Love Until The Last Drop

The Love of Jesus for You An In-Depth Look at

John 19:17-30

Rev. Adaly Rosado, Jr.

Edited by: Rev. Charles Szivos

Copyright © 2014 Rev. Adaly Rosado, Jr.

All rights reserved.

ISBN: 1497421721

ISBN-13: 978-1497421721

DEDICATION

This book is dedicated to all our future priests who labor silently in the seminaries.  They will help our people come to Jesus in the future as priests.  Please pray for them.  Encourage young men to be priests.  If you need more information about being a priest you can call Father Rosado at 845.204.8981

CONTENTS

Acknowledgments

i

1

Context

4

2

Text

11

3

Conclusion

36

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This was originally written as a paper while I was a student at Saint Joseph’s Seminary.  I would like to thank all the seminary staff and professors who taught me how to be a priest.  I would like to thank Father Charlie for his help editing this book.  He has been a great friend to me since I met him.  I would also like to thank Joe Siriotis for inspiring me to publish this book.  God Bless You.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Father Adaly Rosado, Jr. was born in the Bronx on the birthday of Our Lady in 1984.  He graduated from Dewitt Clinton High School in 2002.  He went on to study philosophy at Saint John’s University and graduated with a B.A. in 2007.  He graduated from Saint Joseph’s Seminary with in 2011 with a B.A. in Sacred Theology and an Master of Divinity.  He is an active blogger on FatherRosado.com and PadreRosado.com  He operates an internet radio show with Joseph Siriotis on FatherRosado.com/radio  In 2014, he released Regresen a Jesús.  A Spanish Language audio recording designed to help people return to Jesus in the confessional.  His primary responsibility is that of being the Parochial Vicar at Saint John’s in Goshen, NY

1 CONTEXT

The Crucifixion of Our Lord which (which is found in 19:17-30) can be considered the heart of the Gospel of John because the mission of Jesus is to reveal God’s saving activity.  Through Our Lord’s death, we are redeemed.  Numerous texts point towards the Crucifixion many chapters before it occurs.[i]  In 3:14-15, our Lord states that the Son of Man would be lifted up and those who believe in him would have eternal life.  This is the first of three instances which deal with the idea of “lifting up”, which points to his death.  The use of the Greek word hupsothenai indicates that Jesus is the Son of Man who will be lifted up on the Cross and that he would later rise triumphantly to the Father.[ii]  Another theme which points towards the Crucifixion of Our Lord is the Passover.  John the Baptist refers to Jesus as the “Lamb of God” in 1:29 and 1:36.[iii]  Donald Senior points out “Jesus, the Lamb of God, brings to fulfillment the hopes of liberation expressed in the Passover ritual.”[iv]

While John the Baptist speaks eighteen chapters prior to the Crucifixion, immediately prior to 19:17-30 is the trial before Pilate at the praetorium.[v]  A double trial takes place as the Jews who brought Jesus influence Pilate.  The original charge brought to Pilate is that Jesus is an evildoer.  Pilate finds him innocent of this charge and then offers them to either release the King of the Jews or Barabbas.  They choose Barabbas and Pilate has Jesus scourged, placed in purple vestments and crowned with thorns.  However, Jesus is in control as he walks out of the praetorium so that the Jews see him.  Pilate declares him innocent two more times but the Jews reveal the real reason he was brought to Pilate, he identifies himself as the Son of God.  The Jews then request Jesus’ death at the sixth hour when the Passover lambs were being sacrificed in the temple.  Only when they question Pilate’s allegiance to Caesar does he condemn Jesus to death.  This encounter with Pilate also results in the proclamation, though unintentionally, of the truth that Jesus is King. [vi]  Pilate has Jesus clothed as a king ready to be lifted up to his throne on the Cross.  Finally, on Golgotha, our Lord is crucified.[vii]

