John 19:17

CRUCIFIXION AND DEATH OF THE LORD JESUS. (Joh 19:17-30) And he bearing his cross--(See on Luk 23:26). went forth--Compare Heb 13:11-13, "without the camp"; "without the gate." On arriving at the place, "they gave Him vinegar to drink mingled with gall [wine mingled with myrrh, Mar 15:23], and when He had tasted thereof, He would not drink" (Mat 27:34). This potion was stupefying, and given to criminals just before execution, to deaden the sense of pain. Fill high the bowl, and spice it well, and pour The dews oblivious: for the Cross is sharp, The Cross is sharp, and He Is tenderer than a lamb. KEBLE. But our Lord would die with every faculty clear, and in full sensibility to all His sufferings. Thou wilt feel all, that Thou may'st pity all; And rather would'st Thou wrestle with strong pain Than overcloud Thy soul, So clear in agony, Or lose one glimpse of Heaven before the time, O most entire and perfect Sacrifice, Renewed in every pulse. KEBLE.

Though in the history hitherto this evangelist seems industriously to have declined the recording of such passages as had been related by the other evangelists, yet, when he comes to the sufferings and death of Christ, instead of passing them over, as one ashamed of his Master's chain and cross, and looking upon them as the blemishes of his story, he repeats what had been before related, with considerable enlargements, as one that desired to know nothing but Christ and him crucified, to glory in nothing save in the cross of Christ. In the story of this chapter we have, I. he remainder of Christ's trial before Pilate, which was tumultuous and confused (Joh 19:1-15). II. Sentence given, and execution done upon it (Joh 19:16-18). III. The title over his head (Joh 19:19-22). IV. The parting of his garment (Joh 19:23, Joh 19:24). V. The care he took of his mother (Joh 19:25-27). VI. The giving him vinegar to drink (Joh 19:28, Joh 19:29). VII. His dying word (Joh 19:30). VIII. The piercing of his side (Joh 19:31-37). IX. The burial of his body (Joh 19:38-42). O that in meditating on these things we may experimentally know the power of Christ's death, and the fellowship of his sufferings!

19:17 The vertical beam (Latin staticulum) of the cross was generally kept at the crucifixion site, and the victim was forced to carry only the heavy crossbeam (Latin patibulum). • Crucifixions were public executions that took place near major roadways. They were designed to shock and warn the people. • Place of the Skull (Hebrew and Aramaic Golgotha; Latin calvariae, “Calvary”): Most archaeologists agree that Jesus’ crucifixion was at the site of the present-day Church of the Holy Sepulchre, located in the Christian Quarter of the old walled city of Jerusalem. An alternate site, Gordon’s Calvary (north of the Damascus Gate), provides a model of what the scene possibly looked like, but it holds only a tomb from the 500s BC and therefore is unlikely to be the authentic site of Jesus’ crucifixion and burial.