Jesus dies on the cross (Matthew 27:32-66; Mark 15:21-47; Luke 23:26-55; John 19:16-42)

Time:  between 9 AM and noon (I will discuss the time discrepancies later)

Pilate has released Jesus to be crucified.

The Roman soldiers lead Jesus to an area known as Golgatha, which means the Place of the Skull.  There, he will be crucified.  The soldiers encounter a man en route named Simon of Cyrene.  They force him to carry the cross of Jesus.

Note, the Gospel of John states that Jesus carried his own cross with no mention of Simon helping out.  John could just be providing a general summary of the event, whereas the Synoptic Gospels are focusing on it with extra detail.  Likewise, both Simon and Jesus could be carrying the cross.  

Jesus is offered wine mixed with myrrh, but he refuses.  The general consensus is that it was offered to him in contemplation of the execution in order to dull the pain of the nails being driven through his hands.  Thus, by refusing it, his senses would be clear and he would be conscious of all this happening to him.

The Romans then crucified Jesus.  Jesus is hung up and says "Father, forgive them for they know not what they are doing.".  In such extreme conditions, Jesus expresses love, forgiveness, and hope for the very people destroying his body.

The Roman soldiers cast lots to see who would get Jesus' garment.

They installed a sign on the cross that read "Jesus of Nazareth, The King Of The Jews".  The chief priests objected to this sign and told Pilate that it should read "he claimed to be the king of the Jews".  Pilate declines to change the sign and in fact, takes ownership and responsibility saying "what I have written, I have written".  

Again, this shows what an ambivalent character Pilate is.  Perhaps this gesture was in mock homage to either Jesus or the Jewish leaders.  Perhaps he was reasserting Roman control over the situation when the Jews had forced his hand.   Perhaps he even was asserting an ambivalent expression of faith in Jesus - on one hand, he felt forced to do this, but on the other, knew that there was something very special about Jesus.

Jesus is crucified in between two criminals.  One mocks Jesus while the other rebukes the mocker.  The same criminal then asks Jesus to remember him when Jesus comes into his kingdom.

Jesus turns to the man and says "I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise".  Then is popularly understood to refer to salvation and heaven.  However, there is a debate whether it means that the man will immediately go to heaven or from the soul sleep theorist, that from his perspective, his next conscious thought is that he will be in heaven.

Jesus sees his mother and the "disciple whom he loved".  This probably referred to Lazarus, thus making him and Mother Mary eyewitnesses to the crucifixion.  Jesus instructs the disciple with an important duty - look after his mother.

Jesus is thirsty and states this.  He also states "why have you forsaken me", citing Psalm 22, which is a psalm of lamenting the distance between God and man.

 The Roman soldiers a put a vinegar-soaked on a hyssop stalk and lift it near Jesus.  Jesus drinks and declares, "it is finished".

Between about noon and mid-afternoon, darkness fell on the land.  Finally, Jesus states "Father into your hands I commit my spirit".  This is only recorded in Luke, whereas the other Gospels suggest that this last utterance was unintelligible.  

After saying this, Jesus dies.  

Back in the city, there were two major miracles that coincided with Jesus' death.  First, the curtain in the temple is torn in two from top to bottom.  

Second, a major earthquake happens, which breaks open nearby tombs.  In a similar fashion to Lazarus coming back to life, dead people of faith emerge from their tombs and make appearances throughout the city.  We know nothing of who they were, were they patriarchs or were they people who had recently died.  However, we know the effect of this on the Roman soldiers in charge of guarding Jesus.  They declare:  "surely, this was a man of God".

Later, a Roman soldier comes around to break the legs of the condemned criminals to hasten their deaths.  He comes to Jesus and seeing that he is dead, stabs him with a spear to ensure that he is actually dead.  John 19:36 highlights that this fulfills a requirement in that the bones of the lamb were not to be broken.  

John 19 also states that when the side of Jesus was pierced, out came blood and water.  John 19 is silent as to why water came out, but it emphasizes in verse 35 that the man who saw it says it happened.  Thus suggests the man really was surprised by what came out and that it was literal water.

Stabbing Jesus with a spear is only recorded in John 19.  This chapter is also silent as to another famous legend - the Holy Grail.  There is no mention of a cup that contained the blood of Jesus as it flowed out.

After the death, Nicodemus (from John 3) and Joseph of Arimethea take away the body of Jesus.   Pilate is surprised that Jesus has already died.  It was the Jewish Day of Preparation, i.e., Friday, and sunset was drawing near.  So, they did not have a lot time to prepare the body for burial.  They did wrap Jesus in linens and spices.  According to the NIV translation, the spices were about 34 kilograms of myrrh and aloes. 

They put the body of Jesus in a tomb that had never been used before.  They then roll a large stone in front of the tomb.

The next day, the Jewish leaders request that an extra guard and seal be placed in the tomb.  This is because they knew that Jesus predicted his own resurrection and suspect that the disciples will steal the body of Jesus and claim that he was resurrected.  Pilate agrees and orders a guard and seal on the tomb.

One final note on the day and time of these events - we cannot read these accounts with our modern understanding and standards of time.  Otherwise, it is not make any sense at all.

