John 19:16-27

[0:00] The Gospel of John chapter 19, and just to get your bearings as always, this is leading up to the crucifixion. It is right on the cusp of it. The Lord Jesus is about to be nailed to that cross here in this chapter.

[0:15] And it's been a long time leading up to this because John takes a lot of time to deal with the events and the speech of the Lord Jesus. That's this night, and most of the Gospel writers talk about, actually the other three all talk about, certain events leading up to it.

[0:31] Certain things like his prophetic second coming, things that connect to the tribulation and the future of Israel. John doesn't talk about much of any of that. There's a little bit sprinkled in, but for the most part, he's just dealing with this time with his disciples in the end.

[0:50] And then the events that transpired late into that night, into the next morning. And so we have, we got into verse 14 and 15, I know, last week.

[1:02] So we'll pick it up right around there and continue forward. John chapter 19. Let's pray again before we do anything. Father in heaven, we are grateful that we can assemble this morning here in this place.

[1:13] Thank you for this church. Thank you for each individual that has come out this morning. Lord, please manifest your truth to us in our hearts and in our minds. May your word of truth be a light in this place.

[1:28] And may its truth help us to comprehend it. Help us to know these things and to be assured of all of these things.

[1:38] And help us to have a real appreciation for what the Lord Jesus Christ accomplished for us on Calvary. And may we never take that for granted. And may we never take for granted that we have this Bible and that we can access it and read it and study it together.

[1:54] And it's a privilege. And you've been very good to us. And so may we take it serious. May we love it. And may it bear fruit in our lives. And we pray this in Jesus' name.

[2:04] Amen. Amen. So I'm going to backtrack just a touch. Just because there's something that I've glossed over last time in verse 14. That really didn't have time or I didn't feel that last week was the time to talk about it.

[2:18] But in verse 14 it says, It was the preparation of the Passover. And verse 31 says, The Jews therefore because it was the preparation that the body should not remain on the cross on the Sabbath day.

[2:34] That Sabbath was a high day. At the end of the chapter, verse 42, There laid they Jesus therefore because of the Jews' preparation day. And they had to get him down off of the cross.

[2:46] And they weren't to touch the dead body. And they had to get him in the ground. And so here's a little, It's not a discrepancy in your Bible at all, But it's an imagined one by some who don't study the Bible.

[2:59] And we need to understand, John uses the term Passover in verse 14, Because, well, because that was a common term for this time. But he's not referring to the killing of the Passover lamb and that feast and that meal, But rather, what followed the Passover day, the 14th day of the first month, Was the 15th day, which was the beginning of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, Which ran seven days, to the 21st day.

[3:27] And all of that together was called the Passover. And at times it was called Unleavened Bread, or the Days of Unleavened Bread. And I'll show you a verse, and this is, and I'll make a point for you.

[3:37] Look at Luke 22. And so you can get yourself confused when you read through the Gospel accounts. When you get to John and he says that it's the preparation for the Passover, You think, well, I thought that was already passed.

[3:54] And then it's hard to reconcile the timing and the dates and the days given for what's taking place here. So look at Luke 22, and here's a verse that, now here's something to grab a hold of.

[4:08] If you're reading, the Holy Ghost put this book together in a perfect manner. If you're reading through it left to right, then you've already come across this material. And you already know in your mind.

[4:19] So when you get to John and you read the word Passover, You've already been warned or conditioned about how the word is used. Look at verse 1, chapter 22, 1. Now the Feast of Unleavened Bread drew nigh, which is called the Passover.

[4:37] And so we've got a time that is going to cover. So if, you know what, let's do a little Bible study here. Go back to Exodus 12. We'll do a little Bible study on this.

[4:49] Exodus 12. And I'm going to come back to Luke. If you already lost that, then no big deal. But we'll come back to it in a minute.

[5:02] Okay, Exodus 12. This is the chapter on the Passover lamb. And you're familiar with it from the very beginning. This is where all that instruction, they're in Egypt. And he tells them this is how you're going to do it. The 10th day of the month, you're going to get a lamb.

[5:14] And then on the 14th, you're going to kill him at even. That's in verse 6. You're going to kill that lamb on the 14th at even. And the blood needs to be applied to the doorpost and lentil.

[5:25] And I'm going to pass through the land in verse 12. And there's the word Passover in verse 13. I will pass over you if that blood is on the houses.

[5:37] And so then verse 14. This day shall be unto you for a memorial. You shall keep it a feast to the Lord throughout your generations. You shall keep it a feast by an ordinance forever. And so this feast is called the feast of the Passover.

