John Wesley

“What is truth?” Pilate asked. And having said this, he went out again to the Jews and told them, “I find no basis for a charge against Him.

“What is truth? - Said Pilate, a courtier; perhaps meaning what signifies truth? Is that a thing worth hazarding your life for? So he left him presently, to plead with the Jews for him, looking upon him as an innocent but weak man.”

Carrying His own cross, He went out to The Place of the Skull, which in Hebrew is called Golgotha.

“Bearing his cross - Not the whole cross, (for that was too large and heavy,) but the transverse beam of it, to which his hands were afterward fastened.”

Many of the Jews read this sign, because the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and it was written in Hebrew, Latin, and Greek.

“It was written in Latin - For the majesty of the Roman empire; in Hebrew - Because it was the language of the nation; and in Greek - For the information of the Hellenists, who spoke that language, and came in great numbers to the…”

So they said to one another, “Let us not tear it. Instead, let us cast lots to see who will get it.”

“They parted my garments among them - No circumstance of David's life bore any resemblance to this, or to several other passages in the 22nd Psalm.”

Near the cross of Jesus stood His mother and her sister, as well as Mary the wife of Clopas and Mary Magdalene.

“His mother's sister - But we do not read she had any brother. She was her father's heir, and as such transmitted the right of the kingdom of David to Jesus: Mary, the wife of Cleopas - Called likewise Alpheus, the father, as Mary was…”

It was the day of Preparation, and the next day was a High Sabbath.

“For that Sabbath was a great day - Being not only a Sabbath, but the second day of the feast of unleavened bread (from whence they reckoned the weeks to pentecost:) and also the day for presenting and offering the sheaf of new corn: so…”

Instead, one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and immediately blood and water flowed out.

“Forthwith there came out blood and water - It was strange, seeing he was dead, that blood should come out; more strange, that water also; and most strange of all, that both should come out immediately, at one time, and yet distinctly.”

Now these things happened so that the Scripture would be fulfilled: “Not one of His bones will be broken.”

“A bone of it shall not be broken - This was originally spoken of the paschal lamb, an eminent type of Christ.”

And, as another Scripture says: “They will look on the One they have pierced.”

“They shall look on him whom they have pierced - He was pierced by the soldier's spear. They who have occasioned his sufferings by their sins (and who has not?)”

Afterward, Joseph of Arimathea, who was a disciple of Jesus (but secretly for fear of the Jews), asked Pilate to let him remove the body of Jesus.

“Joseph of Arimathea asked Pilate - And Nicodemus also came - Acknowledging Christ, when even his chosen disciples forsook him. In that extremity Joseph was no longer afraid, Nicodemus no longer ashamed.”

And because it was the Jewish day of Preparation and the tomb was nearby, they placed Jesus there.

“Because of the preparation - That is, they chose the rather to lay him in that sepulchre which was nigh, because it was the day before the Sabbath, which also was drawing to an end, so that they had no time to carry him far.”

“Do not cling to Me,” Jesus said, “for I have not yet ascended to the Father.

“And a fellowship with God the Father, some way resembling his own, he bestows upon his brethren.”

It was the first day of the week, and that very evening, while the disciples were together with the doors locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood…

“Peace be unto you - This is the foundation of the mission of a true Gospel minister, peace in his own soul, 2 Cor. iv, 1. As the Father hath sent me, so send I you - Christ was the apostle of the Father, Heb.”

When He had said this, He breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.

“He breathed on them - New life and vigour, and saith, as ye receive this breath out of my mouth, so receive ye the Spirit out of my fulness: the Holy Ghost influencing you in a peculiar manner, to fit you for your great embassy.”

If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven; if you withhold forgiveness from anyone, it is withheld.”

“Whosoever sins ye remit - (According to the tenor of the Gospel, that is, supposing them to repent and believe) they are remitted, and whosoever sins ye retain (supposing them to remain impenitent) they are retained. But here arises a difficulty.”

But these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in His name.

“But these things are written that ye may believe - That ye may be confirmed in believing. Faith cometh sometimes by reading; though ordinarily by hearing.”

When they had finished eating, Jesus asked Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love Me more than these?” “Yes, Lord,” he answered, “You know I love You.”

“Simon, son of Jonah - The appellation Christ had given him, when be made that glorious confession, Matt. xvi, 16, the remembrance of which might make him more deeply sensible of his late denial of him whom he had so confessed.”

Truly, truly, I tell you, when you were young, you dressed yourself and walked where you wanted; but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone…

“When thou art old - He lived about thirty-six years after this: another shall gird thee - They were tied to the cross till the nails were driven in; and shall carry thee - With the cross: whither thou wouldest not - According to nature…”

Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God. And after He had said this, He told him, “Follow Me.”

“By what death he should glorify God - It is not only by acting, but chiefly by suffering, that the saints glorify God. Follow me - Showing hereby likewise what death he should die.”

Jesus answered, “If I want him to remain until I return, what is that to you? You follow Me!”

“If I will that he tarry - Without dying, till I come - To judgment. Certainly he did tarry, till Christ came to destroy Jerusalem. And who can tell, when or how he died?”

Because of this, the rumor spread among the brothers that this disciple would not die.

“The brethren -- that is, the Christians. Our Lord himself taught them that appellation, chap. xx, 17. Yet Jesus did not say to him, that he should not die - Not expressly.”

This is the disciple who testifies to these things and who has written them down. And we know that his testimony is true.

“This is the disciple who testifieth - Being still alive after he had wrote. And we know that his testimony is true - The Church added these words to St. John's, Gospel, as Tertius did those to St. Paul's Epistle to the Romans, Rom.”