Scripture referenced 2 passages
The passage this message was preached from, in full, with every other passage it reached for.
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John 19:16-42 main passage read aloud verse by verse as the text for the evening
16 So then he delivered him to them to be crucified. So they took Jesus and led him away.
17 He went out, bearing his cross, to the place called “The Place of a Skull”, which is called in Hebrew, “Golgotha”,
18 where they crucified him, and with him two others, on either side one, and Jesus in the middle.
19 Pilate wrote a title also, and put it on the cross. There was written, “JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS.”
20 Therefore many of the Jews read this title, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city; and it was written in Hebrew, in Latin, and in Greek.
21 The chief priests of the Jews therefore said to Pilate, “Don’t write, ‘The King of the Jews,’ but, ‘he said, “I am King of the Jews.”’”
22 Pilate answered, “What I have written, I have written.”
23 Then the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took his garments and made four parts, to every soldier a part; and also the coat. Now the coat was without seam, woven from the top throughout.
24 Then they said to one another, “Let’s not tear it, but cast lots for it to decide whose it will be,” that the Scripture might be fulfilled, which says, “They parted my garments among them. For my cloak they cast lots.” Therefore the soldiers did these things.
25 But there were standing by the cross of Jesus his mother, and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene.
26 Therefore when Jesus saw his mother, and the disciple whom he loved standing there, he said to his mother, “Woman, behold, your son!”
27 Then he said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother!” From that hour, the disciple took her to his own home.
28 After this, Jesus, seeing that all things were now finished, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, said, “I am thirsty.”
29 Now a vessel full of vinegar was set there; so they put a sponge full of the vinegar on hyssop, and held it at his mouth.
30 When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, “It is finished.” He bowed his head, and gave up his spirit.
31 Therefore the Jews, because it was the Preparation Day, so that the bodies wouldn’t remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a special one), asked of Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away.
32 Therefore the soldiers came, and broke the legs of the first, and of the other who was crucified with him;
33 but when they came to Jesus, and saw that he was already dead, they didn’t break his legs.
34 However one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and immediately blood and water came out.
35 He who has seen has testified, and his testimony is true. He knows that he tells the truth, that you may believe.
36 For these things happened, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, “A bone of him will not be broken.”
37 Again another Scripture says, “They will look on him whom they pierced.”
38 After these things, Joseph of Arimathaea, being a disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear of the Jews, asked of Pilate that he might take away Jesus’ body. Pilate gave him permission. He came therefore and took away his body.
39 Nicodemus, who at first came to Jesus by night, also came bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about a hundred Roman pounds.
40 So they took Jesus’ body, and bound it in linen cloths with the spices, as the custom of the Jews is to bury.
41 Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden. In the garden was a new tomb in which no man had ever yet been laid.
42 Then because of the Jews’ Preparation Day (for the tomb was near at hand) they laid Jesus there.
World English Bible · Read it in another translation
Keep this verse
Luke 9:23
quoted as Jesus telling his disciples to give up their own way and take up their cross daily and follow him
23 He said to all, “If anyone desires to come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.
World English Bible · Read it in another translation
Recap
The message in order, in a few minutes of reading.
This was a Monday evening study through John 19:16-42, the account of Jesus' crucifixion, death and burial. The pastor walked the room through what he called the passion of the Christ, urging the group not to skip ahead to resurrection Sunday without first feeling the full weight of Good Friday. The theme he kept returning to was belief, and the evidence that Jesus truly loves us.
What was said
the pastor opened by reminding everyone that the Monday night gatherings have been moving through John chapter by chapter, and that this particular stretch of the book covers the hardest ground: Jesus led away, nailed to a cross, declared dead, and laid in a tomb. He was direct that it matters to sit with the difficulty of it rather than rushing toward Easter. There is no resurrection Sunday, he said, without the grief of Good Friday.
Before reading the passage, he noted that Pilate's sign above the cross, written in Hebrew, Latin, and Greek, was not accidental. People had come from all over for the Passover feast, and they would have read it. The very public nature of the inscription was purposeful.
Reading through the chapter, the pastor paused on Jesus carrying the cross and connected it to a moment in Luke where Jesus tells his disciples to take up their cross daily and follow him. Here in John 19, he pointed out, Jesus is literally doing exactly what he taught. That, the pastor said, solidifies the teaching in a way that is hard to miss.
He touched on the physical reality of crucifixion, noting that the word excruciating is thought to come from the Latin for crucifixion, and that death came through slow suffocation as a person struggled to hold their own weight. He did not linger on the graphic details, but he wanted the group to understand something of what Jesus actually endured.
Several fulfillments of scripture showed up in the reading, and the pastor let them land as he went: soldiers throwing dice for Jesus' seamless robe, not one of his bones being broken, and the piercing of his side. John identifies himself in the text as an eyewitness giving an accurate account so that readers may continue to believe, and that word, believe, is the heartbeat of the whole gospel.
The chapter closes with Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus, two men who had kept their connection to Jesus quiet, coming forward to take the body and wrap it with spices for burial. The pastor did not press hard on that detail, but it is there in the text as the chapter ends, Jesus laid in a new tomb near the place where he was crucified.
Doing a Bible study?
Here is a guide we have prepared for you: the passages in order, questions for the group, and room to write.
- The pastor said it is important to feel the weight of Good Friday and not just skip ahead to the resurrection. Why do you think it matters to sit with the suffering of the cross, and have you ever found yourself rushing past it?
- Jesus told his disciples to take up their cross daily, and then he literally carried his own cross to Golgotha. What does that connection between his teaching and his action mean to you personally?
and 3 more questions in the guide
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