So they took Jesus, and he went out, bearing his own cross, to the place called The Place of a Skull, which in Aramaic is called Golgotha. There they crucified him, and with him two others, one on either side, and Jesus between them. Pilate also wrote an inscription and put it on the cross. It read, “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.” ….
When the soldiers had crucified Jesus, they took his garments and divided them into four parts, one part for each soldier; also his tunic. But the tunic was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom, so they said to one another, “Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it to see whose it shall be.” This was to fulfill the Scripture which says,
“They divided my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots.”
So the soldiers did these things, but standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, “Woman, behold, your son!” Then he said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother!” And from that hour the disciple took her to his own home……
When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, “It is finished,” and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.
Since it was the day of Preparation, and so that the bodies would not remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a high day), the Jews asked Pilate that their legs might be broken and that they might be taken away. So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first, and of the other who had been crucified with him. But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. But one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and at once there came out blood and water. He who saw it has borne witness—his testimony is true, and he knows that he is telling the truth—that you also may believe. For these things took place that the Scripture might be fulfilled: “Not one of his bones will be broken.” And again another Scripture says, “They will look on him whom they have pierced.
Comment: Today is going to end up with the dead body of Jesus in a borrowed tomb! Jesus was made to carry His cross to the hill of Golgotha even though He had been so mistreated – this must have been an agonizing journey. Pilate taunted the Jews by the Truth which he had written above the head of Jesus. John records that in at least three things prophecies from the Old Testament were fulfilled by the way that Jesus was treated. These are underlined above. (Ps 22, ex 12.46, Zech 12.10) After all Jesus is really the subject of the OT! Jesus cried out “It is finished”. Does that merely mean that He was finished, dead? John misses out a lot of things which the synoptic gospels tell us, not because they other gospels are not true, but because he expects us to read his account along with the other records. We are foolish if we do not. Here is a portion from Matthews gospel 27 51-54 “And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And the earth shook, and the rocks were split. The tombs also were opened. And many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised, and coming out of the tombs after his resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many. When the centurion and those who were with him, keeping watch over Jesus, saw the earthquake and what took place, they were filled with awe and said, “Truly this was the Son of God!” The curtain was there to separate the symbolic throne of God, His mercy seat, from all mankind! So what was finished when the curtain was torn? The great divide was between God and His worshippers! Jesus had been the perfect sacrifice and God made a way through the sacrifice of the perfect Man, the Lamb of God, for mankind to become His children, not His enemies. This was because of Adam’s rebellion and consequent ‘origin sin’ stamped on every person born since that rebellion. Jesus was buried, we will await to see what happens next!
Prayer: Thank You, thank You, Jesus for going to the Cross as our Perfect Sacrifice, our Substitute, to end God’s judgement on our rebellion.
As I read it! 