Thomas Aquinas Commentary John 19:12-18

"Upon this Pilate sought to release him: but the Jews cried out, saying, If thou release this man, thou art not Caesar`s friend: every one that maketh himself a king speaketh against Caesar. When Pilate therefore heard these words, he brought Jesus out, and sat down on the judgment-seat at a place called The Pavement, but in Hebrew, Gabbatha. Now it was the Preparation of the passover: it was about the sixth hour. And he saith unto the Jews, Behold, your King! They therefore cried out, Away with [him], away with [him], crucify him! Pilate saith unto them, Shall I crucify your King? The chief priests answered, We have no king but Caesar. Then therefore he delivered him unto them to be crucified. They took Jesus therefore: and he went out, bearing the cross for himself, unto the place called The place of a skull, which is called in Hebrew, Golgotha: where they crucified him, and with him two others, on either side one, and Jesus in the midst." — John 19:12-18 (ASV)

Previously, the Jews accused Christ of a crime against their law, but Pilate seemed to consider this a minor matter since he himself was not subject to this law. So they now accuse Christ of a crime against Roman law, hoping this would pressure Pilate into taking his life.

1. They state the danger hanging over Pilate if he releases Christ.

2. They give the reason for this danger: for whosoever makes himself a king, speaks against Caesar.

The Evangelist says that after Pilate tried to release Christ, the Jews cried out, saying, “If you release this man, you are not Caesar’s friend”; that is, you will lose his friendship.

It frequently happens that we estimate others based on our own character. Since it was written of these Jews that they loved the glory of men more than the glory of God (John 12:43), they thought that Pilate would prefer the friendship of Caesar to the friendship of justice, even though the opposite is commanded: It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to put confidence in princes (Psalms 118:9). The Philosopher also says that truth is to be preferred to friendship.

They add the reason for the danger that threatened Pilate when they say, whoever makes himself a king speaks against Caesar. It is the nature of earthly power that one power cannot endure the presence of another. And so, Caesar did not allow another to rule: do not seek from men the highest office, nor the seat of honor from the king .

In treating the condemnation of Christ, the Evangelist mentions three things:

1. The place.

2. The time: and it was the parasceve of the Pasch, about the sixth hour (John 19:14).

3. The manner of the condemnation: and he said to the Jews, “Behold your king.”

Regarding the first point, the Evangelist indicates Pilate’s motive when he says, When Pilate therefore had heard this saying, he grew all the more fearful. It was not as easy for him to ignore Caesar, the source of his power, as it was to disdain the laws of a foreign people. So he says, he brought Jesus out. But there was no reason for Pilate to fear, because Jesus was not setting himself against Caesar. Christ had no purple, no scepter, no diadem, no chariots, and no soldiers to indicate that he was seizing a kingdom. Rather, Christ always sat alone with his disciples, plain in food, clothing, and dwelling. Yet as we read in Proverbs, the wicked flee when no one pursues (Proverbs 28:1). They trembled in fear when there was no fear (Psalms 53:5); be not afraid of their words, nor be dismayed at their looks (Ezekiel 2:6).

Then he mentions the place, saying, and sat down in the judgment seat. A tribunal is the seat of a judge, as the throne is the seat of a king and the professor’s chair is the seat of a master; a king who sits on the throne of judgment winnows all evil with his eyes (Proverbs 20:8). It was called a tribunal because, among the Romans, it was the tribunes who adjudicated certain cases; they were named from the tribes they headed. [It says in the judgment seat, that is, before the tribunal, because in Greek the preposition “on” is the same as the Latin “before” or “in.”]

This tribunal was in the place that is called Lithostrotos, that is, a pavement of stones. Lithos in Greek means stone, and the place where Pilate sat in his judgment seat had been paved with stones. In Hebrew this place was called Gabbatha, that is, a mound formed from stones.

The time of the condemnation is given when he says, now it was the parasceve of the Pasch, about the sixth hour.

Among the Jews, the Sabbath was in some respects more solemn than any other feast, because out of reverence for that day, no food was prepared on the Sabbath; it was prepared on the preceding Friday. Thus, this Friday was called the day of Preparation for the Passover. This practice originated when the Jews in the desert were forbidden to gather manna on the Sabbath but were directed to gather a double supply the day before (Exodus 16:24). In this matter, they made no exception for any feast. Accordingly, although the present Friday was a solemn feast for them, they still prepared the Sabbath food on that day.

