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John 19:16-42 "NORMAL ROMAN PRACTICE AT A CRUCIFIXION"

Day 321 – John 19

NORMAL ROMAN PRACTICE AT A CRUCIFIXION

The whole design of crucifying a person was to make it an object lesson to all would-be transgressors. Anyone who transgressed Roman law or tested its power would be punished to the severest extent! Crucifixion was one of the slowest ways to die. Sometimes it took days to die. Even after death, the Romans would not take down the crucified bodies. They left the corpses to become food for vultures. The specter of death would serve as a grave deterrent for all would-be lawbreakers!

EXCEPTION TO THE RULE

Almost all rules had exception clauses! The Jews did not want the bodies of Jesus and the two criminals to be left hanging on their crosses! Why were they so concerned about this matter? We need to look at an Old Testament text to figure out the reason why they asked Pilate to take down the bodies from the crosses.

“If a man has committed a sin deserving of
death, and he is put to death, and you hang
him on a tree, his body shall not remain
overnight on the tree, but you shall surely
bury him that day, so that you do not defile
the land which the Lord your God is giving
you as an inheritance; for he who is hanged
is accursed of God.”
Deuteronomy 21:22-23

THE JEWISH APPLICATION OF AN ANCIENT MOSAIC LAW

Imagine having knowledge of this relatively obscure law of Moses. Yet, this law seemed to be foremost in the mind of the Jews. In appealing to Pilate based on this law, the Jews were in fact saying the following things:-

1. That Jesus was guilty.

2. That He was deserving of death.

3. That God had adjudged Him “accursed”.

4. That He deserved to be hanged to death (by way of applying the concept of “crucifixion”).

5. They felt justified in what they were doing. They reasoned that if God had allowed Jesus to die by their hands, then He must have been guilty indeed!

6. However, the laws of Moses were most humane. Even the condemned deserved a decent burial! They must not be exposed to the elements, or worse, be given to the birds of the air to feed on!

7. Israel was charged with the responsibility of seeing to the removal and burial of all who were hanged on a tree (read “crucified” in the context of Jesus).

If anyone was guilty of sin, the Jews would have been condemned for both their hypocrisy and their pre-meditated plan to kill Jesus! Yet, here they were, appearing smug and self-righteous, they came to ask Pilate to have the body of Jesus and the other two criminals taken down from their crosses, otherwise the land would have been considered “defiled”.

PAULINE APPLICATION OF THIS ANCIENT LAW

Were the Jews correct in applying the law the way they did? There was another person who was aware of this Mosaic statute. The Apostle Paul was a trained Rabbi before he came to faith in Jesus. He had sat at the feet of the famous Rabbi Gamaliel, one of the foremost teachers in those days. He applied this verse in his letter to the Galatian Churches.

The Jews had applied the Mosaic law to Jesus and had thus declared Him to be a sinner and “accursed of the Lord”.

Paul discussed this subject of being “under a curse” in his epistle to the Galatians. He wrote,

“For as many as are of the works of the law are
under the curse; for it is written, ‘Cursed is
everyone who does not continue in all things
which are written in the book of the law, to do
them.’

Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law,
having become a curse for us (for it is written,
‘Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree’),
that the blessing of Abraham might come upon
the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive
the promise of the Spirit through faith.”
Galatians 3:10, 13-14

Let us enumerate what Paul was saying in this text:-

1. The curse of God is upon ALL who do not keep the Laws of God.

2. All who have broken the laws of God are therefore “accursed of the Lord”.

3. Jesus took the place of all sinners, and became “accursed of the Lord”- in our place!

The Jews were partially correct! Jesus was indeed “accursed of the Lord”! However, they were wrong in concluding that He was a sinner and deserving of death!

The Apostle Paul set the records straight! Jesus became accursed for our sake! He bore our sins. He bore our guilt and our penalty!

THE BLESSED RAMIFICATIONS

To the Jews, Jesus was now a “non-issue”. He was dead. He deserved death. His body on the cross was just an inconvenience that they would resolve soon enough. They would request Pilate to take down His body.

To Paul, Jesus’ death on the cross had great ramifications. Through His death on the Cross, salvation, the blessings of Abraham (no less), and the Promise of the Holy Spirit would now be given to all who found faith in Jesus. Even Gentiles could now receive God’s richest blessings through faith in Jesus! All because of Calvary!