[5:51] Back in verse 11, it's mentioned the Lord's Passover at the end of the verse. And then notice verse 15. Seven days shall ye eat unleavened bread.

[6:01] Even the first day ye shall put away leaven out of your houses. For whosoever eateth leavened from that first day unto the seventh day, that soul shall be cut off from Israel. And in the first day there shall be an holy convocation. And in the seventh day there shall be an holy convocation to you.

[6:15] No manner of work shall be done in them. So what does that mean? That's like a Sabbath day in the sense of a day of rest. No work, a holy convocation.

[6:27] And it says at the end, save that which every man must eat. That only may be done of you. So they can prepare to eat. They can eat food. They can do that. In verse 17. Ye shall observe the feast of unleavened bread.

[6:40] For this is the selfsame day that I brought your armies out of Israel. Notice verse, let's see. 18. In the first month, on the 14th day of the month, at even, ye shall eat unleavened bread until the 1 and 20th day of the month at even.

[6:55] Seven days should be no... And so there's the two things kind of sandwiched together. Look over at Leviticus 23. So the Passover carries over into seven days of unleavened bread.

[7:12] Leviticus 23 separates these. And this is a description in this chapter of the feasts of the Lord.

[7:27] It says that in verse number 2. These are the feasts of the Lord. So in verse number 4. Look at verse 4 and 5. These are the feasts of the Lord, even holy convocations, which ye shall proclaim in their seasons.

[7:39] In the 14th day of the first month, that even is the Lord's Passover. And on the 15th day of the same month is the feast of unleavened bread unto the Lord. And so there he goes. And those two together, they run together.

[7:52] They're condensed, in a sense, together. You can't separate them. The 14th day, the 15th day, going forward into these unleavened bread days. And what you have is a Passover that is eaten at even.

[8:04] But you also have a holy convocation that is right on top of that. It's a Sabbath day, and John calls it a high day. Now come back to Luke 22. And we saw in the first verse that the feast of unleavened bread drew nigh, which is called the Passover.

[8:27] Now look at verse number 7. 22-7. Then came the day of unleavened bread when the Passover must be killed.

[8:40] So that's the 14th day at even. And the Lord Christ sends Peter and John. Verse 8. Go and prepare us the Passover that we may eat. Where do we want us to go?

[8:51] And he tells them where to go. And verse 13 says, They went and found as he had said unto them, and they made ready the Passover. And verse 14. When the hour was come, he sat down and the twelve apostles with him.

[9:04] And he said unto them, With desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. And that's the night that we're studying here back in John, where they in that room go through the washing of the feet.

[9:19] They go through all of his speech with them. So now moving back to John 19. In verse 14 says, It was the preparation of the Passover.

[9:31] Well, the term is not reflective of preparing, because I've already done that earlier that night, or the night before. Prepared and made ready the Passover and eaten it.

[9:42] But this preparation is about the Holy Convocation, which is in verse 31, called an high day. I hope you saw that in verse 31. The Jews therefore, because it was the preparation, that the body should not remain on the cross on the Sabbath day, for that Sabbath was an high day.

[10:00] So just briefly, this just may clear up some confusion that the world seems to have, that Jesus was crucified on a Friday, and they had to get the bodies off because Saturday was coming.

[10:13] The Sabbath was coming, Friday at 6 o'clock is when the evening and the morning come together to make the Sabbath. Well, John's the only one that gives us this light, that this Sabbath day was the Holy Convocation of the 15th day for the unleavened bread, and there is no serval work to be done in that day.

[10:33] It is a day of consecration unto the Lord. It's a feast day unto the Lord. And so the Passover is finished. The next feast begins, and there's a preparation there, and that's a Holy Convocation right there.

[10:46] So the Passover meal was finished. It's still the Passover day, because the evening begins at 6, going to 6 the next day or afternoon.

[10:57] And so they're still on the day of the Passover, but they're preparing for what is a Holy Convocation the next day. And so it's not a Friday.

[11:08] I don't know why there's a song in one of these books, not this one, but another one says, Friday's here or something, but Sunday's coming. It's just a weird song to say, pretend that Jesus was crucified on a Friday.

[11:22] So anyway, backing up, the point I'm trying to get across to you is when you read in verse 14, the preparation of the Passover, and you think, wait a minute, I already read in Luke that that took place, and he ate the Passover, and that should have already happened, and now they're preparing for it?