After the Crucifixion in 19:31-37, the Jews request that the legs of the condemned be broken in order to hasten their deaths, so that they may bring down the bodies before the Passover.  However, Jesus is already dead so the soldiers pierced his side.  The Jews present must have recalled the lament found in Zech 12:10-14, in which a man is pierced and looked upon.  After his death, the King has a worthy burial as Joseph of Arimathea takes possession of Jesus’ body and Nicodemus helps to wrap it in a cloth.  They perfume it with myrrh, aloes and spices and then take him to a new tomb.   This is significant, because of Jesus’ royalty.[viii] In 20:15-16, Our Lord appears to Mary Magadalene.  He initiates the conversation and he also reveals who he is because Mary had faith.[ix]  The passages which come before and after the Crucifixion demonstrate that in John, Jesus is the King who is in control and came to redeem the world before his return to the Father.

The Crucifixion of Our Lord is found in all four Gospels.  The basic idea is the same in all of them: Jesus is crucified and dies on the Cross.  One difference which is found is the location of the Crucifixion.  Only Luke does not specifically mention Golgotha.  However, both Luke and John immediately move to the phrase “there they crucified him” while in Matthew and Mark he is offered wine.  John’s theme of Jesus being glorified on the Cross is seen in some of the differences.  For instance, the words Jesus speaks from the Cross differ in John and they demonstrate that his death is triumphant while in Matthew, his words portray that he is abandoned.  The theme of John being in control accounts for some of the differences as in John, Jesus is not helped by Simon the Cyrene to carry his Cross and in John 19:30, Jesus says “it is finished” and freely gives up his spirit.[x]

2 TEXT

In 19:17, the setting is described.  The Crucifixion takes place at Golgotha, which means skull.  This name was probably given because the ground there resembled the top of a skull. Golgotha was outside of the city because the Jews did not want it to be profaned by the presence of dead bodies during the Passover. [xi]  Furthermore, in this verse, the fact that Jesus is carrying his own Cross echoes the idea of 10:17-18 in which Jesus states “…I lay down my life, that I may take it again…No one takes it from me.”[xii]  Thus, we see the motif of Jesus being in control. However, in this verse the motif of Jesus as the Passover lamb is also present.  Jesus carries his own Cross just like Issac carries his to his own sacrifice in Gen 22:6.[xiii]  Although Jesus is in control, he allows for “them” to take him.  Scholars disagree on who “they” are.  Senior states that it is the Jews, because in 19:16 Pilate allows them to take possession of Jesus.  However, Raymond Brown argues that the reader knows that it was the Romans who crucified Jesus.[xiv]  He states “one should not press grammatical antecedents.”[xv]  Francis Moloney argues that based on both of these arguments, it is both the Jews and the Romans who execute Jesus.  I agree with Moloney, because while the Jews did request Jesus’ death, 19:23 clearly states that the soldiers crucified Jesus.

In 19:18, the two men on the Crosses on either side of our Lord are not identified.  Their role is to form a royal retinue.[xvi]  John highlights Jesus’ Kingship by not placing emphasis on these two men and by highlighting Jesus’ position between the two men.  In this verse, the Johanine theme of Jesus as a gatherer of people is present because of his position in his Crucifixion.[xvii] In 19:19-21, Pilate identifies Jesus with the inscription he places over the Cross which reads “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.” In these verses the Evangelist recalls the encounter between Pilate and the Jews at the Praetorium.  Although Jesus was outside of Jerusalem, he was still near to the city and thus, many Jews walked by Jesus.  As they passed by, they could not help but notice Jesus and the inscription which was written.  They also understood it since it was written in the major languages of the day.  Naturally, the chief priests protest and request in 19:21, to change the placard to “this man said, I am King of the Jews.”  Pilate gets his revenge on the Jews for challenging his loyalty to Caesar and thus forcing him to crucify Jesus.  He does this by stating that he would not change the inscription.  In this exchange between Jesus and the chief priests, the Jews reject Jesus as their king just as they did in 19:15, when they take Caesar as their king.  John uses irony in these verses as the identity of Jesus is revealed.[xviii]  Robert Kysar comments: “John has the unwilling Pilate proclaim the fulfillment of the redemptive act of God, which can never be changed now that it is done.”[xix]

