mh_parser/vol_split/43 - John/Chapter 19.xml

<div2 id="John.xx" n="xx" next="John.xxi" prev="John.xix" progress="95.90%" title="Chapter XIX">
<h2 id="John.xx-p0.1">J O H N.</h2>
<h3 id="John.xx-p0.2">CHAP. XIX.</h3>
<p class="intro" id="John.xx-p1">Though in the history hitherto this evangelist
seems industriously to have declined the recording of such passages
as had been related by the other evangelists, yet, when he comes to
the sufferings and death of Christ, instead of passing them over,
as one ashamed of his Master's chain and cross, and looking upon
them as the blemishes of his story, he repeats what had been before
related, with considerable enlargements, as one that desired to
know nothing but Christ and him crucified, to glory in nothing save
in the cross of Christ. In the story of this chapter we have, I. he
remainder of Christ's trial before Pilate, which was tumultuous and
confused, <scripRef id="John.xx-p1.1" osisRef="Bible:Jer.19.1-Jer.19.15" parsed="|Jer|19|1|19|15" passage="Jer 19:1-15">ver. 1-15</scripRef>. II.
Sentence given, and execution done upon it, <scripRef id="John.xx-p1.2" osisRef="Bible:Jer.19.16-Jer.19.18" parsed="|Jer|19|16|19|18" passage="Jer 19:16-18">ver. 16-18</scripRef>. III. The title over his head,
<scripRef id="John.xx-p1.3" osisRef="Bible:Jer.19.19-Jer.19.22" parsed="|Jer|19|19|19|22" passage="Jer 19:19-22">ver. 19-22</scripRef>. IV. The
parting of his garment, <scripRef id="John.xx-p1.4" osisRef="Bible:Jer.19.23-Jer.19.24" parsed="|Jer|19|23|19|24" passage="Jer 19:23,24">ver. 23,
24</scripRef>. V. The care he took of his mother, <scripRef id="John.xx-p1.5" osisRef="Bible:Jer.19.25-Jer.19.27" parsed="|Jer|19|25|19|27" passage="Jer 19:25-27">ver. 25-27</scripRef>. VI. The giving him
vinegar to drink, <scripRef id="John.xx-p1.6" osisRef="Bible:Jer.19.28-Jer.19.29" parsed="|Jer|19|28|19|29" passage="Jer 19:28,29">ver. 28,
29</scripRef>. VII. His dying word, <scripRef id="John.xx-p1.7" osisRef="Bible:Jer.19.30" parsed="|Jer|19|30|0|0" passage="Jer 19:30">ver. 30</scripRef>. VIII. The piercing of his side,
<scripRef id="John.xx-p1.8" osisRef="Bible:Jer.19.31-Jer.19.37" parsed="|Jer|19|31|19|37" passage="Jer 19:31-37">ver. 31-37</scripRef>. IX. The
burial of his body, <scripRef id="John.xx-p1.9" osisRef="Bible:Jer.19.38-Jer.19.42" parsed="|Jer|19|38|19|42" passage="Jer 19:38-42">ver.
38-42</scripRef>. O that in meditating on these things we may
experimentally know the power of Christ's death, and the fellowship
of his sufferings!</p>
<scripCom id="John.xx-p1.10" osisRef="Bible:John.19" parsed="|John|19|0|0|0" passage="Joh 19" type="Commentary"/>
<scripCom id="John.xx-p1.11" osisRef="Bible:John.19.1-John.19.15" parsed="|John|19|1|19|15" passage="Joh 19:1-15" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:John.19.1-John.19.15">
<h4 id="John.xx-p1.12">Christ Arraigned before
Pilate.</h4>
<p class="passage" id="John.xx-p2">1 Then Pilate therefore took Jesus, and scourged
<i>him.</i>   2 And the soldiers platted a crown of thorns,
and put <i>it</i> on his head, and they put on him a purple robe,
  3 And said, Hail, King of the Jews! and they smote him with
their hands.   4 Pilate therefore went forth again, and saith
unto them, Behold, I bring him forth to you, that ye may know that
I find no fault in him.   5 Then came Jesus forth, wearing the
crown of thorns, and the purple robe. And <i>Pilate</i> saith unto
them, Behold the man!   6 When the chief priests therefore and
officers saw him, they cried out, saying, Crucify <i>him,</i>
crucify <i>him.</i> Pilate saith unto them, Take ye him, and
crucify <i>him:</i> for I find no fault in him.   7 The Jews
answered him, We have a law, and by our law he ought to die,
because he made himself the Son of God.   8 When Pilate
therefore heard that saying, he was the more afraid;   9 And
went again into the judgment hall, and saith unto Jesus, Whence art
thou? But Jesus gave him no answer.   10 Then saith Pilate
unto him, Speakest thou not unto me? knowest thou not that I have
power to crucify thee, and have power to release thee?   11
Jesus answered, Thou couldest have no power <i>at all</i> against
me, except it were given thee from above: therefore he that
delivered me unto thee hath the greater sin.   12 And from
thenceforth Pilate sought to release him: but the Jews cried out,
saying, If thou let this man go, thou art not Cæsar's friend:
whosoever maketh himself a king speaketh against Cæsar.   13
When Pilate therefore heard that saying, he brought Jesus forth,
and sat down in the judgment seat in a place that is called the
Pavement, but in the Hebrew, Gabbatha.   14 And it was the
preparation of the passover, and about the sixth hour: and he saith
unto the Jews, Behold your King!   15 But they cried out, Away
with <i>him,</i> away with <i>him,</i> crucify him. Pilate saith
unto them, Shall I crucify your King? The chief priests answered,
We have no king but Cæsar.</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.xx-p3">Here is a further account of the unfair
trial which they gave to our Lord Jesus. The prosecutors carrying
it on with great confusion among the people, and the judge with
great confusion in his own breast, between both the narrative is
such as is not easily reduced to method; we must therefore take the
parts of it as they lie.</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.xx-p4">I. The judge abuses the prisoner, though he
declares him innocent, and hopes therewith to pacify the
prosecutors; wherein his intention, if indeed it was good, will by
no means justify his proceedings, which were palpably unjust.</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.xx-p5">1. He ordered him to be whipped as a
criminal, <scripRef id="John.xx-p5.1" osisRef="Bible:John.19.1" parsed="|John|19|1|0|0" passage="Joh 19:1"><i>v.</i> 1</scripRef>.
<i>Pilate,</i> seeing the people so outrageous, and being
disappointed in his project of releasing him upon the people's
choice, <i>took Jesus, and scourged him,</i> that is, appointed the
lictors that attended him to do it. Bede is of opinion that Pilate
scourged Jesus himself with his own hands, because it is said,
<i>He took him and scourged him,</i> that it might be done
favourably. Matthew and Mark mention his scourging after his
condemnation, but here it appears to have been before. Luke speaks
of Pilate's offering to <i>chastise him, and let him go,</i> which
must be before sentence. This scourging of him was designed only to
pacify the Jews, and in it Pilate put a compliment upon them, that
he would take their word against his own sentiments so far. The
Roman scourgings were ordinarily very severe, not limited, as among
the Jews, to <i>forty stripes;</i> yet this pain and shame Christ
submitted to for our sakes. (1.) <i>That the scripture might be
fulfilled,</i> which spoke of his being <i>stricken, smitten, and
afflicted,</i> and <i>the chastisement of our peace</i> being
<i>upon him</i> (<scripRef id="John.xx-p5.2" osisRef="Bible:Isa.53.5" parsed="|Isa|53|5|0|0" passage="Isa 53:5">Isa. liii.
5</scripRef>), of his giving his back to the smiters (<scripRef id="John.xx-p5.3" osisRef="Bible:Isa.50.6" parsed="|Isa|50|6|0|0" passage="Isa 50:6">Isa. l. 6</scripRef>), of the ploughers
ploughing upon his back, <scripRef id="John.xx-p5.4" osisRef="Bible:Ps.129.3" parsed="|Ps|129|3|0|0" passage="Ps 129:3">Ps. cxxix.
3</scripRef>. He himself likewise had foretold it, <scripRef id="John.xx-p5.5" osisRef="Bible:Matt.20.19 Bible:Mark.10.34 Bible:Luke.18.33" parsed="|Matt|20|19|0|0;|Mark|10|34|0|0;|Luke|18|33|0|0" passage="Mt 20:19,Mk 10:34,Lu 18:33">Matt. xx. 19; Mark x. 34; Luke
xviii. 33</scripRef>. (2.) <i>That by his stripes we might be
healed,</i> <scripRef id="John.xx-p5.6" osisRef="Bible:1Pet.2.4" parsed="|1Pet|2|4|0|0" passage="1Pe 2:4">1 Pet. ii. 4</scripRef>. We
deserved to have been chastised <i>with whips and scorpions,</i>
and <i>beaten with many stripes,</i> having known our Lord's will
and not done it; but Christ underwent the stripes for us, bearing
the rod of his Father's wrath, <scripRef id="John.xx-p5.7" osisRef="Bible:Lam.3.1" parsed="|Lam|3|1|0|0" passage="La 3:1">Lam. iii.
1</scripRef>. Pilate's design in scourging him was that he might
not be condemned, which did not take effect, but intimated what was
God's design, that his being scourged might prevent our being
condemned, we having fellowship in his sufferings, and this did
take effect: the physician scourged, and so the patient healed.
(3.) That stripes, for his sake, might be sanctified and made easy
to his followers; and they might, as they did, rejoice in that
shame (<scripRef id="John.xx-p5.8" osisRef="Bible:Acts.5.41 Bible:Acts.16.22 Bible:Acts.16.25" parsed="|Acts|5|41|0|0;|Acts|16|22|0|0;|Acts|16|25|0|0" passage="Ac 5:41,16:22,25">Acts v. 41; xvi. 22,
25</scripRef>), as Paul did, who was <i>in stripes above
measure,</i> <scripRef id="John.xx-p5.9" osisRef="Bible:2Cor.11.23" parsed="|2Cor|11|23|0|0" passage="2Co 11:23">2 Cor. xi.
23</scripRef>. Christ's stripes take out the sting of theirs, and
alter the property of them. <i>We are chastened of the Lord, that
we may not be condemned with the world,</i> <scripRef id="John.xx-p5.10" osisRef="Bible:1Cor.11.32" parsed="|1Cor|11|32|0|0" passage="1Co 11:32">1 Cor. xi. 32</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.xx-p6">2. He turned him over to his soldiers, to
be ridiculed and made sport with as a fool (<scripRef id="John.xx-p6.1" osisRef="Bible:John.19.2-John.19.3" parsed="|John|19|2|19|3" passage="Joh 19:2,3"><i>v.</i> 2, 3</scripRef>): <i>The soldiers,</i> who
were the governor's life-guard, <i>put a crown of thorns upon his
head;</i> such a crown they thought fittest for such a king;
<i>they put on him a purple robe,</i> some old threadbare coat of
that colour, which they thought good enough to be the badge of his
royalty; and they complimented him with, <i>Hail, king of the
Jews</i> (like people like king), and then <i>smote him with their
hands.</i></p>
<p class="indent" id="John.xx-p7">(1.) See here the baseness and injustice of
Pilate, that he would suffer one whom he believed an innocent
person, and if so an excellent person, to be thus abused and
trampled on by his own servants. Those who are under the arrest of
the law ought to be under the protection of it; and their being
secured is to be their security. But Pilate did this, [1.] To
oblige his soldiers' merry humour, and perhaps his own too,
notwithstanding the gravity one might have expected in a judge.
<i>Herod,</i> as well as <i>his men of war,</i> had just before
done the same, <scripRef id="John.xx-p7.1" osisRef="Bible:Luke.23.11" parsed="|Luke|23|11|0|0" passage="Lu 23:11">Luke xxiii.
11</scripRef>. It was as good as a stage-play to them, now that it
was a festival time; as the Philistines made sport with Samson.
[2.] To oblige the Jews' malicious humour, and to gratify them, who
desired that all possible disgrace might be done to Christ, and the
utmost indignities put upon him.</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.xx-p8">(2.) See here the rudeness and insolence of
the soldiers, how perfectly lost they were to all justice and
humanity, who could thus triumph over a man in misery, and one that
had been in reputation for wisdom and honour, and never did any
thing to forfeit it. But thus hath Christ's holy religion been
basely misrepresented, dressed up by bad men at their pleasure, and
so exposed to contempt and ridicule, as Christ was here. [1.] They
clothe him with a mock-robe, as if it were a sham and a jest, and
nothing but the product of a heated fancy and a crazed imagination.
And as Christ is here represented as a king in conceit only, so is
his religion as a concern in conceit only, and God and the soul,
sin and duty, heaven and hell, are with many all chimeras. [2.]
They crown him with thorns; as if the religion of Christ were a
perfect penance, and the greatest pain and hardship in the world;
as if to submit to the control of God and conscience were to thrust
one's head into a thicket of thorns; but this is an unjust
imputation; <i>thorns and snares are in the way of the froward,</i>
but roses and laurels in religion's ways.</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.xx-p9">(3.) See here the wonderful condescension
of our Lord Jesus in his sufferings for us. Great and generous
minds can bear any thing better than ignominy, any toil, any pain,
any loss, rather than reproach; yet this the great and holy Jesus
submitted to for us. See and admire, [1.] The invincible patience
of a sufferer, leaving us an example of contentment and courage,
evenness, and easiness of spirit, under the greatest hardships we
may meet with in the way of duty. [2.] The invincible love and
kindness of a Saviour, who not only cheerfully and resolutely went
through all this, but voluntarily undertook it for us and for our
salvation. Herein he commended his love, that he would not only die
for us, but die as a fool dies. <i>First,</i> He <i>endured the
pain;</i> not the pangs of death only, though in the death of the
cross these were most exquisite; but, as if these were too little,
he submitted to those previous pains. Shall we complain of a thorn
in the flesh, and of being buffeted by affliction, because we need
it to hide pride from us, when Christ humbled himself to bear those
thorns in the head, and those buffetings, to save and teach us?
<scripRef id="John.xx-p9.1" osisRef="Bible:2Cor.12.7" parsed="|2Cor|12|7|0|0" passage="2Co 12:7">2 Cor. xii. 7</scripRef>.
<i>Secondly,</i> He <i>despised the shame,</i> the shame of a
fool's coat, and the mock-respect paid him, with, <i>Hail, king of
the Jews.</i> If we be at any time ridiculed for well-doing, let us
not be ashamed, but glorify God, for thus we are partakers of
Christ's sufferings. He that bore these sham honours was
recompensed with real honours, and so shall we, if we patiently
suffer shame for him.</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.xx-p10">II. Pilate, having thus abused the
prisoner, presents him to the prosecutors, in hope that they would
now be satisfied, and drop the prosecution, <scripRef id="John.xx-p10.1" osisRef="Bible:John.19.4-John.19.5" parsed="|John|19|4|19|5" passage="Joh 19:4,5"><i>v.</i> 4, 5</scripRef>. Here he proposes two things
to their consideration:—</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.xx-p11">1. That he had not found any thing in him
which made him obnoxious to the Roman government (<scripRef id="John.xx-p11.1" osisRef="Bible:John.19.4" parsed="|John|19|4|0|0" passage="Joh 19:4"><i>v.</i> 4</scripRef>): <i>I find no fault in
him;</i> <b><i>oudemian aitian heurisko</i></b>—<i>I do not find
in him the least fault,</i> or <i>cause of accusation.</i> Upon
further enquiry, he repeats the declaration he had made, <scripRef id="John.xx-p11.2" osisRef="Bible:John.18.38" parsed="|John|18|38|0|0" passage="Joh 18:38"><i>ch.</i> xviii. 38</scripRef>. Hereby he
condemns himself; if he found no fault in him, why did he scourge
him, why did he suffer him to be abused? None ought to suffer ill
but those that do ill; yet thus many banter and abuse religion, who
yet, if they be serious, cannot but own they find no fault in it.
