40 Days in the Book of JOHN

Dr Jim Brown's TruNorth Devotional
40 Days in the Book of JOHN
Day 36 | THE CRUCIFIXION OF JESUS | John 19: 6-7; 15-19
THE CRUCIFIXION OF JESUS

John 19: 6-7; 15-19
“So when the chief priests and the officers saw Him, they shouted, saying, ‘Crucify, crucify!’ Pilate *said to them, ‘Take Him yourselves and crucify Him; for I find no grounds for charges in His case!’ The Jews answered him, ‘We have a law, and by that law He ought to die, because He made Himself out to be the Son of God!’ […] So they shouted, ‘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 except Caesar.’ So he then handed Him over to them to be crucified. They took Jesus, therefore, and He went out, carrying His own cross, to the place called the Place of a Skull, which in Hebrew is called, Golgotha. There they crucified Him, and with Him two other men with Jesus in between. Now Pilate also wrote an inscription and put it on the cross. It was written: ‘JESUS THE NAZARENE, THE KING OF THE JEWS.’”


It is incredible how crazy – even insane – a crowd can become… today or thousands of years ago. In this case, it is God's chosen people – the Jews – and yet, despite all the prophecies about the coming Messiah in the TANAK (our Old Testament), when Jesus arrives – in fulfillment of those prophecies – He is rejected by the Jewish leaders and thus, by the crowds as well. Of course, Jesus knew what was to be from the beginning… that His death was absolutely necessary for us to have blood shed for our sins' payment (forgiveness).

Crucifixion is one of the most painful forms of execution ever. Yet there is a tender moment in this gruesome scene when Jesus looks at his mother Mary and says, "Mother, behold your son." And then to his close friend John says, "Behold your mother." He was entrusting His mother’s welfare and keeping to John – and they both understood that request.

Prayer: LORD, thank YOU for enduring the cross for ALL of us who have and will come to You as Lord and Savior. Amen.