In 19:23-25a, the soldiers have the right to divide Jesus’ clothes amongst themselves.  An exception was made for Jesus, because normally crucified victims were brought naked to their executions.  It is interesting to note that John mentions in detail each piece of clothing that was removed from Our Lord and this suggests that Jesus was crucified naked.  However, since the Jews were horrified by nudity it is possible that an exception was made.  While Saint John Chrysostom accepted the view that Jesus was naked on the Cross, but after the 5th century Christian Art depicts Jesus with a loincloth.  The text leaves this question open to debate and does not support either side.[xx]

What is known is that the soldiers divided his himatia (clothes) into four parts and cast lots for the chiton (tunic/undergarnment).  John quotes Psalm 22:18 which was a lament psalm in order to certify that the Scriptures were fulfilled.  Thus, it is demonstrated that the Crucifixion was not merely some historical event but instead it was a fulfillment of the Hebrew Scriptures.[xxi]

In addition to fulfilling the Scriptures, the fact that the tunic was “‘seamless’ and ‘woven in one piece from the top’ may be intended to recall the vestments of the High Priest.”[xxii]  The vestments are described in detail in Scripture. However, none of the references mention that they are seamless.[xxiii]  Josephus, the Jewish historian, does mention that the High Priests’ vestments were “…not composed of two pieces…it was one long vestment…”[xxiv] However, there is not enough information to suggest that the Evangelist mentions this in order to portray Jesus as both the Passover Lamb and the High Priest. [xxv]

Another interpretation of the undivided tunic is that it represents the unity of the Church.  Alexander of Alexandria, Cyprian and  Ignace De la Potterie support this position.  De la Potterie mentions 1 Kings 11:30-31, in which Ahijah tears his tunic in order to represent the division of Solomon’s kingdom.  Cyprian argues that the tunic is a symbol of the unification of the Church from above.  Alexander of Alexandria in dealing with the Arians, accused them of having torn Jesus’ tunic.[xxvi]  Other arguments which can be made in support of the unity motif are that unity is seen elsewhere in the Fourth Gospel such as in 17:21.  In addition, the untorn tunic would be similar to the fish net in 21:11, which did not break although it contained many fish.  On the other hand Senior and Rudolf Schnackenburg find this theory difficult to prove, because the removal of the tunic was a violent action.  Another difficulty with this interpretation is that the narrator never makes the connection between the tunic and unity.  Furthermore, if the tunic did in fact represent unity it would be difficult to explain why Jesus is deprived of it.[xxvii]

In 19:25, the soldiers strip Jesus but Jesus is not abandoned as near the Cross “…were his mother, and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene.”  Raymond Brown points out that grammatically one may wonder exactly how many women were at the foot of the Cross.  Upon reading the sentence, one can assume that Mary the wife of Clopas is Jesus’ mother and Mary Magdalene was her sister and therefore there are two women at the Cross.  However, to call the Blessed Mother Mary the wife of Clopas would not make sense, because she would be correctly referred to as Mary the wife of Joseph.  One can then argue that there were three women at the foot of the Cross.  The Blessed Mother, her sister Mary of Clopas and Mary Magdalene; however, this idea is problematic because then the two sisters would have both been named Mary.  Brown argues that the best possibility was that there were four women.  These were the Blessed Mother and her sister, Mary of Clopas and Mary Magdalene.  He proposes that while we cannot know for sure why the Blessed Mother’s name was not written, it is perhaps because she plays a symbolic role just like the unnamed Beloved Disciple.  In addition, he argues that perhaps everyone knew who Jesus’ mother was and this is why she was unnamed.  Although she was unnamed it was well known that Mary is Jesus’ mother.  At the foot of the Cross Mary symbolizes discipleship.  While Jesus does speak to his mother in 19:26-27, he does not speak to the other women.  They are present to demonstrate the theme of Jesus as the Good Shepherd who gathers his sheep.  Before he dies, he already has begun to gather people to himself.[xxviii]

