The Passover Lamb (John 19:16-27)

John chapter 19, we're gonna be reading verses 16 through 17.

John 19 · chapter mention

If you are able, would you please stand for the reading of God's word?

Verse 16.

Then he handed him over to be crucified.

Then they took Jesus away.

Carrying the cross by himself, he went out to what is called place of the skull, which in Aramaic is called Golgotha.

There they crucified him and two others with him, one on either side, with Jesus in the middle.

Pilate also had a sign made and put on the cross.

It said Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.

Many of the Jews read this sign, because the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and it was written in Aramaic, Latin, and Greek.

So the chief priests of the Jews said to Pilate, Don't write the King of the Jews, but that he said, I am the King of the Jews.

Pilate replied, What I have written, I have written.

When the soldiers crucified Jesus, they took his clothes and divided them into four parts, a part for each soldier.

They also took the tunic, which was seamless, woven in one piece from the top.

So they said to one another, Let's not tear it, but cast lots for it, to see who gets it.

This happened that the scripture might be fulfilled that says, They divided my clothes among themselves, and they cast lots for my clothing.

This is what the soldiers did.

Standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother, his mother's sister, Mary, the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene.

When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple he loved standing there, he said to his mother, Woman, here is your son.

Then he said to the disciple, here is your mother.

And from that hour the disciple took her into his home.

Let's pray.

Jesus, as we go through this and recognize the sacrifice and the pain and the suffering that you went through because you loved us so much, I pray that we would be able to have hearts of gratitude.

That we would, this story that some of us may have read or heard over a hundred times, Lord, that there would be a newness and a freshness to recognizing the sacrifice that you made for us.

That we would never grow callous to all that you went through so that we could be saved, so that we could come to salvation, that we could have our sins forgiven, and that you have taken our place for what we deserve, and you paid the debt that we owed and could not pay on our own.

So we thank you, Lord.

We are eternally grateful for that.

I pray that today we would leave with a fresh appreciation of all that you've done for us.

In Jesus' name, amen.

You may be seated.

So we're moving.

Last week we saw the end of Jesus' trial.

And so now we're actually to the crucifixion.

We're actually to the true Passover Lamb being led to be sacrificed.

And these are hard passages to read as we see what Jesus went through for us.

You know, it's hard to even think about it, it's hard to even imagine the excruciating pain that he went through.

But through it, I want to keep pointing all of us to the fact of how much Jesus loves us.

When we consider that this is the road, that this is the death that each and every one of us deserved because of our sin.

I think there needs to be a soberness in realizing the agonizing pain that he went through for us.

You know, greater love has no one than this.

This is what Jesus told his disciples, than to lay down one's life for his friends.

You know, and like I said last week, the uncomfortableness that we have when we think about and we read about and we imagine the suffering that Jesus went through is the same uncomfortableness that we should have about our own sin.

Because it's our sin that led Jesus to lay down his life for us in the first place.

To be that perfect Passover lamb whose blood would bring life, that would cause death to have no place among a believer anymore.

So just continue as we're going through this to remember those things.

So let's jump right into verse 16.

It says, Then he handed him over to be crucified.

Then they took Jesus away.

Crucifixion was not invented by Rome, but they tweaked it and tweaked it until they made it the worst possible capital punishment imaginable.

The most amount of suffering, the most amount of excruciating pain that would not only be a punishment to the person that was being done to, but a deterrent for anybody else thinking about committing a similar crime.

You know, so bad that a crucifixion was so bad that Rome wouldn't even crucify Roman citizens.

There's only a couple exceptions to that.

It was reserved for slaves, and it was reserved for foreigners that posed a threat to the Roman government.

So look at verse 17 here.

It says, carrying the cross, and we're just gonna stop right there after those three words.

Because Jesus talked to his disciples about carrying their cross long before Jesus carried his.

In Matthew 16, 24 through 25, it says, Then Jesus said to his disciples, If anyone wants to follow after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.