If he found no fault in him, why did he bring him out to his
prosecutors, and not immediately release him, as he ought to have
done? If Pilate had consulted his own conscience only, he would
neither have scourged Christ nor crucified him; but, thinking to
trim the matter, to please the people by scourging Christ, and save
his conscience by not crucifying him, behold he does both; whereas,
if he had at first resolved to crucify him, he need not have
scourged him. It is common for those who think to keep themselves
from greater sins by venturing upon less sins to run into both.</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.xx-p12">2. That he had done that to him which would
make him the less dangerous to them and to their government,
<scripRef id="John.xx-p12.1" osisRef="Bible:John.19.5" parsed="|John|19|5|0|0" passage="Joh 19:5"><i>v.</i> 5</scripRef>. He brought him
out to them, wearing the crown of thorns, his head and face all
bloody, and said, "<i>Behold the man</i> whom you are so jealous
of," intimating that though his having been so popular might have
given them some cause to fear that his interest in the country
would lessen theirs, yet he had taken an effectual course to
prevent it, by treating him as a slave, and exposing him to
contempt, after which he supposed the people would never look upon
him with any respect, nor could he ever retrieve his reputation
again. Little did Pilate think with what veneration even these
sufferings of Christ would in after ages be commemorated by the
best and greatest of men, who would glory in that cross and those
stripes which he thought would have been to him and his followers a
perpetual and indelible reproach. (1.) Observe here our Lord Jesus
shows himself dressed up in all the marks of ignominy. He came
forth, willing to be made a spectacle, and to be hooted at, as no
doubt he was when he came forth in this garb, knowing that he was
set for a <i>sign that should be spoken against,</i> <scripRef id="John.xx-p12.2" osisRef="Bible:Luke.2.34" parsed="|Luke|2|34|0|0" passage="Lu 2:34">Luke ii. 34</scripRef>. Did he go forth thus
bearing our reproach? Let us go forth to him <i>bearing his
reproach,</i> <scripRef id="John.xx-p12.3" osisRef="Bible:Heb.13.13" parsed="|Heb|13|13|0|0" passage="Heb 13:13">Heb. xiii.
13</scripRef>. (2.) How Pilate shows him: <i>Pilate saith unto
them, Behold the man. He saith unto them:</i> so the original is;
and, the immediate antecedent being <i>Jesus,</i> I see no
inconvenience in supposing these to be Christ's own words; he said,
"<i>Behold the man</i> against whom you are so exasperated." But
some of the Greek copies, and the generality of the translators,
supply it as we do, Pilate saith unto them, with a design to
appease them, <i>Behold the man;</i> not so much to move their
pity, Behold a man worthy your compassion, as to silence their
jealousies, Behold a man not worthy your suspicion, a man from whom
you can henceforth fear no danger; his crown is <i>profaned, and
cast to the ground,</i> and now all mankind will make a jest of
him. The word however is very affecting: <i>Behold the man.</i> It
is good for every one of us, with an eye of faith, to behold the
man Christ Jesus in his sufferings. <i>Behold this king with the
crown wherewith his mother crowned him,</i> the crown of thorns,
<scripRef id="John.xx-p12.4" osisRef="Bible:Song.3.11" parsed="|Song|3|11|0|0" passage="So 3:11">Cant. iii. 11</scripRef>. "Behold him,
and be suitably affected with the sight. Behold him, and mourn
because of him. Behold him, and love him; be still <i>looking unto
Jesus.</i>"</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.xx-p13">III. The prosecutors, instead of being
pacified, were but the more exasperated, <scripRef id="John.xx-p13.1" osisRef="Bible:John.19.6-John.19.7" parsed="|John|19|6|19|7" passage="Joh 19:6,7"><i>v.</i> 6, 7</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.xx-p14">1. Observe here their clamour and outrage.
<i>The chief priests,</i> who headed the mob, <i>cried out</i> with
fury and indignation, and their officers, or servants, who must say
as they said, joined with them in crying, <i>Crucify him, crucify
him.</i> The common people perhaps would have acquiesced in
Pilate's declaration of his innocency, but their leaders, the
priests, <i>caused them to err.</i> Now by this it appears that
their malice against Christ was, (1.) Unreasonable and most absurd,
in that they offer not to make good their charges against him, nor
to object against the judgment of Pilate concerning him; but,
though he be innocent, he must be crucified. (2.) It was insatiable
and very cruel. Neither the extremity of his scourging, nor his
patience under it, nor the tender expostulations of the judge,
could mollify them in the least; no, nor could the jest into which
Pilate had turned the cause, put them into a pleasant humour. (3.)
It was violent and exceedingly resolute; they will have it their
own way, and hazard the governor's favour, the peace of the city,
and their own safety, rather than abate of the utmost of their
demands. Were they so violent in running down our Lord Jesus, and
in crying, <i>Crucify him, crucify him?</i> and shall not we be
vigorous and zealous in advancing his name, and in crying, <i>Crown
him, Crown him?</i> Did their hatred of him sharpen their
endeavours against him? and shall not our love to him quicken our
endeavours for him and his kingdom?</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.xx-p15">2. The check Pilate gave to their fury,
still insisting upon the prisoner's innocency: "<i>Take you him and
crucify him,</i> if he must be crucified." This is spoken
ironically; he knew they could not, they durst not, crucify him;
but it is as if he should say, "You shall not make me a drudge to
your malice; I cannot with a safe conscience crucify him." A good
resolve, if he would but have stuck to it. He found no fault in
him, and therefore should not have continued to parley with the
prosecutors. Those that would be safe from sin should be deaf to
temptation. Nay, he should have secured the prisoner from their
insults. What was he armed with power for, but to protect the
injured? The guards of governors ought to be the guards of justice.
But Pilate had not courage enough to act according to his
conscience; and his cowardice betrayed him into a snare.</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.xx-p16">3. The further colour which the prosecutors
gave to their demand (<scripRef id="John.xx-p16.1" osisRef="Bible:John.19.7" parsed="|John|19|7|0|0" passage="Joh 19:7"><i>v.</i>
7</scripRef>): <i>We have a law, and by our law,</i> if it were but
in our power to execute it, <i>he ought to die, because he made
himself the Son of God.</i> Now here observe, (1.) They <i>made
their boast of the law,</i> even when <i>through breaking the law
they dishonoured God,</i> as is charged upon the Jews, <scripRef id="John.xx-p16.2" osisRef="Bible:Rom.2.23" parsed="|Rom|2|23|0|0" passage="Ro 2:23">Rom. ii. 23</scripRef>. They had indeed an
excellent law, far exceeding the statutes and judgments of other
nations; but in vain did they boast of their law, when they abused
it to such bad purposes. (2.) They discover a restless and
inveterate malice against our Lord Jesus. When they could not
incense Pilate against him by alleging that he pretended himself a
king, they urged this, that he pretended himself a God. Thus they
turn every stone to take him off. (3.) They pervert the law, and
make that the instrument of their malice. Some think they refer to
a law made particularly against Christ, as if, being a law, it must
be executed, right or wrong; whereas there is a woe to them that
<i>decree unrighteous decrees,</i> and that <i>write the
grievousness which they have prescribed,</i> <scripRef id="John.xx-p16.3" osisRef="Bible:Isa.10.1" parsed="|Isa|10|1|0|0" passage="Isa 10:1">Isa. x. 1</scripRef>. See <scripRef id="John.xx-p16.4" osisRef="Bible:Mic.6.16" parsed="|Mic|6|16|0|0" passage="Mic 6:16">Mic. vi. 16</scripRef>. But it should seem they rather
refer to the law of Moses; and if so, [1.] It was true that
blasphemers, idolaters, and false prophets, were to be put to death
by that law. Whoever falsely pretended to be the Son of God was
guilty of blasphemy, <scripRef id="John.xx-p16.5" osisRef="Bible:Lev.24.16" parsed="|Lev|24|16|0|0" passage="Le 24:16">Lev. xxiv.
16</scripRef>. But then, [2.] It was false that Christ pretended to
be the Son of God, for he really was so; and they ought to have
enquired into the proofs he produced of his being so. If he said
that he was the Son of God, and the scope and tendency of his
doctrine were not to draw people from God, but to bring them to
him, and if he confirmed his mission and doctrine by miracles, as
undoubtedly he did, beyond contradiction, by their law they ought
to <i>hearken to him</i> (<scripRef id="John.xx-p16.6" osisRef="Bible:Deut.18.18-Deut.18.19" parsed="|Deut|18|18|18|19" passage="De 18:18,19">Deut.
xviii. 18, 19</scripRef>), and, if they did not, they were to be
<i>cut off.</i> That which was his honour, and might have been
their happiness, if they had not stood in their own light, they
impute to him as a crime, for which he ought not to be crucified,
for this was no death inflicted by their law.</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.xx-p17">IV. The judge brings the prisoner again to
his trial, upon this new suggestion. Observe,</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.xx-p18">1. The concern Pilate was in, when he heard
this alleged (<scripRef id="John.xx-p18.1" osisRef="Bible:John.19.8" parsed="|John|19|8|0|0" passage="Joh 19:8"><i>v.</i> 8</scripRef>):
When he heard that his prisoner pretended not to royalty only, but
to deity, he was <i>the more afraid.</i> This embarrassed him more
than ever, and made the case more difficult both ways; for, (1.)
There was the more danger of offending the people if he should
acquit him, for he knew how jealous that people were for the unity
of the Godhead, and what aversion they now had to other gods; and
therefore, though he might hope to pacify their rage against a
pretended king, he could never reconcile them to a pretended God.
"If this be at the bottom of the tumult," thinks Pilate, "it will
not be turned off with a jest." (2.) There was the more danger of
offending his own conscience if he should condemn him. "Is he one"
(thinks Pilate) "that makes himself <i>the Son of God?</i> and what
if it should prove that he is so? What will become of me then?"
Even natural conscience makes men afraid of being found <i>fighting
against God.</i> The heathen had some fabulous traditions of
incarnate deities appearing sometimes in mean circumstances, and
treated ill by some that paid dearly for their so doing. Pilate
fears lest he should thus run himself into a premunire.</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.xx-p19">2. His further examination of our Lord
Jesus thereupon, <scripRef id="John.xx-p19.1" osisRef="Bible:John.19.9" parsed="|John|19|9|0|0" passage="Joh 19:9"><i>v.</i>
9</scripRef>. That he might give the prosecutors all the fair play
they could desire, he resumed the debate, went into the
judgment-hall, and asked Christ, <i>Whence art thou?</i>
Observe,</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.xx-p20">(1.) The place he chose for this
examination: He <i>went into the judgment-hall</i> for privacy,
that he might be out of the noise and clamour of the crowd, and
might examine the thing the more closely. Those that would find out
the truth as it is in Jesus must get out of the noise of prejudice,
and retire as it were into the judgment-hall, to converse with
Christ alone.</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.xx-p21">(2.) The question he put to him: <i>Whence
art thou?</i> Art thou from men or from heaven? From beneath or
from above? He had before asked directly, <i>Art thou a King?</i>
But here he does not directly ask, <i>Art thou the Son of God?</i>
lest he should seem to meddle with divine things too boldly. But in
general, "<i>Whence art thou?</i> Where wast thou, and in what
world hadst thou a being, before thy coming into this world?"</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.xx-p22">(3.) The silence of our Lord Jesus when he
was examined upon this head; but <i>Jesus gave him no answer.</i>
This was not a sullen silence, in contempt of the court, nor was it
because he knew not what to say; but, [1.] It was a patient
silence, that the scripture might be fulfilled, <i>as a sheep
before the shearers is dumb, so he opened not his mouth,</i>
<scripRef id="John.xx-p22.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.53.7" parsed="|Isa|53|7|0|0" passage="Isa 53:7">Isa. liii. 7</scripRef>. This silence
loudly bespoke his submission to his Father's will in his present
sufferings, which he thus accommodated himself to, and composed
himself to bear. He was silent, because he would say nothing to
hinder his sufferings. If Christ had avowed himself a God as
plainly as he avowed himself a king, it is probable that Pilate
would not have condemned him (for he was afraid at the mention of
it by the prosecutors); and the Romans, though they triumphed over
the <i>kings of the nations</i> they conquered, yet stood in awe of
their gods. See <scripRef id="John.xx-p22.2" osisRef="Bible:1Cor.2.8" parsed="|1Cor|2|8|0|0" passage="1Co 2:8">1 Cor. ii.
8</scripRef>. <i>If they had known</i> him to be the <i>Lord of
glory,</i> they would <i>not have crucified him;</i> and how then
could we have been saved? [2.] It was a prudent silence. When the
chief priests asked him, <i>Art thou the Son of the Blessed?</i> he
answered, <i>I am,</i> for he knew they went upon the scriptures of
the Old Testament which spoke of the Messiah; but when Pilate asked
him he knew he did not understand his own question, having no
notion of the Messiah, and of his being the <i>Son of God,</i> and
therefore to what purpose should he reply to him whose head was
filled with the pagan theology, to which he would have turned his
answer?</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.xx-p23">(4.) The haughty check which Pilate gave
him for his silence (<scripRef id="John.xx-p23.1" osisRef="Bible:John.19.10" parsed="|John|19|10|0|0" passage="Joh 19:10"><i>v.</i>
10</scripRef>): "<i>Speakest thou not unto me?</i> Dost thou put
such an affront upon me as to stand mute? What <i>knowest thou
not</i> that, as president of the province, <i>I have power,</i> if
I think fit, <i>to crucify thee, and have power,</i> if I think
fit, to <i>release thee?</i>" Observe here, [1.] How Pilate
magnified himself, and boasts of his own authority, as not inferior
to that of Nebuchadnezzar, of whom it is said that <i>whom he would
he slew, and whom he would he kept alive.</i> <scripRef id="John.xx-p23.2" osisRef="Bible:Dan.5.19" parsed="|Dan|5|19|0|0" passage="Da 5:19">Dan. v. 19</scripRef>. Men in power are apt to be puffed
up with their power, and the more absolute and arbitrary it is the
more it gratifies and humours their pride. But he magnifies his
power to an exorbitant degree when he boasts that he has power to
crucify one whom he had declared innocent, for no prince or
potentate has authority to do wrong. <i>Id possumus, quod jure
possumus—We can do that only which we can do justly.</i> [2.] How
he tramples upon our blessed Saviour: <i>Speakest thou not unto
me?</i> He reflects upon him, <i>First,</i> As if he were undutiful
and disrespectful to those in authority, not speaking when he was
spoken to. <i>Secondly,</i> As if he were ungrateful to one that
had been tender of him: "Speakest thou not to me who have laboured
to secure thy release?" <i>Thirdly,</i> As if he were unwise for
himself: "Wilt thou not speak to clear thyself to one that is
willing to clear thee?" If Christ had indeed sought to save his
life, now had been his time to have spoken; but that which he had
to do was to lay down his life.</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.xx-p24">(5.) Christ's pertinent answer to this
check, <scripRef id="John.xx-p24.1" osisRef="Bible:John.19.11" parsed="|John|19|11|0|0" passage="Joh 19:11"><i>v.</i> 11</scripRef>,
where,</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.xx-p25">[1.] He boldly rebukes his arrogance, and
rectifies his mistake: "Big as thou lookest and talkest, <i>thou
couldest have no power at all against me,</i> no power to scourge,
no power to crucify, <i>except it were given thee from above.</i>"
Though Christ did not think fit to answer him when he was
impertinent (then <i>answer not a fool according to his folly, lest
thou also be like him</i>), yet he did think fit to answer him when
he was imperious; then <i>answer a fool according to his folly,
lest he be wise in his own conceit,</i> <scripRef id="John.xx-p25.1" osisRef="Bible:Prov.26.4-Prov.26.5" parsed="|Prov|26|4|26|5" passage="Pr 26:4,5">Prov. xxvi. 4, 5</scripRef>. When Pilate used his
power, Christ silently submitted to it; but, when he grew proud of
it, he made him know himself: "All the power thou hast is given
thee from above," which may be taken two ways:—<i>First,</i> As
reminding him that his power in general, as a magistrate, was a
limited power, and he could do no more than God would suffer him to
do. God is the fountain of power; and the <i>powers that are,</i>
as they are ordained by him and derived from him, so they are
subject to him. They ought to go no further than his law directs
them; they can go no further than his providence permits them. They
are God's hand and his sword, <scripRef id="John.xx-p25.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.17.13-Ps.17.14" parsed="|Ps|17|13|17|14" passage="Ps 17:13,14">Ps.
xvii. 13, 14</scripRef>. Though the axe may <i>boast itself against
him that heweth therewith,</i> yet still it is but a tool,
<scripRef id="John.xx-p25.3" osisRef="Bible:Isa.10.5 Bible:Isa.10.15" parsed="|Isa|10|5|0|0;|Isa|10|15|0|0" passage="Isa 10:5,15">Isa. x. 5, 15</scripRef>. Let the
proud oppressors know that there is <i>a higher than they,</i> to
whom they are accountable, <scripRef id="John.xx-p25.4" osisRef="Bible:Eccl.5.8" parsed="|Eccl|5|8|0|0" passage="Ec 5:8">Eccl. v.