[11:35] Well, no. The term John uses is what they all use. This whole thing is called the Passover. It's all kind of one major holiday merged all into one, although it has separate elements to it with the unleavened bread, two separate feasts in one.

[11:51] So I hope that makes a little sense to you, and don't picture Friday, Saturday, Sunday just because it was the first day of the week. God set this timing up, no question in my mind, that he'd resurrect and it would be the first day of the week they'd come finding him.

[12:05] But the Passover fluctuates every single year. It doesn't fall on a Tuesday or a Thursday or a Saturday every year. It moves. And so it moved this year, and the way the Lord had it was that it hit the 14th day was here, the 15th, and it moved into where Christ resurrected on the first day of the week.

[12:26] And it was not a Friday, Saturday, Sunday. What's the biggest proof text we have for that? Well, the sign. He was a sign of the prophet Jonas, For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the belly of a whale, so must the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.

[12:43] And if you take Friday, Saturday, Sunday, you can't get three days and three nights. You just can't do it. And so either the Scripture is wrong or the world's wrong in trying to put together what they believe of what happened.

[12:59] So the whole thing is about the confusion about the word Sabbath. That's the whole thing, assuming that it's a Saturday. It's not a Saturday. It's the Holy Convocation, the 15th day, a special Sabbath and high day from verse 31.

[13:15] So I thought I'd mention that from verse 14 because that's where it's introduced into the text here. All right. So let's move on past that. We did cover verse 15. We have no king but Caesar.

[13:26] So starting in verse 16. Then delivered he him, therefore, unto them to be crucified. And they took Jesus and led him away. Now, you have to be careful.

[13:37] And you have to always take Scripture with Scripture. It could appear, you could interpret the words because it uses a pronoun them, that it means the Jews took Jesus and took him away to crucify him.

[13:53] Then delivered he, Pilate, him, Jesus, therefore unto them to be crucified. Did Pilate say, okay, Jews, you go take him and just do whatever you want with him and gave them power and authority?

[14:04] Well, not exactly. And if you want to look at it, it's in Luke 23. I'll just read it for you. Luke says this. The voices of them, of the chief priests prevailed.

[14:15] And it says, and Pilate gave sentence that it should be as they required. And he released unto them Barabbas and as they led him away, so forth.

[14:27] So the point is he gave sentence that this is what's going to happen. He didn't just say, okay, whatever, you can take him and have him. It was soldiers that are present throughout this whole thing. And you see that in John 19.

[14:39] You see them in verse 23, then the soldiers. So it's not the Jews that are taking him and doing it by their hands specifically, but soldiers that led him away.

[14:49] Verse number 17, John 19, 17. And he bearing his cross went forth into a place called the place of a skull, which is called in the Hebrew Golgotha.

[15:01] And he, the Bible says, bearing his cross went forth into a place. So now flip back to, let's get Luke since we've been there.

[15:14] Look at Luke 23 and keep your place in Luke and be prepared going forward to flip around between Matthew, Mark, and Luke.

[15:25] But look at Luke 23. And I'll read verse 24 as I just did.

[15:36] Pilate gave sentence that it should be as they required. And he released unto them him that for sedition and murder was cast into prison, whom they had desired. But he delivered Jesus to their will.

[15:48] Verse 26. And as they led him away, they laid hold upon one Simon, a Cyrenian, coming out of the country. And on him they laid the cross that he might bear it after Jesus.

[16:04] So the scripture shows us that there's another man that gets yanked out of his way, on his way home. And the soldiers obviously grabbing a hold of him and saying, You, come here.

[16:16] You take this cross from him. Now it's been supposed and interjected into the text that Jesus fell because the cross was too heavy or because he was brutally beaten so much that he could not carry it.

[16:32] And you'll never see that in the text. Now, maybe it's not a big deal to you, but it is a big deal to me that the church or Christianity as a whole has somehow adopted a teaching or a thought that is found nowhere in the Bible.

[16:49] There's songs written that he fell beneath the load. The cross was so heavy he fell. Where does this come from? Well, I know it comes from the thought, Well, they got somebody to bear the cross for him.

[17:00] But that doesn't mean he fell. That doesn't even say he stumbled. Just, you can infer that they didn't want him to carry that cross all the way up that hill.

[17:11] Uphill. They wanted somebody else to do it. It may have been a struggle for him. I wouldn't doubt that. But it doesn't say that. And it's always wrong to suppose something about the Bible or about truth when it's not presented plainly in the text.

[17:30] There's a lot of gaps and a lot of gray area, if you want to call it that, in the Bible. It doesn't, I mean, never. Even in these gospel writers do they dot every I and fill in every blank.

