John 19,1-15

Jesus Delivered to Be Crucified

1 Then Pilate took Jesus and flogged him.
2 And the soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head and arrayed him in a purple robe.
3 They came up to him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” and struck him with their hands.
4 Pilate went out again and said to them, “See, I am bringing him out to you that you may know that I find no guilt in him.”
5 So Jesus came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. Pilate said to them, “Behold the man!”
6 When the chief priests and the officers saw him, they cried out, “Crucify him, crucify him!” Pilate said to them, “Take him yourselves and crucify him, for I find no guilt in him.”
7 The Jews[1] answered him, “We have a law, and according to that law he ought to die because he has made himself the Son of God.”
8 When Pilate heard this statement, he was even more afraid.
9 He entered his headquarters again and said to Jesus, “Where are you from?” But Jesus gave him no answer.
10 So Pilate said to him, “You will not speak to me? Do you not know that I have authority to release you and authority to crucify you?”
11 Jesus answered him, “You would have no authority over me at all unless it had been given you from above. Therefore, he who delivered me over to you has the greater sin.”
12 From then on Pilate sought to release him, but the Jews cried out, “If you release this man, you are not Caesar’s friend. Everyone who makes himself a king opposes Caesar.”
13 So when Pilate heard these words, he brought Jesus out and sat down on the judgment seat at a place called The Stone Pavement, and in Aramaic [2] Gabbatha.
14 Now it was the day of Preparation of the Passover. It was about the sixth hour.[3] He said to the Jews, “Behold your King!”
15 They cried out, “Away with him, away with him, crucify him!” Pilate said to them, “Shall I crucify your King?” The chief priests answered, “We have no king but Caesar.”

Hello everyone, I am kiki. Chinese name of our second phase of the program is “读经大讲堂”. The English name is “Bible study”.
We will adopt a relaxed also enjoyable learning mode to take you into a new learning world. Each time I will make a personal summary and analysis from the perspective of a learner, and then Sister Ingrid will help me conduct in-depth learning and problem discussions with everybody.
I hope that such an interesting and interactive process can bring new knowledge experience to you all. The following is my interview with my sister on related issues. Today is the thirty lecture on the Gospel of John.
Everyone is welcome to leave a message in the comment area for discussion!

2.My summary of John thirty-time study:

Well, everybody! Firstly, is still my today’s personal study summary.
Today’s passage is really sad and powerful. It describes how Jesus was treated before his crucifixion. Pilate, the Roman governor, had Jesus flogged, even though he said he didn’t find Jesus guilty of anything.
Soldiers made fun of Jesus by twisting a crown out of thorns and putting it on his head. They also dressed him in a purple robe to mock him as the “King of the Jews.” They even hit him and shouted insults at him.
Pilate brought Jesus out to the crowd, saying again that he didn’t find any guilt in him. But the chief priests and officials kept shouting for Jesus to be crucified. Pilate told them to take Jesus and crucify him themselves, but they said their law required Jesus to die because he claimed to be the Son of God.
When Pilate heard that, he became more nervous and asked Jesus where he was from. Jesus didn’t answer at first, but then he told Pilate that the authority he had come from God and that the people who handed him over were committing a greater sin.
Even though Pilate wanted to release Jesus, the crowd kept pressuring him. They said Pilate would be disloyal to Caesar if he let Jesus go because Jesus was claiming to be a king.
In the end, Pilate brought Jesus out and asked, “Shall I crucify your King?” The chief priests replied, “We have no king but Caesar.” Pilate gave in to the crowd, and Jesus was sentenced to be crucified. It’s heartbreaking to see how much Jesus suffered for us.
Now let Ingrid sister make a go further summary.

3.Sister’s comment from my studying summary:

We are in the text a few moments before Jesus was crucified. All depended if the Roman governor allows this crucification or not.

Pilate did not want to crucify Jesus, but he neither did not want to lose his power and his job.

He tried all to come out of the situation without losing anything, but all that he tried did not work.

First, he let Jesus punished and hoped, that this will be enough for the Jewish people, that they will have mercy with Jesus when they see him hurt and tortured so much.

But the power of the Jewish leaders was stronger as a human empathy, that would tell a sane consciousness, that Jesus has suffered enough. Their will was, to put it to a extreme and they wanted to see him on the cross.

After trying all, Pilate over gave Jesus to the Jews with a clear comment, that he has nothing to do with the crucification of the innocent Jesus.

Pilate is a good example, that we sometimes have to decide which way we go: Are we following Jesus, even it will cost us something, or do we want to have all, earthly power and honor and Jesus, too.

The bible says clearly, you cannot serve two masters. So we have to decide if we are serving God or the lusts of the world.

4. Q list part: base on John 18th items:

Okay. Base on above bible study content, now let me ask sister some related questions.
We hope the following questions can be helpful to our brothers and sisters who have just become Christians.

1.Why did Pilate have Jesus flogged even though he found no guilt in him?

He wanted to satisfy the demand of the Jewish leaders, that Jesus shall be punished. He thought, when Jesus was turreted and suffered a lot, that the Jewish leaders will have mercy and let him go.

2.What was the significance of the crown of thorns and the purple robe?

The roman soldiers mocked Jesus, because they thought it is funny, that Jesus himself called him a king.

But the thorns have a significance: In Genesis 3 we read, that God has cursed the earth that there shall grow thrones to make the life of the humans difficult.

When Jesus got this crown of thorns, he got this curse put on his head. So, Jesus bare the curse of the earth and our sins up to the cross.

With the purple robe, Jesus was dressed like a king and in fact, Jesus is king in heaven and he has a kingdom, but not of this world

3.How did the soldiers mock Jesus, and why is this important to understand?

The soldiers mocked him with the greetings you give to emperors or kings. With the death of Jesus, the heavenly kingdom was restored and we can be part of this kingdom by accepted the work that Jesus has done on the cross for us.

4.Why did the chief priests insist on crucifying Jesus even after Pilate’s declaration?

The chief priest wanted Jesus to die. That was their goal and they did not accept that Pilate wanted to let Jesus go free.

5.What did the Jewish leaders mean when they said Jesus claimed to be the Son of God?

They said, Jesus committed a blasphemy, which deserves that the one who commits it has to die.

6.Why did Pilate become more afraid after hearing the Jewish leaders’ accusations?

I think in his heart, Pilate knew who Jesus was and he was clear about that only the jealousy of the Jewish leaders brought Jesus to the cross. After hearing the accusation, he found it more difficult to find an argument to free Jesus.

7.How did Jesus respond to Pilate’s claim of having authority over him?

Jesus said, that all authority is given from heaven.

8.Why did Pilate hesitate to sentence Jesus to death?

He did not find guilt in him and he hoped, that the crowd calms down and let Jesus go.

9.What does the crowd’s loyalty to Caesar instead of Jesus reveal about their beliefs?

I think, they did not believe in Caesar, because all the time they wanted Jesus to free them from the Romes.

But with the words, that they have only one king, the Caesar in Rome, they pressed Pilate to be faithful to the Caesar and kill anyone who declares himself king, too.

10.What does this passage teach us about Jesus’ willingness to suffer for humanity?

Jesus had the power to call God and the angels to help him, but he did not.

He was focused on, that the purpose of his earthly life was to die for humanity and to arise from the death on the third day after.

He was willing to be a living offering that takes away the sin of mankind.