8</scripRef>. And let this silence the murmurings of the oppressed,
<i>It is the Lord.</i> God has bidden Shimei curse David; and let
it comfort them that their persecutors can do no more than God will
let them. See <scripRef id="John.xx-p25.5" osisRef="Bible:Isa.51.12-Isa.51.13" parsed="|Isa|51|12|51|13" passage="Isa 51:12,13">Isa. li. 12,
13</scripRef>. <i>Secondly,</i> As informing him that his power
against him in particular, and all the efforts of that power, were
<i>by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God,</i>
<scripRef id="John.xx-p25.6" osisRef="Bible:Acts.2.23" parsed="|Acts|2|23|0|0" passage="Ac 2:23">Acts ii. 23</scripRef>. Pilate never
fancied himself to look so great as now, when he sat in judgment
upon such a prisoner as this, who was looked upon by many as the
<i>Son of God</i> and king of Israel, and had the fate of so great
a man at his disposal; but Christ lets him know that he was herein
but an instrument in God's hand, and could no nothing against him,
but by the appointment of Heaven, <scripRef id="John.xx-p25.7" osisRef="Bible:Acts.4.27-Acts.4.28" parsed="|Acts|4|27|4|28" passage="Ac 4:27,28">Acts iv. 27, 28</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.xx-p26">[2.] He mildly excuses and extenuates his
sin, in comparison with the sin of the ringleaders: "<i>Therefore
he that delivered me unto thee</i> lies under greater guilt; for
thou as a magistrate hast <i>power from above,</i> and art in thy
place, thy sin is less than theirs who, from envy and malice, urge
thee to abuse thy power."</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.xx-p27"><i>First,</i> It is plainly intimated that
what Pilate did was sin, a great sin, and that the force which the
Jews put upon him, and which he put upon himself in it, would not
justify him. Christ hereby intended a hint for the awakening of his
conscience and the increase of the fear he was now under. The guilt
of others will not acquit us, nor will it avail in the great day to
say that others were worse than we, for we are not to be judged by
comparison, but must <i>bear our own burden.</i></p>
<p class="indent" id="John.xx-p28"><i>Secondly,</i> Yet theirs that delivered
him to Pilate was the greater sin. By this it appears that all sins
are not equal, but some more heinous than others; some
comparatively as gnats, others as camels; some as motes in the
eyes, others as beams; some as pence, others as pounds. <i>He that
delivered Christ to Pilate</i> was either, 1. The people of the
Jews, who cried out, <i>Crucify him, crucify him.</i> They had seen
Christ's miracles, which Pilate had not; to them the Messiah was
first sent; they were his own; and to them, who were now enslaved,
a Redeemer should have been most welcome, and therefore it was much
worse in them to appear against him than in Pilate. 2. Or rather he
means Caiaphas in particular, who was at the head of the conspiracy
against Christ, and first advised his death, <scripRef id="John.xx-p28.1" osisRef="Bible:John.11.49-John.11.50" parsed="|John|11|49|11|50" passage="Joh 11:49,50"><i>ch.</i> xi. 49, 50</scripRef>. The sin of
Caiaphas was abundantly greater than the sin of Pilate. Caiaphas
prosecuted Christ from pure enmity to him and his doctrine,
deliberately and of malice prepense. Pilate condemned him purely
for fear of the people, and it was a hasty resolution which he had
not time to cool upon. 3. Some think Christ means Judas; for,
though he did not immediately deliver him into the hands of Pilate,
yet he betrayed him to those that did. The sin of Judas was, upon
many accounts, greater than the sin of Pilate. Pilate was a
stranger to Christ; Judas was his friend and follower. Pilate found
no fault in him, but Judas knew a great deal of good of him.
Pilate, though biassed, was not bribed, but Judas took a <i>reward
against the innocent;</i> the sin of Judas was a leading sin, and
let in all that followed. He was a <i>guide to them that took
Jesus.</i> So great was the sin of Judas that <i>vengeance suffered
him not to live;</i> but when Christ said this, or soon after, he
was gone <i>to his own place.</i></p>
<p class="indent" id="John.xx-p29">V. Pilate struggles with the Jews to
deliver Jesus out of their hands, but in vain. We hear no more
after this of any thing that passed between Pilate and the
prisoner; what remains lay between him and the prosecutors.</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.xx-p30">1. Pilate seems more zealous than before to
get Jesus discharged (<scripRef id="John.xx-p30.1" osisRef="Bible:John.19.12" parsed="|John|19|12|0|0" passage="Joh 19:12"><i>v.</i>
12</scripRef>): <i>Thenceforth,</i> from this time, and for this
reason, because Christ had given him that answer (<scripRef id="John.xx-p30.2" osisRef="Bible:John.19.11" parsed="|John|19|11|0|0" passage="Joh 19:11"><i>v.</i> 11</scripRef>), which, though it had
a rebuke in it, yet he took kindly; and, though Christ found fault
with him, he still continued to find no fault in Christ, but
<i>sought to release him,</i> desired it, endeavoured it. <i>He
sought to release him;</i> he contrived how to do it handsomely and
safely, and so as not to disoblige the priests. It never does well
when our resolutions to do our duty are swallowed up in projects
how to do it plausibly and conveniently. If Pilate's policy had not
prevailed above his justice, he would not have been long seeking to
release him, but would have done it. <i>Fiat justitia, ruat
cœlum</i>—<i>Let justice be done, though heaven itself should
fall.</i></p>
<p class="indent" id="John.xx-p31">2. The Jews were more furious than ever,
and more violent to get Jesus crucified. Still they carry on their
design with noise and clamour as before; so now they cried out.
They would have it thought that the commonalty was against him, and
therefore laboured to get him cried down by a multitude, and it is
no hard matter to pack a mob; whereas, if a fair poll had been
granted, I doubt not but it would have been carried by a great
majority for the releasing of him. A few madmen may out-shout many
wise men, and then fancy themselves to speak the sense (when it is
but the nonsense) of a nation, or of all mankind; but it is not so
easy a thing to change the sense of the people as it is to
misrepresent it, and to change their cry. Now that Christ was in
the hands of his enemies his friends were shy and silent, and
disappeared, and those that were against him were forward to show
themselves so; and this gave the chief priests an opportunity to
represent it as the concurring vote of all the Jews that he should
be crucified. In this outcry they sought two things:—(1.) To
blacken the prisoner as an enemy to Cæsar. He had refused the
kingdoms of this world and the glory of them, had declared his
kingdom not to be of this world, and yet they will have it that he
<i>speaks against Cæsar;</i> <b><i>antilegei</i></b>—<i>he opposes
Cæsar,</i> invades his dignity and sovereignty. It has always been
the artifice of the enemies of religion to represent it as hurtful
to kings and provinces, when it would be highly beneficial to both.
(2.) To frighten the judge, as no friend to Cæsar: "If thou <i>let
this man go</i> unpunished, and let him go on, <i>thou art not
Cæsar's friend,</i> and therefore false to thy trust and the duty
of thy place, obnoxious to the emperor's displeasure, and liable to
be turned out." They intimate a threatening that they would inform
against him, and get him displaced; and here they touched him in a
sensible and very tender part. But, of all people, these Jews
should not have pretended a concern for Cæsar, who were themselves
so ill affected to him and his government. They should not talk of
being friends to Cæsar, who were themselves such back friends to
him; yet thus a pretended zeal for that which is good often serves
to cover a real malice against that which is better.</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.xx-p32">3. When other expedients had been tried in
vain, Pilate slightly endeavoured to banter them out of their fury,
and yet, in doing this, betrayed himself to them, and yielded to
the rapid stream, <scripRef id="John.xx-p32.1" osisRef="Bible:John.19.13-John.19.15" parsed="|John|19|13|19|15" passage="Joh 19:13-15"><i>v.</i>
13-15</scripRef>. After he had stood it out a great while, and
seemed now as if he would have made a vigorous resistance upon this
attack (<scripRef id="John.xx-p32.2" osisRef="Bible:John.19.12" parsed="|John|19|12|0|0" passage="Joh 19:12"><i>v.</i> 12</scripRef>), he
basely surrendered. Observe here,</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.xx-p33">(1.) What it was that shocked Pilate
(<scripRef id="John.xx-p33.1" osisRef="Bible:John.19.13" parsed="|John|19|13|0|0" passage="Joh 19:13"><i>v.</i> 13</scripRef>): <i>When he
heard that saying,</i> that he could not be true to Cæsar's honour,
nor sure of Cæsar's favour, if he did not put Jesus to death, then
he thought it was time to look about him. All they had said to
prove Christ a malefactor, and that therefore it was Pilate's duty
to condemn him, did not move him, but he still kept to his
conviction of Christ's innocency; but, when they urged that it was
his interest to condemn him, then he began to yield. Note, Those
that bind up their happiness in the favour of men make themselves
an easy prey to the temptations of Satan.</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.xx-p34">(2.) What preparation was made for a
definitive sentence upon this matter: <i>Pilate brought Jesus
forth,</i> and he himself in great state took the chair. We may
suppose that he called for his robes, that he might look big, and
then <i>sat down in the judgment-seat.</i></p>
<p class="indent" id="John.xx-p35">[1.] Christ was condemned with all the
ceremony that could be. <i>First,</i> To bring us off at God's bar,
and that all believers through Christ, being judged here, might be
acquitted in the court of heaven. <i>Secondly,</i> To take off the
terror of pompous trials, which his followers would be brought to
for his sake. Paul might the better stand at Cæsar's judgment-seat
when his Master had stood there before him.</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.xx-p36">[2.] Notice is here taken of the place and
time.</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.xx-p37"><i>First,</i> The place where Christ was
condemned: in a <i>place called the Pavement, but in Hebrew,
Gabbatha,</i> probably the place where he used to sit to try causes
or criminals. Some make <i>Gabbatha</i> to signify an <i>enclosed
place,</i> fenced against the insults of the people, whom therefore
he did the less need to fear; others an <i>elevated place,</i>
raised that all might see him.</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.xx-p38"><i>Secondly,</i> The time, <scripRef id="John.xx-p38.1" osisRef="Bible:John.19.14" parsed="|John|19|14|0|0" passage="Joh 19:14"><i>v.</i> 14</scripRef>. It was the preparation
of the passover, and <i>about the sixth hour.</i> Observe, 1. The
day: It was the preparation of the passover, that is, for the
passover-sabbath, and the solemnities of that and the rest of the
days of the feast of unleavened bread. This is plain from <scripRef id="John.xx-p38.2" osisRef="Bible:Luke.23.54" parsed="|Luke|23|54|0|0" passage="Lu 23:54">Luke xxiii. 54</scripRef>, <i>It was the
preparation, and the sabbath drew on.</i> So that this preparation
was for the sabbath. Note, Before the passover there ought to be
preparation. This is mentioned as an aggravation of their sin, in
persecuting Christ with so much malice and fury, that it was when
they should have been purging out the old leaven, to get ready for
the passover; but the better the day the worse the deed. 2. The
hour: <i>It was about the sixth hour.</i> Some ancient Greek and
Latin manuscripts read it about the third hour, which agrees with
<scripRef id="John.xx-p38.3" osisRef="Bible:Mark.15.25" parsed="|Mark|15|25|0|0" passage="Mk 15:25">Mark xv. 25</scripRef>. And it appears
by <scripRef id="John.xx-p38.4" osisRef="Bible:Matt.27.45" parsed="|Matt|27|45|0|0" passage="Mt 27:45">Matt. xxvii. 45</scripRef> that he
was upon the cross before the sixth hour. But it should seem to
come in here, not as a precise determination of the time, but as an
additional aggravation of the sin of his prosecutors, that they
were pushing on the prosecution, not only on a solemn day, the
<i>day of the preparation,</i> but, from the third to the sixth
hour (which was, as we call it, church-time) on that day, they were
employed in this wickedness; so that for this day, though they were
priests, they dropped the temple-service, for they did not leave
Christ till the sixth hour, when the darkness began, which
frightened them away. Some think that the sixth hour, with this
evangelist, is, according to the Roman reckoning and ours, six of
the clock in the morning, answering to the Jews' first hour of the
day; this is very probable, that Christ's trial before Pilate was
at the height about six in the morning, which was then a little
after sun-rising.</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.xx-p39">(3.) The rencounter Pilate had with the
Jews, both priests and people, before he proceeded to give
judgment, endeavouring in vain to stem the tide of their rage.</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.xx-p40">[1.] He saith unto the Jews, <i>Behold your
king.</i> This is a reproof to them for the absurdity and malice of
their insinuating that this Jesus made himself a king: "<i>Behold
your king,</i> that is, him whom you accuse as a pretender to the
crown. Is this a man likely to be dangerous to the government? I am
satisfied he is not, and you may be so too, and let him alone."
Some think he hereby upbraids them with their secret disaffection
to Cæsar: "You would have this man to be your king, if he would but
have headed a rebellion against Cæsar." But Pilate, though he was
far from meaning so, seems as if he were the voice of God to them.
Christ, now crowned with thorns, is, as a king at his coronation,
offered to the people: "<i>Behold your king,</i> the king whom God
hath set upon his holy hill of Zion;" but they, instead of entering
into it with acclamations of joyful consent, protest against him;
they will not have a king of God's choosing.</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.xx-p41">[2.] They cried out with the greatest
indignation, <i>Away with him, away with him,</i> which speaks
disdain as well as malice, <b><i>aron, aron</i></b>—"<i>Take
him,</i> he is none of ours; we disown him for our kinsman, much
more for our king; we have not only no veneration for him, but no
compassion; <i>away with him</i> out of our sight:" for so it was
written of him, he is one <i>whom the nation abhors</i> (<scripRef id="John.xx-p41.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.49.7" parsed="|Isa|49|7|0|0" passage="Isa 49:7">Isa. xlix. 7</scripRef>), and they <i>hid as it
were their faces from him</i> <scripRef id="John.xx-p41.2" osisRef="Bible:Isa.53.2-Isa.53.3" parsed="|Isa|53|2|53|3" passage="Isa 53:2,3">Isa.
liii. 2, 3</scripRef>. <i>Away with him from the earth,</i>
<scripRef id="John.xx-p41.3" osisRef="Bible:Acts.22.22" parsed="|Acts|22|22|0|0" passage="Ac 22:22">Acts xxii. 22</scripRef>. This shows,
<i>First,</i> How we deserved to have been treated at God's
tribunal. We were by sin become odious to God's holiness, which
cried, <i>Away with them, away with them,</i> for God is <i>of
purer eyes than to behold iniquity.</i> We were also become
obnoxious to God's justice, which cried against us, "<i>Crucify
them, crucify them,</i> let the sentence of the law be executed."