For whoever wants to save his life will lose it.

But whoever loses his life because of me will find it.

And Jesus wasn't talking about physically dying in the same manner he did, necessarily.

There are some that he did call to that.

He was talking about being willing to deny our life here on earth for his sake.

Denying the old man.

This is about self-sacrifice.

Not for salvation, not to earn anything, but to become his disciple and to become more like him.

This is what is required.

You know, Galatians 5.24 tells us that now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

You know, I think a great example of this, of Jesus calling us as his followers to carry our own cross, a great example comes a little bit later in Matthew.

It's also found in Mark and Luke as well, but it's of the rich young ruler.

He comes to Jesus, he wants to know how to inherit eternal life.

Jesus tells him what to do, and he tells Jesus, I've been doing all these things that you just mentioned since I was a youth.

And he then he asks Jesus, what else he lacks?

And this is Jesus' answer.

He says, Go sell your belongings and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven.

Then come, follow.

That's what a disciple does, follow me.

When the young man heard that, he went away grieving because he had many possessions.

This is not what Jesus asks everyone to do as far as selling all your possessions and giving it to the poor.

It just happened to be what this guy was holding in greater value than being a disciple of Jesus.

This was the part of his life that he held in greater esteem than following Jesus.

And that's really the definition of an idol, isn't it?

Something from his life that he would not allow to be crucified, where he was not willing to carry that cross.

And here we have Jesus, the perfect example of living his whole 30 plus years for others with zero selfishness and completely giving everything that he had for the kingdom of God.

And here he is literally picking up his cross, physically picking up his cross, and sacrificing his whole physical life for mankind, being that perfect example to us as disciples of what to follow in Jesus.

Now look at the entirety of verse 17.

It says, carrying the cross by himself, he went out to what is called place of the skull, which in Aramaic is called Golgotha.

At this point, think of everything that Jesus has already been through before he even picks up this cross and starts to carry it.

He's beaten, we see, multiple times, both by the Jewish leaders and by the Romans.

A crown of thorns has been pressed onto his head and into his scalp.

He's been verbally abused incessantly, as we've seen.

And maybe the worst, his back has been scourged.

So the flesh is probably mostly removed from his back at this point.

Could be that ribs are exposed, nerve endings are exposed.

And then they place a rugged wooden cross on his shoulders and back.

Or at least the cross beam at minimum he's carrying for himself to where he's going to be crucified.

You know, and that's probably about a mile trek that he has to make in this condition with the cross that he's carrying.

In the other three Gospels, we see that Jesus got some help carrying this along the way from Simon of Cyrene.

But this was part of the process of crucifixion.

Carrying your own cross.

So when Jesus told his disciples to carry their own cross, they were immediately thinking about crucifixion.

There was no doubt in their mind what Jesus was talking about.

And here is Jesus being that perfect example and doing so willingly.

Romans 5.8.

But God proves his own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

That's love.

Greater love has never been shown to any of us sitting here in this room than what we see Jesus doing right here.

Let's look at verse 18.

There they crucified him.

There they drove spikes into the base of his hands, probably right where the wrist and the hand connect, right in here.

They drove a nail through his feet.

Really, something for him to push up on so that he could actually take his next breath.

You know, crucifixion was not typically a death from blood loss, it was a death of exhaustion combined with asphyxiation or dehydration or even congestive heart failure.

And with Jesus being in complete control at this moment in the crucifixion, every single breath that he chose to take, every single time he chose to push down on that nail to lift himself up to get another breath, he did that in our place.

Every nerve that is on fire, in pain, that he is bearing, he did so we wouldn't have to.

You know, at any point, Jesus could have said enough and called on the Lord, and 72,000 angels would have come to his rescue like he said in the garden to Peter.

At any point, he could have simply said, I am, like he did in the garden.

And the Romans would have fallen over before they could even strike a nail if he wanted to.

