Joh 19:12 - 15 "From then on Pilate sought to release him, but the Jews cried out, "If you release this man, you are not Caesar's friend. Everyone who makes himself a king opposes Caesar." So when Pilate heard these words, he brought Jesus out and sat down on the judgment seat at a place called The Stone Pavement, and in Aramaic Gabbatha. Now it was the day of Preparation of the Passover. It was about the sixth hour. He said to the Jews, "Behold your King!" They cried out, "Away with him, away with him, crucify him!" Pilate said to them, "Shall I crucify your King?" The chief priests answered, "We have no king but Caesar." 

The will of man is captive to inclinations of the direction of the heart. Even though you would choose something different if you could your choice has not been freed from the fear of rejection, pain and death. Whether denying there is a God of Love or believing in a different god altogether, the lack of freedom is characteristic of man apart from God. Their hearts and wills are enslaved by the inclination in opposition to God. 

Their King and ruler is other than the Absolute Love. 

Even though it was not a free choice it is the choice of all who do not know the Love of God. Rejection of God and of doing right. 

Joh 19:16, 17  "So he delivered him over to them to be crucified. So they took Jesus, and he went out, bearing his own cross, to the place called The Place of a Skull, which in Aramaic is called Golgotha." 

Pilate knew in His heart this was Yahweh, The King, yet His inclination towards self and self preservation led him to condemn himself. 
How often i fight this tendency to do other than what I know God would have me to do. Unbelief in God's graciousness, goodness and love is the essence of the sin of Adam. 
Our only hope The Second Adam, The Son of Man. Jesus of Nazareth dying sinless and faithful to remove the penalty of my faithlessness and unbelief.

Joh 19:18 - 22 "There they crucified him, and with him two others, one on either side, and Jesus between them.  Pilate also wrote an inscription and put it on the cross. It read, "Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews." Many of the Jews read this inscription, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and it was written in Aramaic, in Latin, and in Greek. So the chief priests of the Jews said to Pilate, "Do not write, 'The King of the Jews,' but rather, 'This man said, I am King of the Jews.'"  Pilate answered, "What I have written I have written." 

All of the acts of Jesus would fulfill the word of God, fulfill the righteousness of God, fulfill the just penalty of sin and make way for my faith and forgiveness.

Joh 19:23, 24  When the soldiers had crucified Jesus, they took his garments and divided them into four parts, one part for each soldier; also his tunic. But the tunic was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom, so they said to one another, "Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it to see whose it shall be." This was to fulfill the Scripture which says, "They divided my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots." So the soldiers did these things, 

Jesus would take care of His own, fold them into His family and give them power to stand as ONE with God and with one another.

Joh 19:25 -27  "but standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother and his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, "Woman, behold, your son!"Then he said to the disciple, "Behold, your mother!" And from that hour the disciple took her to his own home." 

Jesus saw all things to completion, even to know the thirst of man in separation from the Father. It was finished and accomplished completely on the cross.

Joh 19:28 - 30 "After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said (to fulfill the Scripture), "I thirst." A jar full of sour wine stood there, so they put a sponge full of the sour wine on a hyssop branch and held it to his mouth.  When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, "It is finished," and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit." 

Jesus paid the price in full. His heart broken and silence but for a moment as He bore the weight of eternal punishment within His eternal life.

Joh 19:31 - 37 "Since it was the day of Preparation, and so that the bodies would 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. So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first, and of the other who had been crucified with him.  But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. But one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and at once there came out blood and water. He who saw it has borne witness--his testimony is true, and he knows that he is telling the truth--that you also may believe.  For these things took place that the Scripture might be fulfilled: "Not one of his bones will be broken. And again another Scripture says, "They will look on him whom they have pierced." 

His immediate family and friends buried Him in silence and the pain of grief. In denial at the loss.

Joh 19:38 - 42 "After these things Joseph of Arimathea, who was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear of the Jews, asked Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus, and Pilate gave him permission. So he came and took away his body.  Nicodemus also, who earlier had come to Jesus by night, came bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds in weight. So they took the body of Jesus and bound it in linen cloths with the spices, as is the burial custom of the Jews. Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb in which no one had yet been laid.  So because of the Jewish day of Preparation, since the tomb was close at hand, they laid Jesus there." 

That moment of grief and pain was turned to wonder and faith as Jesus had risen, He was not in the tomb and the words of Jesus came flooding back. 


Joh 14:19, 20  "Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you." 

Joh 16:16 - 22 "A little while, and you will see me no longer; and again a little while, and you will see me." So some of his disciples said to one another, "What is this that he says to us, 'A little while, and you will not see me, and again a little while, and you will see me'; and, 'because I am going to the Father'?" So they were saying, "What does he mean by 'a little while'? We do not know what he is talking about." Jesus knew that they wanted to ask him, so he said to them, "Is this what you are asking yourselves, what I meant by saying, 'A little while and you will not see me, and again a little while and you will see me'?  Truly, truly, I say to you, you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice. You will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn into joy. When a woman is giving birth, she has sorrow because her hour has come, but when she has delivered the baby, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world.  So also you have sorrow now, but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you." 

Joh 20:1 - 9 "Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb. So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, "They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him. So Peter went out with the other disciple, and they were going toward the tomb. Both of them were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. And stooping to look in, he saw the linen cloths lying there, but he did not go in. Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen cloths lying there, and the face cloth, which had been on Jesus' head, not lying with the linen cloths but folded up in a place by itself. Then the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed;  for as yet they did not understand the Scripture, that he must rise from the dead." 

They hadn't realized Jesus was going to be raised from the dead.  

We need to expand our faith in the possibilities of what God will do in the midst of seeming defeat.