He adds that it was about the sixth hour. This does not agree with Mark, who says, and it was the third hour, when they crucified him (Mark 15:25). It is clear that Christ was before the tribunal before he was crucified.

According to Augustine, there are two explanations for this. The first, and better, is that Christ was crucified two times: once by the tongues and words of the shouting Jews, Crucify him, crucify him! (John 19:6), and the second time by the hands of the soldiers who nailed him to the cross. Now, the Jews wanted to blame the crucifixion on the Gentiles. And so Mark, who wrote his Gospel for the Gentiles, blamed it on the Jews, saying that Christ was crucified by the Jews when at the third hour they shouted, Crucify him, crucify him! (John 19:6). It is John who follows the actual time, and he says it was about the sixth hour. For when Christ was on the cross, it was at the end of the fifth hour and the beginning of the sixth, when darkness came and lasted three hours, that is, until the ninth hour. He says about the sixth hour because the sixth hour had not yet begun.

The second explanation is that the preparation of the Passover was mentioned, and our Passover, Christ, was about to be sacrificed. Thus, the preparation of the Passover is the preparation for the sacrifice of Christ. This preparation began at the ninth hour of the night, when the Jews shouted to the captured Christ, He deserves death! (Matthew 26:66). If we add the three remaining hours of the night to the three hours of the day, we can see that he was crucified at the sixth hour of the preparation, although this was the third hour of the day, as Mark says. And it was appropriate that he was crucified at the sixth hour, because by his cross he restored human nature, which was created on the sixth day.

Now the Evangelist tells us about the manner and order of the condemnation: and he said to the Jews, “Behold your king.”

Pilate still wanted to free Christ, although his fear of Caesar weighed upon him.

1. We see Pilate’s attempt to free Christ.

2. He consents to have him crucified: then therefore he delivered him to them to be crucified.

Concerning the first point, we see two things:

• The attempt of Pilate.

• The malice of the Jews: but they cried out, “Away with him, away with him!”

The Evangelist says that after Pilate sat down on the judgment seat, he said to the Jews, in exasperation, “Behold your king!” It was as if he was saying, “I am astonished that you fear to have this man, so humiliated and destitute, as your king. For only the wealthy and strong aspire to the throne, and this man is neither.” As the Psalm says: I am poor and in labor from my youth (Psalms 88:15).

This did not lessen the malice of the Jews. In inexhaustible hatred they cried out, doubling their already great malice by repeating the words, Away with him, away with him! Crucify him! This shows that they could not stand the sight of him: they say to God, “Depart from us! We do not desire the knowledge of thy ways” (Job 21:14); the very sight of him is a burden to us . Therefore, let us condemn him to a shameful death , which is the same as Crucify him! (John 19:6).

Now we see how Pilate tried to free Christ by shaming the Jews. First, we see Pilate’s attempt: Shall I crucify your king? He is saying, in effect, “If you are not affected by his humiliation, your own sense of shame should move you, because I am going to crucify the one who is trying to be your king. And this is to your disgrace, since it is being done by a foreigner.”

Second, we see how unyielding the Jews are when they say, We have no king but Caesar. By thus refusing to be subject to the authority of Christ, they submitted themselves to perpetual subjection. And so even to this very day, they are strangers to Christ and have become servants of Caesar and earthly powers. For they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me from being king over them (1 Samuel 8:7); they have forsaken me, the fountain of living water, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water (Jeremiah 2:13).

Then the Evangelist mentions Pilate’s consent to the killing of Christ: Then therefore he delivered him to them—to the Jews, who had been subject to the power and will of the Romans—to be crucified. This was against the counsel of Exodus: You will not follow a multitude to do evil (Exodus 23:2); the earth is given into the hand of the wicked (Job 9:24); I have given my dear soul into the hands of her enemies (Jeremiah 12:7).

