John 18:1—19:42
After Jesus had spoken these words, he went
out with his disciples across the Kidron valley to a place where there was a
garden, which he and his disciples entered. Now Judas, who betrayed him, also
knew the place, because Jesus often met there with his disciples. So Judas
brought a detachment of soldiers together with police from the chief priests
and the Pharisees, and they came there with lanterns and torches and weapons.
Then Jesus, knowing all that was to happen to him, came forward and asked them,
‘For whom are you looking?’ They answered, ‘Jesus of Nazareth.’ Jesus replied,
‘I am he.’ Judas, who betrayed him, was standing with them. When Jesus said to
them, ‘I am he’, they stepped back and fell to the ground. Again he asked them,
‘For whom are you looking?’ And they said, ‘Jesus of Nazareth.’ Jesus answered,
‘I told you that I am he. So if you are looking for me, let these men go.’ This
was to fulfil the word that he had spoken, ‘I did not lose a single one of
those whom you gave me.’ Then Simon Peter, who had a sword, drew it, struck the
high priest’s slave, and cut off his right ear. The slave’s name was Malchus.
Jesus said to Peter, ‘Put your sword back into its sheath. Am I not to drink
the cup that the Father has given me?’
So the soldiers, their officer, and the
Jewish police arrested Jesus and bound him. First they took him to Annas, who
was the father-in-law of Caiaphas, the high priest that year. Caiaphas was the
one who had advised the Jews that it was better to have one person die for the
people.
Simon Peter and another disciple followed
Jesus. Since that disciple was known to the high priest, he went with Jesus
into the courtyard of the high priest, but Peter was standing outside at the
gate. So the other disciple, who was known to the high priest, went out, spoke
to the woman who guarded the gate, and brought Peter in. The woman said to
Peter, ‘You are not also one of this man’s disciples, are you?’ He said, ‘I am
not.’ Now the slaves and the police had made a charcoal fire because it was
cold, and they were standing round it and warming themselves. Peter also was
standing with them and warming himself.
Then the high priest questioned Jesus about
his disciples and about his teaching. Jesus answered, ‘I have spoken openly to
the world; I have always taught in synagogues and in the temple, where all the
Jews come together. I have said nothing in secret. Why do you ask me? Ask those
who heard what I said to them; they know what I said.’ When he had said this,
one of the police standing nearby struck Jesus on the face, saying, ‘Is that
how you answer the high priest?’ Jesus answered, ‘If I have spoken wrongly,
testify to the wrong. But if I have spoken rightly, why do you strike me?’ Then
Annas sent him bound to Caiaphas the high priest.
Now Simon Peter was standing and warming
himself. They asked him, ‘You are not also one of his disciples, are you?’ He
denied it and said, ‘I am not.’ One of the slaves of the high priest, a
relative of the man whose ear Peter had cut off, asked, ‘Did I not see you in
the garden with him?’ Again Peter denied it, and at that moment the cock
crowed.
Then they took Jesus from Caiaphas to
Pilate’s headquarters. It was early in the morning. They themselves did not
enter the headquarters, so as to avoid ritual defilement and to be able to eat
the Passover. So Pilate went out to them and said, ‘What accusation do you
bring against this man?’ They answered, ‘If this man were not a criminal, we
would not have handed him over to you.’ Pilate said to them, ‘Take him
yourselves and judge him according to your law.’ The Jews replied, ‘We are not
permitted to put anyone to death.’ (This was to fulfil what Jesus had said when
he indicated the kind of death he was to die.)
Then
Pilate entered the headquarters again, summoned Jesus, and asked him, ‘Are you
the King of the Jews?’ Jesus answered, ‘Do you ask this on your own, or did
others tell you about me?’ Pilate replied, ‘I am not a Jew, am I? Your own
nation and the chief priests have handed you over to me. What have you done?’
Jesus answered, ‘My kingdom is not from this world. If my kingdom were from
this world, my followers would be fighting to keep me from being handed over to
the Jews. But as it is, my kingdom is not from here.’ Pilate asked him, ‘So you
are a king?’ Jesus answered, ‘You say that I am a king. For this I was born,
and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who
belongs to the truth listens to my voice.’ Pilate asked him, ‘What is truth?’
After he had said this, he went out to the
Jews again and told them, ‘I find no case against him. But you have a custom
that I release someone for you at the Passover. Do you want me to release for
you the King of the Jews?’ They shouted in reply, ‘Not this man, but Barabbas!’
Now Barabbas was a bandit.
Then Pilate took Jesus and had him flogged.
