The Sentencing (19:1-16)John says simply that Jesus was flogged. But flogging was more for the discouragement of similar behavior than for the punishment of the criminal. The flogging victim would be obliged to bend over a pointed rock at the pit of his stomach and then have a cat-of-nine tails (a whip with nine lashes that were covered with shards of embedded rock) take the flesh and adjoining cartilage etc of the victim's back. Many never survived a flogging. The soldiers enjoyed the sport of it all and Jesus is certainly no exception, the twisted crown of thorns, the royal robe for "the king". They beat him about the face such that he would probably been unrecognizable.
When Pilate says in verse 5, "Behold the man!," it is in cruel sarcasm, for he is yet another man that has been broken before the might of Rome. Pilate is quite willing for the whole thing to end there, for he has broken Jesus to the point where he was utterly harmless, hoping that would appease the whole situation. So twice now he has tried to avoid crucifying Jesus, once by offering them Barabbas and once by embarrassing his accusers for such pitiful charges.
But Pilate underestimates the zeal and runaway coldness of these religious leaders. They cry out for Jesus' crucifixion. Their accusation of his claim to be the Son of God disturbs Pilate. We know from Matthew 27:19 that Pilate has further fears for his own wife has had a dream and asks Pilate to not have anything to do with the plot on Jesus. He tries to get Jesus to defend himself, but he does not. Pilate claims to have life or death power over him, but Jesus contests it saying only God has that power. Remember however that his claim to be the Son of God was more of a religious crime than a state one (though later emperors would be called "son of the gods" and even "lord of lords.").
Beginning in verse 12, the crowd (surely at the insistence of the coaching religious leaders) takes up the chant that Pilate is allowing a rival to assert himself as king instead of Caesar (a capital crime in the eyes of the Roman state). Pilate toys with the crowd asking if he should crucify "their" king, which only incenses them more. Finally, Pilate caves and allows the crucifixion.
Just a word about mob violence. Reinhold Niehbuhr called sin in groups "collective egoism," and said that the sin of groups is usually more than the sum of the sinfulness of the individuals involved. In other words, groups create their own energy and will toward sin that individuals on their own would not do. We have seen that in street riots, athletic stadium violence and gang activity. It also happens in groups in school politics, or governmental politics, or dare I admit it, in church politics. Here the religious leaders have manipulated a hand-picked crowd to do things they would never have done on their own, and they would no doubt have justified themselves in doing it. For me, this is an important dimension of the crucifixion. When we say that Jesus died for our sins, we are also saying he died for corporate sin as well as individual sin.
The Crucifixion (19:17-27)Pilate continues to be "the great manipulator" (he was later removed from his post because of his underhanded, cruel and vicious leadership)as he taunts his accusers with the placard on the cross. Usually, the crime is put on the placard, which might have said, "sedition" or "claimed to be a king," but instead he had place there "King of the Jews." It was his parting shot at the ridiculous behavior of the religious leaders.
It's worth noting at this point that it was not "the Jews" (as a religious group or as an ethnic group) that engineered the plot against Jesus, but rather a power-hungry, status quo protecting leadership group. There has been much anti-Semitism in USAmerican religion that has accused Jews in general for the death of Christ (which could not be more untrue).
The sport of the soldiers continues at the cross as they divide his clothing among them and cast lots for his inner garment. Most likely, Jesus was crucified without clothing. Remember that the goal of the gratutitously cruel and dehumanizing process of crucifixion was meant to deter any kind of rebellion. Stripped of dignity and beaten beyond recognition, crucified ones desparately pushed their legs and braced their arms against the nails and gasped for every breath in a slow death that often took days - the ultimate in agony and humiliation. During this time in Roman rule, crucifixions were common at the edge of most major cities.
Our passage concludes with what is known as the second of "The Last Words" of Jesus. It is where Jesus puts his mother in the care of John. He was one of the younger disciples so he would be more able to care for her for a longer time. The homes of the two of them can still be seen in ancient Ephesus today (as mentioned in an earlier blog). The words in verse 25-27 are full of passion. Jesus calls her his pet name, "woman," the one he used at the marriage of Cana. He tells John that she is his mother now and that he is her son, a tough moment indeed.
The crucifixion is an intensely human event: threated and power-hungry leaders who dehumanize a man so that they are able to do anything to him; sporting assistants who have become part of a process in which the people they oppose are objects for cruelty and sadistic punishment; a small crowd manipulated by propoganda and fear to be part of the unthinkable; disciples who run for it to save their own skins or betray because things are not going as hoped; a son who gives away his beloved mother because he has no other choice - a horrific goodbye. When I see the real dynamics here, I fear we would still crucify Jesus and the same kinds of tatics (just maybe more high tech) would likely occur. For me, this begs for a time of examination of conscience where I look at the motives for what I do as a disciple of Jesus Christ and as a human being both as an individual and in groups.
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