[17:42] There is some things you can presume and just take for granted as long as it doesn't go against the Word of God. But this thing here doesn't say it at all. It's a foolish thing to just to take a thought and then spread it and sing about it and teach it as if it's a truth.

[18:00] And you could suggest it, say, perhaps he fell. Perhaps he stumbled. But you can't teach it. You definitely can't write it into a song and spread that as a message.

[18:12] I'm not going to ask for a show of hands, but I wonder if we took a poll across Christianity and said, did Jesus fall beneath the load of the cross, yes or no?

[18:24] I wonder how many would say, yeah, yeah, of course he did. Because that guy, Simon, had to carry it. But where do we get the idea that he fell? You say it's not a big point to be making in driving home.

[18:35] And it's not the point of this fall or didn't fall that I really care about. It's the fact of supposing something that's not in the book. Where do you think all the damnable heresies come from?

[18:48] From a false interpretation of something in the text or from a twisted reading or rendering of a certain word? And this isn't necessarily a damnable heresy.

[19:01] But what you do get out of this is Simon being a picture or a type of a disciple who is told to take up your cross and follow me. And Luke, he says, to come after me.

[19:12] And so that's exactly what Simon does is he takes up the cross and comes after. And the verse says, bear it after Jesus. Now, keep your place in Luke. We'll come back there in a little bit. And moving back to John, he bearing his cross went forth unto a place called the place of a skull, which is in the Hebrew Golgotha.

[19:32] Now, back in Luke, he doesn't give it that name. He gives it a different name, one that you're probably much more familiar with. Verse 33. It says, and when they were come to the place, which is called Calvary.

[19:49] Called Calvary. There they crucified him. And so Luke's the only writer that calls this place Calvary. The others all call it the place of a skull or Golgotha in the Hebrew.

[20:01] It's interesting that the new versions of the Bible that translate this, they don't like the word Calvary. And they remove Calvary from the text.

[20:11] And they put back in there the place of a skull. And it matches the other gospel writers. But then the word Calvary is gone from your Bible completely in the new versions.

[20:22] And some guys make a good point to say, well, then you might as well remove Calvary from the hymns that you sing. And they make a kind of a bit of a mockery of that thought of singing skull in the place of Calvary.

[20:34] Like burdens are lifted at Calvary or Calvary covers it all. And it's actually what's really hypocritical is how many churches bear the name Calvary.

[20:46] Calvary Chapel. Calvary Baptist Church or something. Or Calvary such and such. And they don't have the word in their Bible. They call it Calvary, but they don't even believe it belongs in the text.

[20:59] It's kind of a hypocritical thought that most of them probably are completely ignorant of. Everybody knows Calvary. Everybody knows that's where Christ was crucified. And yet the new versions remove it from the text.

[21:11] So if you have a Bible in verse 33 of Luke 23 that doesn't say Calvary, you might want to exchange it for the pure and get the right one. Now, in John, he calls it Golgotha.

[21:23] He calls it the place of a skull. And if you've been over, I was just recently over in Joshua Tree. And over there is one of their monuments or one of their things to go see is called Skull Rock.

[21:36] And why is it called Skull Rock? Well, because it's a big rock that has these kind of two indentations in it that would match parallel side-by-side eye sockets. And below that, another big kind of crevice of a ledge inside the rock that would, you know, look like the mouth opening.

[21:54] And so from the straight-on angle, it kind of looks like a skull. It's not like it has this nose, bone, bridge things or anything like that. It's just the two eyes and the hole below.

[22:05] It kind of looks like a skull. So it's got a name, Skull Rock. And as far as I know and understand, that's exactly why this place, this hill on the side of this hill, supposedly, I've seen pictures and I can only take that these pictures are accurate and the right place.

[22:20] I haven't been there to see it. That outside of Jerusalem on the hill is kind of a cliffside with some of that very look, with some holes, almost cave-looking penetrations into the hill.

[22:32] And so they call that the place of the skull or a skull. Maybe that's what it is. If Joshua Tree, California was where the Lord Jesus Christ was crucified and they said they led him through Joshua Tree to Skull Rock, then we would understand why they call it that.

[22:52] And we would know because it looks like that. And if, in fact, he was crucified on top of that area, then that's that. It seems plausible that that's the case here in Jerusalem outside of the city.

[23:06] On the hillside is a skull-like formation that got the name. Now, verse 18 says, Where they crucified him and two other with him, one are on either side one and Jesus in the midst.