And he could have levitated off the cross if he wanted to and just floated away because he's God.

He can do whatever he wants.

But he chose to suffer every breath for us.

And, you know, there's that old expression, it wasn't nails holding him to the cross.

It was his love for us that was holding him to the cross.

Look at verse 18.

There they crucified him, and two others with him, one on either side, with Jesus in the middle.

So we have these deserving criminals on both sides of Jesus, and Jesus at the center of what's going on.

And this was prophesied in Isaiah.

Isaiah 53, 12 says, He willingly submitted to death and was counted among the rebels.

Yet he bore the sin of many and interceded for the rebels.

You know, these rebels on either side, I think, are a great representation of the world.

You know, both of these criminals, they start off as guilty sinners, and one turns to being a repenter.

You know, at first, both these criminals, we learned in the other gospels, were mocking Jesus.

But listen to what happens.

Something changes in one of these guys.

We see it in Luke 23, verses 39 through 43.

Luke 23:39–43

It says, Then one of the criminals hanging there began to yell insults at him, at Jesus.

Aren't you the Messiah?

Save yourself and us.

But the other answered, rebuking him, Don't you even fear God?

Since you are undergoing the same punishment, we are punished justly.

They deserved it.

Because we're getting back what we deserve for the things we did.

But this man has done nothing wrong.

Then he said, Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.

And he said to him, Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.

You know, it seems as if this guy had heard some of Jesus' teachings regarding the kingdom of God, doesn't it?

He starts by mocking Jesus.

Even after being crucified, these guys had the nerve to mock Jesus, but something changes in this guy at the last second.

I mentioned a few weeks ago when comparing Judas' betrayal to Peter's denial, that the only unforgivable sin is denying Jesus to the grave.

And here we have one criminal that denied and even mocked Jesus to the grave.

And on the other side, one that came to faith in Jesus at the very last second, the very end of his life.

And I think the reason that I love this story so much, one of my favorite stories in the Bible, is because this is an amazing picture of God's grace and of God's mercy on this criminal on the cross.

I love it because this guy had no time.

He had no opportunity to try to earn his salvation.

Not that he ever could, but he didn't have time.

He didn't have time to get baptized.

He didn't have time to do a single good work to try and outweigh his bad deeds, as if we can even do that.

He only had time to say, Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.

Jesus didn't even lead him in the sinner's prayer.

He simply realized Jesus was the Messiah, was his Savior, and said, Can I go with you?

That was simply the change in heart and what he told Jesus.

And Jesus said, Today you will be with me in paradise.

You know, this is most likely, and very appropriately, I think, the first guy in heaven.

Have you thought about that before?

You know, there's that famous story, and I tried to look it up to see who to credit it to, but it's credited to a lot of people.

But of this guy, imagining this guy showing up in heaven and the angels being like, Who is that guy?

And coming up to him, like, who are you?

How did you get here?

And he just says, I don't know.

The guy in the middle said I could come.

Coming to faith in Jesus and going to heaven is not a formula.

It's not praying with magic words.

It's not what we have done to earn our salvation in any way.

It's not because we got baptized, it's not because we got confirmed.

It's believing in the guy in the middle.

It's faith in the Son of God who is God.

And what a perfect example that this criminal provided for us.

And it gives me so much hope personally for those that know the gospel, like family members that I've seen that have passed away, that know the gospel but haven't accepted it, as far as I can tell.

That maybe on their deathbed at the very end, they came to faith in Jesus.

Go share the gospel.

Even when you don't see it penetrating, even when you don't see a response, you never know what happens at the very end in somebody's life.

And this criminal is a great example of that.

John continues on regarding the details of the crucifixion.

So look at verse 19.

Pilate also had a sign made and put on the cross.

It said, Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.

You know, I think Pilate's just over this at this point.

He's so fed up.

The Jewish leaders really had his feet to the fire.

