Lesson 8
The Piercing of Jesus’ Side
Synopsis
John is the only evangelist to mention the piercing of Jesus’ side and describe how blood and water flowed out from the wound. This event is so important to John that he then interrupts his story to tell us that he really saw this happen. In fact, the piercing of Jesus’ side is so rich that we can find various layers of meaning in it. For one, it proves that Jesus was truly human and that he really died. But John also sees in this the fulfillment of various Old Testament prophecies and types. For example, the fact that none of Jesus’ bone were broken suggests that he is the true paschal lamb. He is also the fulfillment of Zechariah’s prophecy. Jesus’ heart is the fountain that has been opened and will cleanse Jerusalem from her sins. Jesus is also the new Adam. Just as God created Eve from Adam’s side as he slept, so too is the Church—the bride—born from Jesus’ side as he slept the sleep of death. Finally, in his death, Jesus also reveals himself to be the true temple of God.
Learning Objectives
You will have successfully completed this lesson when you can:
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Explain why the Roman soldier pierced Jesus’ side.
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Explain how the piercing of Jesus’ side shows that Jesus is the new Paschal lamb, the new Adam, and the new temple.
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Explain the meaning and fulfillment of the prophecy in Zechariah chapters 12 to 13.
Introduction
John was the only apostle who followed Jesus to the cross. He was therefore a privileged eyewitness and was able to give us details that he had noticed. For example, of the four evangelists, he is the only one to describe the piercing of Jesus’ side.
Since it was the day of Preparation, in order to prevent the bodies from remaining on the cross on the sabbath (for that sabbath was a high day), the Jews asked Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away. So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first, and of the other who had been crucified with him; but when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. But one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and at once there came out blood and water. (19:31 – 34)
The Roman custom was to leave their victims on the cross until they died. This could take several days. After this, the corpses would remain there to rot and be devoured by vultures. This, however, did not happen to Jesus because the Jews asked Pilate that he and the two thieves be taken away. It was important for them to remove the bodies as soon as possible because of a stipulation found in the Mosaic law:
And if a man has committed a crime punishable by death and he is put to death, and you hang him on a tree, his body shall not remain all night upon the tree, but you shall bury him the same day, for a hanged man is accursed by God; you shall not defile your land which the Lord your God gives you for an inheritance. (Dt 21:22–23)
Because of this, the land would have been desecrated had the bodies remained there. Jerusalem, at the time, was packed with hundreds of thousands of pilgrims who had come to celebrate the Passover. They would probably have rioted had Pilate had allowed this to happen.
So, the soldiers broke the legs of the two thieves. This hastened their death. With their legs broken, they quickly died of asphyxiation because they could no longer push themselves up to breath. But John tells us that since Jesus was already dead, the soldiers pierced his side instead. They did this to ensure that he was truly dead. John then tells us that at once blood and water came out of Jesus’ side. This detail is so important to him that he immediately interrupts his story to confirm that what he saw truly had happened.
He who saw it has borne witness—his testimony is true, and he knows that he tells the truth—that you also may believe. For these things took place that the scripture might be fulfilled, “Not a bone of him shall be broken.” And again another scripture says, “They shall look on him whom they have pierced.” (19:35–37)
Why was this detail so meaningful? This passage is so rich that it is possible to find various layers of meaning.
Jesus’ True Humanity
For one, John wanted to show that Jesus was truly human. This was an important point for him. Already in the Prologue he had said that “the Word became flesh and dwelt among us” (1:14). Defending the truth of the Incarnation was very important to John because already in his time some people denied this fundamental truth of the Christian faith. They claimed, instead, that Jesus only seemed to be or had taken the appearance of a man. That is, his body was just an apparition or a phantasm.
This heretical teaching is called Docetism, from the Greek word dókēsis which means “apparition” or “phantom”. According to this teaching, Jesus couldn’t have died because he didn’t have a body. The problem is, if he never died for us, then neither did he save us from our sins.
In response to this heresy, John tells us that blood and water flowed from Jesus’ side. By giving us this detail, he is telling us that Jesus truly died and therefore, had a real body.
Jesus as the True Passover Lamb
John also wants to show us that Jesus’ death fulfilled several prophecies and types from the Old Testament. One of these is the Passover lamb. We read about this in Exodus chapter 12. On the night that the Israelites escaped from slavery in Egypt, God commanded the people sacrifice to sacrifice and eat a lamb.
In one house shall it be eaten; you shall not carry forth any of the flesh outside the house; and you shall not break a bone of it. (Ex 12:46; see also Num 9:12)
This event is so important that Moses commands the people to celebrate its memorial as a yearly feast.
