Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - The Righteous Sufferer | New Testament | John 19

Episode Date: December 27, 2023

What does Jesus's suffering mean to us? How does it point to the Old Testament? Why should his death matter to Christians today? Patrick answers these questions and more in today's episode about John 19. Read the Bible with us in 2024! This year, we’re tackling a group of Old Testament books traditionally known as “The Writings”— Psalms, Chronicles, Proverbs, Daniel, Ruth and more! Download your reading plan now. Your support makes TMBT possible. Ten Minute Bible Talks is a crowd-funded project. Join the TMBTeam to reach more people with the Bible. Give now. Like this content? Make sure to leave us a rating and share it with others, so others can find it too. Use #asktmbt to connect with us, ask questions, and suggest topics. We'd love to hear from you! To learn more, visit our website and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter@TenMinuteBibleTalks. Don't forget to subscribe to the TMBT Newsletter here. Passages: John 19

Welcome to 10-minute Bible Talks, where we connect the Bible to your life. In the time it takes to get to work. I'm Patrick Miller. With Christmas being just two days ago, chances are you have some or all of your Christmas decorations still up. Even if you don't, I'd be willing to guess that for the last month, you've been bombarded with images of Mary, the mother of Jesus, holding her newborn baby and swaddling, surrounded by animals, angels, Joseph, and the shepherds.

It's a classic image of the nativity scene. and it comes in stark contrast with the image that we see of Mary today in John chapter 9. In the middle of this chapter, we are confronted with a picture of Mary, this time standing, surrounded by close friends, her son's disciples and a Roman soldier, as she watches her son, who was once a baby she held in her arms, die, crucified on a cross. It's a shocking image. It's not the image we normally conjure up about Jesus at this time of year. We like to think about the cuddly baby, about the God who became a human to dwell among his people and love them.

But I think for that exact reason, this is the perfect time to be confronted with the second image of Jesus and Mary, of Jesus dying on the cross with his mother watching. During the Christmas season, we celebrate the fact that Jesus truly is the best gift that we've ever been given. And that's true, but hidden behind the truth is the reality that how Jesus rescues his people The thing that makes Jesus the greatest gift we've ever received is that he didn't stay in the manger. He grew up. He ministered to the lost.

He healed the broken and all along the way he was making his way to the cross. But how did we get here? How did the baby in the manger end up a man dying on a cross? We find our answer in the first section of chapter 19. Verse 1. Then Pilate took Jesus and flogged him. The soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head. They clothed him in a purple robe and went up to him again and again, saying,

Hail, king of the Jews, and they slapped him in the face. Once more, Pilate came out and said to the Jews gathered there, Look, I am bringing him out to you to let you know that I find no basis for a charge against him. When Jesus came out wearing the crown of thorns in the purple robe, Pilate said to them, Here's the man. As soon as the chief priest and their officials saw him, they shouted, Crucify him, crucify him. But Pilate answered, you take him and crucify him. As for me, I find no basis for a charge against him. The Jewish leaders insisted, we have a law, and according to that law, he must die because he claimed to be the son of God. When Pilate heard this, he was even

more afraid. And he went back inside the palace. Where do you come from? He asked Jesus, but Jesus gave him no answer. Do you refuse to speak to me, Pilate said. Don't you realize that I have the power to either free you or to crucify you? Jesus answered, You would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above. Therefore, the one who handed me over to you is guilty of a greater sin. From then on, Pilate tried to set Jesus free, but the Jewish leaders kept shouting,

If you let this man go, you are no friend to Caesar. anyone who claims to be a king opposes Caesar. When Pilate heard this, he brought Jesus out and sat down on the judge's seat at the place known as the stone pavement, which in Aramaic is Gabbatha. It was the day of preparation of the Passover. It was about noon. Here is your king, Pilate said to the Jews, but they shouted, take him away, take him away, crucify him. Shall I crucify your king? Pilate asked.

