John 19
New Catholic Bible
Chapter 19
Behold, the Man! 1 Then Pilate ordered that Jesus be scourged.[a] 2 The soldiers twisted together some thorns into a crown and placed it on his head, and they dressed him in a purple robe. 3 They kept going up to him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews,” while striking him on the face repeatedly.
4 Once again, Pilate went out and said to the Jews, “Look, I am bringing him out to you to let you know that I find no evidence of a crime in him.” 5 Then Jesus came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. Pilate said to them, “Behold, the man!”
6 When they saw him, the chief priests and the temple guards shouted, “Crucify him! Crucify him!” Pilate said to them, “Take him yourselves and crucify him. I find no evidence of a crime in him.” 7 The Jews answered, “We have a Law, and according to that Law he ought to die because he has claimed to be the Son of God.”
The Second Hearing before Pilate. 8 Now when Pilate heard this, he was more frightened than ever. 9 Returning to the praetorium, he asked Jesus, “Where are you from?” But Jesus offered no response. 10 Pilate then said to him, “Are you refusing to speak to me? Do you not realize that I have the power to release you and the power to crucify you?” 11 Jesus answered him,
“You would have no authority over me at all
unless it had been given to you from above.
Therefore, the one who handed me over to you
is guilty of a greater sin.”
12 Jesus Is Condemned to Death. From that moment on, Pilate sought to release him, but the Jews kept shouting, “If you release this man, you are no Friend of Caesar.[b] Everyone who claims to be a king opposes Caesar.”
13 When Pilate heard these words, he brought Jesus out and seated him on the judge’s bench at a place known as the Stone Pavement[c] (in Hebrew, “Gabbatha”). 14 It was the day of Preparation for the Passover, and it was about noon.[d] Pilate said to the Jews, “Behold, your King!” 15 They shouted, “Away with him! Away with him! Crucify him!” “Am I to crucify your King?” Pilate asked them. The chief priests replied, “We have no king but Caesar.” 16 Then he handed him over to them to be crucified.
Jesus Is Crucified. Then they took him away, 17 and, carrying the cross[e] by himself, he went out to what is called the Place of the Skull (in Hebrew, “Golgotha”). 18 There they crucified him[f] along with two others, one on either side, with Jesus in the middle.
19 Pilate also had an inscription written and fastened to the cross. It read, “Jesus the Nazorean, King of the Jews.”[g] 20 This inscription, in Hebrew, Latin, and Greek, was read by many Jews, because the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city. 21 Therefore, the chief priests of the Jews said to Pilate, “You should not write, ‘The King of the Jews,’ but rather, ‘This man claimed to be the King of the Jews.’ ” 22 Pilate responded, “What I have written, I have written.”[h]
23 [i]When the soldiers had crucified Jesus, they took his clothes and divided them into four shares, one share for each soldier. They also took his tunic, which was woven seamless, top to bottom. 24 They said to one another, “Instead of tearing it, let us cast lots for it to see who is to get it.” In this way, the Scripture was fulfilled that says,
“They divided my garments among them,
and for my clothing they cast lots.”
And that is what the soldiers did.
25 Mary and John at the Cross. Standing near the cross of Jesus were his mother and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. 26 When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing beside her, he said to his mother, “Woman, behold, your son.” 27 Then he said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother.” And from that hour the disciple took her into his home.
28 Jesus Dies on the Cross. After this, aware that everything had now been completed, and in order that the Scripture might be fulfilled, Jesus said, “I thirst.” 29 A jar filled with sour wine was standing nearby, so they soaked a sponge in the wine on a branch of hyssop and held it up to his lips. 30 When Jesus had taken the wine, he said, “It is finished.”[j] Then he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.
31 The Blood and the Water. It was the day of Preparation, and the Jews did not want to have the bodies remain on the cross on the Sabbath, especially since that Sabbath day was a great solemnity. Therefore, they requested Pilate to order that their legs be broken and the bodies taken down.
32 So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first man and then of the other who had been crucified with him. 33 However, when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs, 34 but one of the soldiers thrust a lance into his side, and immediately a flow of blood and water came forth. 35 An eyewitness has testified to this, and his testimony is true. He knows that what he says is true, so that you also may believe.
36 This happened so that the Scripture might be fulfilled,
“Not one of his bones will be broken.”
37 And again, in another passage Scripture says,
“They shall look on the one
whom they have pierced.”
38 Jesus Is Buried.[k] Shortly thereafter, Joseph of Arimathea, who was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly, because of his fear of the Jews, asked Pilate for permission to remove the body of Jesus. Pilate granted him permission, and so he came and took his body away.
39 Nicodemus, who had first come to Jesus at night, also came, bringing with him a mixture of myrrh and aloes weighing about one hundred pounds.[l] 40 They took the body of Jesus and wrapped it with the spices in linen cloths, in accordance with the burial custom of the Jews.
