The passage focuses on the crucifixion of Jesus. We should read this not with a sense of failure and tragedy but with a sense of awe and triumph as we see God’s eternal purpose of rescuing His people accomplished in history at the cross.
God’s purpose was sovereignly accomplished despite the great effort of Satan and the people to thwart it. The crucifixion of Jesus is not an unforeseen disaster; God foreordained it before the beginning of time and revealed it in the Old Testament. Notice how again and again John quoted that “this happened that the scripture might be fulfilled”:
verse 24 – ‘They divided my clothes among them and cast lots for
my garment.’ (Psalm 22:18)
verse 28 – ‘I am thirsty.’ (Psalm 22:15)
verse 36 – ‘Not one of His bones will be broken’. (Exod. 12:46; Num.9:12)
One of the requirements for the Passover Lamb, whose
blood marked out the Israelite people for rescue out of
Egypt was that its bones should not be broken.
verse 37 – ‘They will look on the one they have pierced’.( Zechariah 12:10)
John is reminding the readers that every detail of the crucifixion is happening according to God’s explicit will; this is the means by which He is accomplishing His eternal purpose and solving humanity’s greatest problem, which is sin.
John is also reminding us who Jesus really is. Pilate had a notice prepared and fastened to the cross. It reads: JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS. It was written in Aramaic, Latin and Greek. Pilate appears to be taunting the Jews by declaring Jesus to be their king. Pilate was trying to get his ‘revenge’ on the Jews for putting him in a corner and threatening him that he would be reported to Caesar if he did not comply with their wishes. Notice however the sharp irony, for in reality, Pilate was proclaiming Jesus’ kingship to all nations; Pilate’s words cause him to serve God’s purpose unwittingly as he confirms Jesus’ kingship.
In verses 25-27, as he hangs dying, Jesus ensures that His mother is cared for as He instructed John the beloved disciple to care for Mary. John wanted the reader to know that he was there to witness the crucifixion. In verse 35, John emphasised that he saw the incidence with the spear and his testimony can be relied upon. He was witness to the fact that Jesus was truly dead and the soldiers therefore did not break His legs but instead pierced His side with a spear. This is most important, for the fact of Jesus’ physical death is central both to His being the true Passover Lamb (the lamb must die) and to the possibility that He should be physically raised from the dead.
The fact that it is Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus who retrieve the body of Jesus gives us hope that at least some of the Jewish establishment will turn to Him even after widespread rejection.
John’s testimony as a witness is principally so that we may believe. As we read the account of the crucifixion, do we just read it as a historical event? Do we read it with the recognition of God’s eternal sovereign rescue plan for humanity through Jesus’ death on the cross; do we see how wonderfully the Old Testament is being fulfilled in every detail; do we realise that His death is not a failure but He was actually dying in the place of God’s people as the Passover Lamb, achieving their rescue and opening for them a fountain of forgiveness; as God’s people, do we acknowledge this and know this by faith and do we continue to believe with praise, thanksgiving and worship?