Had not Christ interposed, and been thus rejected of men, we had
been for ever rejected of God. <i>Secondly,</i> It shows how we
ought to treat our sins. We are often in scripture said to crucify
sin, in conformity to Christ's death. Now they that crucified
Christ did it with detestation. With a pious indignation we should
run down sin in us, as they with an impious indignation ran him
down who was made sin for us. The true penitent casts away from him
his transgressions, <i>Away with them, away with them</i>
(<scripRef id="John.xx-p41.4" osisRef="Bible:Isa.2.20 Bible:Isa.30.22" parsed="|Isa|2|20|0|0;|Isa|30|22|0|0" passage="Isa 2:20,30:22">Isa. ii. 20; xxx.
22</scripRef>), <i>crucify them, crucify them;</i> it is not fit
that they should live in my soul, <scripRef id="John.xx-p41.5" osisRef="Bible:Hos.14.8" parsed="|Hos|14|8|0|0" passage="Hos 14:8">Hos.
xiv. 8</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.xx-p42">[3.] Pilate, willing to have Jesus
released, and yet that it should be their doing, asks them,
<i>Shall I crucify your king?</i> In saying this, he designed
either, <i>First,</i> To stop their mouths, by showing them how
absurd it was for them to reject one who offered himself to them to
be their king at a time when they needed one more than ever. Have
they no sense of slavery? No desire of liberty? No value for a
deliverer? Though he saw no cause to fear him, they might see cause
to hope for something from him; since crushed and sinking interests
are ready to catch at any thing. Or, <i>Secondly,</i> To stop the
mouth of his own conscience. "If this Jesus be a king" (thinks
Pilate), "he is only kin of the Jews, and therefore I have nothing
to do but to make a fair tender of him to them; if they refuse him,
and will have their king crucified, what is that to me?" He banters
them for their folly in expecting a Messiah, and yet running down
one that bade so fair to be he.</p>
</div><scripCom id="John.xx-p42.1" osisRef="Bible:John.19.16-John.19.18" parsed="|John|19|16|19|18" passage="Joh 19:16-18" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:John.19.16-John.19.18">
<h4 id="John.xx-p42.2">Christ Condemned; The
Crucifixion.</h4>
<p class="passage" id="John.xx-p43">16 Then delivered he him therefore unto them to
be crucified. And they took Jesus, and led <i>him</i> away.  
17 And he bearing his cross went forth into a place called <i>the
place</i> of a skull, which is called in the Hebrew Golgotha:
  18 Where they crucified him, and two other with him, on
either side one, and Jesus in the midst.</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.xx-p44">We have here sentence of death passed upon
our Lord Jesus, and execution done soon after. A mighty struggle
Pilate had had within him between his convictions and his
corruptions; but at length his convictions yielded, and his
corruptions prevailed, the fear of man having a greater power over
him than the fear of God.</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.xx-p45">I. <i>Pilate gave judgment</i> against
Christ, and signed the warrant for his execution, <scripRef id="John.xx-p45.1" osisRef="Bible:John.19.16" parsed="|John|19|16|0|0" passage="Joh 19:16"><i>v.</i> 16</scripRef>. We may see here, 1.
How Pilate sinned against his conscience: he had again and again
pronounced him innocent, and yet at last condemned him as guilty.
Pilate, since he came to be governor, had in many instances
disobliged and exasperated the Jewish nation; for he was a man of a
haughty and implacable spirit, and extremely wedded to his humour.
He had seized upon the Corban, and spent it upon a water-work; he
had brought into Jerusalem shields stamped with Cæsar's image,
which was very provoking to the Jews; he had sacrificed the lives
of many to his resolutions herein. Fearing therefore that he should
be complained of for these and other insolences, he was willing to
gratify the Jews. Now this makes the matter much worse. If he had
been of an easy, soft, and pliable disposition, his yielding to so
strong a stream had been the more excusable; but for a man that was
so wilful in other things, and of so fierce a resolution, to be
overcome in a thing of this nature, shows him to be a bad man
indeed, that could better bear the wronging of his conscience than
the crossing of his humour. 2. How he endeavoured to transfer the
guilt upon the Jews. He <i>delivered him</i> not to his own
officers (as usual), but to the prosecutors, the chief priests and
elders; so excusing the wrong to his own conscience with this, that
it was but a permissive condemnation, and that he did not put
Christ to death, but only connived at those that did it. 3. How
Christ was <i>made sin for us.</i> We deserved to have been
condemned, but Christ was condemned for us, that to us there might
be <i>no condemnation.</i> God was now entering into judgment with
his Son, that he might not enter into judgment with his
servants.</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.xx-p46">II. Judgment was no sooner given than with
all possible expedition the prosecutors, having gained their point,
resolved to lose not time lest Pilate should change his mind, and
order a reprieve (those are enemies to our souls, the worst of
enemies, that hurry us to sin, and then leave us no room to undo
what we have done amiss), and also lest there should be <i>an
uproar among the people,</i> and they should find a greater number
against them than they had with so much artifice got to be for
them. It were well if we would be thus expeditious in that which is
good, and not stay for more difficulties.</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.xx-p47">1. They immediately hurried away the
prisoner. The chief priests greedily flew upon the prey which they
had been long waiting for; now it is drawn into their net. Or
<i>they,</i> that is, the soldiers who were to attend the
execution, they took him and led him away, not to the place whence
he came, and thence to the place of execution, as is usual with us,
but directly to the place of execution. Both the priests and the
soldiers joined in leading him away. Now was the <i>Son of man
delivered into the hands of men,</i> wicked and unreasonable men.
By the law of Moses (and in appeals by our law) the prosecutors
were to be the executioners, <scripRef id="John.xx-p47.1" osisRef="Bible:Deut.17.7" parsed="|Deut|17|7|0|0" passage="De 17:7">Deut.
xvii. 7</scripRef>. And the priests here were proud of the office.
His being <i>led away</i> does not suppose him to have made any
opposition, but <i>the scripture must be fulfilled,</i> he was
<i>led as a sheep to the slaughter,</i> <scripRef id="John.xx-p47.2" osisRef="Bible:Acts.8.32" parsed="|Acts|8|32|0|0" passage="Ac 8:32">Acts viii. 32</scripRef>. We deserved to have been <i>led
forth with the workers of iniquity</i> as criminals to execution,
<scripRef id="John.xx-p47.3" osisRef="Bible:Ps.125.5" parsed="|Ps|125|5|0|0" passage="Ps 125:5">Ps. cxxv. 5</scripRef>. But he was led
forth for us, that we might escape.</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.xx-p48">2. To add to his misery, they obliged him
as long as he was able, to carry his cross (<scripRef id="John.xx-p48.1" osisRef="Bible:John.19.17" parsed="|John|19|17|0|0" passage="Joh 19:17"><i>v.</i> 17</scripRef>), according to the custom among
the Romans; hence <i>Furcifer</i> was among them a name of
reproach. Their crosses did not stand up constantly, as our gibbets
do in the places of execution, because the malefactor was nailed to
the cross as it lay along upon the ground, and then it was lifted
up, and fastened in the earth, and removed when the execution was
over, and commonly buried with the body; so that every one that was
crucified had a cross of his own. Now Christ's carrying his cross
may be considered, (1.) As a part of his sufferings; he endured the
cross literally. It was a long and thick piece of timber that was
necessary for such a use, and some think it was neither seasoned
nor hewn. The blessed body of the Lord Jesus was tender, and
unaccustomed to such burdens; it had now lately been harassed and
tired out; his shoulders were sore with the stripes they had given
him; every jog of the cross would renew his smart, and be apt to
strike the thorns he was crowned with into his head; yet all this
he patiently underwent, and it was but the <i>beginning of
sorrows.</i> (2.) As answering the type which went before him;
Isaac, when he was to be offered, carried the wood on which he was
to be bound and with which he was to be burned. (3.) As very
significant of his undertaking, the Father having <i>laid upon him
the iniquity of us all</i> (<scripRef id="John.xx-p48.2" osisRef="Bible:Isa.53.6" parsed="|Isa|53|6|0|0" passage="Isa 53:6">Isa. liii.
6</scripRef>), and he having to <i>take away sin</i> by <i>bearing
it in his own body upon the tree,</i> <scripRef id="John.xx-p48.3" osisRef="Bible:1Pet.2.24" parsed="|1Pet|2|24|0|0" passage="1Pe 2:24">1 Pet. ii. 24</scripRef>. He had said in effect, <i>On
me be the curse;</i> for he was made a curse for us, and therefore
on him was the cross. (4.) As very instructive to us. Our Master
hereby taught all his disciples to take up their cross, and follow
him. Whatever cross he calls us out to bear at any time, we must
remember that he bore the cross first, and, by bearing it for us,
bears it off from us in great measure, for thus he hath made <i>his
yoke easy, and his burden light.</i> He bore that end of the cross
that had the curse upon it; this was the heavy end; and hence all
that are his are enabled to call their afflictions for him
<i>light,</i> and <i>but for a moment.</i></p>
<p class="indent" id="John.xx-p49">3. They brought him to the place of
execution: He <i>went forth,</i> not dragged against his will, but
voluntary in his sufferings. He went forth out of the city, for he
was <i>crucified without the gate,</i> <scripRef id="John.xx-p49.1" osisRef="Bible:Heb.13.12" parsed="|Heb|13|12|0|0" passage="Heb 13:12">Heb. xiii. 12</scripRef>. And, to put the greater
infamy upon his sufferings, he was brought to the common place of
execution, as one in all points <i>numbered among the
transgressors,</i> a place called <i>Golgotha, the place of a
skull,</i> where they threw dead men's skulls and bones, or where
the heads of beheaded malefactors were left,—a place
<i>ceremonially unclean;</i> there Christ suffered, because he was
<i>made sin for us,</i> that he might <i>purge our consciences from
dead works,</i> and the pollution of them. If one would take notice
of the traditions of the elders, there are two which are mentioned
by many of the ancient writers concerning this place:—(1.) That
Adam was buried here, and that this was the place of his skull, and
they observe that where death triumphed over the first Adam there
the second Adam triumphed over him. Gerhard quotes for this
tradition Origen, Cyprian, Epiphanius, Austin, Jerome, and others.
(2.) That this was that mountain in the land of Moriah on which
Abraham offered up Isaac, and the ram was a ransom for Isaac.</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.xx-p50">4. There they crucified him, and the other
malefactors with him (<scripRef id="John.xx-p50.1" osisRef="Bible:John.19.18" parsed="|John|19|18|0|0" passage="Joh 19:18"><i>v.</i>
18</scripRef>): <i>There they crucified him.</i> Observe (1.) What
death Christ died; the death of the cross, a bloody, painful,
shameful death, a cursed death. He was nailed to the cross, as a
sacrifice bound to the altar, as a Saviour fixed for his
undertaking; his ear nailed to God's door-post, to serve him for
ever. He was lifted up as the brazen serpent, hung between heaven
and earth because we were unworthy of either, and abandoned by
both. His hands were stretched out to invite and embrace us; he
hung upon the tree some hours, dying gradually in the full use of
reason and speech, that he might actually resign himself a
sacrifice. (2.) In what company he died: <i>Two others with
him.</i> Probably these would not have been executed at that time,
but at the request of the chief priests, to add to the disgrace of
our Lord Jesus, which might be the reason why one of them reviled
him, because their death was hastened for his sake. Had they taken
two of his disciples, and crucified them with him, it had been an
honour to him; but, if such as they had been partakers with him in
suffering, it would have looked as if they had been undertakers
with him in satisfaction. Therefore it was ordered that his
fellow-sufferers should be the worst of sinners, that he might
<i>bear our reproach,</i> and that the merit might appear to be his
only. This exposed him much to the people's contempt and hatred,
who are apt to judge of persons by the lump, and are not curious in
distinguishing, and would conclude him not only malefactor because
he was yoked with malefactors, but the worst of the three because
put in the midst. But thus the scripture was fulfilled, <i>He was
numbered among the transgressors.</i> He did not die at the altar
among the sacrifices, nor mingle his blood with that of bulls and
goats; but he died among the criminals, and mingled his blood with
theirs who were sacrificed to public justice.</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.xx-p51">And now let us pause awhile, and with an
eye of faith look upon Jesus. Was ever sorrow like unto his sorrow?
See him who was clothed with glory stripped of it all, and clothed
with shame-him who was the <i>praise of angels</i> made a
<i>reproach of men</i>—him who had been with eternal delight and
joy in the bosom of his Father now in the extremities of pain and
agony. See him bleeding, see him struggling, see him dying, see him
and love him, love him and live to him, and study what we shall
render.</p>
</div><scripCom id="John.xx-p51.1" osisRef="Bible:John.19.19-John.19.30" parsed="|John|19|19|19|30" passage="Joh 19:19-30" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:John.19.19-John.19.30">
<h4 id="John.xx-p51.2">The Inscription on the Cross; The
Crucifixion.</h4>
<p class="passage" id="John.xx-p52">19 And Pilate wrote a title, and put <i>it</i>
on the cross. And the writing was, JESUS OF NAZARETH THE KING OF
THE JEWS.   20 This title then read many of the Jews: for the
place where Jesus was crucified was nigh to the city: and it was
written in Hebrew, <i>and</i> Greek, <i>and</i> Latin.   21
Then said the chief priests of the Jews to Pilate, Write not, The
King of the Jews; but that he said, I am King of the Jews.  
22 Pilate answered, What I have written I have written.   23
Then the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took his
garments, and made four parts, to every soldier a part; and also
<i>his</i> coat: now the coat was without seam, woven from the top
throughout.   24 They said therefore among themselves, Let us
not rend it, but cast lots for it, whose it shall be: that the
scripture might be fulfilled, which saith, They parted my raiment
among them, and for my vesture they did cast lots. These things
therefore the soldiers did.   25 Now there stood by the cross
of Jesus his mother, and his mother's sister, Mary the <i>wife</i>
of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalene.   26 When Jesus therefore saw
his mother, and the disciple standing by, whom he loved, he saith
unto his mother, Woman, behold thy son!   27 Then saith he to
the disciple, Behold thy mother! And from that hour that disciple
took her unto his own <i>home.</i>   28 After this, Jesus
knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the scripture
might be fulfilled, saith, I thirst.   29 Now there was set a
vessel full of vinegar: and they filled a sponge with vinegar, and
put <i>it</i> upon hyssop, and put <i>it</i> to his mouth.  
30 When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is
finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost.</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.xx-p53">Here are some remarkable circumstances of
Christ's dying more fully related than before, which those will
take special notice of who covet to know Christ and him
crucified.</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.xx-p54">I. The title set up over his head.
