John 19 Round Two: The Best Friday Ever

The story of Good Friday often gets softened by routine, but John 19 won’t let us look away. We step into Pilate’s courtroom, where uncertainty and politics collide with a presence that won’t bend. Pilate sees something different in Jesus and tries to release him, yet fear of Caesar and the roar of the crowd pull the strings. When Pilate claims power, Jesus answers with quiet clarity: authority comes from above. That single exchange reframes everything we think about control, justice, and truth.

From the crown of thorns to the purple robe, the mockery drips with irony. The soldiers gamble for a seamless garment and unknowingly fulfill Scripture. A trilingual sign above the cross proclaims “Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews” to the world, and no edit can silence it. We trace the physical reality of crucifixion and why the scourging made this death so swift, then watch how love operates under maximum pain. Jesus notices his mother and entrusts her to John, building a new household at the foot of the cross. This is love as decision, not sentiment; love that orders care even as the world unravels.

When Jesus says “I am thirsty,” Scripture echoes. When he declares “It is finished,” history pivots. The spear pierces, blood and water flow, and again prophecy stands verified. Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus step forward with spices and a new tomb near a garden, a bold act of allegiance before the dawn breaks. We reflect on the purpose of John’s Gospel—to help us keep believing that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and to find life in his name—and why the cross is not an accident but a plan completed.

If you’re wrestling with guilt, powerlessness, or doubt, this chapter offers a lens and a lifeline. Walk with us through the text as we explore authority from above, prophecy fulfilled, and the fierce, focused love that finishes what it begins. If this moved you, subscribe, share it with a friend, and leave a review to help others find the message. What line from John 19 stays with you today?

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The More We Dig. The More We Find.

Scripture quotations taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation (NLT).
Copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation.
Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Chapters

• 0:00 Welcome And Context For John 19
• 1:02 Community Invite And Reading Together
• 1:49 Setting The Stage: Arrest To Trial
• 2:30 What Love Looks Like
• 3:13 Pilate’s Fear And Jesus’ Authority
• 6:20 Flogging, Crucifixion, And Historical Notes
• 9:55 The Cross: Sign, Soldiers, And Scripture
• 12:10 Mary, John, And Family Care
• 13:25 It Is Finished And Prophecy Fulfilled

