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In John 19
● notice at the beginning the string of verbs linked to the deeds of Pilate and the Roman soldiers: “took … flogged … twisted … put … arrayed … came … struck” (1-3), indicating the sheer activity and physicality and brutality of the scene,
● add to your sense of the scene the mocking chorus of the soldiers as they “hail” (3) Jesus, reminding readers that humiliation accompanies the pain,
● register the two pairings of Pilate’s words as he speaks to the assembled crowd: “I find no guilt in him (4, 6) and “Behold the man” and “Behold your king” (5, 14), emphatically and unwittingly asserting two parts of Jesus’ nature,
● marvel at the economy of the language of the account of the crucifixion itself, with one verse for the event (18) and four verses about the sign on the cross (19-22),
● extend your thinking about the relative amount of attention given to various parts of this chapter to the lengthy two verses devoted to Jesus’ clothes (23-24), justified as a showing of Scripture being fulfilled,
● see that this reference to fulfillment is one of four in the chapter (24, 28, 36, 37), emphasizing that Jesus’ death was not a random, local, political event beyond Jesus’ control but an act contained by the Scriptures of Israel and under the control of the God and the Christ revealed in them,
● see how the bold quotations found early in the chapter are followed by Jesus’ exceedingly brief declarations from the cross that nonetheless show Jesus’ command and once again his management of time (“It is finished”- 30),
● notice that direct, spoken quotation in this scene stops after these words and that there are silent witnesses announced, the named women who stand “by the cross” (25),
● add to the roster of witnesses, Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus, Jews of some standing, who perform the practical work of securing the body and the tomb and the spices (all 75 pounds of them, a wonderfully specific and practical detail), and
● ponder Jesus schooling Pilate about “authority” (10-11).
Thank you,

Randy Tumlinson