Now the Evangelist deals with the crucifixion of Christ:

1. The dishonor of the cross.

2. The events surrounding the crucifixion: and Pilate wrote a title also (John 19:19).

The dishonor of the cross is indicated by those who crucified Christ, by the way he was led to his death, by the place where this happened, and by those crucified with him.

Those who crucified him were soldiers. And they took Jesus. This was done indeed by the soldiers, for we read below, the soldiers therefore, when they had crucified him (John 19:23), but it was done in desire by the Jews, because they brought about by threats what happened. For this, they ought to lose the benefits of Christ’s cross and have the Gentiles acquire them: The kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a nation producing the fruits of it (Matthew 21:43).

The way Christ was brought to his crucifixion was a dishonor, bearing his own cross, for death on a cross was a disgrace: a hanged man is accursed by God (Deuteronomy 21:23). And thus, avoiding the cross as something unholy and fearing even to touch it, they laid the cross on the condemned Jesus. Thus, it says that he went out, bearing his own cross.

Matthew says that they compelled a certain Simon of Cyrene, on his way from the fields, to carry Christ’s cross (Matthew 27:32).

We should say that Christ carried his cross from the beginning, but as he went along, they found Simon to help him.

This does not lack its own mystery, for although Christ was the first to endure the sufferings of the cross, others did so after him in imitation, especially strangers—that is, the Gentiles. Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example (1 Peter 2:21); if any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me (Matthew 16:24). Although this seems extremely bizarre to the irreligious and to unbelievers, it is a great mystery for believers and the devout, for the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God (1 Corinthians 1:18).

Christ bore his cross as a king does his scepter; his cross is the sign of his glory, which is his universal dominion over all things: the Lord will reign from the wood (Psalms 95:9); the government will be upon his shoulder, and his name will be called: Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6).

He carried his cross as a victor carries the trophy of his victory: he disarmed the principalities and powers and made a public example of them, triumphing over them in himself (Colossians 2:15). Again, he carried his cross as a teacher his lampstand, as a support for the light of his teaching, because for believers the message of the cross is the power of God: no one after lighting a lamp puts it in a cellar or under a bushel but on a stand, that those who enter may see the light (Luke 11:33).

The place where Christ suffered was also dishonorable, and for two reasons. First, it was outside the city: he went out to that place which is called Calvary, which is outside the walls of the city. So Jesus also suffered outside the gate in order to sanctify the people through his own blood (Hebrews 13:12).

This was for two reasons. First, to show that the effectiveness of his passion was not enclosed within the boundaries of the Jewish nation. Second, to indicate that those who want to obtain the fruit of his passion also have to go out from the world, at least with their affections. Thus the Apostle says in his next sentence, Therefore let us go forth to him outside the camp (Hebrews 13:13).

Second, this place was dishonorable because it was one of the lowest and basest: to that place which is called Calvary. I am reckoned among those who go down to the Pit (Psalms 88:4). Chrysostom tells us that some say Adam died and was buried at this very place. This is why it was called Calvary, from the skull (calvaria) of the first man. And just as death reigned there, so there also Christ erected the trophy of his victory. But, as Jerome says, this interpretation is pleasing to the ears of the people, but it is not true, because Adam is buried in Hebron: Adam, the greatest among the Anakim, was laid there (Joshua 14:15). Therefore, it is said that there was a gate outside Jerusalem where the condemned were beheaded. The place took the name of Calvary from this, on account of the skulls of the condemned.

Those who suffered with him also added to his dishonor, for they crucified with him two others, who were criminals, as Luke mentions (Luke 23:33), one on each side, one on the right and one on the left, and Jesus between them, in the middle.

Even in his suffering, Christ stood in the middle. The Jews intended this fact to add to his dishonor, for it implied that the cause of his death was similar to that of the criminals: he was numbered with the transgressors (Isaiah 53:12).

But if we contemplate this mystery, we see that it is related to the glory of Christ. It shows that by his suffering, Christ merited the authority to judge: Your cause has been judged as one of the wicked; you will recover cause and judgment (Job 36:17). It is the function of a judge to be in the middle of the parties; so the Philosopher says that to go to a judge is to go to the middle. Christ was also placed in the middle, one on his right and another on his left, because in the judgment he will place the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. It was the criminal on his right who believed and was saved; the one on his left, who reproached him, was condemned.