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:00

Welcome to the Bible Breakdown Podcast. Every day, we take one chapter of the Bible, dig deeper, and discover that the more we dig, the more we find. You can find out more at the BibleBreakdown.com. Now let's grow in God's Word together. Well hello, everybody. Hope you're doing well. Welcome back to the Bible Breakdown Podcast with your host, Pastor Brandon. Today, John chapter 19. If I were to give it a title, it would be the best Friday Ever. We call it Good Friday. It wasn't really good for Jesus, but it was really, really, really good for all of us. And we're going to dive into that in just a moment. It's hard reading, but it's good because of what Jesus did for all of us. We're going to get to that just a moment. But as always, if you like what we're doing here, help us build this community. Like this video, share this video with everybody, share with them the podcast so we can build this together. I can't imagine a greater thing than a community of people gathering around this one idea that we're reading God's word together. And we're slowing down. We're slowing down and just soaking in the goodness of God. And I'm telling you, man, the more we dig, the more we find. And that is definitely the case when it comes to this. Also, go on our Facebook group at Bible Breakdown Discussion and see what other people are discovering and reading. We see different things like yesterday about people saying they didn't know about the goat for the Lord and the goat for Azazel. You can go back and read Leviticus and enjoy that with us. And just the more we read, the more we dig, the more we find. And in John chapter 19, let's bring us up to speed and see what's going on. Now don't forget, this is written by Jesus' best friend, inspired by the Holy Spirit, right there with Jesus. And he's making sure that we understand the message. And so seven different times throughout the Gospel of John, he says, This is who I am. I am. Then he gives a metaphor and an analogy of who he is. I am the door, I am the way, the truth, and the life. And we saw yesterday that he actually kind of puts one in there that we don't always catch, and he says, I am he. I'm the one you've been looking for. And maybe that's the most powerful one. Well, today, we're kind of catching up with the the next step of what's going on. Thursday night in this timeline, Jesus has been arrested. He goes to the house of Annas and he's been beaten up and he's been accused of all these things. Then he goes before Pilate. And Pilate is talking to him and he's going through all this stuff. And Pilate is, we're going to see in a minute, he's wanting to let him go. He sees there's something different about this man, and you're going to see some other things in here as well. But Jesus has got an appointment with destiny, and he ain't going to back down for nobody because he's not just dying for those in that moment. He's dying for me and he's dying for you. And what I love about this is, man, you may have 99 problems, but Jesus ain't one of them. He loves us so much. And let's read about what true love looks like. What a wonderful question. What does love look like? Does love agree with us? Does love just make us feel better? Is love a feeling? Is love a kind word? Love is action. Love is a decision. Love is John chapter 19. So if you got your NLT Bibles open with you, got your cup of coffee ready, maybe your handkerchiefs or your tissues, you know, because it's a let's just do it. Okay, here we go. John chapter 19, verse 1. Then Pilate had Jesus flogged with a lead tip whip. The soldiers wove a crown of thorns and put it on his head, and they put a purple robe on him. Hail, King of the Jews. They mocked and they slapped him across the face. Pilate went outside again and said to the people, I am going to bring him out to you now, but understand clearly, I find him not guilty. Then Jesus was wearing the crown of thorns and the poker purple robe, or he came out doing those things, and Pilate said, Look, here is the man. When they saw him, the leading priests and the temple guards began shouting, Crucify him, crucify him, take him yourselves and crucify him, Pilate said. I find him not guilty. The Jewish leaders replied, By our law he ought to die because he called himself the Son of God. When the priest or when Pilate heard this, he was more frightened than ever. He took Jesus back into the headquarters again and asked him, Where are you from? But Jesus gave him no answer. Why do you not talk to me? Pilate demanded. Don't you realize that I have the power to release you or to crucify you? Those were the wrong words. Because then Jesus said, Oh no, no, you would have no power over me at all unless it were given to you from above. So the one who handed me over to you has the greater sin. I love that for a moment. Pilate's trying to help him, trying to help him. He said, Do you not realize I'm in charge? It's like that moment. I almost have this picture of Jesus is kind of looking down, just ready for the next step. And when Pilate's like, Don't you realize I'm in charge? Someone's like Jesus looks up and says, Do you feel in charge? I got this, my friend. Do what you're came what you came to do. Here we go, verse 12. Then Pilate tried to release him, but the Jewish leader shouted, If you release this man, you are no friend of Caesar. Anyone who declares him a king is a rebel against Caesar. When they said this, Pilate brought Jesus out to them again. Pilate sat down on the judgment seat on the platform that is called the stone pavement, in Hebrew, Gabbatha, and it was now noon on the day of preparation for the Passover. And Pilate said to the people, Look, here is your king. Away with him, they yelled. Away with him, crucify him. What? Crucify your king? Pilate asked. We have no king but Caesar, the leading priest shouted back. And Pilate turned Jesus over to them to be crucified. Now, one of the things that's very interesting about this is it was rather uncommon for someone to be flogged and then crucified. One of the reasons for this is because crucifixion was, by many historians, say it was one of the most horrible capital punishments ever invented by man. You know, sometimes they would, and in Jesus' case they did, they nail you to a cross, but then they leave you there. And what happens is, is you're you end up dying of suffocation because as you're hanging there, if you've ever hung from a bar or something like that, after a while, you have to take the pressure off of your hands, right? Well, if your feet are nailed to something, then that's excruciating pain when you're picking yourself up so you can breathe in. Well, then you let go, but then the problem is then it puts pressure back on your hands or your wrist where you're actually nailed. And so it's this agonizing pain, but you're having to do this up and downward motion so that you can breathe. Well, here's the thing: if you have not been beat half to death beforehand, you can actually, even though it's excruciatingly painful, you can actually keep that up for quite a long time, sometimes multiple days, because your body just has an ability to withstand great amount of pain. So part of the punishment is how long it would take you to die. Well, here's