PROPHECY COMES TRUE
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Opening Prayer
Father in Heaven, please use your Word and strengthen my commitment to walk closely with my Savior today.
Read JOHN 19:16b—27
For additional translations of the passage, use this link to Bible Gateway.
John
John 19
16 Finally Pilate handed him over to them to be crucified.
The Crucifixion of Jesus
So the soldiers took charge of Jesus. 17 Carrying his own cross, he went out to the place of the Skull (which in Aramaic is called Golgotha). 18 There they crucified him, and with him two others—one on each side and Jesus in the middle.
19 Pilate had a notice prepared and fastened to the cross. It read: JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS. 20 Many of the Jews read this sign, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and the sign was written in Aramaic, Latin and Greek. 21 The chief priests of the Jews protested to Pilate, “Do not write ‘The King of the Jews,’ but that this man claimed to be king of the Jews.”
22 Pilate answered, “What I have written, I have written.”
23 When the soldiers crucified Jesus, they took his clothes, dividing them into four shares, one for each of them, with the undergarment remaining. This garment was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom.
24 “Let’s not tear it,” they said to one another. “Let’s decide by lot who will get it.”
This happened that the scripture might be fulfilled that said,
“They divided my clothes among them
and cast lots for my garment.”
So this is what the soldiers did.
25 Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother, his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. 26 When Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to her, “Woman, here is your son,” 27 and to the disciple, “Here is your mother.” From that time on, this disciple took her into his home.
Reflect
Consider the scene from today’s reading. What do you feel when you read the sign above Jesus’ head?
John arranges the crucifixion narrative to highlight Jesus’ dignity and self-control. The tumultuous elements of other gospels are missing—no darkening of the sun, no quaking of the earth, no tearing of the curtain, the tombs do not open, and Jesus is not mocked. These evoked a mood of confusion and chaos, detracting from Jesus’ dignity. Only two side events matter to John: the sharing of Jesus’ clothes and Pilate’s sign on the cross, declaring Jesus ‘The King of the Jews’ in all three languages of this multicultural city. Jesus has always been King and will rise again as King. Jesus’ final act, in John’s account, is caring for his mother, among the women near the cross. Only John records the beloved disciple standing with them. Given John’s broad use of the word ‘disciple,’ there is no compelling reason to presume he is one of the twelve, who Matthew says have fled.1 The memory of the beloved disciple has been carefully preserved by the Jerusalem church. They know he has been at the cross. Again, Lazarus comes to mind, though tradition has him as John.
John quoted Scripture, symbolizing the fulfillment of prophecy in Jesus’ crucifixion, not just the sharing of his clothes but the visions of the prophets, the longings of the poets, and the trajectory of history. In true Jewish fashion, one quotation from Psalm 22 (v. 18) brought the whole psalm to mind. Immediately after the prophecy of dividing the clothes, the psalm beseeches the Lord to come quickly, leaping then into ecstatic praise of a future in the hands of God when ‘All the ends of the earth’ will ‘turn to the Lord.’2 John knows that. The story of this day will be told ‘to a people yet unborn’3 because when John was writing, he knew that Jesus had gloriously risen to be King of all eternity.
Apply
Examine your faith walk—might there be areas where you are reluctant to submit to the King’s rule?
Closing prayer
Jesus, Lord of prophecy, you are the King foretold in Scripture. As I own you as my King, help me always to serve you faithfully. 1 Matt 26:56 2 Ps 22:27 3 Ps 22:31.
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