John 19:31

‘The Judaisers therefore, because it was Friday (or the preparation), that the bodies should not remain on the cross on the Sabbath, for the day of that Sabbath was a high day, asked of Pilate that their legs might be broken and that they might be taken away.'

‘Because it was Friday, or the preparation'. Paraskeue regularly means Friday, for it was the day of preparation for the Sabbath (see John 19:14). Here the Sabbath is also a high day, a special day of the Feast, because it was the Sabbath of Passover week and in this case the day on which the Omer sheaf was presented (Leviticus 23:11). It may, however, be that paraskeue simply refers to the day of preparation prior to the Passover sabbath, for the 15th of Nisan was always a sabbath. It may not refer to the day of the week at all.

‘That the bodies should not remain on the cross.' The breaking of the legs was to hasten their deaths, so that the bodies could be removed before the commencement of the Sabbath at around 6:00 p.m (sunset). Deuteronomy 21:22 and Joshua 8:29 specify that the bodies of executed criminals who have been hanged on a tree should not remain there overnight lest they defile the land, and according to Josephus this law was interpreted in the first century to cover the bodies of those who had been crucified. Philo of Alexandria also mentions that on occasion, especially at festivals, the bodies were taken down and given to relatives to bury (Flaccus 10 (83)). Thus while this lies behind the request it was made only because the following day was an important Sabbath. The normal Roman practise would have been to leave the bodies on the crosses, to serve as a warning to other would-be offenders.

‘And that they might be taken away'. Their death was a death of shame and their remaining there overnight would have been seen as polluting the land. Thus in view of the high day they wanted the bodies taken away. Having crucified Jesus they did not want His body to get between them and His Father!