the thing: because Jesus was flogged, which means 39 lashes and sometimes many more, 39 was considered um a good punishment because they they thought anything more than 39 lashes would scar someone for life. So they would hold back and stop at 39. The Bible doesn't say though that they did 39. There's no telling how many lashes they gave him. We just would have known it would have been at least 39 lashes, which would have done great damage to the body of Jesus. And so some historians actually think that Pilate may have flogged Jesus so that when he brought them before the people, he could say, hasn't he been punished enough? But rather, what he didn't realize is that these people were out to kill Jesus no matter what. And it was divine appointment, anyhow. So he has tried, Pilate has tried to get him out of this because he sees something special about Jesus. Isn't it interesting? Only being around Jesus for a few moment, and he automatically realizes there's something special about this person. But it's a divine appointment with destiny, so they hand him over to be crucified. Let's pick back up the second half of verse 16. So they took Jesus away, carrying the cross by himself. He went to the place called the place of the skull in Hebrew, Golgotha. There they nailed him to the cross. Two others were crucified with him, one on either side, and Jesus between them. And Pilate posted a sign on the cross that read, Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews. The place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and the sign was written in Hebrew, Latin, and Greek, so that many people could read it. Then the leading priest objected and said to Pilate, Change it from King of the Jews to, he said, I am the King of the Jews. Pilate replied, No, what I have written, I have written. Then the soldiers had crucified, when the soldiers had crucified Jesus, they divided his clothes among the four of them. They also took his robe, but it was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom. So they said, Rather than tearing it apart, let's throw dice for it. This fulfilled the scripture that says, They divided my garments among themselves, and threw dice for my clothing. So that is what they did. Standing near the cross were where Jesus' mother, his mother's sister, his wife, or excuse not his wife, he wasn't married, Mary, the wife of Clopus, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw his mother standing there beside the disciple he loved, he said to her, Dear woman, here is your son. And he said to his disciple, here is your mother. And from then on, this disciple took her into his home. Now, a couple things there. First of all, Jesus was not married. That was a slip of the tongue, okay? Second of all, it lets you know that John actually was there, the only disciple that was there at the foot of the cross with Jesus, which I think is amazing. The next thing is this is why most historians think that by the time Jesus became an adult, Joseph, Jesus' earthly stepfather in a way, was dead. Because it would have been Jesus' right to take care of Mary only if his father had died. And so that's why most historians believe that at the point of Jesus becoming an adult, Mary was a widow, and so Jesus is in charge of the family. And so now he is giving his mother over to John, saying, Will you take care of mom for me? Historians believe that then John would eventually move to the city of Ephesus and move Mary to Ephesus, and she would spend the rest of her life with John telling the stories of Jesus. Verse 28. Jesus knew that his mission was now finished. And to fulfill the scripture, he said, I am thirsty. And a jar of sour wine, which means just cheap wine, was sitting there. So they soaked it in a sponge, put it on a hyssop branch, and held it up to his lips. When Jesus had tasted it, he said, It is finished. And he bowed his head and gave up the spirit. It was a day of preparation, and the Jewish leaders did not want to leave the bodies hanging there the next day, which was the Sabbath, a very special Sabbath because it was Passover week. So they asked Pilate to hasten their deaths by ordering that their legs be broken. Then their bodies could be taken down. So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the two men crucified with Jesus. When they came to Jesus, they thought saw that he had already been dead, and they didn't break his legs. But one of the soldiers, however, pierced his side with a spear, and immediately blood and water flowed out. This report is from an eyewitness giving an accurate account. He speaks the truth so that you may also continue to believe. These things happen in fulfillment of the scriptures that say not one of his bones will be broken, and they will look on at the one they pierced. Now, once again, remember as I was saying earlier, that a lot of times they would let this person just hang there for days and slowly die. But if they needed them to die more quickly, they would break their legs so that they couldn't do that upward and downward motion. And so basically, when they break their legs, then they would suffocate because they couldn't breathe. But they had come to Jesus, and since Jesus had already been beat half to death, for he even got on the cross, he would die within about six hours. And so Jesus is already dead. Verse 38. Afterward, Joseph of Arimathea, who had been a secret disciple of Jesus because he feared the Jewish leaders, asked Pilate for permission to take down the body of Jesus. When Pilate gave permission, Joseph came and took the body away. With him came Nicodemus, the man who had come to Jesus at night. He brought that's in John 3, by the way, he brought about seventy-five pounds of perfume ointment and made from myrrh and aloes. Following Jewish burial custom, they wrapped Jesus' body with the spices in long sheets of linen cloth. They place the place of the crucifixion was near a garden where there was a new tomb never used before. And so, because it was the day of preparation for the Jewish Passover, and since the tomb was close at hand, they lay Jesus there. So once again, you may have 99 problems, but Jesus ain't one. He went through all of that and he did it for all of us. And I love the idea that he was put in a new tomb, and that's fine, because he ain't gonna be there long. He's just barring it for a couple of days. A total of three. And we're gonna get into that maybe more later. But for now, I want us to pray and just thank the Lord that Jesus went all the way to the cross and he stayed there and he did it for us. Let's pray. Father, thank you so much for your goodness. Thank you, Jesus, for dying on the cross for our sins. Lord, all of that that we just read was on us. We deserved that punishment. But you took it for us, and we celebrate you, Jesus, that because you're alive, we can experience life. We celebrate you. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Don't forget the reason why all of this is written. It's written because John 20 says, These are written that you may continue to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing in Him, you will have life by the power of His name. I hope you experience the power of God in your life today. I love you. I'll see you tomorrow for John chapter 20.