Sermon preached on John 19:31-37 by Rev. W. Reid Hankins during the Good Friday Service at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) on 04/18/2017 in Novato, CA.
Sermon Manuscript
This evening on Good Friday, I’d like to especially draw our attention to verses 31-37 which culminate in Jesus being pierced in the side with a spear. As he was pierced, both water and blood came out. This was such a significant event, that the Apostle John immediately puts this in the form of legal testimony. Verse 35 states, “And he who has seen has testified, and his testimony is true; and he knows that he is telling the truth, so that you may believe.” This is official eye-witness testimony by John. This event of Jesus being pierced and the resulting blood and water that came out was very significant to John. And so, we will spend a few minutes today to reflect on this as well. And it’s my hope that you’d have the result that John wanted: “so that you may believe”. It is my hope that you are either strengthened this evening in your faith in Jesus or that you would come this evening to a saving faith in Jesus as your Savior and Lord.
Let’s begin then by considering what led to Jesus being pierced. We find this in verse 31. It says that it was the day of Preparation. In other words, this was the day before the Sabbath. The Sabbath was to be a holy day of rest and that was especially the case this time, since it was also at that time the Passover holiday. That’s what’s referenced when it says that this Sabbath was a high day. The background for all of this is Deuteronomy 21:23. There, the law of God required Israel to not leave any dead body hanging overnight. It required that a dead body be buried the same day of death. But that’s the issue here. If the people being crucified that afternoon didn’t die before sundown, then presumably they’ll die during the Sabbath. Then, presumably none of the Jews would want to work on the sabbath to bury the bodies. That’s why the Jews wanted Pilate to break the legs of the people being crucified. This would speed up their deaths. When you were being crucified, you would use your legs to push up and get as much breath as you could. So, if you break their legs, they would suffocate quickly and die. That way these crucified individuals could die and be buried before the Sabbath started.
There’s a great irony here. The Jews would do this in order to keep the ceremonial law given under the old covenant. Listen to why Deuteronomy 21:23 says the dead bodies must not be kept hanging overnight: “For a hanged man is cursed by God.” The verse goes on to say that to keep such a cursed man hanging overnight would be to defile the land. So, the irony is that they try to pay such close attention to the ceremonial law while at the very same time crucifying the Messiah! They crucified the long-awaited Messiah while at the same time trying to be conscientious about the ceremonial law! Yet, there is where there is even greater irony. Because in crucifying the Messiah they actually are unwittingly fulfilling the ceremonial law. The ceremonial law addressed how unclean and cursed men could become clean and blessed. The ceremonial law advocated different sacrifices to that end. But ultimately, the blood of bulls and goats couldn’t truly cleanse humans of their sins. We needed a better sacrifice. And so, Jesus became accursed by dying on the cross. He actually took on the curse that we deserved as he hung there. And then they take him down before nightfall, symbolizing the curse being removed from the land. What a picture of what was actually going on; our curse being removed. It wasn’t Jesus’ own sin and curse that was being removed. It was for all of us who would turn to him in faith. Jesus took on our curse and sin on the cross in order that we would be clean and blessed before God. Paul in Galatians 3:3 actually makes this very point by quoting that passage from Deuteronomy about the cursed hang man. Paul say, “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us.” This we remember on Good Friday.
And so, this is what necessitated Jesus being pierced. You see, the Roman soldiers began to do as the Jews wanted. They went to those being crucified and started breaking legs. That’s verse 32. But when they came to Jesus, they saw he was already dead, and so they didn’t break his legs. Verse 36 references an Old Testament passage how the Passover lamb was not to have his legs be broken. John sees this as Jesus fulfilling Scripture, since his legs aren’t broken. This identified Jesus as the Passover lamb who dies in the place of God’s people. What the Passover lamb meant in the Old Testament, Jesus becomes in a far greater way.
And so instead of breaking Jesus’ legs the Roman soldiers pierce him in the side. Since they believed he was already dead, they didn’t feel the need to break his legs. But they did evidently see the need to confirm that Jesus was actually dead. The soldiers would have been in big trouble if they took Jesus down from the cross when he wasn’t actually dead. So, they verified it by piercing him in the side. What happens next is a bit interesting. John very clearly records in verse 34 that when Jesus’ side was pierced, out came both blood and water. In other words, these two liquids came out separately, not mixed together.
Medical doctors have weighed in on this, as such an occurrence is not very typical. He may have experienced a ruptured heart because of the great physical and mention agony and sorrow he was undergoing; and some physicians think this may account for what happened when he was pierced with the spear. Other doctors have suggested other medical conditions due to his experiences associated with the cross that could have caused pericardial and pleural effusion, the buildup of fluids around the heart and lungs. Pleural effusion is commonly known as “water on the lungs” even. This too could have explained the separate flow of water and blood from him when he was pierced. At the end of the day, it is not possible to be medically certain on the specific condition here. But that’s not the point of this passage. It’s not a medical journal. But there is at least one, maybe two, very specific points that John is making here. Notice that this is so important to John that in verse 35 he turns on the legalese. We said at the start that he uses the language of legal testimony; this is like him speaking under oath. He wants you to know this happened.