41 At the place where Jesus had been crucified there was a garden, and in that garden there was a new tomb in which no one had ever been buried. 42 And so, since it was the Jewish day of Preparation and the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there.
Footnotes
- John 19:1 Pilate was obviously hoping that a scourging would suffice for the Jews and he could then release Jesus.
- John 19:12 Friend of Caesar: an honorific Roman title given to high officials for merit.
- John 19:13 Stone Pavement: Greek, lithostrotos; it has been identified with the great courtyard of the fortress Antonia, northeast of the temple, and therefore with the praetorium, the place or headquarters mentioned in Jn 18:28.
- John 19:14 Noon: literally, the sixth hour. See note on Mk 15:25.
- John 19:17 Carrying the cross: see note on Mk 15:21.
- John 19:18 Crucified him: see note on Mt 27:35.
- John 19:19 The inscription is found in all four Gospels under a slightly different form. John gives the most complete form, corresponding to the Latin of the three forms: INRI = IESU NAZARENUS REX IUDAEORUM (“Jesus the Nazorean, King of the Jews”). See also note on Jn 18:5.
- John 19:22 What I have written, I have written: by this statement, Pilate affirms the truth of Jesus’ divinity, which is rejected by his opponents. At the same time, Pilate stresses the inscription’s public and universal character—for it can be read by Jews (Hebrew, i.e., Aramaic), Greeks (Greek), and Romans (Latin).
- John 19:23 To the last moment, Jesus retains a keen awareness that he is completing God’s work for the world, the will of God that all of the Scriptures (so frequently cited) proclaim. We see how Jesus’ final gestures are symbols of the gifts given to humankind.
In dividing the garments of the crucified man, the soldiers are careful not to tear the seamless tunic. By calling attention to this, John perhaps wishes to signify the unity that Christ leaves as a heritage to those whom he wills to save.
Tradition identifies John with the beloved disciple (see Jn 13:23; 20:2-10; 21:7-20; and compare Jn 1:35-39; 18:15) to whom Jesus entrusts his mother. As she did with the servants at Cana (Jn 2:5), Mary will teach the disciple how to follow the example and teaching of her Son. The passage suggests the maternal vocation of the Mother of Jesus in relation to all believers.
The author bears witness to the fulfillment of the Scriptures. The words “I thirst” recall Ps 69:22: “In my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.” By drinking the sour wine offered to him, Jesus finishes the cup of his suffering (Jn 18:11). Jesus is pierced by a lance, immolated like the Passover lamb, the bones of which are not broken. From his opened breast spurt blood, the sign of life surrendered, and water, the sign of the Spirit that he gives to believers (see Jn 7:38-39). Spiritual meditation has taken these symbols further; the blood and water are seen as prefigurations of the Eucharist and Baptism, the two Sacraments that form and feed the Church, this new Eve that has come forth from the opened side of the new Adam, Jesus Christ.
All are called to the heart of the Redeemer where they can joyfully draw water from the fountain of salvation (see Isa 12:3). A privileged disciple, doubtless the beloved disciple once again, offers a special guarantee of the truth of the events and the richness of their meaning: in his mind it is a case not of the sad death of a human being but of the fulfillment of God’s plan, the shining forth of his love and his glory. - John 19:30 It is finished: this may correspond to the loud cry mentioned in Mt 27:50 and Mk 15:37. Jesus died as a victor, completing what he came to accomplish. Gave up his spirit: a description of death that is out of the ordinary—it may suggest an act of will.
- John 19:38 Some disciples, who until now were afraid to declare themselves, proceed to the burial of Jesus. According to Jewish custom, an executed criminal could not be put in a tomb where other people had already been buried; to do so would have brought dishonor on them. But the sepulcher where Jesus is put is new in another sense perhaps—in it lies concealed the source of new life.
- John 19:39 One hundred pounds: literally, “a hundred litrai.” Myrrh and aloes: possibly a fulfillment of Ps 45:9.
John 19
King James Version
19 Then Pilate therefore took Jesus, and scourged him.
2 And the soldiers platted a crown of thorns, and put it 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 Pilate saith unto them, Behold the man!
6 When the chief priests therefore and officers saw him, they cried out, saying, Crucify him, crucify him. Pilate saith unto them, Take ye him, and crucify him: 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 at all 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 Caesar's friend: whosoever maketh himself a king speaketh against Caesar.
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 him, away with him, crucify him. Pilate saith unto them, Shall I crucify your King? The chief priests answered, We have no king but Caesar.
16 Then delivered he him therefore unto them to be crucified. And they took Jesus, and led him away.
17 And he bearing his cross went forth into a place called the place 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.
19 And Pilate wrote a title, and put it 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, and Greek, and 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 his 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 wife 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 home.
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 spunge with vinegar, and put it upon hyssop, and put it 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.
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 an high day,) besought Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that 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 it 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.
38 And after this Joseph of Arimathaea, 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 him 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 an hundred pound weight.
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 day; for the sepulchre was nigh at hand.