Observe,</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.xx-p55">1. The inscription itself which Pilate
wrote, and ordered to be fixed to the top of the cross, declaring
the cause for which he was crucified, <scripRef id="John.xx-p55.1" osisRef="Bible:John.19.19" parsed="|John|19|19|0|0" passage="Joh 19:19"><i>v.</i> 19</scripRef>. Matthew called it,
<b><i>aitia</i></b>—<i>the accusation;</i> Mark and Luke called it
<b><i>epigraphe</i></b>—<i>the inscription;</i> John calls it by
the proper Latin name, <b><i>titlos</i></b>—<i>the title:</i> and
it was this, <i>Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews,</i> Pilate
intended this for his reproach, that he, being <i>Jesus of
Nazareth,</i> should pretend to be king of the Jews, and set up in
competition with Cæsar, to whom Pilate would thus recommend
himself, as very jealous for his honour and interest, when he would
treat but a titular king, a king in metaphor, as the worst of
malefactors; but God overruled this matter, (1.) That it might be a
further testimony to the innocency of our Lord Jesus; for here was
an accusation which, as it was worded, contained no crime. If this
be all they have to lay to his charge, surely he has done nothing
worthy of death or of bonds. (2.) That it might show forth his
dignity and honour. This is Jesus a Saviour,
<b><i>Nazoraios</i></b>, the blessed Nazarite, sanctified to God;
this is the <i>king of the Jews, Messiah the prince,</i> the
<i>sceptre</i> that <i>should rise out of Israel,</i> as Balaam had
foretold; dying for the good of his people, as Caiaphas had
foretold. Thus all these three bad men witnessed to Christ, though
they meant not so.</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.xx-p56">2. The notice taken of this inscription
(<scripRef id="John.xx-p56.1" osisRef="Bible:John.19.20" parsed="|John|19|20|0|0" passage="Joh 19:20"><i>v.</i> 20</scripRef>): <i>Many of
the Jews read it,</i> not only those of Jerusalem, but those out of
the country, and from other countries, strangers and proselytes,
that came up to worship at the feast. Multitudes read it, and it
occasioned a great variety of reflections and speculations, as men
stood affected. Christ himself was set for a sign, a title. Here
are two reasons why the title was so much read:—(1.) Because the
place where Jesus was crucified, though without the gate, was yet
<i>nigh the city,</i> which intimates that if it had been any great
distance off they would not have been led, no not by their
curiosity, to go and see it, and read it. It is an advantage to
have the means of knowing Christ brought to our doors. (2.) Because
it was written in Hebrew, and Greek, and Latin, which made it
legible by all; they all understood one or other of these
languages, and none were more careful to bring up their children to
read than the Jews generally were. It likewise made it the more
considerable; everyone would be curious to enquire what it was
which was so industriously published in the three most known
languages. In the Hebrew the oracles of God were recorded; in Greek
the learning of the philosophers; and in Latin the laws of the
empire. In each of these Christ is proclaimed king, in whom are hid
all the treasures of revelation, wisdom, and power. God so ordering
it that this should be written in the three then most known
tongues, it was intimated thereby that Jesus Christ should be a
Saviour to all nations, and not to the Jews only; and also that
every nation should hear <i>in their own tongue the wonderful
works</i> of the Redeemer. Hebrew, Greek, and Latin, were the
vulgar languages at that time in this part of the world; so that
this is so far from intimating (as the Papists would have it) that
the scripture is still to be retained in these three languages,
that on the contrary it teaches us that the knowledge of Christ
ought to be diffused throughout every nation in their own tongue,
as the proper vehicle of it, that people may converse as freely
with the scriptures as they do with their neighbours.</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.xx-p57">3. The offence which the prosecutors took
at it, <scripRef id="John.xx-p57.1" osisRef="Bible:John.19.21" parsed="|John|19|21|0|0" passage="Joh 19:21"><i>v.</i> 21</scripRef>. They
would not have it written, <i>the king of the Jews;</i> but that he
said of himself, <i>I am the king of the Jews.</i> Here they show
themselves, (1.) Very spiteful and malicious against Christ. It was
not enough to have him crucified, but they must have his name
crucified too. To justify themselves in giving him such bad
treatment, they thought themselves concerned to give him a bad
character, and to represent him as a usurper of honours and powers
that he was not entitled to. (2.) Foolishly jealous of the honour
of their nation. Though they were a conquered and enslaved people,
yet they stood so much upon the punctilio of their reputation that
they scorned to have it said that this was their king. (3.) Very
impertinent and troublesome to Pilate. They could not but be
sensible that they had forced him, against his mind, to condemn
Christ, and yet, in such a trivial thing as this, they continue to
tease him; and it was so much the worse in that, though they had
charged him with pretending to be the king of the Jews, yet they
had not proved it, nor had he ever said so.</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.xx-p58">4. The judge's resolution to adhere to it:
"<i>What I have written I have written,</i> and will not alter it
to humour them."</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.xx-p59">(1.) Hereby an affront was put upon the
chief priests, who would still be dictating. It seems, by Pilate's
manner of speaking, that he was uneasy in himself for yielding to
them, and vexed at them for forcing him to it, and therefore he was
resolved to be cross with them; and by this inscription he
insinuates, [1.] That, notwithstanding their pretences, they were
not sincere in their affections to Cæsar and his government; they
were willing enough to have a king of the Jews, if they could have
one to their mind. [2.] That such a king as this, so mean and
despicable, was good enough to be the king of the Jews; and this
would be the fate of all that should dare to oppose the Roman
power. [3.] That they had been very unjust and unreasonable in
prosecuting this Jesus, when there was no fault to be found in
him.</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.xx-p60">(2.) Hereby honour was done to the Lord
Jesus. Pilate stuck to it with resolution, that he was the king of
the Jews. What he had written was what God had first written, and
therefore he could not alter it; for thus it was written, that
Messiah the prince should be <i>cut off,</i> <scripRef id="John.xx-p60.1" osisRef="Bible:Dan.9.26" parsed="|Dan|9|26|0|0" passage="Da 9:26">Dan. ix. 26</scripRef>. This therefore is the true cause
of his death; he dies because the king of Israel must die, must
thus die. When the Jews reject Christ, and will not have him for
their king, Pilate, a Gentile, sticks to it that he is a king,
which was an earnest of what came to pass soon after, when the
Gentiles submitted to the kingdom of the Messiah, which the
unbelieving Jews had rebelled against.</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.xx-p61">II. The dividing of his garments among the
executioners, <scripRef id="John.xx-p61.1" osisRef="Bible:John.19.23-John.19.24" parsed="|John|19|23|19|24" passage="Joh 19:23,24"><i>v.</i> 23,
24</scripRef>. Four soldiers were employed, who, <i>when they had
crucified Jesus,</i> had nailed him to the cross, and lifted it up,
and him upon it, and nothing more was to be done than to wait his
expiring through the extremity of pain, as, with us, when the
prisoner is turned off, then they went to make a dividend of his
clothes, each claiming an equal share, and so they <i>made four
parts,</i> as nearly of the same value as they could, <i>to every
soldier a part;</i> but <i>his coat,</i> or upper garment whether
cloak or gown, being a pretty piece of curiosity, <i>without seam,
woven from the top throughout,</i> they agreed to <i>cast lots for
it.</i> Here observe, 1. The shame they put upon our Lord Jesus, in
stripping him of his garments before they crucified him. The shame
of nakedness came in with sin. He therefore who was made sin for us
bore that shame, to roll away our reproach. He was stripped, that
we might be clothed with <i>white raiment</i> (<scripRef id="John.xx-p61.2" osisRef="Bible:Rev.3.18" parsed="|Rev|3|18|0|0" passage="Re 3:18">Rev. iii. 18</scripRef>), and that when we are unclothed
<i>we may not be found naked.</i> 2. The wages with which these
soldiers paid themselves for crucifying Christ. They were willing
to do it for his old clothes. Nothing is to be done so bad, but
there will be found men bad enough to do it for a trifle. Probably
they hoped to make more than ordinary advantage of his clothes,
having heard of cures wrought by the touch of the hem of his
garment, or expecting that his admirers would give any money for
them. 3. The sport they made about his seamless coat. We read not
of any thing about him valuable or remarkable but this, and this
not for the richness, but only the variety of it, for it was
<i>woven from the top throughout;</i> there was no curiosity
therefore in the shape, but a designed plainness. Tradition says,
his mother wove it for him, and adds this further, that it was made
for him when he was a child, and, like the Israelites' clothes in
the wilderness, <i>waxed not old;</i> but this is a groundless
fancy. The soldiers thought it a pity to rend it, for then it would
unravel, and a piece of it would be good for nothing; they would
<i>therefore cast lots for it.</i> While Christ was in his dying
agonies, they were merrily dividing his spoils. The preserving of
Christ's seamless coat is commonly alluded to to show the care all
Christians ought to take that they rend not the church of Christ
with strifes and divisions; yet some have observed that the reason
why the soldiers would not rend Christ's coat was not out of any
respect to Christ, but because each of them hoped to have it entire
for himself. And so many cry out against schism, only that they may
engross all the wealth and power to themselves. Those who opposed
Luther's separation from the church of Rome urged much the
<i>tunica inconsutilis—the seamless coat;</i> and some of them
laid so much stress upon it that they were called the
<i>Inconsutilistæ—The seamless.</i> 4. The fulfilling of the
scripture in this. David, in spirit, foretold this very
circumstance of Christ's sufferings, in that passage, <scripRef id="John.xx-p61.3" osisRef="Bible:Ps.22.18" parsed="|Ps|22|18|0|0" passage="Ps 22:18">Ps. xxii. 18</scripRef>. The event so exactly
answering the prediction proves, (1.) That <i>the scripture</i> is
the word of God, which foretold contingent events concerning Christ
so long before, and they came to pass according to the prediction.
(2.) That Jesus is the true Messiah; for in him all the
Old-Testament prophecies concerning the Messiah had, and have,
their full accomplishment. <i>These things therefore the soldiers
did.</i></p>
<p class="indent" id="John.xx-p62">III. The care that he took of his poor
mother.</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.xx-p63">1. His mother attends him to his death
(<scripRef id="John.xx-p63.1" osisRef="Bible:John.19.25" parsed="|John|19|25|0|0" passage="Joh 19:25"><i>v.</i> 25</scripRef>): <i>There
stood by the cross,</i> as near as they could get, <i>his
mother,</i> and some of his relations and friends with her. At
first, they stood near, as it is said here; but afterwards, it is
probable, the soldiers forced them to stand afar off, as it is said
in Matthew and Mark: or they themselves removed out of the ground.
(1.) See here the tender affection of these pious women to our Lord
Jesus in his sufferings. When all his disciples, except John, has
forsaken him, they continued their attendance on him. Thus <i>the
feeble were as David</i> (<scripRef id="John.xx-p63.2" osisRef="Bible:Zech.12.8" parsed="|Zech|12|8|0|0" passage="Zec 12:8">Zech. xii.
8</scripRef>): they were not deterred by the fury of the enemy nor
the horror of the sight; they could not rescue him nor relieve him,
yet they attended him, to show their good-will. It is an impious
and blasphemous construction which some of the popish writers put
upon the virgin Mary standing by the cross, that thereby she
contributed to the satisfaction he made for sin no less than he
did, and so became a joint-mediatrix and co-adjutrix in our
salvation. (2.) We may easily suppose what an affliction it was to
these poor women to see him thus abused, especially to the blessed
virgin. Now was fulfilled Simeon's word, <i>A sword shall pierce
through thy own soul,</i> <scripRef id="John.xx-p63.3" osisRef="Bible:Luke.2.35" parsed="|Luke|2|35|0|0" passage="Lu 2:35">Luke ii.
35</scripRef>. His torments were her tortures; she was upon the
rack, while he was upon the cross; and her heart bled with his
wounds; and <i>the reproaches wherewith they reproached</i> him
fell on those that attended him. (3.) We may justly admire the
power of divine grace in supporting these women, especially the
virgin Mary, under this heavy trial. We do not find his mother
wringing her hands, or tearing her hair, or rending her clothes, or
making an outcry; but, with a wonderful composure, <i>standing by
the cross,</i> and her friends with her. Surely she and they were
strengthened by a divine power to this degree of patience; and
surely the virgin Mary had a fuller expectation of his resurrection
than the rest had, which supported her thus. We know not what we
can bear till we are tried, and then we know who has said, <i>My
grace is sufficient for thee.</i></p>
<p class="indent" id="John.xx-p64">2. He tenderly provides for his mother at
his death. It is probable that Joseph, her husband, was long since
dead, and that her son Jesus had supported her, and her relation to
him had been her maintenance; and now that he was dying what would
become of her? He saw her standing by, and knew her cares and
griefs; and he saw John standing not far off, and so he settled a
new relation between his beloved mother and his beloved disciple;
for he said to her, "<i>Woman, behold thy son,</i> for whom
henceforward thou must have a motherly affection;" and to him,
"<i>Behold thy mother,</i> to whom thou must pay a filial duty."
And so <i>from that hour,</i> that hour never to be forgotten,
<i>that disciple took her to his own home.</i> See here,</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.xx-p65">(1.) The care Christ took of his dear
mother. He was not so much taken up with a sense of his sufferings
as to forget his friends, all whose concerns he bore upon his
heart. His mother, perhaps, was so taken up with his sufferings
that she thought not of what would become of her; but he admitted
that thought. <i>Silver and gold he had none</i> to leave, no
estate, real or personal; his clothes the soldiers had seized, and
we hear no more of the bag since Judas, who had carried it, hanged
himself. He had therefore no other way to provide for his mother
than by his interest in a friend, which he does here. [1.] He calls
her <i>woman,</i> not mother, not out of any disrespect to her, but
because mother would have been a cutting word to her that was
already wounded to the heart with grief; like Isaac saying to
Abraham, <i>My father.</i> He speaks as one that was <i>now no more
in this world,</i> but was already dead to those in it that were
dearest to him. His speaking in this seemingly slight manner to his
mother, as he had done formerly, was designed to obviate and give a
check to the undue honours which he foresaw would be given to her
in the Romish church, as if she were a joint purchaser with him in
the honours of the Redeemer. [2.] He directs her to look upon John
as her son: "Behold him as thy son, who stands there by thee, and
be as a mother to him." See here, <i>First,</i> An instance of
divine goodness, to be observed for our encouragement. Sometimes,
when God removes one comfort from us, he raises up another for us,
perhaps where we looked not for it. We read of children which the
church shall have after she has lost the other, <scripRef id="John.xx-p65.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.49.21" parsed="|Isa|49|21|0|0" passage="Isa 49:21">Isa. xlix. 21</scripRef>. Let none therefore reckon all
gone with one cistern dried up, for from the same fountain another
may be filled. <i>Secondly,</i> An instance of filial duty, to be
observed for our imitation. Christ has here taught children to
provide, to the utmost of their power, for the comfort of their
aged parents. When David was in distress, he took care of his
parents, and found out a shelter for them (<scripRef id="John.xx-p65.2" osisRef="Bible:1Sam.22.3" parsed="|1Sam|22|3|0|0" passage="1Sa 22:3">1 Sam. xxii. 3</scripRef>); so the Son of David here.
Children at their death, according to their ability, should provide
for their parents, if they survive them, and need their
kindness.</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.xx-p66">(2.) The confidence he reposed in the
beloved disciple. It is to him he says, <i>Behold thy mother,</i>
that is, I recommend her to thy care, be thou as a son to her to
guide her (<scripRef id="John.xx-p66.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.51.18" parsed="|Isa|51|18|0|0" passage="Isa 51:18">Isa. li. 18</scripRef>);
and <i>forsake her not when she is old,</i> <scripRef id="John.xx-p66.2" osisRef="Bible:Prov.23.22" parsed="|Prov|23|22|0|0" passage="Pr 23:22">Prov. xxiii. 22</scripRef>. Now, [1.] This was an honour
put upon John, and a testimony both to his prudence and to his
fidelity. If he who knows all things had not known that John loved
him, he would not have made him his mother's guardian. It is a
great honour to be employed for Christ, and to be entrusted with
any of his interest in the world. But, [2.] It would be a care and
some charge to John; but he cheerfully accepted it, <i>and took her
to his own home,</i> not objecting the trouble nor expense, nor his
obligations to his own family, nor the ill-will he might contract
by it. Note, Those that truly love Christ, and are beloved of him,
will be glad of an opportunity to do any service to him or his.