Why? Well, one reason for sure is that it proves he was really dead. That clearly seems to be a point here. Jesus truly did die on the cross. The Roman soldiers verified it by piercing him like this. John was an eye-witness to this fact; the fact of Jesus death. When John wrote this, he seems to have been dealing with a group of Gnostics that wanted to claim to follow Christ but believed Christ was not really a physical human. The Gnostics thought he was just divine spirit; that he just appeared to be human, but was really a spirit and not flesh. This testimony of the physical water and blood coming out of the pierced Jesus would be John stating for the record that Jesus was really God come in the flesh.
That being said, in typical Johannine fashion, there is likely a second reason why John makes a big deal about this. Likely, he is seeing some symbolism here with the water and the blood that he wants you to think about. Does he possibly highlight this to point us the two main ordinances under the new covenant: baptism and the Lord’s Supper? True, he doesn’t at all mention that here. Then again, back in John 6 he talks a lot about eating Jesus’ flesh as the bread that comes down from heaven without mentioning the Lord’s Supper. But surely there’s something to learn about the Lord’s Supper in that chapter. And interestingly, later on, in 1 John 5, he’ll again mention water and blood. He says there that both the water and the blood testify about Jesus, about the salvation that is in Jesus. Was 1 John 5 looking back to this event when Jesus was pierced? Or were both passages referring to the bookends of Jesus’ ministry, first the water of his baptism and then the blood of his sacrifice on the cross? And so, it’s hard to be dogmatic about what John had in mind here in highlighting the water and the blood, but it sure seems he saw some symbolism in this happening that he wanted to highlight for our consideration. Something further for you to meditate on this Good Friday as well.
But I digress. In our last point for this evening, let’s finish with seeing how John says Jesus’ piercing is a fulfillment of a prophecy from Zechariah. This is verse 37. “And again another Scripture says, ‘They will look on him whom they have pierced.’” That is a quote from Zechariah 12:10. The context in Zechariah for this quote is God bringing salvation to the tribe of Judah. It speaks of the nations that would try to destroy Judah but God would save them. But interestingly, it’s in that context that it mentions that the people of Judah had pierced God. Yes, in this quote from Zechariah it is God who is pierced, though in John’s gospel he applies that to Jesus. For Jesus to be pierced is God being pierced. Jesus is God come in the flesh, sent by God the Father to his people, so this makes sense.
And so, what is interesting in the passage from Zechariah, that it’s talking about how the people of Judah had pierced God, which is a bad thing obviously. But it talks of how then they would lament over that. The people of Judah would look on God whom they pierced in the sense of their sin and rejection of him. The people of Judah would look upon God whom they pierced and mourn for him. The passage goes on to talk about how God would cleanse them from their sin and remove their idols from the land.
Did you catch that? This passage from Zechariah is about how God’s people would sin against God in this piercing, but ultimately God would bring them salvation from their enemies and forgiveness of their sins. God’s people would come to recognize that they should not have pierced God like this, and they would lament over this, but in that find the mercy and grace of their God. And why would those who pierced God have such a change of heart? Zechariah 12:10 is very explicit about this. God says because he would pour out a spirit of grace and pleas for mercy on his people. What a wonderful testimony to the grace of God there in the Old Testament. And John tells us here in John 19 that this was a prediction of Jesus.
Revelation 1:7 picks up this same prophecy from Zechariah and speaks of how at Christ’s return, again, people will look upon those who pierced him. In Revelation 1:7 it is applied there beyond the tribe of Judah. Then it says that all the tribes of the earth will look upon him and wail on account of him whom they pierced.
So then, coming back to our chapter today in John 19. Coming back to the cross of Christ, who pierced Jesus there? Was it the Jews? Was it the Gentiles? Yes. All of them. And all of us today. All mankind who has ever lived or will lived. It was our sin that brought Jesus to the cross. It was our rejection of God and his laws that brought him to the cross. We are all guilty of crucifying the Messiah and rejecting God. But John’s gospel reminds us today of the good news. He does this especially by quoting Zechariah which is all about the gospel. “They will look on him whom they have pierced.” In the original quote, that verse was about the repentance and faith God would bring to his people so that they would be saved.
They will look on him whom they have pierced. This is the call for each of us today. Will you look upon Jesus today? Will you look upon him whom you pierced because of your sin. If you will look upon him in faith; if you will see your sin that pierced him; if you will mourn over this; if you will see Jesus as the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world; if you will look upon him whom you pierced. then you will be saved! That is my plea to you tonight. Look upon him whom you pierced… and be saved! Amen. Copyright © 2017 Rev. W. Reid Hankins, M.Div.
All Rights Reserved.