This day will be a day of remembrance for you, which your future generations will celebrate with pilgrimage to the LORD; you will celebrate it as a statute forever. (Ex 12:14)
That is why the Jews had come to Jerusalem. They were there to celebrate the memorial of the Passover. By telling us that none of Jesus’ bones were broken, John is implying that he is the true Passover lamb. We already read in the first chapter about how John the Baptist pointed Jesus out as the Lamb of God: “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (1:29). Jesus is the Lamb of God who was sacrificed to save us from our slavery to sin.
Zechariah’s Prophecy
In verse 19:37, John tells us that he is quoting from the Scriptures.
And again another scripture says, “They shall look on him whom they have pierced.”
The passage he refers to is found in the writings of the prophet Zechariah.
And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of compassion and supplication, so that, when they look on him whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for an only child, and weep bitterly over him, as one weeps over a first-born. (Zec 12:10)
In Zechariah chapters 12 to 13, the prophet announces the definitive restoration of Jerusalem. He speaks of a day in which God will defend Jerusalem from all the nations that had come against the city. God will give the inhabitants a new spirit and establish with them a new and definitive covenant. We read in 13:1:
On that day there shall be a fountain opened for the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to cleanse them from sin and uncleanness.
The fountain that is opened is the heart of Jesus and he gives the living water that he had promised to the Samaritan woman (chapter 4) and the inhabitants of Jerusalem (chapter 7). Commenting on this, Raymond Brown writes:
The second citation, referring in the Old Testament to Israel’s rejection of God, promises in its original context the pouring forth of God’s spirit and the opening of a fountain of cleansing for Jerusalem. Thus, this passage, too, echoes John the Baptist’s description of Jesus’ mission. [1]
A Symbolic Interpretation of the Blood and Water
It is also possible to interpret the flow of blood and water in a more symbolic way: the water represents baptism and the blood represents the Eucharist. This was a common practice among the Church Fathers. For example, commenting on this passage, St. John Chrysostom wrote:
If you desire further proof of the power of this blood, remember where it came from, how it ran down from the cross, flowing from the Master’s side. The gospel records that when Christ was dead, but still hung on the cross, a soldier came and pierced his side with a lance and immediately there poured out water and blood. Now the water was a symbol of baptism and the blood, of the holy eucharist. The soldier pierced the Lord’s side, he breached the wall of the sacred temple, and I have found the treasure and made it my own. So also with the lamb: the Jews sacrificed the victim and I have been saved by it.
“There flowed from his side water and blood”. Beloved, do not pass over this mystery without thought; it has yet another hidden meaning, which I will explain to you. I said that water and blood symbolized baptism and the holy eucharist. From these two sacraments the Church is born: from baptism, “the cleansing water that gives rebirth and renewal through the Holy Spirit”, and from the holy eucharist. Since the symbols of baptism and the Eucharist flowed from his side, it was from his side that Christ fashioned the Church, as he had fashioned Eve from the side of Adam. Moses gives a hint of this when he tells the story of the first man and makes him exclaim: “Bone from my bones and flesh from my flesh!” As God then took a rib from Adam’s side to fashion a woman, so Christ has given us blood and water from his side to fashion the Church. God took the rib when Adam was in a deep sleep, and in the same way Christ gave us the blood and the water after his own death. [2]
Jesus, the Bridegroom
As we see in the previous citation, the Church Fathers also drew a parallel between the piercing of Jesus’ side and the creation of Eve in the Garden of Eden. We read about the creation of the first woman in the Book of Genesis.
So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh; and the rib which the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. (Gn 2:21–22)
The English translation of the passage in Genesis says that Eve was created from Adam’s rib. But in the Hebrew original, the word tzela’ that is translated as rib, actually means “side”. So, the woman is taken from the side of the man. After this, she became Adam’s bride. Just as Adam’s bride—Eve—was created from his side as he slept, so too is Jesus’ bride—the Church—created from his pierced side as he slept the sleep of death on the cross. St. Augustine recognized this parallel many centuries ago.
