John 19:17-18

17 They took Jesus, therefore, and He went out, bearing His own cross, to the place called the Place of a Skull, which is called in Hebrew, Golgotha.

What must it have been like to have heard Jesus talking about taking up your cross and then to see Him taking up, essentially, ours... if they realized it at the time.

18 There they crucified Him, and with Him two other men, one on either side, and Jesus in between.

Why was He btwn them? I mean, what's the symbolizm/meaning?

John 19:11

Jesus answered, "You would have no authority over Me, unless it had been given you from above; for this reason he who delivered Me to you has the greater sin."

Why is that sin greater? Greater than what?

John 19:4-5

4 Pilate came out again and said to them, "Behold, I am bringing Him out to you so that you may know that I find no guilt in Him."

5 Jesus then came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. Pilate said to them, "Behold, the Man!"

Two questions:

1. Why didn't Pilate take off the crown and robe when he brought Jesus out?

It seems weird that he wd let Him be brought out like that while saying he finds no guilt in Him. Wdn't some say "This is how he treats people w/o guilt?"

2. Why does he say "Behold, the Man!"?

Matthew Henry says:

...intimating that though his having been so popular might have given them some cause to fear that his interest in the country would lessen theirs...

John 18:37-38

Therefore Pilate said to Him, "So You are a king?" Jesus answered, "You say correctly that I am a king For this I have been born, and for this I have come into the world, to testify to the truth Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice."

Pilate said to Him, "What is truth?" And when he had said this, he went out again to the Jews and said to them, "I find no guilt in Him."

He asks Jesus "What is truth?", but then walks away.

John 18:34

Why does Jesus ask Pilate this:

Jesus answered, "Are you saying this on your own initiative, or did others tell you about Me?"

John 18:28

Then they led Jesus from Caiaphas into the Praetorium, and it was early; and they themselves did not enter into the Praetorium so that they would not be defiled, but might eat the Passover.

That's when you've really lost sight of what's right and important.

John 18:20

No major revelations today, but I did noticed one thing...

In John 18:20 Jesus explains:

20 Jesus answered him, "I have spoken openly to the world;
I always taught in synagogues and in the temple, where all
the Jews come together; and I spoke nothing in secret."

I believe He's making the point that everything He's done
has been in the open and available to be known by all; He's
got nothing to hide.

But it might also be a little jab at their tactics of plotting,
arresting Him and holding trial at night, etc. - in secret.

From Matthew Henry:

He said nothing in secret contrary to what he said in public, but only by way of repetition and explication: In secret have I said nothing; as if he had been either suspicious of the truth of it, or conscious of any ill design in it. He sought no corners, for he feared no colours, nor said any thing that he needed to be ashamed of; what he did speak in private to his disciples he ordered them to proclaim on the house-tops, Mt. 10:27. God saith of himself (Isa. 45:19), I have not spoken in secret; his commandment is not hidden, Deu. 30:11. And the righteousness of faith speaks in like manner, Rom. 10:6. Veritas nihil metuit nisi abscondi—truth fears nothing but concealment.—Tertullian.

John 18:14 - Reading Slowly

If nothing else, reading in the Greek forces me to read slower and consider the words more cafefully. I tend to see things in the text I hadn't before. For example...

Caiaphas, in John 11:47-50 and then again it's mentioned in John 18, talks/teaches about one man dying for the nation. Of course, he's talking about Jesus dying to for the nation in protection from the Romans; not sin.

John 18
14 Now Caiaphas was the one who had advised the Jews that it was expedient for one man to die on behalf of the people.

(see John 11:47-50)

I never saw the irony before. Especially coming from such a man that sd know the scripture and know how He really came to die for the people.

John 18:5-6

This is not a full translation - just the parts to make my point...

4Ἰησοῦς οὖν εἰδὼς πάντα τὰ ἐρχόμενα ἐπ' αὐτὸν ἐξῆλθεν καὶ λέγει αὐτοῖς, Τίνα ζητεῖτε;

Jesus asks the cohort "Whom do you seek?"

5ἀπεκρίθησαν αὐτῷ, Ἰησοῦν τὸν Ναζωραῖον.

They say Jesus the Nazarene.

λέγει αὐτοῖς, Ἐγώ εἰμι. εἱστήκει δὲ καὶ Ἰούδας ὁ παραδιδοὺς αὐτὸν μετ' αὐτῶν.

Jesus says "I am."

6ὡς οὖν εἶπεν αὐτοῖς, Ἐγώ εἰμι, ἀπῆλθον εἰς τὰ ὀπίσω καὶ ἔπεσαν χαμαί.

They drew back and fell down.

My main point really is that Jesus doesn't say "I am He" as it is often translated, but "I am."

Thougts?

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