fact in three languages through this petty squabble. He has continued to do so through all sorts of dysfunction ever since. God can turn even pettiness toward His purposes.
As this notice hung above Jesus’ head, another indignity was occurring below him; that’s our third point: the garments. Execution was grizzly work, but it had its perks. For starters, you got the criminal’s clothes. We don’t consider clothing all that valuable today because we live in age of mass production. There are a bewildering number of shirts, shoes, and pants just sitting on shelves in this nation. That was not the case in Israel in that day. Clothing was all handmade and valuable and so when a man was executed the soldiers got to split his clothes.
They probably divided Jesus’ four pieces of clothing—the head covering, outer garment, belt, and sandals—between the four of them; this left the garment worn underneath. Rather than ripping it into four portions, they decided to cast lots to see who would get it.
Now if all your garments have been taken away, in what situation does that leave you? It leaves you naked. This is why most paintings of the crucifixion show Jesus naked. Remember the purpose of crucifixion was to heap as much pain and shame on the accused as possible to scare the population into submission.
This whole business of the garments is all about power. It shows the powerlessness of the crucified and the power of the soldiers. Jesus’ mother was there at the foot of the cross, but the soldiers didn’t give the clothes to her. They took them because they could.
The quotation from Psalm 22 is included to show that there was another power at work; verse 24, ‘This happened that the scripture might be fulfilled which said, “They divided my garments among them and cast lots for my clothing.”’
This was the plan of God. Jesus was thinking about this Psalm as he hung on the cross. This is the one that begins with, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Jesus knew this Psalm far better than you know your favorite song. He knew the line, “They divide my clothes among them and cast lots for my garment,” and when he saw that happening below him he took it as a reminder that all of this was the plan of God. He remembered that God was in charge. He would have remembered the verse that comes next in Psalm 22, “But you, Lord, do not be far from me. You are my strength; come quickly to help me.”
This seemingly unimportant detail of the crucifixion about the garments is meant to encourage because it shows that this was all in the Father’s hands. The Father’s sovereignty always encouraged Jesus. It’s meant to encourage you if God is your Father because He is no less sovereign today than He was on that day.
We need to recognize that Jesus was still Jesus as he hung on the cross. He was thinking in terms of his Father’s plan even as he bled. He was also keeping God’s commandments. We see that in our last point: the mother.
Jesus’ mother, her sister, some other women, and the disciples Jesus loved—almost certainly John, the author of this gospel—stood with Jesus in this public shaming. There were probably some sensitive souls in that taunting mob who came to recognize that this woman must be the dying man’s mother and so behaved decently, but there were certainly others who didn’t. As Matthew tells us, “those who passed by derided him.” Remember, the purpose was to publicly shame.
As this was going on, Jesus saw his mother; verse 26, “When Jesus saw his mother there…” What do you say to your mother in a moment like that? What do you say to your mother who warned you that this could happen—who tried to get you to come home so that nothing like this would happened to you? What did Jesus say? Jesus kept the fifth commandment. He honored his mother even as he died. He cared for her. As Calvin put it, “he forgot himself, and he forgot everything, so far as was necessary for the discharge of obedience to his Father, but after having performed that duty, he did not neglect what he owed to his mother.”
Jesus cared for his mother by entrusting her to John’s care; verse 26, ‘When Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, “Dear woman, here is your son,” and to the disciple, “Here is your mother.” From that time on, this disciple took her into his home.’
Even in pain far beyond anything I’ve ever experienced, Jesus was keeping the commandments. He was loving because that’s what he wanted to do. In my pain, I think about me. I even tend to think that my pain excuses whatever sin I commit while I’m in pain. I certainly don’t seem to think I need to keep commandments while I’m in pain. Jesus is so different from me. In what ways is he different from you? We’ve all got a lot of sanctification ahead of us. What was said about Jesus on the night he was betrayed was certainly true about him as he hung on the cross, “Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.”
This picture of Jesus caring for his mother as she came to care for him is a sign of deep intimacy but there is distance in it. You see that in the word “woman” in verse 26, “Dear woman, here is your son.” The Greek word behind this does not imply any disrespect, but it certainly doesn’t exude warmth. There were any number of words that Jesus could have used here, but he intentionally chose “woman” just as he intentionally chose it when Mary asked him to fix the situation at the wedding reception in chapter 2; “Woman, why do you involve me?”
Jesus loved Mary as his mother, but she didn’t have any special access to him simply because she was his mother. He cared for her as a good son should even as he died, but that didn’t give her any preferential treatment in his eyes. The message is that she would need to come to him like any other sinner. What he was suffering as he died on that cross was just as needful to forgive her sins as it was to forgive mine. Now if even Mary didn’t receive preferential treatment, consider the insanity of any of us thinking that we will because of anything about us. That would be arrogance in the extreme.
However, arrogance in the extreme is not far from any of us. That’s the message of the cross. These details show us what our sin deserves. All sinners should find these details important. They should recognize the power of the cross. Sinners saved through this crucifixion do. Amen.