John 19:14 states that Pilate finished interrogating Jesus at noon whereas Mark 15:25 states that Jesus was put on the cross at around 9 AM. Clearly, there is an irreconcilable difference.  However, I would state that these accounts are based on at least two different eye witnesses at a time when they did not have clocks.  

So, one person looking at the sun's position in the sky would say it is 9 AM whereas another might say it was noon.  Likewise, the accounts only used intervals of 3 hour.  So, a discrepancy of three hours is understandable since they are based on differing subjective estimates of what time it is.  This is similar issue whether the Roman soldiers gave him a purple or scarlet robe in mock homage.

Also, some people believe the events happened on Wednesday because Jesus was to be in the tomb for three days and three nights.  The issue being whether days were inclusive, regardless o the time of the day (Friday, Saturday, and Sunday) or whether it represented 72 hours in the modern concept.  However, John 19 makes it clear that it was a Preparation Day, which was the weekly Sabbath routine, i.e., Friday.  Luke 23:56 also states that the Preparation was for the weekly Sabbath.

Jesus and Nicodemus (John 3:1-21)

This is a very theologically rich passage and I could not possibly hope to unpack it all.  All I want to do now is focus on the interaction of Jesus and Nicodemus.

From the prior chapter, we learn that Jesus' miraculous signs are convincing many people to believe in his name.  But Jesus does not entrust himself to these people.  The text does not give a specific reason why other than the fact that Jesus knew their consciences.

In John 3, Nicodemus came to Jesus at night.  Nicodemus is a Pharisee and a member of the Jewish ruling council.  

Nicodemus calls Jesus "Rabbi" and that he must have come from God due to the miraculous signs that he is doing.  This indicates that Nicodemus is likely one of the people spoken about because he is referring to Jesus' miraculous signs as showing the authority.  Jesus was skeptical of this group of people, but will he be skeptical of Nicodemus?

Nicodemus coming to Jesus at night could mean several things and is not dispositive of a single outcome.  First, it could men that Nicodemus was trying to publicly hide his support and belief in Jesus.  At this point, Jesus may be a controversial figure due to the cleansing of the temple, but he can do miraculous signs.  Jumping ahead, we know the Pharisees will seek to subvert and then execute Jesus, so we can probably infer that the initial encounter was not positive for all the Pharisees.

I think this is probably what is going on, but the reasoning rests on events that happen later on.  The text of John 3 is silent as to why Nicodemus comes at night.  There may have been an innocuous reason such as Nicodemus just wanted Jesus alone without the crowds that were beginning to form.

Jesus answers Nicodemus with what seems like a riddle - unless a man be born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God.

Nicodemus is bewildered and focuses on the literal meaning of what Jesus said - no one can enter the womb a second time.

 Jesus responds that no one can enter the Kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit.  Jesus then discusses the actions of the Spirit as a mysterious and unique entity.  Jesus statements even imply the Spirit has its own free will.  Finally, Jesus states that so it is with everyone born of the Spirit.

Nicodemus asks how can this be?

At this point Jesus begins to talk to Nicodemus about the importance of the Son of the Man.  Unpacking the text, Jesus states:

1.  The Son of Man is the only one who has gone into heaven because he has come from heaven.  

2.  God loved the world so much that He gave his only begotten Son to save people.  

3.  Those who believe in the name of the Son is not condemned.

4.  Those who do not believe in the name of the Son is already condemned.

5.  People either love light and hate darkness or vice versa.

There is no record of what Nicodemus says in response to all of this.  Rather, the story seems to end abruptly.  

Now that we know Jesus' response, let's look back at the initial encounter.  Here is what I see:

1.  Nicodemus believes in Jesus' name because of the miraculous signs

2.  Nicodemus is already part of the Kingdom of God, as demonstrated by his approach of Jesus.  Thus, Nicodemus is already "born again", i.e., born of the Spirit, otherwise he would not have approached Jesus.  Jesus just needs to explain it to someone to get it on the record.  

Similarly, we have no indication of whether Jesus said anything similar to anyone else prior to this encounter with Nicodemus.

3.  Jesus seems to be entrusting himself to Nicodemus.  In fact, Jesus is implicitly revealing himself as the Son of God to Nicodemus.  Jesus never actually says "I am the Son of God".  In verse 2, Nicodemus stated that Jesus came from God.  After a bit of dialogue, Jesus then states that the Son of God has already come from God.  Although it is in a third person discussion, we can surmise from the context that Jesus is telling Nicodemus that he is the Son of God.

Jumping ahead to the story immediately following this, we find Jesus' disciples baptizing converts.  The focus of the story is on the interaction with John the Baptist, but we can make an inference that Nicodemus was one of the people being baptized because:

1.  it immediately follows the story with Nicodemus

 2   Jesus told Nicodemus that he had to be born of water and Spirit.  The discussion that followed seemed to indicate that Nicodemus was born of Spirit, now he needs to be born of water.

3.  The story with Nicodemus seems to end abruptly, but it could just mean it parlayed directly into his baptism. If Nicodemus is baptized immediately afterwards, this stands in sharp contrast to secretly approaching Jesus by night.  Rather, it is a public declaration of faith during daylight.