<i>Nicephoras's Eccl. Hist. lib. 2 cap. 3,</i> saith that the
virgin Mary lived with John at Jerusalem eleven years, and then
died. Others, that she lived to remove with him to Ephesus.</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.xx-p67">IV. The fulfilling of the scripture, in the
giving of him vinegar to drink, <scripRef id="John.xx-p67.1" osisRef="Bible:John.19.28-John.19.29" parsed="|John|19|28|19|29" passage="Joh 19:28,29"><i>v.</i> 28, 29</scripRef>. Observe,</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.xx-p68">1. How much respect Christ showed to the
scripture (<scripRef id="John.xx-p68.1" osisRef="Bible:John.19.28" parsed="|John|19|28|0|0" passage="Joh 19:28"><i>v.</i> 28</scripRef>):
<i>Knowing that all things</i> hitherto <i>were accomplished, that
the scripture might be fulfilled,</i> which spoke of his drinking
in his sufferings, <i>he saith, I thirst,</i> that is, he called
for drink.</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.xx-p69">(1.) It was not at all strange that he was
thirsty; we find him <i>thirsty</i> in a journey (<scripRef id="John.xx-p69.1" osisRef="Bible:John.4.6-John.4.7" parsed="|John|4|6|4|7" passage="Joh 4:6,7"><i>ch.</i> iv. 6, 7</scripRef>), and now
thirsty when he was just at his journey's end. Well might he thirst
after all the toil and hurry which he had undergone, and being now
in the agonies of death, ready to expire purely by the loss of
blood and extremity of pain. The torments of hell are represented
by a violent thirst in the complaint of the rich man that begged
for a <i>drop of water to cool his tongue.</i> To that everlasting
thirst we had been condemned, had not Christ suffered for us.</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.xx-p70">(2.) But the reason of his complaining of
it is somewhat surprising; it is the only word he spoke that looked
like complaint of his outward sufferings. When they scourged him,
and crowned him with thorns, he did not cry, O my head! or, My
back! But now he cried, <i>I thirst.</i> For, [1.] He would thus
express <i>the travail of his soul,</i> <scripRef id="John.xx-p70.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.53.11" parsed="|Isa|53|11|0|0" passage="Isa 53:11">Isa. liii. 11</scripRef>. He thirsted after the
glorifying of God, and the accomplishment of the work of our
redemption, and the happy issue of his undertaking. [2.] He would
thus take care to see the scripture fulfilled. Hitherto, all had
been accomplished, and he knew it, for this was the thing he had
carefully observed all along; and now he called to mind one thing
more, which this was the proper season for the performance of. By
this it appears that he was the Messiah, in that not only the
scripture was punctually fulfilled in him, but it was strictly eyed
by him. By this it appears <i>that God was with him of a
truth</i>—that in all he did he went exactly according to the word
of God, taking care <i>not to destroy, but to fulfil, the law and
the prophets.</i> Now, <i>First,</i> The scripture had foretold his
thirst, and therefore he himself related it, because it could not
otherwise be known, saying, <i>I thirst;</i> it was foretold that
his tongue should cleave to his jaws, <scripRef id="John.xx-p70.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.22.15" parsed="|Ps|22|15|0|0" passage="Ps 22:15">Ps. xxii. 15</scripRef>. Samson, an eminent type of
Christ, when he was laying <i>the Philistines heaps upon heaps,</i>
was himself <i>sore athirst</i> (<scripRef id="John.xx-p70.3" osisRef="Bible:Judg.15.18" parsed="|Judg|15|18|0|0" passage="Jdg 15:18">Judg. xv. 18</scripRef>); so was Christ, when he was
upon the cross, <i>spoiling principalities and powers.
Secondly,</i> The scripture had foretold that in his thirst he
should have vinegar given him to drink, <scripRef id="John.xx-p70.4" osisRef="Bible:Ps.69.21" parsed="|Ps|69|21|0|0" passage="Ps 69:21">Ps. lxix. 21</scripRef>. They had given him vinegar to
drink before they crucified him (<scripRef id="John.xx-p70.5" osisRef="Bible:Matt.27.34" parsed="|Matt|27|34|0|0" passage="Mt 27:34">Matt.
xxvii. 34</scripRef>), but the prophecy was not exactly fulfilled
in that, because that was not in his thirst; therefore now he said,
<i>I thirst,</i> and called for it again: then he would not drink,
but now he received it Christ would rather court an affront than
see any prophecy unfulfilled. This should satisfy us under all our
trials, that the will of God is done, and the word of God
accomplished.</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.xx-p71">2. See how little respect his persecutors
showed to him (<scripRef id="John.xx-p71.1" osisRef="Bible:John.19.29" parsed="|John|19|29|0|0" passage="Joh 19:29"><i>v.</i>
29</scripRef>): <i>There was set a vessel full of vinegar,</i>
probably according to the custom at all executions of this nature;
or, as others think, it was now set designedly for an abuse to
Christ, instead of the cup of wine which they used to give <i>to
those that were ready to perish;</i> with this <i>they filled a
sponge,</i> for they would not allow him a cup, <i>and they put it
upon hyssop,</i> a hyssop-stalk, and with this heaved it to his
mouth; <b><i>hyssopo perithentes</i></b>—<i>they stuck it round
with hyssop;</i> so it may be taken; or, as others, they mingled it
with hyssop-water, and this they gave him to drink when he was
thirsty; a drop of water would have cooled his tongue better than a
draught of vinegar: yet this he submitted to for us. <i>We had
taken the sour grapes,</i> and <i>thus his teeth were set on
edge;</i> we had forfeited all comforts and refreshments, and
therefore they were withheld from him. When heaven denied him a
beam of light earth denied him a drop of water, and put vinegar in
the room of it.</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.xx-p72">V. The dying word wherewith he breathed out
his soul (<scripRef id="John.xx-p72.1" osisRef="Bible:John.19.30" parsed="|John|19|30|0|0" passage="Joh 19:30"><i>v.</i> 30</scripRef>):
<i>When he had received the vinegar,</i> as much of it as he
thought fit, <i>he said, It is finished;</i> and, with that,
<i>bowed his head, and gave up the ghost.</i> Observe,</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.xx-p73">1. What he said, and we may suppose him to
say it with triumph and exultation, <b><i>Tetelestai</i></b>—<i>It
is finished,</i> a comprehensive word, and a comfortable one. (1.)
<i>It is finished,</i> that is, the malice and enmity of his
persecutors had now done their worst; <i>when he had received</i>
that last indignity in <i>the vinegar they gave him, he said,</i>
"This is the last; I am now going out of their reach, <i>where the
wicked cease from troubling.</i>" (2.) <i>It is finished,</i> that
is, the counsel and commandment of his Father concerning his
sufferings were now fulfilled; it was a <i>determinate counsel,</i>
and he took care to see every iota and tittle of it exactly
answered, <scripRef id="John.xx-p73.1" osisRef="Bible:Acts.2.23" parsed="|Acts|2|23|0|0" passage="Ac 2:23">Acts ii. 23</scripRef>. He
had said, when he entered upon his sufferings, <i>Father, thy will
be done;</i> and now he saith with pleasure, <i>It is done.</i> It
was <i>his meat and drink to finish his work</i> (<scripRef id="John.xx-p73.2" osisRef="Bible:John.4.34" parsed="|John|4|34|0|0" passage="Joh 4:34"><i>ch.</i> iv. 34</scripRef>), and the meat and
drink refreshed him, when they gave him gall and vinegar. (3.)
<i>It is finished,</i> that is, all the types and prophecies of the
Old Testament, which pointed at the sufferings of the Messiah, were
accomplished and answered. He speaks as if, now that <i>they had
given him the vinegar,</i> he could not bethink himself of any word
in the Old Testament that was to be fulfilled between him and his
death but it had its accomplishment; such as, his being <i>sold for
thirty pieces of silver, his hands and feet being pierced, his
garments divided, &amp;c.;</i> and now that this is done. <i>It is
finished.</i> (4.) <i>It is finished,</i> that is, the ceremonial
law is abolished, and a period put to the obligation of it. The
substance is now come, and all the shadows are done away. Just now
<i>the veil is rent, the wall of partition is taken down,</i> even
<i>the law of commandments contained in ordinances,</i> <scripRef id="John.xx-p73.3" osisRef="Bible:Eph.2.14-Eph.2.15" parsed="|Eph|2|14|2|15" passage="Eph 2:14,15">Eph. ii. 14, 15</scripRef>. The Mosaic
economy is dissolved, <i>to make way for a better hope.</i> (5.)
<i>It is finished,</i> that is, sin is finished, and an end made of
transgression, by <i>the bringing in of an everlasting
righteousness.</i> It seems to refer to <scripRef id="John.xx-p73.4" osisRef="Bible:Dan.9.24" parsed="|Dan|9|24|0|0" passage="Da 9:24">Dan. ix. 24</scripRef>. <i>The Lamb of God was sacrificed
to take away the sin of the world,</i> and it is done, <scripRef id="John.xx-p73.5" osisRef="Bible:Heb.9.26" parsed="|Heb|9|26|0|0" passage="Heb 9:26">Heb. ix. 26</scripRef>. (6.) <i>It is
finished,</i> that is, his sufferings were now finished, both those
of his soul and those of his body. The storm is over, the worst is
past; all his pains and agonies are at an end, and he is just going
to paradise, entering upon <i>the joy set before him.</i> Let all
that <i>suffer for Christ,</i> and with Christ, comfort themselves
with this, <i>that yet a little while</i> and they also shall say,
<i>It is finished.</i> (7.) <i>It is finished,</i> that is, his
life was now finished, he was just ready to breathe his last, and
<i>now he is no more in this world,</i> <scripRef id="John.xx-p73.6" osisRef="Bible:John.17.11" parsed="|John|17|11|0|0" passage="Joh 17:11"><i>ch.</i> xvii. 11</scripRef>. This is like that of
blessed Paul (<scripRef id="John.xx-p73.7" osisRef="Bible:2Tim.4.7" parsed="|2Tim|4|7|0|0" passage="2Ti 4:7">2 Tim. iv. 7</scripRef>),
<i>I have finished my course,</i> my race is run, my glass is out,
<i>mene, mene—numbered</i> and <i>finished.</i> This we must all
come to shortly. (8.) <i>It is finished,</i> that is, the work of
man's redemption and salvation is now completed, at least the
hardest part of the undertaking is over; a full satisfaction is
made to the justice of God, a fatal blow given to the power of
Satan, a fountain of grace opened that shall ever flow, a
foundation of peace and happiness laid that shall never fail.
Christ had now gone through with his work, and <i>finished it,</i>
<scripRef id="John.xx-p73.8" osisRef="Bible:John.17.4" parsed="|John|17|4|0|0" passage="Joh 17:4"><i>ch.</i> xvii. 4</scripRef>. For,
<i>as for God, his work is perfect; when I begin,</i> saith he,
<i>I will also make an end.</i> And, as in the purchase, so in the
application of the redemption, <i>he that has begun a good work
will perform it;</i> the mystery of God shall be finished.</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.xx-p74">2. What he did: <i>He bowed his head, and
gave up the ghost.</i> He was voluntary in dying; for he was not
only the sacrifice, but the priest and the offerer; and the
<i>animus offerentis—the mind of the offerer,</i> was all in all
in the sacrifice. Christ showed his will in his sufferings, <i>by
which will we are sanctified.</i> (1.) <i>He gave up the ghost.</i>
His life was not forcibly extorted from him, but freely resigned.
He had said, <i>Father, into thy hands I commit my spirit,</i>
thereby expressing the intention of this act. I give up myself as a
<i>ransom for many;</i> and, accordingly, he did give up his
spirit, paid down the price of pardon and life at his Father's
hands. <i>Father, glorify thy name.</i> (2.) <i>He bowed his
head.</i> Those that were crucified, in dying stretched up their
heads to gasp for breath, and did not drop their heads till they
had breathed their last; but Christ, to show himself active in
dying, <i>bowed his head</i> first, composing himself, as it were,
to fall asleep. God <i>had laid upon him the iniquity of us
all,</i> putting it upon the head of this great sacrifice; and some
think that by this bowing of his head he would intimate his sense
of the weight upon him. See <scripRef id="John.xx-p74.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.38.4 Bible:Ps.40.12" parsed="|Ps|38|4|0|0;|Ps|40|12|0|0" passage="Ps 38:4,40:12">Ps.
xxxviii. 4; xl. 12</scripRef>. The bowing of his head shows his
submission to his Father's will, and his obedience to death. He
accommodated himself to his dying work, as Jacob, <i>who gathered
up his feet into the bed, and then yielded up the ghost.</i></p>
</div><scripCom id="John.xx-p74.2" osisRef="Bible:John.19.31-John.19.37" parsed="|John|19|31|19|37" passage="Joh 19:31-37" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:John.19.31-John.19.37">
<h4 id="John.xx-p74.3">The Crucifixion.</h4>
<p class="passage" id="John.xx-p75">31 The Jews therefore, because it was the
preparation, that the bodies should not remain upon the cross on
the sabbath day, (for that sabbath day was a high day,) besought
Pilate that their legs might be broken, and <i>that</i> they might
be taken away.   32 Then came the soldiers, and brake the legs
of the first, and of the other which was crucified with him.  
33 But when they came to Jesus, and saw that he was dead already,
they brake not his legs:   34 But one of the soldiers with a
spear pierced his side, and forthwith came there out blood and
water.   35 And he that saw <i>it</i> bare record, and his
record is true: and he knoweth that he saith true, that ye might
believe.   36 For these things were done, that the scripture
should be fulfilled, A bone of him shall not be broken.   37
And again another scripture saith, They shall look on him whom they
pierced.</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.xx-p76">This passage concerning the piercing of
Christ's side after his death is recorded only by this
evangelist.</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.xx-p77">I. Observe the superstition of the Jews,
which occasioned it (<scripRef id="John.xx-p77.1" osisRef="Bible:John.19.31" parsed="|John|19|31|0|0" passage="Joh 19:31"><i>v.</i>
31</scripRef>): <i>Because it was the preparation for the sabbath,
and that sabbath day,</i> because it fell in the passover-week,
<i>was a high day,</i> that they might show a veneration for the
sabbath, they would <i>not have the dead bodies to remain on the
crosses on the sabbath-day,</i> but <i>besought Pilate that their
legs might be broken,</i> which would be a certain, but cruel
dispatch, and that then they might be buried out of sight. Note
here, 1. The esteem they would be thought to have for the
approaching sabbath, because it was one of the days of unleavened
bread, and (some reckon) the day of the offering of the
first-fruits. Every sabbath day is a holy day, and a good day, but
this was a high day, <b><i>megale hemera</i></b>—<i>a great
day.</i> Passover sabbaths are high days; sacrament-days,
supper-days, communion-days are high days, and there ought to be
more than ordinary preparation for them, that these may be high
days indeed to us, <i>as the days of heaven.</i> 2. The reproach
which they reckoned it would be to that day if the dead bodies
should be left hanging on the crosses. Dead bodies were not to be
left at any time (<scripRef id="John.xx-p77.2" osisRef="Bible:Deut.21.23" parsed="|Deut|21|23|0|0" passage="De 21:23">Deut. xxi.