Many interpretations of the meaning of 19:26-27 exist.[xxix]  In the early Church, an idea which was held by Augustine and Aquinas was to take the words of Jesus at face value.  Jesus was worried that now that he was dying, his mother would not have anyone to look after her and thus he makes John his brother.  This action provides social protection for Mary.  The fact that 19:27 states that he took her into his home supports this argument.  The Church Fathers liked this interpretation, because it protected Mary’s perpetual virginity.  Since she did not have any other sons, it was necessary that someone else had to take care of her.  Brown, however, does not like this idea, because he argues that it does not fit with themes that are found in the rest of the Gospel.  He points to 17:14, in which Jesus states that the disciples and he are not of this world.  He then connects this idea with the idea found in 21:22 in which Jesus tells Peter to follow him and not to worry about the material well-being of the Beloved Disciple because, it is not Peter’s concern what will happen to him.[xxx]

Another interpretation of 19:26-27 is that the focus is not on the Blessed Mother but on the Beloved Disciple.  The whole purpose of these verses would not be the protection of the Blessed Mother, but to put emphasis on John’s adoptive filiation.  This would be important for the Johanine community in order to put a greater emphasis on the disciple whose testimony is of great importance.  This idea can be seen in 19:35, in which John explicitly states that the Beloved Disciple’s testimony is true.  Senior points out that the problem with this interpretation is that too much emphasis is placed on the Beloved Disciple. Thus, not enough emphasis is placed on the use of the word “woman.”[xxxi]

The use of the word “woman” cannot be ignored.  It immediately brings to mind Jesus’ use of the word at the wedding feast of Cana in 2:1-12 in which Jesus refers to Mary as woman and not as mother or Mary.  At Cana Jesus tells his mother that his hour had not yet come.  The Evangelist intends to make the connection that the hour has indeed come (began in 13:1) by connecting the two pericopes with the use of the word “woman.”[xxxii]

Another predominant interpretation of 19:26-27 is that there is a revelation of an ecclesial significance.  In this interpretation, the Jewish Christian community is represented by Mary and the Gentile community is represented by the Beloved Disciple.  Thus, since Jesus has given them to each other, this interpretation would show that the Jewish Christians and the Gentile Christians could worship together.  Senior points out that a weakness in this argument is that in the rest of the Gospel of John there is no indication that either Mary or the Beloved Disciple represents these communities.[xxxiii]

Schnackenburg has a different interpretation.  While also making the connection to Cana he states that “Mary with her confident behavior at the wedding represents those who expect salvation from Jesus.”[xxxiv]  Thus he argues that at the Cross, Mary represents the Jews who were open to Jesus being the Messiah.  Some examples of these Jews given in the Fourth Gospel are John the Baptist, Andrew and Philip.  Andrew’s example is the most direct as he tells Simon in 1:41 “‘we have found the Messiah’”.  Since Mary represents those who have faith, Schnackenburg points out that it is important to note that there is a double giving.  Not only is Mary given to John but John is also given to Mary.  Thus John is entrusted to carry out Jesus’s plan of salvation and to ensure that it bears fruit.  It is in this context that we understand what Jesus means by “it is finished” in 19:28.[xxxv]  While there are many different interpretations of 19:26-27, Senior is correct when he states “it is impossible to reconcile all of these variant interpretations…”[xxxvi]

