Central Baptist Church, Okinawa, Japan

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The Death of Jesus

28 After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said (to fulfill the Scripture), “I thirst.”
29 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. 30When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, “It is finished,” and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

“What is truth?” asks Pilate. He is a product of his culture, and so
he does not believe that sure and final truth may be obtained. He is
much more concerned with power. His quest for power becomes the means
for his undoing.

Jesus’ trial was not a search for truth and justice, but it was a
quest for power. Legal requirements were ignored. Both the trial
before the High Priest and the trial before Pilate revealed no
wrongdoing on the part of Jesus.

Yet, this travesty of justice was a necessary for us to be saved. He
was the righteous one who stood in the place of unrighteous men.
Peter tells us, “Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for
the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in
the flesh but made alive in the spirit.” (1 Peter 3:18). He became a
curse for us, so that we could escape the curse of death. This is the
truth that Pilate rejected.

In chapter 17, Jesus has prayed for himself and for his disciples.  In this passage, he prays for all of those who would believe in himthroughout the ages, including us. The unity that believers have with each other is to be so profound that it mimics the unity that God the Father has with God the Son.  It is based upon a common belief, and it results in love for one another  and a common purpose in glorifying God.  This unity is to be so  uncommonly unusual and powerful that it causes non-Christians to  desire to know Christ. Jesus then prays that believers will be able to see the glory of God.  As they see this glory, they will be changed by it, so that they will know God fully and love each other fully.