John: Chapter 19
Then Pilate therefore took Jesus, and scourged him. 2 And
the soldiers platted a crown of thorns, and put it on his
head, and arrayed him in a purple garment; 3 and they came
unto him, and said, Hail, King of the Jews! and they struck
him with their hands. 4 And Pilate went out again, and
saith unto them, Behold, I bring him out to you, that ye
may know that I find no crime in him. 5 Jesus therefore
came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple
garment. And Pilate saith unto them, Behold, the man! 6
When therefore the chief priests and the officers saw him,
they cried out, saying, Crucify him, crucify him! Pilate
saith unto them, Take him yourselves, and crucify him: for
I find no crime in him. 7 The Jews answered him, We have a
law, and by that law he ought to die, because he made
himself the Son of God. 8 When Pilate therefore heard this
saying, he was the more afraid; 9 and he entered into the
Praetorium again, and saith unto Jesus, Whence art thou?
But Jesus gave him no answer. 10 Pilate therefore saith
unto him, Speakest thou not unto me? knowest thou not that
I have power to release thee, and have power to crucify
thee? 11 Jesus answered him, Thou wouldst have no power
against me, except it were given thee from above: therefore
he that delivered me unto thee hath greater sin. 12 Upon
this Pilate sought to release him: but the Jews cried out,
saying, If thou release this man, thou art not Caesar's
friend: every one that maketh himself a king speaketh
against Caesar. 13 When Pilate therefore heard these words,
he brought Jesus out, and sat down on the judgment-seat at
a place called The Pavement, but in Hebrew, Gabbatha. 14
Now it was the Preparation of the passover: it was about
the sixth hour. And he saith unto the Jews, Behold, your
King! 15 They therefore cried out, Away with him, away with
him, crucify him!
Pilate saith unto them, Shall I crucify your King? The
chief priests answered, We have no king but Caesar. 16 Then
therefore he delivered him unto them to be crucified.
17 They took Jesus therefore: and he went out, bearing the
cross for himself, unto the place called The place of a
skull, which is called in Hebrew Golgotha: 18 where they
crucified him, and with him two others, on either side one,
and Jesus in the midst. 19 And Pilate wrote a title also,
and put it on the cross. And there was written, JESUS OF
NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS. 20 This title therefore
read many of the Jews, for the place where Jesus was
crucified was nigh to the city; and it was written in
Hebrew, and in Latin, and in Greek. 21 The chief priests of
the Jews therefore said to Pilate, Write not, The King of
the Jews; but, that he said, I am King of the Jews. 22
Pilate answered, What I have written I have written.
23 The soldiers therefore, when they had crucified Jesus,
took his garments and made four parts, to every soldier a
part; and also the coat: now the coat was without seam,
woven from the top throughout. 24 They said therefore one
to another, Let us not rend it, but cast lots for it, whose
it shall be: that the scripture might be fulfilled, which
saith,
They parted my garments among them,
And upon my vesture did they cast lots.
25 These things therefore the soldiers did. But there were
standing by the cross of Jesus his mother, and his mother's
sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. 26
When Jesus therefore saw his mother, and the disciple
standing by whom he loved, he saith unto his mother, Woman,
behold, thy son! 27 Then saith he to the disciple, Behold,
thy mother! And from that hour the disciple took her unto
his own home.
28 After this Jesus, knowing that all things are
now finished, that the scripture might be accomplished,
saith, I thirst. 29 There was set there a vessel full of
vinegar: so they put a sponge full of the vinegar upon
hyssop, and brought it to his mouth. 30 When Jesus
therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is
finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up his spirit.
THE CONTEST FOR supremacy between the intellectual forces, represented by Pilate, and the pseudospiritual, represented by the Jews, is portrayed in John 19. Both contenders realize that it is a momentous occasion, and they seek to shift the responsibility for the destruction of the coming King Jesus and His rule. The rabble (sense consciousness) arrays Him in mock royal robes and a crown and cries, "Hail, King of the Jews!" Thus the sense man jeers at religion. To the ruling intellect Jesus has committed no wrong, and it beholds Him as a morally good man, saying, "Behold, the man!" When the Jews renew their cry of "Crucify him" because He claims to be the Son of God and a temporal ruler who is against Caesar, Pilate is troubled and appeals to Jesus, who replies that His rule is from above. When the Jews urge that Jesus is scheming to undermine and destroy Caesar's temporal rule Pilate becomes alarmed and calls a rehearing at Gabbatha (in Hebrew, a knoll or hill). We see at once that this signifies a high plane of human understanding.