They're telling him things like, Well, you're not a friend of Caesar, if blah, blah, blah, blah, blah you know, and all of these things they've been telling him.

There's a mob and a riot that's about to explode, and it may be, you know, there was some slight here on Pilate's end of things, having written it specifically this way.

Still doing what the Jewish leaders were demanding, but knowing that this was really going to get to them, you know.

But regardless, the description was accurate.

The description that Pilate put there was accurate, and he refused to change it.

Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.

John goes on, look at verse 20.

Many of the Jews read this sign because the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city.

And it was written in Aramaic, Latin, and Greek.

This was very public.

That's part of the humiliation of crucifixion, was how public it was.

Part of deterring others from committing the same crime because they would walk by and see what their fate might be if they did something like it.

And it's Passover.

And they're in Jerusalem, you know, and this is the feast, the week of the feast of unleavened bread.

So there's tons of visitors all over the place, tons of traffic, tons of onlookers.

So it was written in three different languages for all those to see and understand why Jesus had been crucified.

And look at how the Jewish leaders reacted to Pilate's sign.

Verse 21.

So the chief priests of the Jews said to Pilate, Don't write the king of the Jews, but that he said, I am the King of the Jews.

Still worried about appearances, aren't they?

They don't even want Jesus to have the appearance of authority while he's being killed.

Or maybe it was that they didn't want people to think that Rome had the authority to kill a Jewish king.

But Pilate's over it.

Look at verse 22.

Pilate replied, What I have written, I have written.

Basically, buzz off, leave me alone.

I already washed my hands of this.

Everybody just go away.

I'm done with all of this, and I'm done with you.

And that's it.

What I've written, I've written.

Verse 23.

When the soldiers crucified Jesus, they took his clothes and divided them into four parts, a part for each soldier.

You know, there's a debate on whether Jesus was crucified naked or with a loincloth on.

Humiliated, you know, regardless, it's a humiliating thing that they would do.

But at least the majority of his clothes are not on him.

So we can take that away.

Again, just more humiliation that they're placing on him.

And these soldiers would be here to both carry out the crucifixion and also to stay and make sure the crucified were not rescued, that their friends and family didn't come and take them off the cross and try and bring them back to health.

So as they're waiting, basically, guarding, waiting for these guys to die, they start dividing the loot.

You know, garments back then were much more valuable in comparison than they are from what we get at Costco and Amazon.

These are hand-woven, you know, garments that were very expensive.

People didn't have closets full of clothes back then unless you were really rich.

So these are valuable.

What these guys, kind of the loot that they're taking from those that are crucified.

Verse 23, second half.

It says they also took the tunic, which was seamless, woven in one piece from the top.

So they said to one another, let's not tear it, but cast lots for it to see who gets it.

So that seems like a really strange detail to all of a sudden throw right in there, doesn't it?

But in Exodus chapter 28, and also in Exodus chapter 39, we see that the priestly robes that the high priests would wear were to be made this way, without a seam.

Exodus 28 · chapter mention Exodus 39 · chapter mention

So they're not sewn together like multiple pieces of fabric.

It's one consistent piece, which is exactly how the high priests were supposed to wear it.

So it's just how appropriate, you know, to see that and to know that our great high priest in Jesus wore a seamless garment, just like the high priests were supposed to.

So I think that's why John just put that really detailed little note in there for us.

And John tells us how the dividing of the clothes is prophetic.

Look at the second half of verse 24.

He says, This happened that the scripture might be fulfilled that says, They divided my clothes among themselves, and they cast lots for my clothing.

This is what the soldiers did.

This is from Psalm 22.

Psalm 22 is an amazing prophecy about Jesus' crucifixion that's written around a thousand years before Jesus.

If you're unfamiliar with Psalm 22, please go read it this week.

It's incredible to see the detail that was given to David as he wrote this Psalm that was a prophecy of what we're seeing right here in John.

Part of Psalm 22 says, They divided my garments among themselves and they cast lots for my clothing.

