Notice the little refrain that occurs now in John. Three times in this section John records
- “This fulfilled the Scripture” (19:24). . .
- “and to fulfil Scripture He said” (19:28) . . .
- “These things happened in fulfilment of the Scriptures” (19:36).
This is being used by John as a repeated element. He is being faithful to his major theme of “believing that Jesus is the Christ, the son of God”. He wants his readers to know that this Jesus is spoken of in Scripture. He is the Messiah of whom it was prophesied that he would do all these things. John is making it clear to us, this is He who fulfilled Scripture.
When the soldiers had crucified Jesus, they divided His clothes among the four of them. They also took His robe, but it was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom. So they said, “Rather than tearing it apart, let’s throw dice for it.” This fulfilled the Scripture that says, “They divided My garments among themselves and threw dice for My clothing.”
John 19:23-24
This is taken from Psalm 22:18. Note that all four gospel writers mention this fact. Fulfilment of Scripture is important to New Testament writers which then causes them to note whenever Scripture is fulfilled.
When was the last time you went to a funeral and people were sitting around gambling for the deceased’s clothes. It is not proper in any society. We could say it never happens and wouldn’t ever. This is not something that is normal, is it? This is most often the case with prophetic statements about Christ. It is that which is abnormal that He fulfils. It is that much harder to do. Even concerning the little things. Note in Mark 14:13 and Luke 22:10 in terms of the preparation for the Passover the disciples were told to seek out the man carrying the water jar. It was not normal for a man to carry a water jar in Israel. That was normally a woman’s role. Thus the statement by Jesus that they would know where to celebrate the Passover by following the man carrying the water jar was noteworthy.
Hey people, most things related to Jesus are unique. It is important to John that we recognise the uniqueness of the Christ and so he takes time to emphasize the times when Jesus fulfilled Scripture.
Time heals almost everything. Give time time.
Regina Brett
Every evening I turn my troubles over to God. He’s going to be up all night anyway.
Ian Vail