Verse 1-16 has always been so interesting to me. You can see Pilate really struggle with sentencing Jesus to be crucified and he tires to stop it. I think we can all relate to Pilate in this situation, no I don’t think any of us have been put in a position to crucify someone but I think we’ve all been in a situation where we felt uncomfortable or know we shouldn’t be involved. I think Pilate was caught between a rock and hard place. I’ve always read this and felt bad for Pilate but knowing the bigger picture even if he really wanted to, he couldn’t have done anything to stop it, Jesus had to be crucified.
Verses 17-27 is the crucifixion of Jesus, it’s such a powerful 10 verses to any Christian but actually very few words describe it, in any of the gospels really, just “they crucified him”. The cross is not just meant to execute someone very painfully, it’s meant to humiliate them and to shame them. From everything I’ve read and what Dr. Bruce McLarty writes in his book “Journey of Faith” he says,
“The Romans purpose in doing this (crucifixion) was to disgrace the person who was dying and whatever cause or crime he represented… They often were crucified naked and their bodies were left on crosses to rot for weeks, thus making the sight even more sickening and repulsive.”
John then goes on in verse 25-27 and talks about Jesus’ mother. As a new mother I can’t even think about that without tears coming to my eyes. What she must have felt, I never want to know…
All of that humiliation, disgrace, the sickening repulsive sight is what Jesus bore for us when he was crucified. He knew this was the only way and so even though he didn’t want to, he did anyway. He bore the cross so our sins can be forgiven, so that we don’t have to go to hell when we die, we can live with him in a mansion with streets of gold.