[23:23] Now, this is a fulfillment of some scripture. One of the cases would be Isaiah 53, that he was numbered with transgressors. And that whole chapter is about him making his grave with the wicked, or with the rich, and with the wicked in his death.

[23:40] And so there's another, there's a fulfillment of scripture right there with him being crucified with thieves, as Luke calls them. Verse number 19.

[23:52] And Pilate wrote a title and put it on the cross. And the writing was, here's the quote John gives, Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.

[24:03] This title then read many of the Jews, for the place where Jesus was crucified was Knight of the City, and it was written in Hebrew and Greek and Latin. Isn't that interesting?

[24:15] Now, Pilate writes this title, John gives it, in one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight words. So let's do a little Bible study, a little comparison here.

[24:25] And let's start with Matthew. So go back to Matthew 27. Matthew 27.

[24:39] And you could probably find, if you can look through the capital letters and skim, you'll find where this is at. In verse 37. He gives eight words.

[24:54] Verse 37. And set up over his head his accusation written, This is Jesus, the King of the Jews.

[25:04] Well, the King of the Jews matches John. Jesus matches John. But there's a, this is, and there's, John has, of Nazareth. Same amount of words they give, but a little different rendering.

[25:17] All right, look at Mark. Let's look at the next one. Find Mark chapter 15. And again, you can skim and find it pretty quickly. Okay. Mark chapter 15.

[25:31] Mark chapter 15. And verse 26. And the superscription of his accusation was written over, quote, six or five words, The King of the Jews.

[25:50] Now, Matthew has those five words. So does John. Mark says it says, The King of the Jews. One more. Luke 23. One more to compare.

[26:02] And this one is in verse 38. Verse 38. And Luke gives seven words.

[26:15] And a superscription also was written over him in letters of Greek and Latin and Hebrew. This is the King of the Jews. So, which one of these four is correct?

[26:29] Because every single writer gives a different presentation of what was written by Pilate on that cross. Now, two of them tell you the languages it was written in, so that matches.

[26:41] But not one of them match. Is this an error? Is this a problem? Did they not know? Did they not? Can they not read? What's the problem? Well, let me give you an example first, and then I'll go back to this.

[26:56] If I stay up here, if I say to you, my full name is Michael Tobiah Wolski. If you go out of here and say, he said his name is Michael. Is that true?

[27:08] That is true. I did say my name was Michael. If you go out of here and say, he said his full name was Michael Tobiah. Well, that wouldn't be exactly true. That wouldn't represent what I said completely accurately.

[27:21] But if you said he said his name was Michael, or he said his middle name was Tobiah, it's still representing the accuracy of my statement. Now, if you put all of those four together, it would say, this is Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.

[27:40] But for one of them to say it said the King of the Jews, it did say that. For one of them to say, this is Jesus, the King of the Jews, it did say that. Neither one of them have to be quoting it perfectly verbatim for it to be still representing what was up there.

[27:58] And so there is not an exact, or a, what do you want to call it, a contradiction here. However, it's not something that's an error by any one of the writers, because when you study them all out, none of them contradict each other.

[28:13] And none of them contradict the entire statement. They all are accurate presentations in their own way. Just like for you to go out and say, he said his name was Michael. I did say that, and that is true.

[28:25] And so if you go off saying something that would contradict what I said, then it wouldn't be accurate. But none of these four contradict each other in their statements. And so that's just a point to make you say, or help you to see, not just this, if there's any confusion in your mind about it, but more, that's how you study your Bible.

[28:44] You let the Bible be true. You believe it's true. You come at it in faith. And then you study it out, wherever the points need to be studied out, and compare them together, and let God be true.

[28:57] So coming back to John 19, we read verse 20. Let's read verse 21. Then said the chief priest of the Jews to Pilate, Write not the king of the Jews, but that he said, I am king of the Jews.

[29:14] Pilate answered, What I have written, I have written. And so Pilate just squashes their little complaint. And I think, Pilate, if we could get into his head this night, I think we've already seen that he's getting scared, that he's not comfortable with this situation, that he's getting pushed and pushed and pushed by these priests to crucify him.

[29:33] I find no fault in him. I didn't show you, but he's got his wife telling him, I have nothing to do with that just man. I've suffered many things in a dream because of him. And he wants to get out of this. And then these Jews come back, these chief priests, these powerful big shots of Israel come back saying, Do this, do this, do this.

[29:51] And he's just, he draws a line and says, Get lost. What I have written, I have written. So I'm done dealing with you. Verse 23, Then the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took his garments and made four parts.