Incredible detail prophesied.

A thousand years before it happened.

These soldiers are fulfilling prophecy and have no clue that that is exactly what they're doing.

And I just have to wonder and think, you know, is Jesus hanging there and seeing this happening and thinking, I remember telling David about this a thousand years ago.

Think about that.

John goes on, verse 25.

Standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother, his mother's sister, Mary, the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene.

Hey ladies, you know who didn't deny or abandon Jesus?

Right there.

This group of women.

So we have Mary.

This is Jesus' mother.

And I can't even imagine what she's going through watching her son go through this.

You know, and speaking of prophecy, I wonder if Mary was thinking back to Simeon, who we saw in Luke 2, who prophesied at Jesus' dedication at the temple and said, a sword would pierce Mary's own soul.

Mary was not God or a God, but she was a mom watching her son that she bore and raised go through all of this.

Talk about soul piercing, you know, on her part.

And there was Jesus' aunt, so this is Mary's sister.

Some say this may be Salome, the mother of uh Jesus' disciples, James, and our author John, but it's impossible to confirm that.

If you go and you try, it's impossible to confirm.

There's another Mary who is the wife of Clopus, and then we have Mary Magdalene.

Apparently, Mary was a very popular name back in.

Three out of the four.

We'll see Mary Magdalene again at Jesus' resurrection, and there's a good chance that this other Mary is the one that was with her.

So we have all of these women that are standing there at the cross, and in verse 26, we see that our author here, John, is there as well.

So he's giving an eyewitness account of what happened.

Look at verse 26 with me.

When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple he loved standing there, he said to his mother, Woman, here is your son.

Then he said to the disciple, here is your mother.

And from that hour the disciple took her into his home.

Jesus just entrusted this disciple with the care of his own mother.

And there's a lot here.

And I want to start with this point.

Even on the cross, even in the midst of his pain and his agony, nearing death, Jesus is thinking of others.

He's selfless to the end.

He's concerned with his mother's well-being over his own at this point.

And with him being the oldest son in the family, you know, this makes sense.

His stepfather Joseph is no longer in the picture, probably passed away at this point.

Jesus obviously felt a responsibility for taking care of his own mother.

So he asked John to take over at this point.

But I also, this brings a lot of questions to me as well.

Like, we know that Jesus had brothers and sisters.

Where are they?

Why aren't they the ones taking care of Mary?

But what we do know is Jesus, in his wisdom and foresight, asked John to do this.

Asked to take over the care of his mother.

And if, you know, this is a big if, but if Mary's sister is Solome, then John is Jesus' cousin.

And that would mean that Mary would be able to live with her sister.

Big if.

But possibility.

But this is what we do know.

Jesus trusts John with the care of his own mother.

That shows the trust and love that these two had for one another.

You know, from what we know, John stayed with Jesus, or at least near to Jesus, until the very end on the cross.

He did run away in the Garden of Gethsemane, but then he followed from a distance.

He went into the courtyard of Caiaphas, where he was known as a disciple of Jesus and still went in.

He was an eyewitness of Jesus' trial, and he's there at the end while Jesus is on the cross.

And John follows Jesus until the end of his very long life and survives all the other disciples.

John does, he survives all the other disciples.

He is a very faithful disciple that Jesus loves and trusts very much.

Not a perfect disciple, those don't exist, but John got it, I think.

You know, it seems like above all the other disciples, John got it.

He not only found his identity in Christ, he took it a step further and found his identity in the love of Jesus Christ.

He identified himself as the disciple Jesus loved.

And it wasn't because John, or because Jesus didn't love the other disciples.

That's not why John says, well, I'm the one he loved, and the rest, you know.

It's not like that at all.

It's simply how he saw himself in relation to Jesus.

In your head, right now, I want to challenge you, if you are a Christian, if you're a follower of Jesus, to just simply say in your head, I am the disciple Jesus loves.

Go ahead.