In 19:28-30, Jesus knows that he has come to the end of his life.  On the Cross, there is both fulfillment and perfection.  One can notice that 13:1 is fulfilled as Jesus truly does love his people to the end.  In addition, the narrator tells us that Jesus says that he is thirsty in order to fulfill Scripture.  After he does, he is given vinegar on hyssop. [xxxvii]  This along with Jesus’ statement in 28c of “I thirst” is a fulfillment of Ps 68:21 which states “…for my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.”[xxxviii]  His drinking of the vinegar also represents the cup which he tells Peter is given to him by his Father when he was about to be arrested in 18:11.  The fact that hyssop is used is also important.  Hyssop is not practical for holding up a sponge for someone to drink because it is flexible and has many leaves.  Therefore, while Mark and Matthew both state that a reed, was used it is possible that John inserted the term hyssop in order to make a connection with the Passover symbolism found in Ex 12-22-23.  In these verses, the elders were told by Moses to take hyssop and dip it in blood and then touch the lintel to their doorposts.  This would be a sign for the Lord not to bring his wrath on those homes while he punished the Egyptians.  It is fitting that the Evangelist would be recalling the Passover by mentioning the hyssop, since in 19:14 and 19:31 he explicitly writes that it was the time for preparation.[xxxix]

The mention of hyssop and the connections which can be made by its use also demonstrates the Evangelist’s skillful use of irony in 19:28-30.  The Crucifixion is a paradox! The soldiers believe that they are in control and in extending the hyssop with vinegar to Our Lord, their intention might have been to mock a thirsty dying man.  However, as has been discussed, this cry of thirst was a deliberate act to finish the cup given by the Father.  In addition, Christ is always in control as he is on the Cross, because from the Cross he actually delivered all from sin.  This deliverance was foreshadowed in his delivering Israel from the Egyptian slavery.  The use of tetelestai which the Evangelist also used in 19:28 is indicative of his control.[xl]  As Senior points out in the Fourth Gospel “Jesus dies with majestic assurance.  The mission of redemptive love that … animated his signs and life-giving words now reaches its summit and completion at the instant of death.”[xli]  The perfection seen in these verses occurs when Jesus dies.  Again we see that Jesus is the master of his own destiny because in 10:30c, we are told that Jesus “gave up his spirit.”  The Greek paredoken is a verb which is used to translate “gave up”.  It is also used to translate the handing over of Jesus to his captors in 19:16.  Another important word used in 10:30c is spirit.  In order to translate spirit the word pneuma is used.  Elsewhere in the Gospel, pneuma is used to mean the Holy Spirit.  The use of the word pneuma can also be interpreted to mean that Jesus poured out his Holy Spirit on the world upon his death.  This action would be a fulfillment of the prophecy found in 7:39.  In this verse, the narrator mentions that the spirit had not been given because Jesus had not been glorified. [xlii]  However, now the Spirit is given to the world because on the Cross Jesus is glorified.

3 CONCLUSION

At the Easter Vigil we always hear “O happy fault, O necessary sin of Adam, which gained for us so great a Redeemer!”[xliii]  In John, we see how truly great this Redeemer is as he freely chooses to take up the Cross and offer himself as an acceptable sacrifice to God for us.  Ironically, as we have seen in 19:21, Pilate identifies Jesus as “the King of the Jews.”

He is not only the King of the Jews but he is also our King.  The question for people today is what their reaction will be to Christ.  Will they be indifferent to him as the soldiers who are busy dividing his garments?  Will people act as Pilate and identify him correctly but not follow him, or like the Jews and be angry with him?  We hope that people will be like the Beloved Disciple and the Women at the foot of the Cross who accept Jesus as their King.  In our Church today, if one were to walk into any hospital they will notice many names listed on the Catholic patient list.  However, a good number are no longer practicing Catholics.  Today, during Ash Wednesday, Palm Sunday, Christmas and Easter it seems as if new Churches will need to be built in order to have enough seats for the congregation.  Unfortunately on other Sundays, the numbers go back to normal.  Schnackenburg’s interpretation of 19:26, is very helpful for us seminarians today.  We will receive from Christ the gift of the priesthood.  Like the Beloved Disciple, it will be our duty to ensure that Jesus’ plan of salvation continues and bears fruit as we preach the Good News.  We will be privileged to help our King to find his lost sheep.  Mother Teresa of Calcutta had a great insight into Jesus’ words.  When Jesus said “I thirst” in 19:28c, she states that his thirst was for souls.[xliv]  It is my hope that both now and in the future as a priest I will be able to satiate his thirst.

