Good Friday
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, "Whom are you looking for?" 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, "Whom are you looking for?" 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 fulfill 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 around 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 fulfill 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 fulfill 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 fulfill 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.
