28 After this, when Jesus knew that everything had now been finished, he said, “I’m thirsty.” He said this so that Scripture could finally be concluded.
29 A jar filled with vinegar was there. So the soldiers put a sponge soaked in the vinegar on a hyssop stick and held it to his mouth.
30 After Jesus had taken the vinegar, he said, “It is finished!”
Then he bowed his head and died.
31 Since it was Friday and the next day was an especially important day of rest—a holy day, the Jews didn’t want the bodies to stay on the crosses. So they asked Pilate to have the men’s legs broken and their bodies removed. 32 The soldiers broke the legs of the first man and then of the other man who had been crucified with Jesus.
33 When the soldiers came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they didn’t break his legs. 34 However, one of the soldiers stabbed Jesus’ side with his spear, and blood and water immediately came out. 35 The one who saw this is an eyewitness. What he says is true, and he knows that he is telling the truth so that you, too, will believe.
36 This happened so that the Scripture would come true: “None of his bones will be broken.” 37 Another Scripture passage says, “They will look at the person whom they have stabbed.”
Read John 19:28-37 in context and/or in other translations on BibleGateway.com!
The gospel of John is an interesting gospel. Not only does it give us a unique perspective on Jesus’ life, John seems to paint a picture for us about who Jesus is, instead of who He was. The other gospel writers dig into an assortment of events that give us an overview of Jesus’ life, His ministry, His death, and His resurrection, but John strategically pulls events together to paint a picture of Jesus as not just a prophet or famous person, but as the Messiah who God had sent.
Luke opens his gospel by sharing that his gospel is a collection of interviews with people who were eyewitnesses. Mark may have been one of Jesus’ followers who was not part of the group of 12 disciples, so his gospel is likely put together by talking with Jesus’ disciples themselves. Matthew was one of Jesus’ twelve disciples, and he paints his gospel around how Jesus fulfills Old Testament prophecy.
But in the events surrounding Jesus’ death, while Matthew is probably the most detailed writer at the moment Jesus died, it is John who draws our attention to a set of prophecies that Matthew missed or chose to not include. In John, following Jesus taking His last breath, the Jewish leaders convince Pilate to expedite the men’s deaths by breaking their legs.
However, because Jesus was already dead, they skip breaking His legs, and instead thrust a spear into His side to confirm His death. John tells us the significance of these two details of Jesus death: “This happened so that the Scripture would come true: ‘None of his bones will be broken.’ Another Scripture passage says, ‘They will look at the person whom they have stabbed.’” (v. 36-37)
This is one of the very few places where a gospel writer includes a prophetic detail of Jesus’ life that Matthew does not include. Perhaps this was because John was the only eyewitness who connected these dots, or maybe Matthew didn’t include it because He was not present for it.
What this tells me most importantly about the four gospels is that all four gospels are important and each of the four gospels has a place in helping us understand who Jesus was, who He is, and who He came to be. All four gospels can teach us something distinct about Jesus, and by including all four gospels, we can see a much better picture of Jesus the Messiah.
This thought was inspired by studying the Walking With Jesus “Reflective Bible Study” package. To discover insights like this in your own study time, click here and give Reflective Bible Study a try today!
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