23</scripRef>); yet, in this case, the Jews would have left the
Roman custom to take place, had it not been an extraordinary day;
and, many strangers from all parts being then at Jerusalem, it
would have been an offence to them; nor could they well bear the
sight of Christ's crucified body, for, unless their consciences
were quite seared, when the heat of their rage was a little over,
they would upbraid them. 3. Their petition to Pilate, that their
bodies, now as good as dead, might be dispatched; not by strangling
or beheading them, which would have been a compassionate hastening
of them out of their misery, like the <i>coup de grace</i> (as the
French call it) to those that are broken upon the wheel, <i>the
stroke of mercy,</i> but by the breaking of their legs, which would
carry them off in the most exquisite pain. Note, (1.) <i>The tender
mercies of the wicked are cruel.</i> (2.) The pretended sanctity of
hypocrites is abominable. These Jews would be thought to bear a
great regard for the sabbath, and yet had not regard to justice and
righteousness; they made no conscience of bringing an innocent and
excellent person to the cross, and yet scrupled letting a dead body
hang upon the cross.</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.xx-p78">II. The dispatching of <i>the two thieves
that were crucified with him,</i> <scripRef id="John.xx-p78.1" osisRef="Bible:John.19.32" parsed="|John|19|32|0|0" passage="Joh 19:32"><i>v.</i> 32</scripRef>. Pilate was still gratifying
the Jews, and gave orders as they desired; <i>and the soldiers
came,</i> hardened against all impressions of pity, <i>and broke
the legs of the two thieves,</i> which, no doubt, extorted from
them hideous outcries, and made them die according to the bloody
disposition of Nero, so as to feel themselves die. One of these
thieves was a penitent, and had received from Christ an assurance
that he should shortly be with him in paradise, and yet died in the
same pain and misery that the other thief did; for <i>all things
come alike to all.</i> Many go to heaven that <i>have bands in
their death,</i> and <i>die in the bitterness of their soul.</i>
The extremity of dying agonies is no obstruction to the living
comforts that wait for holy souls on the other side death. Christ
died, and went to paradise, but appointed a guard to convey him
thither. This is the order of going to heaven—<i>Christ, the
first-fruits</i> and forerunner, <i>afterwards those that are
Christ's.</i></p>
<p class="indent" id="John.xx-p79">III. The trial that was made whether Christ
was dead or no, and the putting of it out of doubt.</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.xx-p80">1. They supposed him to be dead, and
therefore <i>did not break his legs,</i> <scripRef id="John.xx-p80.1" osisRef="Bible:John.19.33" parsed="|John|19|33|0|0" passage="Joh 19:33"><i>v.</i> 33</scripRef>. Observe here, (1.) That Jesus
died in less time than persons crucified ordinarily did. The
structure of his body, perhaps, being extraordinarily fine and
tender, was the sooner broken by pain; or, rather, it was to show
that he laid down his life of himself, and could die when he
pleased, though his hands were nailed. Though he yielded to death,
yet he was not conquered. (2.) That his enemies were satisfied he
was really dead. The Jews, who stood by to see the execution
effectually done, would not have omitted this piece of cruelty, if
they had not been sure he was got out of the reach of it. (3.)
<i>Whatever devices are in men's hearts, the counsel of the Lord
shall stand.</i> It was fully designed to break his legs, but,
God's counsel being otherwise, see how it was prevented.</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.xx-p81">2. Because they would be sure he was dead
they made such an experiment as would put it past dispute. <i>One
of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side,</i> aiming at his
heart, <i>and forthwith came there out blood and water,</i>
<scripRef id="John.xx-p81.1" osisRef="Bible:John.19.34" parsed="|John|19|34|0|0" passage="Joh 19:34"><i>v.</i> 34</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.xx-p82">(1.) The soldier hereby designed to decide
the question whether he was dead or no, and by this honourable
wound in his side to supersede the ignominious method of dispatch
they took with the other two. Tradition says that this soldier's
name was <i>Longinus,</i> and that, having some distemper in his
eyes, he was immediately cured of it, by some drops of blood that
flowed out of Christ's side falling on them: significant enough, if
we had any good authority for the story.</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.xx-p83">(2.) But God had a further design herein,
which was,</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.xx-p84">[1.] To give an evidence of the truth of
his death, in order to the proof of his resurrection. If he was
only in a trance or swoon, his resurrection was a sham; but, by
this experiment, he was certainly dead, for this spear broke up the
very fountains of life, and, according to all the law and course of
nature, it was impossible a human body should survive such a wound
as this in the vitals, and such an evacuation thence.</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.xx-p85">[2.] To give an illustration of the design
of his death. There was much of mystery in it, and its being
solemnly attested (<scripRef id="John.xx-p85.1" osisRef="Bible:John.19.35" parsed="|John|19|35|0|0" passage="Joh 19:35"><i>v.</i>
35</scripRef>) intimates there was something miraculous in it, that
<i>the blood and water</i> should come out distinct and separate
from the same wound; at least it was very significant; this same
apostle refers to it as a very considerable thing, <scripRef id="John.xx-p85.2" osisRef="Bible:1John.5.6 Bible:1John.5.8" parsed="|1John|5|6|0|0;|1John|5|8|0|0" passage="1Jo 5:6,8">1 John v. 6, 8</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.xx-p86"><i>First,</i> the opening of his side was
significant. When we would protest our sincerity, we wish there
were a window in our hearts, that the thoughts and intents of them
might be visible to all. Through this window, opened in Christ's
side, you may look into his heart, and see love flaming there, love
strong as death; see our names written there. Some make it an
allusion to the opening of Adam's side in innocency. When Christ,
the second Adam, was fallen into a deep sleep upon the cross, then
was his side opened, and out of it was his church taken, which he
espoused to himself. See <scripRef id="John.xx-p86.1" osisRef="Bible:Eph.5.30 Bible:Eph.5.32" parsed="|Eph|5|30|0|0;|Eph|5|32|0|0" passage="Eph 5:30,32">Eph. v.
30, 32</scripRef>. Our devout poet, Mr. George Herbert, in his poem
called <i>The Bag,</i> very affectingly brings in our Saviour, when
his side was pierced, thus speaking to his disciples:—</p>
<verse id="John.xx-p86.2">
<l class="t1" id="John.xx-p86.3">If ye have any thing to send, or write</l>
<l class="t2" id="John.xx-p86.4">(I have no bag, but here is room),</l>
<l class="t1" id="John.xx-p86.5">Unto my Father's hands and sight</l>
<l class="t2" id="John.xx-p86.6">(Believe me) it shall safely come.</l>
<l class="t1" id="John.xx-p86.7">That I shall mind what you impart,</l>
<l class="t1" id="John.xx-p86.8">Look, you may put it very near my heart;</l>
<l class="t2" id="John.xx-p86.9">Or, if hereafter any of my friends</l>
<l class="t2" id="John.xx-p86.10">Will use me in this kind, the door</l>
<l class="t2" id="John.xx-p86.11">Shall still be open; what he sends</l>
<l class="t2" id="John.xx-p86.12">I will present, and somewhat more,</l>
<l class="t2" id="John.xx-p86.13">Not to his hurt. Sighs will convey</l>
<l class="t2" id="John.xx-p86.14">Any thing to me. Hark, Despair, away.</l>
</verse>
<p class="indent" id="John.xx-p87"><i>Secondly, The blood and water</i> that
flowed out of it were significant. 1. They signified the two great
benefits which all believers partake of through
Christ-justification and sanctification; blood for remission, water
for regeneration; blood for atonement, water for purification.
Blood and water were used very much under the law. Guilt contracted
must be expiated by blood; stains contracted must be done away by
<i>the water of purification.</i> These two must always go
together. <i>You are sanctified, you are justified,</i> <scripRef id="John.xx-p87.1" osisRef="Bible:1Cor.6.11" parsed="|1Cor|6|11|0|0" passage="1Co 6:11">1 Cor. vi. 11</scripRef>. Christ has joined them
together, and we must not think to put them asunder. They both
flowed from the pierced side of our Redeemer. To Christ crucified
we owe both merit for our justification, and Spirit and grace for
our sanctification; and we have as much need of the latter as of
the former, <scripRef id="John.xx-p87.2" osisRef="Bible:1Cor.1.30" parsed="|1Cor|1|30|0|0" passage="1Co 1:30">1 Cor. i. 30</scripRef>.
2. They signified the two great ordinances of baptism and the
Lord's supper, by which those benefits are represented, sealed, and
applied, to believers; they both owe their institution and efficacy
to Christ. It is not the water in the font that will be to us
<i>the washing of regeneration,</i> but the water out of the side
of Christ; not the blood of the grape that will pacify the
conscience and refresh the soul, but the blood out of the side of
Christ. Now was the rock smitten (<scripRef id="John.xx-p87.3" osisRef="Bible:1Cor.10.4" parsed="|1Cor|10|4|0|0" passage="1Co 10:4">1
Cor. x. 4</scripRef>), now was the fountain opened (<scripRef id="John.xx-p87.4" osisRef="Bible:Zech.13.1" parsed="|Zech|13|1|0|0" passage="Zec 13:1">Zech. xiii. 1</scripRef>), now were the wells of
salvation digged, <scripRef id="John.xx-p87.5" osisRef="Bible:Isa.12.3" parsed="|Isa|12|3|0|0" passage="Isa 12:3">Isa. xii.
3</scripRef>. Here <i>is the river, the streams whereof make glad
the city of our God.</i></p>
<p class="indent" id="John.xx-p88">IV. The attestation of the truth of this by
an eye-witness (<scripRef id="John.xx-p88.1" osisRef="Bible:John.19.35" parsed="|John|19|35|0|0" passage="Joh 19:35"><i>v.</i>
35</scripRef>), the evangelist himself. Observe,</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.xx-p89">1. What a competent witness he was of the
matters of fact. (1.) What he bore record of he saw; he had it not
by hearsay, nor was it only his own conjecture, but he was an
eyewitness of it; it is <i>what we have seen and looked upon</i>
(<scripRef id="John.xx-p89.1" passage="1Jo 1:1,2Pe 1:16">1 John i. 1; 2 Pet. i.
16</scripRef>), and <i>had perfect understanding of,</i> <scripRef id="John.xx-p89.2" osisRef="Bible:Luke.1.3" parsed="|Luke|1|3|0|0" passage="Lu 1:3">Luke i. 3</scripRef>. (2.) What he saw he
faithfully bore record of; as a faithful witness, he told not only
the truth, but the whole truth; and did not only attest it by word
of mouth, but left it upon record in writing, <i>in perpetuam rei
memoriam—for a perpetual memorial.</i> (3.) <i>His record is</i>
undoubtedly <i>true;</i> for he wrote not only from his own
personal knowledge and observation, but from the dictates of the
Spirit of truth, that leads into all truth. (4.) He had himself a
full assurance of the truth of what he wrote, and did not persuade
others to believe that which he did not believe himself: <i>He
knows that he saith true.</i> (5.) He <i>therefore</i> witnessed
these things, <i>that we might believe;</i> he did not record them
merely for his own satisfaction or the private use of his friends,
but made them public to the world; not to please the curious nor
entertain the ingenious, but to draw men to believe the gospel in
order to their eternal welfare.</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.xx-p90">2. What care he showed in this particular
instance. That we may be well assured of the truth of Christ's
death, he saw his heart's blood, his life's blood, let out; and
also of the benefits that flow to us from his death, signified by
the blood and water which came out of his side. Let this silence
the fears of weak Christians, and encourage their hopes,
<i>iniquity shall not be their ruin,</i> for there came both water
and blood out of Christ's pierced side, both to justify and
sanctify them; and if you ask, How can we be sure of this? You may
be sure, for <i>he that saw it bore record.</i></p>
<p class="indent" id="John.xx-p91">V. The accomplishment of the scripture in
all this (<scripRef id="John.xx-p91.1" osisRef="Bible:John.19.36" parsed="|John|19|36|0|0" passage="Joh 19:36"><i>v.</i> 36</scripRef>):
<i>That the scripture might be fulfilled,</i> and so both the
honour of the Old Testament preserved and the truth of the New
Testament confirmed. Here are two instances of it together:—</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.xx-p92">1. The scripture was fulfilled in the
preserving of his legs from being broken; therein that word was
fulfilled, <i>A bone of him shall not be broken.</i> (1.) There was
a promise of this made indeed to all <i>the righteous,</i> but
principally pointing at <i>Jesus Christ the righteous</i>
(<scripRef id="John.xx-p92.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.34.20" parsed="|Ps|34|20|0|0" passage="Ps 34:20">Ps. xxxiv. 20</scripRef>): <i>He
keepeth all his bones, not one of them is broken.</i> And David, in
spirit, says, <i>All my bones shall say, Lord, who is like unto
thee?</i> <scripRef id="John.xx-p92.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.35.10" parsed="|Ps|35|10|0|0" passage="Ps 35:10">Ps. xxxv. 10</scripRef>.
(2.) There was a type of this in the paschal lamb, which seems to
be specially referred to here (<scripRef id="John.xx-p92.3" osisRef="Bible:Exod.12.46" parsed="|Exod|12|46|0|0" passage="Ex 12:46">Exod.
xii. 46</scripRef>): <i>Neither shall you break a bone thereof;</i>
and it is repeated (<scripRef id="John.xx-p92.4" osisRef="Bible:Num.9.12" parsed="|Num|9|12|0|0" passage="Nu 9:12">Num. ix.
12</scripRef>), <i>You shall not break any bone of it;</i> for
which law the will of the law-maker is the reason, but the antitype
must answer the type. <i>Christ our Passover is sacrificed for
us,</i> <scripRef id="John.xx-p92.5" osisRef="Bible:1Cor.5.7" parsed="|1Cor|5|7|0|0" passage="1Co 5:7">1 Cor. v. 7</scripRef>. He is
<i>the Lamb of God</i> (<scripRef id="John.xx-p92.6" osisRef="Bible:John.1.29" parsed="|John|1|29|0|0" passage="Joh 1:29"><i>ch.</i> i.
29</scripRef>), and, as the true passover, his bones were kept
unbroken. This commandment was given concerning his bones, when
dead, as of Joseph's, <scripRef id="John.xx-p92.7" osisRef="Bible:Heb.11.22" parsed="|Heb|11|22|0|0" passage="Heb 11:22">Heb. xi.
22</scripRef>. (3.) There was a significancy in it; the strength of
the body is in the bones. The Hebrew word for the bones signifies
the strength, and therefore <i>not a bone of Christ must be
broken,</i> to show that though <i>he be crucified in weakness</i>
his strength to save is not at all broken. Sin breaks our bones, as
it broke David's (<scripRef id="John.xx-p92.8" osisRef="Bible:Ps.51.8" parsed="|Ps|51|8|0|0" passage="Ps 51:8">Ps. li.
8</scripRef>); but it did not break Christ's bones; he stood firm
under the burden, mighty to save.</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.xx-p93">2. <i>The scripture was fulfilled in the
piercing of his side</i> (<scripRef id="John.xx-p93.1" osisRef="Bible:John.19.37" parsed="|John|19|37|0|0" passage="Joh 19:37"><i>v.</i>
37</scripRef>): <i>They shall look on me whom they had pierced;</i>
so it is written, <scripRef id="John.xx-p93.2" osisRef="Bible:Zech.12.10" parsed="|Zech|12|10|0|0" passage="Zec 12:10">Zech. xii.
10</scripRef>. And there the same that pours out the Spirit of
grace, and can be no less than the God of the holy prophets, says,
<i>They shall look upon me,</i> which is here applied to Christ,
<i>They shall look upon him.</i> (1.) It is here implied that the
Messiah shall be pierced; and here it had a more full
accomplishment than in <i>the piercing of his hands and feet;</i>
he was pierced by <i>the house of David</i> and <i>the inhabitants
of Jerusalem, wounded in the house of his friends,</i> as it
follows, <scripRef id="John.xx-p93.3" osisRef="Bible:Zech.13.6" parsed="|Zech|13|6|0|0" passage="Zec 13:6">Zech. xiii. 6</scripRef>.