And the soldiers wove a crown of thorns and put it on his head, and they
dressed him in a purple robe. They kept coming up to him, saying, ‘Hail, King
of the Jews!’ and striking him on the face. Pilate went out again and said to
them, ‘Look, I am bringing him out to you to let you know that I find no case
against him.’ So Jesus came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple
robe. Pilate said to them, ‘Here is the man!’ When the chief priests and the
police saw him, they shouted, ‘Crucify him! Crucify him!’ Pilate said to them,
‘Take him yourselves and crucify him; I find no case against him.’ The Jews
answered him, ‘We have a law, and according to that law he ought to die because
he has claimed to be the Son of God.’
Now
when Pilate heard this, he was more afraid than ever. He entered his
headquarters again and asked Jesus, ‘Where are you from?’ But Jesus gave him no
answer. Pilate therefore said to him, ‘Do you refuse to speak to me? Do you not
know that I have power to release you, and power to crucify you?’ Jesus
answered him, ‘You would have no power over me unless it had been given you
from above; therefore the one who handed me over to you is guilty of a greater
sin.’ From then on Pilate tried to release him, but the Jews cried out, ‘If you
release this man, you are no friend of the emperor. Everyone who claims to be a
king sets himself against the emperor.’
When
Pilate heard these words, he brought Jesus outside and sat on the judge’s bench
at a place called The Stone Pavement, or in Hebrew Gabbatha. Now it was the day
of Preparation for the Passover; and it was about noon. He said to the Jews,
‘Here is your King!’ They cried out, ‘Away with him! Away with him! Crucify
him!’ Pilate asked them, ‘Shall I crucify your King?’ The chief priests
answered, ‘We have no king but the emperor.’ Then he handed him over to them to
be crucified.
So they took Jesus; and carrying the cross
by himself, he went out to what is called The Place of the Skull, which in
Hebrew is called Golgotha. There they crucified him, and with him two others,
one on either side, with Jesus between them. Pilate also had an inscription
written and put on the cross. It read, ‘Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the
Jews.’ Many of the Jews read this inscription, because the place where Jesus
was crucified was near the city; and it was written in Hebrew, in Latin, and in
Greek. Then the chief priests of the Jews said to Pilate, ‘Do not write, “The
King of the Jews”, but, “This man said, I am King of the Jews.” ’ Pilate
answered, ‘What I have written I have written.’ When the soldiers had crucified
Jesus, they took his clothes and divided them into four parts, one for each
soldier. They also took his tunic; now the tunic was seamless, woven in one
piece from the top. So they said to one another, ‘Let us not tear it, but cast
lots for it to see who will get it.’ This was to fulfil what the scripture
says,
‘They divided my clothes among themselves,
and for my clothing they cast lots.’
And that is what the soldiers did.
Meanwhile, standing near the cross of Jesus
were his mother, and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary
Magdalene. When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing
beside her, he said to his mother, ‘Woman, here is your son.’ Then he said to
the disciple, ‘Here is your mother.’ And from that hour the disciple took her
into his own home.
After this, when Jesus knew that all was now
finished, he said (in order to fulfil the scripture), ‘I am thirsty.’ A jar full
of sour wine was standing there. So they put a sponge full of the wine on a
branch of hyssop and held it to his mouth. When Jesus had received the wine, he
said, ‘It is finished.’ Then he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.
Since it was the day of Preparation, the
Jews did not want the bodies left on the cross during the sabbath, especially
because that sabbath was a day of great solemnity. So they asked Pilate to have
the legs of the crucified men broken and the bodies removed. Then 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. Instead, one of the soldiers pierced his side with a
spear, and at once blood and water came out. (He who saw this has testified so
that you also may believe. His testimony is true, and he knows that he tells
the truth.) These things occurred so that the scripture might be fulfilled,
‘None of his bones shall be broken.’ And again another passage of scripture
says, ‘They will look on the one whom they have pierced.’
After these things, Joseph of Arimathea,
who was a disciple of Jesus, though a secret one because of his fear of the
Jews, asked Pilate to let him take away the body of Jesus. Pilate gave him
permission; so he came and removed his body. Nicodemus, who had at first come
to Jesus by night, also came, bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, weighing
about a hundred pounds. They took the body of Jesus and wrapped it with the spices
in linen cloths, according to the burial custom of the Jews. Now there was a
garden in the place where he was crucified, and in the garden there was a new
tomb in which no one had ever been laid. And so, because it was the Jewish day
of Preparation, and the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there.
Reflection
Can you look at the Cross and allow Jesus
die for you?
In looking at the crucified Christ, can I
ask: ‘What have I done for Christ? What am I doing for Christ? What ought I to
do for Christ?’