Here Pilate (the intellect) again shifts the burden of rule to the Jews (the claimed spiritual authority) and says, "Shall I crucify your King?" The
Jews betray their allegiance to temporal things by replying, "We have no king but Caesar." The decision to crucify Jesus was a combination of intellect and pseudo Spirit and was carried out, as indicated, by the co-operation of those taking part. "Then therefore he [Pilate] delivered him unto them [the Jews] to be crucified," and "the soldiers therefore . . . crucified Jesus."
The Crucifixion took place at Golgotha, "The place of a skull" (the front brain, the seat of the will and conscious understanding, the throne of the mind, where all ideas are tested and either enthroned or cast out). In the crucifixion of Jesus both Pilate and the Jews (both the intellect and the ruling spiritual ideas) unite in casting out the claim that man is the Son of God. Although Jesus (representing the spiritual man) was not allowed to establish His conscious rule in the front brain, He left a great unified doctrine of truth (represented by the seamless garment that the soldiers found they could not separate). So for two thousand years this Truth has endured and is now being made king in the conscious minds of those who believe. Before the Son of God is enthroned the tables must be turned, the intellect and the pseudospiritual must be crucified, and the great I AM elevated to the high place.
Jesus paid the supreme tribute to woman when on the cross He recognized her and designated her as the mother and preserver of love, to abide in the home of His beloved disciple John.
Jesus became one of our human family for a purpose, to make it possible for us to attain spiritual
consciousness, which we could not do without the example of someone who had attained the goal. That we are sons of God is merely an idea until it has been demonstrated and enthroned in consciousness. Man is a child of evolution, the evolution of the perfect man implanted in us as by the Father-Mind. We were on the way to final demonstration of the Son of God when we lost our way in the delusions of sense. A guide and helper became absolutely necessary. Jesus assumed this dangerous and humiliating role. He had to become one of us in flesh and intellect, and it is this flesh-and-intellect man whose career is represented as being consummated in the offer of vinegar made to Him at His last human breath on the cross. So it was not Jesus the man of great ideas that was crucified; it was the flesh-and-intellect man, who cried out, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?"
31 The Jews therefore, because it was the Preparation, that
the bodies should not remain on the cross upon the sabbath
(for the day of that sabbath was a high day), asked of
Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might
be taken away. 32 The soldiers therefore came, and brake
the legs of the first, and of the other that was crucified
with him: 33 but when they came to Jesus, and saw that he
was dead already, they brake not his legs: 34 howbeit one
of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and
straightway there came out blood and water. 35 And he that
hath seen hath borne witness, and his witness is true: and
he knoweth that he saith true, that ye also may believe. 36
For these things came to pass, that the scripture might be
fulfilled, A bone of him shall not be broken. 37 And again
another scripture
saith, They shall look on him whom they pierced.
The "Preparation" refers to the observances preliminary to the celebration of the Jewish Sabbath, or to the festival the day before the Sabbath. Among the Jews there was a law to the effect that a lifeless body should not remain upon the cross on the Sabbath, as this was a day set aside for rest and freedom from all troubled or contentious thoughts. Hence Jesus' body was ordered removed.
The Jews asked that the legs of Jesus might be broken and also those of the malefactors that were crucified with Him. Crushing the bones destroyed the last vestige of life in the body. Jesus appeared to be dead, but the inference is that He still retained contact with the bone marrow from which the blood or life is produced.
The fact that the demand of the Jews was not executed shows the higher law was at work and not a bone of Jesus' body was broken. The Scripture prophecy was carried out even to the piercing of His side, the place nearest the heart, the abode of love.
This whole Scripture reveals how those established in the intellect will seek to kill out the Christ, and also how they are ultimately defeated in His victory over death.
38 And after these things Joseph of Arimathea, being a
disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear of the Jews, asked
of Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus: and
Pilate gave him leave. He came therefore, and took away his
body. 39 And there came
also Nicodemus, he who at first came to him by night,
bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about a hundred
pounds. 40 So they took the body of Jesus, and bound it in
linen cloths with the spices, as the custom of the Jews is
to bury.
41 Now in the place where he was crucified there was a
garden; and in the garden a new tomb wherein was never man
yet laid. 42 There then because of the Jews' Preparation
(for the tomb was nigh at hand) they laid Jesus.
Jesus rested in the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea. Arimathea represents an aggregation of thoughts of lofty character, a high state of consciousness in man. Joseph represents a state of consciousness in which we increase in character along all lines. We not only grow into a broader understanding but we also increase in vitality and substance. Jesus' resting in Joseph's tomb symbolizes the truth that Jesus was resting in the consciousness of vitality and substance, was growing into a broader understanding, and was in truth gathering strength for the great demonstration over death to follow.