I am the disciple Jesus loves.

Now ask yourself, do you believe that?

Did it sound weird in your head or coming out of your mouth just now?

Did it make you a little uncomfortable saying, I am the disciple Jesus loves?

You know, if you're having a hard time believing that, ask yourself, what gets in the way of you believing that?

What's the first thought that brings doubt into your mind when you say that?

Maybe that you're just simply not good enough?

Is it the last time that you sinned?

Or maybe it's the sin that you struggle with and you keep failing to have victory over, over and over and over again?

Maybe it's a sin of omission, maybe it's things that you haven't done that you feel guilty about and think that you should be doing in order for Jesus to love you.

Jesus wants us all to be able to claim that identity just like John.

We are the disciple that Jesus loves.

His love doesn't have anything to do with our failure or our shortcomings or with what we've done well.

Those good things, those right things.

For God so loved the world, he gave his only son.

Not just for the shiny, good-looking people that look like they're obedient.

I want to read you, we read a little bit of Romans 5, 8, but I want to read you a little bit bigger chunk of that right now.

But God proves his own love for us, and that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

How much more then, since we have now been justified by his blood, will we be saved through him from wrath?

For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his son, then how much more, having been reconciled, will we be saved by his life?

If he loves us that much while we were still his enemies, I don't think we should have any problem claiming the love of Jesus now that we are reconciled.

God wants us to identify who we are in Jesus and how much Jesus loves us.

He proved it in coming to earth, in his life on earth, in his death on the cross, in his resurrection, in his ascension.

He proved it.

What more do we need?

If that doesn't convince us of the love of God, what else do we need in order to be convinced of the love of God for us?

You know, the crucifixion should be a sobering reminder of the seriousness of our sin, but also appropriately paired with celebration.

That God loves us enough to not leave us in our sin, to not leave us deserving eternal separation from Him.

By simply believing in Jesus, like the criminal on the cross, realizing Jesus is a king and submitting to his authority, this guy was saved.

It's simple belief that leads to faith in Jesus.

Into an eternity in paradise, as Jesus said it to that criminal.

He already paid the price for our sin.

But it's a gift.

It's a gift that we have to accept, that we have to receive.

It's like he's holding it out there, and all we need to do is reach out and grasp onto it and accept it for our own.

And I want to challenge you.

If you have not done that, just say to Jesus, I believe, and I accept.

And then now you are a follower of Jesus Christ.

He loves you that much.

It's already paid for.

He loved the world that much, and it's a free gift now.

And all we have to do is reach out and accept that gift.

To have him as our Lord, as our savior, as our king, and to spend eternity with him in paradise.

So I want to challenge you to do that right now if you have never done that.

And if you are a believer, just keep saying that in your head for the rest of the day.

I am the disciple that Jesus loves.

Say it tomorrow and the next day until you believe it.

Because it's not about what we're doing, it's about what Jesus has already done.

Let's pray.

Again, Lord, we thank you so much for that love that we do not deserve, but you have poured out on us anyway.

We are so grateful and will eternally be grateful.

We thank you that we are, as Christians, we are the disciples that you love.

Help us to find our identity in that.

To think about that daily.

To not beat ourselves up or allow the enemy to beat us up over the failures that we experience daily, but to remember that our sins are forgiven, that they're washed away, and that you love us that much.

And then, Lord, I pray that you would show us what it looks like to become more like Jesus.

What that looks like to pick up our cross, to deny the old life that we live, the passions of the flesh and all that's entailed, allowing those things to be crucified for your sake.

Not because we're gonna earn salvation, but because we desperately want to become more like you.

The more we get to know you, just realizing how perfect and wonderful you are, that we would want to become more like you as a result of that relationship we have with you.

Show us how to live this out in our community with our neighbors at work, school, wherever we are on a daily basis, Lord.

Show us how to worship you in that way and to identify you in that way.

We pray.

In Jesus' name.

Amen.