Day 5: John 19:28-42
Stories: The death and burial of Jesus
Curiosities:
1) They gave Jesus a vinegar based drink when He said He was thirsty. This just seems cruel on top of the cruelty He had already been shown, but why did Jesus want something to drink just before He died? It was as if this was the last wish He had using His original human body – to taste one last thing. After this, He would have a resurrected body, the kind we will all have one day. I think this goes to understanding that when God made us, He said “it was good.” He made our taste buds, our senses, our emotions – everything about us. Jesus seems to have wanted one last taste with His original earthly body – the one He had said so long ago was “good.”
2) Jesus’ legs weren’t broken to fulfill scripture that He would be the pure and spotless lamb – blameless and unbroken. John must have come to know the Roman guard who testified to this because he takes special care to point out that the man’s testimony is true. Perhaps he became a believer in the book of Acts?
3) Joseph and Nicodemus are the only two men to handle Jesus’ dead body. For less than 72 hours in all of eternity, Jesus’ body lay dead and lifeless, and these two men had the privilege to handle and care for it. What a magnificent privilege!
4) Part of the significance of a new tomb was that there was no mistake of who was in the tomb and who came out under His own power. We know from other gospel accounts that many dead people arose from the dead and left their tombs during the hours of Jesus’ crucifixion. Jesus was not to be confused with one of these many people.
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