[In] those two original humans … the marriage of Christ and the Church was prefigured.… [A]s Adam was a type of Christ, so too was the creation of Eve from the sleeping Adam a prefiguration of the creation of the Church from the side of the Lord as he slept, for as he suffered and died on the cross and was struck by a lance, the sacraments which formed the Church flowed forth from him. By Christ’s sleeping we are also to understand his passion.… As Eve came from the side of the sleeping Adam, so the Church was born from the side of the suffering Christ. [3]
About Jesus, the new Bridegroom, Brant Pitre writes:
In other words, just as Eve was given life by the miraculous gift of flesh from Adam, the first bridegroom, so too the Church—the bride of Jesus—receives her life through the twofold gift: the “living water” of the Holy Spirit that is given in baptism and the living “blood” of Jesus that is received in the Eucharist. And just as natural life was given to Eve, and, through Eve, to all humanity, through the flesh from the side of Adam, so supernatural life is given to the Church through the water and blood from the side of Jesus the Bridegroom. [4]
Jesus, the New Temple
Finally, John is also telling us that Jesus is the new temple. We already read, in chapter 2, how the Jews asked Jesus for a sign after he had cleansed the temple. In response, he said:
“Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” The Jews then said, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days?” But he spoke of the temple of his body. (2:19–21)
Now, by telling us that water and blood flowed out of Jesus’ pierced side, John is also telling us that he is the new temple. But to understand this, it is important to know something about ancient Jewish traditions. According to the Mosaic law, the Passover was one of the three feasts in which all male Jews were supposed to go to Jerusalem to celebrate the feast.
Josephus, a first-century Jewish historian, tells us that one year there were almost 3 million people in Jerusalem and that they sacrificed 256,500 lambs.
Cestius, desiring to inform Nero, who was inclined to condemn the nation, of the power of the city, requested the high priests to take a count, if possible, of the entire population. So these high priests did so upon the arrival of their feast which is called the Passover. On this day they slay their sacrifices from the ninth hour until the eleventh, with a company [phatria] of not less than ten belonging to every sacrifice -- for it is not lawful for them to have the feast singly by themselves -- and many of us are twenty in a company. These priests found the number of the sacrifices was two hundred and fifty-six thousand five hundred; which, if we assume no more than ten feasted together, amounts to two million seven hundred thousand and two hundred persons; but this counted only those that were pure and holy, for as to those that have leprosy, or gonorrhea, or women that have their monthly periods, or persons that are otherwise polluted, it is not lawful to be partakers of the sacrifice, nor indeed for any foreigners either who come here to worship. [5]
Part of the sacrificial ritual consisted in collecting the blood of the sacrificed animal in bowls.
If his gift for a burnt offering is from the flock, from the sheep or goats, he shall offer a male without blemish; and he shall kill it on the north side of the altar before the Lord, and Aaron’s sons the priests shall throw its blood against the altar round about (Lv 1:10–11)
And the priest shall put some of the blood on the horns of the altar of fragrant incense before the Lord which is in the tent of meeting, and the rest of the blood of the bull he shall pour out at the base of the altar of burnt offering which is at the door of the tent of meeting. (Lv 4:7)
So, according to Josephus, during the Passover Feast, the priests collected the blood of 256,500 lambs and poured it around the altar. That is a lot of blood! Where did it go?
Contemporary historians question Josephus’ account and claim that his numbers were exaggerated. This is probably true, although they do not agree by how much he was exaggerating. Some suggest a factor of three, others up to ten. Even in this worse-case scenario, the Jews would have sacrificed and poured out the blood of 25,650 lambs. That is still a lot of blood. What happened to it?
We know from another ancient Jewish source that there was a drainage system in the temple.
At the southwest corner of the altar there were two holes like two narrow nostrils by which the blood that was poured over the western base and the southern base used to run down and mingle in the water channel and flow out into the brook Kidron [6]
The drainage led to a water channel under the temple which flow out the side of the temple mount, into the Kidron Valley. Since animals were sacrificed in the temple every day, it was common to see blood and water flowing out the side of the temple mount, but on the feast days blood and water would flow out the whole day long.
When John saw blood and water flowing out of Jesus’ side, he recognized him as the new temple. This is quite fitting. What is a temple? In the Old Testament, the temple building was the place where God dwelt on earth. Jesus is the true temple because in him, God dwells in fulness because Jesus is both fully human and fully divine.
Assignments
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Explain why the Roman soldier pierced Jesus’ side.
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Explain how the piercing of Jesus’ side shows that Jesus is the new Paschal lamb, the new Adam, and the new temple.
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Explain the meaning and fulfillment of the prophecy in Zechariah chapters 12 to 13.
Footnotes
[1] Raymond Brown, The Gospel and Epistles of John, The Liturgical Press, Minnesota, 1988, p.96.
[2] John Chysostom, Catechesis 3.
[3] Saint Augustine, Exposition of the Psalms 138:2.
[4] Brant Pitre, Jesus the Bridegroom, pp. 111–112.
[5] Josephus, Jewish Wars 6.9.3.
[6] Mishnah, Middoth, 3.