We have no king but Caesar, the chief priest answered. Finally, Pilate handed him over to be crucified. I know that was a lot of texts, but it tells us so much. Jesus is brought before Pilate, and already he's being mocked. The Roman soldiers are saying to him, hail, king of the Jews. This phrase mimics the Hail Caesar that people in that day would have called out to the Roman emperor. He's dressed up in royal colors and given a crown of thorns. All is a joke.

Pilate calls him the quote-unquote king of the Jews many times in this dial. but the Jewish leaders reject him and say he isn't their king. He merely claims to be the son of God. Something that a Roman emperor would have claimed about himself. Pilot has no qualms with Jesus, but the people push him, reminding him that to let Jesus go would be to insult Caesar, because Caesar is the only true king in Rome, and Jesus is a pretender king, a threat to Caesar's throne. Pilot eventually hands him over to be crucified. Jesus is crucified with the sign above his head that reads the king of the Jews. There's irony in what John shares with us here. The Romans mock this man who claims to be a king, who claims to be God. They say, who is he next to

Caesar? The Jewish leaders are furious that Jesus makes claims to be the Messiah, the Messiah that they seek, and that's why they seek to crucify him. And all the while, their actions against Jesus, from his beatings to the casting of lots for his clothes, the piercing of his hands and his feet, all the way up to the time of his death, the piercing of his side, his thirst on the cross, and his ultimate death all fulfill the scriptures that reveal that Jesus was the righteous sufferer. In Psalm 22, we read about a righteous sufferer, an innocent man who suffers, and his suffering eventually leads to all of creation praising God as king. And this sufferer in Psalm 22 is said to have great thirst. He's said to have his hands

and his feet pierced, it said that his clothing would be divided up and that people would cast lots for it. This Psalm was both about the original authors who wrote it and suffered, but it also pointed forward to the coming suffering of Jesus, who would indeed die, but in the end he would be vindicated by his resurrection. In the end, he would be made king. In the end, because of him, people would proclaim that God is the true king of all creation. Even before that, Psalmist wrote Psalm 22, God put in place the promise of a Passover lamb. In the book of Exodus, God rescues his people out of slavery in Egypt. And as he does so, he calls all who trust him to sacrifice a lamb, a Passover lamb. He tells him to put the lamb's blood on the doorpost. And when the angel of death passes over the land, he doesn't enter

into the houses with the blood of the lamb over the house. Jesus, of course, is our Passover lamb. His blood is the reason why God passes over us and forgives our sins. And so Pilate hands Jesus over to be crucified. And John tells us that this is taking place when on a Passover preparation day. Everything in the story is pointing to the fact that Jesus is not only the sufferer whose death leads to the glorification of God, but he is also the Passover lamb who dies for our sins. This chapter is rich with imagery, rich with prophetic fulfillment, rich with promises of what God would do for his people. Jesus ended up on the cross with his mother below him, looking up at him because he claimed to be God, he claimed to be a king, he claimed to be our Passover lamb.

But in verse 11, Jesus tells him, Jesus tells him. pilot, he doesn't really have any power. What power he has has has been given to him from above. And that's a message that what's happening to Jesus, even though it's awful, even though it's terrible, this is part of God's grand plan to redeem and to restore the world. So how did we get here? How did we go from a baby in a manger to a man on a cross? Why was Mary given the gift of a baby boy only to watch him suffer and die years later? because from the beginning of time God has been writing an incredible story

woven throughout all of Scripture a story about how he would restore all creation, free his people from the curse of sin and return to live with them once again like he did in the garden. Jesus is the greatest gift we've ever been given.

His life began in a manger as a baby and it ended as a man who gave his life to save all of creation. We need the cross to truly see and experience and understand the gift of Jesus. As we move on from the Christmas season, let's not forget why we celebrated. Our God came to dwell with us. He came to be the Passover Lamb to set creation free from the curse of sin. And he came to be the good king who rules with

love, justice, and mercy over creation, a creation that he gave his life to redeem.