Swedish-based commentator René Kieffer divides this chapter into two sections:
Verses 1-16a deal with Jesus' trial before Pilate, and are continuous with the events reported in the latter part of chapter 18
Verses 16b-42 deal with his crucifixion, death and burial.
He further divides the first section into four parts: verses 1-3 (humiliation before Pilate), verses 4-7 (Pilate coming out of his headquarters with the mocked royal Jesus), verses 8-11 (Jesus' dialogue with Pilate) and verses 12-16a (the "decisive scene" determining Jesus' fate). Kieffer goes on to divide the second section into three parts: a narrative in verses 16b-30 leading to the death of Jesus, a theological commentary in verses 31-37, and a narrative concerning Jesus' burial in verses 38-42.[6]
Verses 1-3: Jesus' humiliation before Pilate[edit]
Heinrich Meyer notes that Pilate "caused the scourging to be carried out", but this would have been done by his soldiers.[8] The action was "inflicted without sentence [or] legality".[8] According to Scottish Free Church minister William Nicoll, the scourging was meant as a compromise by Pilate, undertaken "in the ill-judged hope that this minor punishment might satisfy the Jews".[9] Pilate stated three times (in John 18:39, 19:4 and 19:6) that he found no fault in Jesus.[6]
Then Jesus came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. And Pilate said to them, "Behold the Man!"[14]
"Behold the Man": Ecce homoinVulgateLatin; in the original Greek: Ἴδε ὁ ἄνθρωπος, (Ide ho anthrōpos). Meyer reflects that the words are "short [but] significant".[8]
Therefore, when the chief priests and officers saw Him, they cried out, saying, "Crucify Him, crucify Him!" Pilate said to them, "You take Him and crucify Him, for I find no fault in Him".[15]
"Crucify Him, crucify Him!": The words of the chief priests and officers in the Received Text are Greek: σταύρωσον, σταύρωσον, staurōson, staurōson,[16] meaning "crucify! crucify!", with the word "him" being implied or added in English texts. The Jews did not possess the right of execution, nor was crucifixion a Jewish form of capital punishment.[8]
And whoever blasphemes the name of the Lord shall surely be put to death. All the congregation shall certainly stone him, the stranger as well as him who is born in the land. When he blasphemes the name of the Lord, he shall be put to death.
Pilate was bound by Roman precedent to pay respect to the law of subject nationalities.[20]
The Greek λαγχάνειν (lagchanein) is properly translated not as "to cast lots", but "to obtain by lot". In this action, John sees a fulfilment of Psalm 22:18, the Septuagint version of which is quoted here.[9]
And from that hour that disciple took her to his own home.[30]
"That hour" may indicate that "they did not wait at the cross to see the end and the disciple took her to his own home"; εἰς τὰ ἴδια, see John 1:11, John 16:32. Mary would live with John and his natural mother, Salome, who is also Mary's sister.[31]
Therefore, because it was the Preparation Day, that the bodies should not remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a high day), the Jews asked Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away.[35]
Preparation Day was the day before the Passover.[36] Verse 42 refers to this day as "the Jews' Preparation Day". Plummer suggests that "the addition of 'the Jews' may point to the time when there was already a Christian ‘preparation-day'".[20]
And again another Scripture says, "They shall look on Him whom they pierced".[37]
This is the last of a series of texts, commencing from John 13:18: "that the Scripture may be fulfilled, 'He who eats bread with Me has lifted up his heel against Me',[38] in which the evangelist confirms that the events of the passion fulfill the Old Testamentscriptures. The quoted passage is Zechariah 12:10b, "then they will look on Me whom they pierced", with the word "me" changed to "him". Lutheran commentator Johann Bengel argues that John quotes this passage "for the sake of its allusion to the piercing [not for that to the looking]".[39]
And Nicodemus, who at first came to Jesus by night, also came, bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about a hundred pounds.[40]
Bengel notes that Nicodemus, who had shown his faith in dialogue with Jesus in chapter 3, here "manifested [it] by an altogether distinguished work of love".[39]
