Crucifixion was a terrible way to die – easily one of the worst ever devised by man. John spares us the gory, heart-wrenching details, and instead helps us to connect how this was all part of God’s plan. For example, we read that Pilate unwittingly puts the truth about Jesus on the sign above the cross, and John points out how seemingly insignificant details, such as how the soldiers divided up Jesus’ clothes and how his legs didn’t need to be broken, all end up fulfilling Scripture (see Isaiah 53 for the most complete prediction of what happened at the cross).
In other words, this was no random death of a criminal or troublemaker (you’ll see that Pilate declares two more times that Jesus is innocent). John the Baptist revealed what’s really going on way back in the very first chapter of John’s Gospel when he said, “Look! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” (1:29). And two chapters later we read, “For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life” (3:16). Jesus is dying here for you – for your sins – so that you can be saved! How do you respond to that?