Endnotes

[i] Cf. Donald Senior, The Passion of Jesus in the Gospel of John (Collegeville: Liturgical Press, 1985), 16.

[ii] Ibid., 34.

[iii] Ibid., 31, 33.

[iv] Ibid., 33.

[v] Senior, 36, 45; Francis J. Moloney, The Gospel of John (Collegeville: Liturgical Press, 1998), 493-497.

[vi] Moloney, 493-497.

[vii] Donald Senior lists 19:17-42 as the final episode which takes place on Golgotha, however this paper will only discuss verses 17-30.

[viii] Rudolf Schnackenburg, The Gospel According to St John, vol. 3, (New York: Crossroad, 1987), 292, 295-299.

[ix] Ibid., 316-317.

[x] Raymond Brown, The Death of the Messiah, vol. 1, (New York: Doubleday, 1994), 80, 88; Senior, 108.

[xi] Schnackenburg, 270; Senior, 103; Moloney, 496.

[xii] Moloney, 502; Raymond Brown, The Death of the Messiah, vol. 2, (New York: Doubleday, 1994), 917; All scriptural citation in this paper are from the RSV.

[xiii] Raymond Brown, The Gospel According to John XIII-XXI, Anchor Bible 29A, (New York: Doubleday, 1970), 917;  Moloney, 496.

[xiv] Moloney, 506; Cf. Schnackenburg, 269 he agrees with Brown.

[xv] Brown, Death, vol. 2, 856.

[xvi] Senior, 103.

[xvii] Schnackenburg, 270-271; Moloney, 507.

[xviii] Senior, 103-104; Schnackenburg, 271.

[xix] Moloney quoting Robert Kysar, John, Augsburg Commentary on the New Testament,  (Minneapolis: Augsburg Publishing House, 1986), 287.

[xx] Brown Death, vol. 2, 952-953; Schnackenburg, 273.

[xxi] Senior, 105; regarding Psalm 22:18 is in the RSV version.  Senior actually mentions Psalm 22:19.

[xxii] Ibid., 106.

[xxiii] Ibid.

[xxiv] Ibid. quoting Flavius Josephus, The Antiquities of the Jews, trans. William Whiston (Massachusetts: Hendrickson, 1987); Book 3, chapter 7, #161.

[xxv] Cf. Senior, 106-107; Cf. Schnackenburg, 274.

[xxvi] Moloney, 507; Brown Death, vol. 2, 957-958.

[xxvii] Schnackenburg, 274; Senior, 107.

[xxviii] Brown Death, vol. 2, 1014-1015, 1018-1019; Senior 32.

[xxix] Cf. Brown Death, vol. 2, 1019-1026; Cf. Senior, 110-114.

[xxx] Brown Death, vol. 2, 1021, Senior 110.

[xxxi] Senior, 110.

[xxxii] Senior, 109; Brown Death, vol. 2, 1020.

[xxxiii] Senior, 110-111.

[xxxiv] Schnackenburg, 278.

[xxxv] Schnackenburg, 278-279; Senior 110-113.

[xxxvi] Senior, 113.

[xxxvii] Moloney, 504.

[xxxviii] Ibid. Moloney cites the LXX and thus he lists Ps 68:22.

[xxxix] Moloney, 504; Senior 117-118.

[xl] Senior 39, 118.

[xli] Ibid., 118-119.

[xlii] Senior, 119; Schnackenburg, 284-285.

[xliii] International Commission on English in the Liturgy, The Sacramentary (New York: Catholic Book Publishing Co., 1974), 184.

[xliv] Brian Kolodiejchuk, M.C., ed., Come Be My Light: The Private Writings of the “Saint of Calcutta” (New York: Doubleday, 2007), 194, 310, 319.

Table of Contents

DEDICATION

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

About the Author

1 Context

2 text

3 Conclusion

Endnotes