John 19:1-16
1Then Pilate took Jesus and had him flogged. 2And the soldiers wove a crown of thorns and put it on his head, and they dressed him in a purple robe. 3They kept coming up to him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” and striking him on the face. 4Pilate went out again and said to them, “Look, I am bringing him out to you to let you know that I find no case against him.” 5So Jesus came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. Pilate said to them, “Here is the man!” 6When the chief priests and the police saw him, they shouted, “Crucify him! Crucify him!” Pilate said to them, “Take him yourselves and crucify him; I find no case against him.” 7The Jews answered him, “We have a law, and according to that law he ought to die because he has claimed to be the Son of God.” 8Now when Pilate heard this, he was more afraid than ever. 9He entered his headquarters again and asked Jesus, “Where are you from?” But Jesus gave him no answer. 10Pilate therefore said to him, “Do you refuse to speak to me? Do you not know that I have power to release you, and power to crucify you?” 11Jesus answered him, “You would have no power over me unless it had been given you from above; therefore the one who handed me over to you is guilty of a greater sin.” 12From then on Pilate tried to release him, but the Jews cried out, “If you release this man, you are no friend of the emperor. Everyone who claims to be a king sets himself against the emperor.” 13When Pilate heard these words, he brought Jesus outside and sat on the judge’s bench at a place called The Stone Pavement, or in Hebrew Gabbatha. 14Now it was the day of Preparation for the Passover; and it was about noon. He said to the Jews, “Here is your King!” 15They cried out, “Away with him! Away with him! Crucify him!” Pilate asked them, “Shall I crucify your King?” The chief priests answered, “We have no king but the emperor.”
16Then he handed him over to them to be crucified.
Pilate had been appointed to his position under the sponsorship of Lucius Aelius Sejanus. But when Sejanus was executed for treason, anyone connected to him was under suspicion of disloyalty. Additionally, Pilate was rather heavy-handed in his rule of Judea and the Jews had complained about him to Rome on several occasions. An example of this was Pilate taking Jewish money collected for the temple.
Every Jew was to pay an annual temple tax of a half-shekel, equivalent to two denarii, or two days’ worth of pay. This was used to maintain the temple. However, Pilate took some of the money to build an aqueduct, and there was a massive protest over this, of which Rome was made aware.
So, Pilate’s standing with Rome was already shaky at this time. The Jewish leaders took advantage of this to pressure him into crucifying Jesus.
John makes sure that we understand what day this is – the Day of preparation for the Passover; the day that the Passover lambs were being slaughtered. In the beginning of the gospel, John identifies Jesus as the “Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world”.
Right from the beginning of humankind, God required shedding of blood for sins to be forgiven. Right after Adam and Eve sinned, God gave them garments made from animal skins, which of course, required those animals to be killed. This turned into the sacrificial system for Israel where the temple was the place to offer sacrifices for the forgiveness of sins.
When the Israelites were enslaved in Egypt for four hundred years, the LORD sent Moses to free them and lead them into the Promised Land. When Egypt refused to let them go, ten plagues were visited on Egypt, and the tenth was the death of the firstborn in every family.
Each Israelite family was instructed to slaughter a lamb and then put the blood on the lintel and the two doorposts. That night, when the LORD passed through Egypt to strike down the firstborn, He would “pass over” any households that had the blood on the door and spare that household.
This finally convinced the Pharaoh to free the Israelites. The Lord commanded that the Passover be celebrated each year so that the Israelites would remember the great acts of the Lord in freeing them from bondage.
When the end of this age comes and we all go to our eternal destination, those who have received the blood of Christ will be passed over from eternal death – eternity away from God. Instead, we will be allowed to enter eternity with our Lord and other believers on the new earth. This will be our Passover.
In the Synoptic Gospels, Jesus implements communion at the Last Supper. In John, there is a last supper, but communion is not mentioned. Instead, Jesus references it in John 6. In John, Jesus is killed at the same time the Passover lambs are being slaughtered, because He is the ultimate Lamb, whose blood will give us eternal life.
John’s message to us is clear. Jesus is the Son of God and the Savior of the World, and if we accept Him as our Lord and Savior, eternal death will pass us over and we will be given eternal life.
With this in mind, let us review what Jesus said in John 6:53-58 – “Very truly, I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. 54Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day; 55for my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink. 56Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them. 57Just as the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever eats me will live because of me. 58This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like that which your ancestors ate, and they died. But the one who eats this bread will live forever.”
In this morning’s passage, Pilate believes that he has the power to either release or crucify Jesus. Jesus corrects Pilate by telling him that he alone has that power because it has been given to him by God.
This is a good reminder for us that even if we do not understand, whatever turmoil that is going on in the world, God’s plans are being carried out. People in positions of power may think that they are in control, but they really are not.
For us who have not been put in positions of making decisions in world affairs, instead of worrying about what is going on around us, let us concentrate on witnessing to the people around us that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and the Savior of the World, and that by accepting Him as Lord and Savior, eternal life will be given.
(the above is a summary of the message that Shun Takano shared during worship on March 8, 2026.)
Japanese Congregational Church 