(2.) It is promised that <i>when the Spirit is poured out they
shall look on him and mourn.</i> This was in part fulfilled when
many of those that were his betrayers and murderers <i>were pricked
to the heart,</i> and brought to believe in him; it will be further
fulfilled, in mercy, <i>when all Israel shall be saved;</i> and, in
wrath, when those who persisted in their infidelity shall <i>see
him whom they have pierced, and wail because of him,</i> <scripRef id="John.xx-p93.4" osisRef="Bible:Rev.1.7" parsed="|Rev|1|7|0|0" passage="Re 1:7">Rev. i. 7</scripRef>. But it is applicable to us
all. We have all been guilty of piercing the Lord Jesus, and are
all concerned with suitable affections to look on him.</p>
</div><scripCom id="John.xx-p93.5" osisRef="Bible:John.19.38-John.19.42" parsed="|John|19|38|19|42" passage="Joh 19:38-42" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:John.19.38-John.19.42">
<h4 id="John.xx-p93.6">The Burial of Christ.</h4>
<p class="passage" id="John.xx-p94">38 And after this Joseph of Arimathæa, being a
disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear of the Jews, besought
Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus: and Pilate gave
<i>him</i> leave. He came therefore, and took the body of Jesus.
  39 And there came also Nicodemus, which at the first came to
Jesus by night, and brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about a
hundred pound <i>weight.</i>   40 Then took they the body of
Jesus, and wound it in linen clothes with the spices, as the manner
of the Jews is to bury.   41 Now in the place where he was
crucified there was a garden; and in the garden a new sepulchre,
wherein was never man yet laid.   42 There laid they Jesus
therefore because of the Jews' preparation <i>day;</i> for the
sepulchre was nigh at hand.</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.xx-p95">We have here an account of the burial of
the blessed body of our Lord Jesus. The solemn funerals of great
men are usually looked at with curiosity; the mournful funerals of
dear friends are attended with concern. Come and see an
extraordinary funeral; never was the like! Come and see a burial
that conquered the grave, and buried it, a burial that beautified
the grave and softened it for all believers. <i>Let us turn aside
now, and see this great sight.</i> Here is,</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.xx-p96">I. The body begged, <scripRef id="John.xx-p96.1" osisRef="Bible:John.19.38" parsed="|John|19|38|0|0" passage="Joh 19:38"><i>v.</i> 38</scripRef>. This was done by the interest
of <i>Joseph of Ramah,</i> or <i>Arimathea,</i> of whom no mention
is made in all the New-Testament story, but only in the narrative
which each of the evangelists gives us of Christ's burial, wherein
he was chiefly concerned. Observe, 1. The character of this Joseph.
He was a disciple of Christ <i>incognito—in secret,</i> a better
friend to Christ than he would willingly be known to be. It was his
honour that he was a disciple of Christ; and some such there are,
that are themselves great men, and unavoidably linked with bad men.
But it was his weakness that he was so secretly, when he should
have confessed Christ before men, yea, though he had lost his
preferment by it. Disciples should openly own themselves, yet
Christ may have many that are his disciples sincerely, though
secretly; better secretly than not at all, especially if, like
Joseph here, they grow stronger and stronger. Some who in less
trials have been timorous, yet in greater have been very
courageous; so Joseph here. He concealed his affection to Christ
<i>for fear of the Jews,</i> lest they should put him out of the
synagogue, at least out of the sanhedrim, which was all they could
do. To Pilate the governor he <i>went boldly,</i> and yet <i>feared
the Jews.</i> The impotent malice of those that can but censure,
and revile, and clamour, is sometimes more formidable even to wise
and good men than one would think. 2. The part he bore in this
affair. He, having by his place access to Pilate, desired leave of
him to dispose of the body. His mother and dear relations had
neither spirit nor interest to attempt such a thing. His disciples
were gone; if nobody appeared, the Jews or soldiers would bury him
with the thieves; therefore God raised up this gentleman to
interpose in it, that the scripture might be fulfilled, and the
decorum owing to his approaching resurrection maintained. Note,
When God has work to do he can find out such as are proper to do
it, and embolden them for it. Observe it as an instance of the
humiliation of Christ, that his dead body lay at the mercy of a
heathen judge, and must be begged before it could be buried, and
also that Joseph would not take the body of Christ till he had
asked and obtained leave of the governor; for in those things
wherein the power of the magistrate is concerned we must ever pay a
deference to that power, and peaceably submit to it.</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.xx-p97">II. The embalming prepared, <scripRef id="John.xx-p97.1" osisRef="Bible:John.19.39" parsed="|John|19|39|0|0" passage="Joh 19:39"><i>v.</i> 39</scripRef>. This was done by
Nicodemus, another person of quality, and in a public post. He
brought a <i>mixture of myrrh and aloes,</i> which some think were
bitter ingredients, to preserve the body, others fragrant ones, to
perfume it. Here is. 1. The character of Nicodemus, which is much
the same with that of Joseph; he was a secret friend to Christ,
though not his constant follower. He at first <i>came to Jesus by
night,</i> but now owned him publicly, as before, <scripRef id="John.xx-p97.2" osisRef="Bible:John.7.50-John.7.51" parsed="|John|7|50|7|51" passage="Joh 7:50,51"><i>ch.</i> vii. 50, 51</scripRef>. That grace
which at first is like a bruised reed may afterwards become like a
strong cedar, and the trembling lamb <i>bold as a lion.</i> See
<scripRef id="John.xx-p97.3" osisRef="Bible:Rom.14.4" parsed="|Rom|14|4|0|0" passage="Ro 14:4">Rom. xiv. 4</scripRef>. It is a wonder
that Joseph and Nicodemus, men of such interest, did not appear
sooner, and solicit Pilate not to condemn Christ, especially seeing
him so loth to do it. Begging his life would have been a nobler
piece of service than begging his body. But Christ would have none
of his friends to endeavour to prevent his death when his hour was
come. While his persecutors were forwarding the accomplishment of
the scriptures, his followers must not obstruct it. 2. The kindness
of Nicodemus, which was considerable, though of a different nature.
Joseph served Christ with his interest, Nicodemus with his purse.
Probably, they agreed it between them, that, while one was
procuring the grant, the other should be preparing the spices; and
this for expedition, because they were straitened in time. But why
did they make this ado about Christ's dead body? (1.) Some think we
may see in it the weakness of their faith. A firm belief of the
resurrection of Christ on the third day would have saved them this
care and cost, and have been more acceptable than all spices. Those
bodies indeed to whom the grave is a long home need to be clad
accordingly; but what need of such furniture of the grave for one
that, like a way-faring man, did but turn aside into it, to
<i>tarry for a night or two?</i> (2.) However, we may plainly see
in it the strength of their love. Hereby they showed the value they
had for his person and doctrine, and that it was not lessened by
the reproach of the cross. Those that had been so industrious to
profane his crown, and lay his honour in the dust, might already
see that they had imagined a vain thing; for, as God had done him
honour in his sufferings, so did men too, even great men. They
showed not only the charitable respect of committing his body to
the earth, but the honourable respect shown to great men. This they
might do, and yet believe and look for his resurrection; nay, this
they might do in the belief and expectation of it. Since God
designed honour for this body, they would put honour upon it.
However, we must do our duty according as the present day and
opportunity are, and leave it to God to fulfil his promises in his
own way and time.</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.xx-p98">III. The body got ready, <scripRef id="John.xx-p98.1" osisRef="Bible:John.19.40" parsed="|John|19|40|0|0" passage="Joh 19:40"><i>v.</i> 40</scripRef>. They <i>took it</i> into some
house adjoining, and, having washed it from blood and dust,
<i>wound it in linen clothes</i> very decently, with the spices
melted down, it is likely, into an ointment, as <i>the manner of
the Jews is to bury,</i> or to <i>embalm</i> (so Dr. Hammond), as
we sear dead bodies. 1. Here was care taken of Christ's body: It
was <i>wound in linen clothes.</i> Among clothing that belongs to
us, Christ put on even the grave-clothes, to make them easy to us,
and to enable us to call them our wedding-clothes. They wound the
body <i>with the spices,</i> for <i>all his garments,</i> his
grave-clothes not excepted, <i>smell of myrrh and aloes</i> (the
spices here mentioned) <i>out of the ivory palaces</i> (<scripRef id="John.xx-p98.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.45.8" parsed="|Ps|45|8|0|0" passage="Ps 45:8">Ps. xlv. 8</scripRef>), and an ivory palace the
sepulchre hewn out of a rock was to Christ. Dead bodies and graves
are noisome and offensive; hence sin is compared to a <i>body of
death</i> and an <i>open sepulchre;</i> but Christ's sacrifice,
being to God as a sweet-smelling savour, hath taken away our
pollution. No ointment or perfume can rejoice the heart so as the
grave of our Redeemer does, where there is faith to perceive the
fragrant odours of it. 2. In conformity to this example, we ought
to have regard to the dead bodies of Christians; not to enshrine
and adore their relics, no, not those of the most eminent saints
and martyrs (nothing like that was done to the dead body of Christ
himself), but carefully to deposit them, the dust in the dust, as
those who believe that the dead bodies of the saints are still
united to Christ and designed for glory and immortality at the last
day. The resurrection of the saints will be in virtue of Christ's
resurrection, and therefore in burying them we should have an eye
to Christ's burial, for he, being dead, thus speaketh. <i>Thy dead
men shall live,</i> <scripRef id="John.xx-p98.3" osisRef="Bible:Isa.26.19" parsed="|Isa|26|19|0|0" passage="Isa 26:19">Isa. xxvi.
19</scripRef>. In burying our dead it is not necessary that in all
circumstances we imitate the burial of Christ, as if we must be
buried in linen, and in a garden, and be embalmed as he was; but
his being buried after <i>the manner of the Jews</i> teaches us
that in things of this nature we should conform to the usages of
the country where we live, except in those that are
superstitious.</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.xx-p99">IV. The grave pitched upon, in a garden
which belonged to Joseph of Arimathea, very near the place where he
was crucified. There was a sepulchre, or vault, prepared for the
first occasion, but not yet used. Observe,</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.xx-p100">1. That Christ was buried without the city,
for thus the manner of the Jews was to bury, not in their cities,
much less in their synagogues, which some have thought better than
our way of burying: yet there was then a peculiar reason for it,
which does not hold now, because the touching of a grave contracted
a ceremonial pollution: but now that the resurrection of Christ has
altered the property of the grave, and done away its pollution for
all believers, we need not keep at such a distance from it; nor is
it incapable of a good improvement, to have the congregation of the
dead in the church-yard, encompassing the congregation of the
living in the church, since they also are dying, and in <i>the
midst of life we are in death.</i> Those that would not
superstitiously, but by faith, visit the holy sepulchre, must go
forth out of the noise of this world.</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.xx-p101">2. That Christ was buried in a garden.
Observe, (1.) That Joseph had his sepulchre in his garden; so he
contrived it, that it might be a memento, [1.] To himself while
living; when he was taking the pleasure of his garden, and reaping
the products of it, let him think of dying, and be quickened to
prepare for it. The garden is a proper place for meditation, and a
sepulchre there may furnish us with a proper subject for
meditation, and such a one as we are loth to admit in the midst of
our pleasures. [2.] To his heirs and successors when he was gone.
It is good to acquaint ourselves with the <i>place of our fathers'
sepulchres;</i> and perhaps we might make our own less formidable
if we made theirs more familiar. (2.) That in a sepulchre in a
garden Christ's body was laid. In the garden of Eden death and the
grave first received their power, and now in a garden they are
conquered, disarmed, and triumphed over. In a garden Christ began
his passion, and from a garden he would rise, and begin his
exaltation. Christ fell to the ground <i>as a corn of wheat</i>
(<scripRef id="John.xx-p101.1" osisRef="Bible:John.12.24" parsed="|John|12|24|0|0" passage="Joh 12:24"><i>ch.</i> xii. 24</scripRef>), and
therefore was sown in a garden among the seeds, for <i>his dew is
as the dew of herbs,</i> <scripRef id="John.xx-p101.2" osisRef="Bible:Isa.26.19" parsed="|Isa|26|19|0|0" passage="Isa 26:19">Isa. xxvi.
19</scripRef>. He is the <i>fountain of gardens,</i> <scripRef id="John.xx-p101.3" osisRef="Bible:Song.4.15" parsed="|Song|4|15|0|0" passage="So 4:15">Cant. iv. 15</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.xx-p102">3. That he was buried in a new sepulchre.
This was so ordered (1.) For the honour of Christ; he was not a
common person, and therefore must not mix with common dust He that
was born from a virgin-womb must rise from a virgin-tomb. (2.) For
the confirming of the truth of his resurrection, that it might not
be suggested that it was not he, but some other that rose now, when
many bodies of saints arose; or, that he rose by the power of some
other, as the man that was raised by the touch of Elisha's bones,
and not by his own power. He that has <i>made all things new</i>
has new-made the grave for us.</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.xx-p103">V. The funeral solemnized (<scripRef id="John.xx-p103.1" osisRef="Bible:John.19.42" parsed="|John|19|42|0|0" passage="Joh 19:42"><i>v.</i> 42</scripRef>): <i>There laid they
Jesus,</i> that is, the dead body of Jesus. Some think the calling
of this <i>Jesus</i> intimates the inseparable union between the
divine and human nature. Even this dead body was <i>Jesus—a
Saviour,</i> for his death is our life; Jesus is still the same,
<scripRef id="John.xx-p103.2" osisRef="Bible:Heb.13.8" parsed="|Heb|13|8|0|0" passage="Heb 13:8">Heb. xiii. 8</scripRef>. There they
laid him because it was the preparation day.</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.xx-p104">1. Observe here the deference which the
Jews paid to the sabbath, and to the day of preparation. Before the
passover-sabbath they had a solemn day of preparation. This day had
been ill kept by the chief priests, who called themselves the
church, but was well kept by the disciples of Christ, who were
branded as dangerous to the church; and it is often so. (1.) They
would not put off the funeral till the sabbath day, because the
sabbath is to be a day of holy rest and joy, with which the
business and sorrow of a funeral do not well agree. (2.) They would
not drive it too late on the day of preparation for the sabbath.
What is to be done the evening before the sabbath should be so
contrived that it may neither intrench upon sabbath time, nor
indispose us for sabbath work.</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.xx-p105">2. Observe the convenience they took of an
adjoining sepulchre; the sepulchre they made use of was <i>nigh at
hand.</i> Perhaps, if they had had time, they would have carried
him to Bethany, and buried him among his friends there. And I am
sure he had more right to have been buried in the chief of the
sepulchres of the sons of David than any of the kings of Judah had;
but it was so ordered that he should be laid in a sepulchre nigh at
hand, (1.) Because he was to lie there but awhile, as in an inn,
and therefore he took the first that offered itself. (2.) Because
this was a new sepulchre. Those that prepared it little thought who
should handsel it; but the wisdom of God has reaches infinitely
beyond ours, and he makes what use he pleases of us and all we
have. (3.) We are hereby taught not to be over-curious in the place
of our burial. Where the tree falls, why should it not lie? For
Christ was buried in the sepulchre that was next at hand. It was
faith in the promise of Canaan that directed the Patriarch's
desires to be carried thither for a burying-place; but now, since
that promise is superseded by a better, that care is over.</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.xx-p106">Thus without pomp or solemnity is the body
of Jesus laid in the cold and silent grave. Here lies our surety
under arrest for our debts, so that if he be released his discharge
will be ours. Here is the Sun of righteousness set for awhile, to
rise again in greater glory, and set no more. Here lies a seeming
captive to death, but a real conqueror over death; for here lies
death itself slain, and the grave conquered. <i>Thanks be to God,
who giveth us the victory.</i></p>
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