[30:08] Now Luke is the, I mean, John is the only one that tells us about this information. Everybody tells us that they cast lots, that he fulfilled the scripture, but John's the only one that gives this insight, as the soldiers taking his garments made four parts, to every soldier a part, and also his coat.

[30:28] Now the coat was without seam, woven from the top throughout. They said, therefore, among themselves, Let us not rend it, but cast lots for it, whose it shall be, that the scripture might be fulfilled, which saith, they parted my raiment among them, and for my vesture, they did cast lots.

[30:50] That's a thousand year old prophecy, of what's going to happen to a particular man, when he's put to death, that there's going to be people there, fighting over his clothes, casting lots, for his vesture.

[31:07] And these things, therefore, the soldiers did. Verse 25, Now there stood by the cross, and by the way, that's Psalm 22, maybe some of you have that in your Bible already, the reference Psalm 22, 18, is the fulfillment there, of the scripture.

[31:25] Now, there stood by the cross of Jesus, his mother, and his mother's sister, Mary, the wife of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalene. We know most of these characters pretty well.

[31:39] There's one named, now there's three Marys, that's kind of interesting, isn't it? Mary, Jesus, his mother, and his mother's sister, Mary, the wife of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalene. It's kind of interesting, to see this trinity of Marys, standing by the cross of Jesus.

[31:55] The one, I want to draw your attention to, is that one in the middle, his sister, the wife of Cleophas. Look at Luke 24, because I think, we're introduced to this guy, in a few days.

[32:10] Just a few days from here, Luke chapter 24, in this chapter, after the resurrection of Christ, there's two disciples, that are walking the path.

[32:33] When I say disciples, it doesn't necessarily mean of the twelve, or of the remaining eleven, but there was a lot of disciples of Jesus, and it looks like this is one of them. In verse number 15, it came to pass, that while they communed together, and reasoned, Jesus himself drew near, and went with them, but their eyes were holden, that they should not know him, and he said unto them, what manner of communications are these, that ye have one to another, as ye walk, and are sad?

[33:00] And one of them, whose name was Cleopas, answering, said unto him, art thou only a stranger? And he goes on with this, and he ends up sitting down with them, and took bread, and blessed, and break it, and gave to them, and then their eyes are opened, in verse 31.

[33:16] And so this man, Cleophas, looks like his wife, is there at the cross, which, just the point I want to bring out, is, is a husband and wife, together, both disciples, of the Lord Jesus Christ, both with him, and although, he's confused in the moment, they all were, things were hid from their eyes, at the moment, but there she is at the cross, not just hanging out with him, when things are going well, those two were in it, they were all in, and you can't say too much about him, there's not much to give, but what you get is that, if they were there then, they must have been through a lot more, all the way up to then, I would reckon, and I think it's a beautiful thing, to see a husband and wife, together, for the Lord Jesus Christ, and I wasn't planning to say this, this has nothing to do with, trying to make an application, but today, today is my anniversary, with my wife, we're 23 years married, and, I'll just say, coming out of this text, it's on my heart,

[34:19] I'm thankful, to have a wife, that fears the Lord, and has given herself to him, because that's, as far as a marriage goes, it doesn't get any more important, than that, in my opinion, we have different personalities, and different thoughts, and we're just like, every one of you, we just are, one man, and one woman, but what can keep us together, and bring us together, is a common bond, and shared love, for Jesus Christ, and a fear, of him, and a desire, to serve him, and so, I'm thankful for her, for those reasons, especially, and I see that, a little bit here, in this text, to see that Mary, the wife of Cleophas, was right there, by the cross, of Jesus Christ, with the other ladies, she didn't turn and run, when things got bloody, and ugly, she stood by his side, because no doubt, within her, was the same belief, and love, for the Savior, here, so, you know what, I guess we'll close, with the next verse, verse 26, when Jesus therefore, saw his mother, and the disciples, standing by whom he loved, he saith unto his mother, behold, woman behold thy son, talking about John, this writer, then saith he to the disciple, behold thy mother, and from that hour, that disciple took her, unto his own home, so we surmise, that Joseph is gone, perhaps dead, because, the Mary being taken care of, by this apostle John, a much younger man likely, and that's just speculation, but, it seems to be an accurate thought, that Joseph would know, that Jesus would say such a thing, so we'll stop with that, and I'll pick it up here, at the beginning of the hour, so take about 15 minutes, and go outside, and look at the flowers, and look at the flowers,