When it Costs the Most (John 19:17-42)
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jeremy_1_05-29-2026_115038: [00:00:00] Welcome to another episode of Rebuilding Faith. These are 10-minute Bible messages for people with questions and doubts.
We've been leading up to the final moments in the life of Jesus, and today we're going to look at the crucifixion, the moment Jesus actually dies, and what this shows us as people respond to Jesus in this time.
And so we're gonna begin reading in John 19, verse 17. " So they took Jesus away. Carrying the cross by himself, he went to the place called Place of the Skull, in Hebrew, Golgotha. There they nailed him to the cross. Two others were crucified with him, one on either side with Jesus between them. And Pilate posted a sign on the cross that read, "Jesus of Nazareth, the 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 [00:01:00] people could read it.
Then the leading priests objected and said to Pilate, "Change it from 'The King of the Jews' to 'He said, I am the King of the Jews.'" Pilate replied, "No, what I have written, I have written." 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 Jesus' mother and his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, 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 this disciple, "Here is your mother." And from then on, this disciple took her into his home Now last week we saw that Pilate didn't [00:02:00] think Jesus was guilty. In fact, he makes this point numerous times in the passage we looked at.
But he was pressured by the crowd. He gave in ultimately because of what they were saying. And here we see Pilate getting back at them in a small way, right? He has a sign made that he knows is going to bother the religious leaders. He even has it written in three different languages so that as many people as possible can read this statement.
Even though he's not willing to sacrifice for Jesus, he's using his power to make a statement against these religious leaders 'cause he knows this is not justice. And so even in his own way, he's playing this out a little bit. Verse 28, " Jesus knew that his mission was now finished, and to fulfill scripture, he said, 'I am thirsty.'
A jar of sour wine was sitting there, so they soaked a sponge in it, [00:03:00] put it on a hyssop branch, and held it up to his lips. When Jesus had tasted it, he said, 'It is finished.' Then he bowed his head and he gave up his spirit. It was the day of preparation. The Jewish leaders didn't want the bodies hanging there the next day, which was the Sabbath, and a very special Sabbath because it was Passover week.
So they asked Pilate to hasten the deaths by ordering that their legs be broken, then their bodies could be taken down. So the soldiers came and they broke the legs of the two men crucified with Jesus. But when they came to Jesus, they saw that he was already dead, so they didn't break his legs. 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 the [00:04:00] one they pierced.'" And I want you to notice the sense of completion as we read this narrative.
John says that Jesus knew before he died that his mission was finished. So he has this sense of completion, and then John quotes Jesus in addition to that as saying, "It is finished." John's making this very obvious as we read this. Now think back to, Jesus's arrest in the garden. This is, John chapter 18.
Peter cuts off Malchus' ear. He's trying to, stop this from happening, and Jesus asks Peter this really pointed question in John 18. In verse 11, he said, " Shall I not drink from the cup of suffering the Father has given me?" And so this is the subject. He's saying, "Look, I'm prepared to do this. Do you not want me to do what I need to do?"
Now, as John records this, he records Jesus taking a symbolic final [00:05:00] drink as part of all of this completion. And so John is presenting Jesus as the one in control even as he has no control, even as he is being crucified. Rather than just saying that then Jesus died, John says that Jesus gave up his spirit.
And so again, it's Jesus in control deciding, "Now everything is finished. Everything is complete. Now I will surrender my spirit. Now I will allow this to happen." And then we get to verse 38, " Afterward, Joseph of Arimathea, who had been a secret disciple of Jesus because he had feared the Jewish leaders, asked Pilate for permission to take down Jesus' body.
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 about 75 pounds of perfumed ointment made [00:06:00] from myrrh and aloes. Following Jewish burial custom, they wrapped Jesus' body with the spices in long sheets of linen cloth.
The place of 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 laid Jesus there." So now Nicodemus is back. This is the third time we have seen him in the Gospel of John.
Nicodemus originally came to Jesus at night in John 3. He had questions, he had, these suspicions about Jesus, but he was very afraid of anyone seeing him talk to Jesus. And yet it's the cross- The worst possible moment, the moment when everyone else has scattered, that finally draws Nicodemus out publicly.
Now, all [00:07:00] Pilate can muster is this passive jab at the religious leaders through the sign that he makes. But here, the way John records it, we see Joseph and Nicodemus stepping in when it costs them the most. So as we look at this story, as we look at this moment when it certainly looked like Jesus had lost, like the way of Jesus does not work, this is all, for nothing, and yet in this moment we see these different reactions from people who had been following him, who had been watching him.
And so I want to ask today, where are you in this story? Where do you see yourself in response to what we look at here? There is a Nicodemus arc, if you will, in this story. It starts as a nighttime visitor, reluctant, curious, but unwilling to be seen. Then we see him offer a quiet defense.
He speaks up, but he speaks up [00:08:00] carefully and in the right appropriate setting for it. And then it ends here in public at the worst possible moment. And notice he is carrying seventy-five pounds of burial spices. This is not like he just brought a few things with him to... I mean, he is carrying... This is a massive production.
You would have seen him. This would have been very obvious what he's doing, and just a completely different person we see than we originally met in John chapter three. What I find striking is that the way that John tells this story, he doesn't explain what changed for Nicodemus. There's no conversion moment.
There's no dramatic scene. There's just this realization that he sees on the cross, and he says, "This was legit. This is the real thing. This is God." And so Nicodemus is reacting to this, and this is what [00:09:00] is finally bringing out this bold version of him. Now, today, our challenge isn't to be more publicly Christian, the way that is often portrayed today,
the way that Christian nationalism would say, "This is what it looks like to be visibly, publicly Christian." I would suggest our challenge is to show up like Nicodemus. When it costs us the most, when everyone else has left and moved on to something else, that's when we see what power really looks like. So what would it look like for you right now to respond to Jesus in that way?
I'll see you next week on Rebuilding Faith.
