v. 1, 2 Then Pilate took Jesus and had him flogged. The soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head. Jesus had been betrayed and abandoned by his friends, and then he was handed over for torture and inhumane treatment. He was mocked and made fun of. In Isaiah 53, the prophet spoke over 700 years before the events that the Christ would be despised and rejected by men. He also said that the Christ would be pierced for our transgression, and by his wounds we would be healed – and the punishment that brought us peace would be upon him. All of this is being fulfilled as Jesus is placed in the hands of the Roman soldiers. They made sport of him, mocking him for calling himself a King, and the Son of God. And yet Jesus took it all. He bore the wrath of God and took our punishment that ultimately would bring us peace.
v. 7 The Jews said, “We have a law, and according to that law he must die because he claimed to be the Son of God.” The Jews wanted to hold Jesus to the standard of their law saying he must die for blasphemy, claiming to be God. The irony is that Jesus would die to set them free from the penalty of that same law. None of them and none of us would stand up to the standard of that law. These men were not innocent of all sin according to the law. And yet they were crucifying Jesus because of the law. God knew what he was doing. Jesus, who perfectly fulfilled the law of God , actually died under the law in order to set us free from the law’s condemnation of our sin.
v. 11 You would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above. Pilate had the ultimate say in the matter. Under Roman rule, the Jews could not execute a man without Roman consent. Pilate tried to get Jesus to realize that he could set Jesus free. Jesus told Pilate that his authority was underneath the ultimate authority of heaven. We see here again God’s sovereignty and absolute control of the situation. These things did not just happen to Jesus. These were a part of the sovereign plan of God. He was and is in control. It was all in His hands. Jesus trusted the Father’s plan even when it hurt and meant the cross. He knew there was a greater good.
v. 15 We have no king but Caesar. The Jews were trying to make an argument that they were under full compliance of Roman law, but their statement reveals their spiritual blindness. They had thrown off true submission of their lives to the God of Israel, and had become slaves of a religious system that they tried to work for their own advantage.
v. 34 Instead one of the soldiers pierced Jesus’ side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water. There are a couple of things I have heard and read through the years about this event. The first is that the spear probably struck Jesus in the heart and pierced the sac that surrounds the heart. Therefore we are to understand that Jesus was pierced to the heart. Perhaps this is a symbolic picture of the deep grief of Jesus having taken on the sin of the world. His heart was pierced for humanity, grieved at their sin and rejection of God.