Jesus went out with his disciples across the Kidron valley
to where there was a garden,
into which he and his disciples entered.
Judas his betrayer also knew the place,
because Jesus had often met there with his disciples.
So Judas got a band of soldiers and guards
from the chief priests and the Pharisees
and went there with lanterns, torches, and weapons.
Jesus, knowing everything that was going to happen to him,
went out and said to them, “Whom are you looking for?”
They answered him, “Jesus the Nazorean.”
He said to them, “I AM.”
Judas his betrayer was also with them.
When he said to them, “I AM, “
they turned away and fell to the ground.
So he again asked them,
“Whom are you looking for?”
They said, “Jesus the Nazorean.”
Jesus answered,
“I told you that I AM.
So if you are looking for me, let these men go.”
This was to fulfill what he had said,
“I have not lost any of those 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 into its scabbard.
Shall I not drink the cup that the Father gave me?”
So the band of soldiers, the tribune, and the Jewish guards seized Jesus,
bound him, and brought him to Annas first.
He was the father-in-law of Caiaphas,
who was high priest that year.
It was Caiaphas who had counseled the Jews
that it was better that one man should die rather than the people.
Simon Peter and another disciple followed Jesus.
Now the other disciple was known to the high priest,
and he entered the courtyard of the high priest with Jesus.
But Peter stood at the gate outside.
So the other disciple, the acquaintance of the high priest,
went out and spoke to the gatekeeper and brought Peter in.
Then the maid who was the gatekeeper said to Peter,
“You are not one of this man’s disciples, are you?”
He said, “I am not.”
Now the slaves and the guards were standing around a charcoal fire
that they had made, because it was cold,
and were warming themselves.
Peter was also standing there keeping warm.
The high priest questioned Jesus
about his disciples and about his doctrine.
Jesus answered him,
“I have spoken publicly to the world.
I have always taught in a synagogue
or in the temple area where all the Jews gather,
and in secret I have said nothing. Why ask me?
Ask those who heard me what I said to them.
They know what I said.”
When he had said this,
one of the temple guards standing there struck Jesus and said,
“Is this the way you answer the high priest?”
Jesus answered him,
“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 there keeping warm.
And they said to him,
“You are not 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 one whose ear Peter had cut off, said,
“Didn’t I see you in the garden with him?”
Again Peter denied it.
And immediately the cock crowed.
Then they brought Jesus from Caiaphas to the praetorium.
It was morning.
And they themselves did not enter the praetorium,
in order not to be defiled so that they could eat the Passover.
So Pilate came out to them and said,
“What charge do you bring against this man?”
They answered and said to him,
“If he were not a criminal,
we would not have handed him over to you.”
At this, Pilate said to them,
“Take him yourselves, and judge him according to your law.”
The Jews answered him,
“We do not have the right to execute anyone, “
in order that the word of Jesus might be fulfilled
that he said indicating the kind of death he would die.
So Pilate went back into the praetorium
and summoned Jesus and said to him,
“Are you the King of the Jews?”
Jesus answered,
“Do you say this on your own
or have others told you about me?”
Pilate answered,
“I am not a Jew, am I?
Your own nation and the chief priests handed you over to me.
What have you done?”
Jesus answered,
“My kingdom does not belong to this world.
If my kingdom did belong to this world,
my attendants would be fighting
to keep me from being handed over to the Jews.
But as it is, my kingdom is not here.”
So Pilate said to him,
“Then you are a king?”
Jesus answered,
“You say 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 said to him, “What is truth?”
When he had said this,
he again went out to the Jews and said to them,
“I find no guilt in him.
But you have a custom that I release one prisoner to you at Passover.
Do you want me to release to you the King of the Jews?”
They cried out again,
“Not this one but Barabbas!”
Now Barabbas was a revolutionary.
Then Pilate took Jesus and had him scourged.
And the soldiers wove a crown out of thorns and placed it on his head,
and clothed him in a purple cloak,
and they came to him and said,
“Hail, King of the Jews!”
And they struck him repeatedly.
Once more Pilate went out and said to them,
“Look, I am bringing him out to you,
so that you may know that I find no guilt in him.”
So Jesus came out,
wearing the crown of thorns and the purple cloak.
And he said to them, “Behold, the man!”
When the chief priests and the guards saw him they cried out,
“Crucify him, crucify him!”
Pilate said to them,
“Take him yourselves and crucify him.
I find no guilt in him.”
The Jews answered,
“We have a law, and according to that law he ought to die,
because he made himself the Son of God.”
Now when Pilate heard this statement,
he became even more afraid,
and went back into the praetorium and said to Jesus,
“Where are you from?”
Jesus did not answer him.
So Pilate said to him,
“Do you not speak to me?
Do you not know that I have power to release you
and I have power to crucify you?”
Jesus answered him,
“You would have no power over me
if it had not been given to you from above.
For this reason the one who handed me over to you
has the greater sin.”
Consequently, Pilate tried to release him; but the Jews cried out,
“If you release him, you are not a Friend of Caesar.
Everyone who makes himself a king opposes Caesar.”
When Pilate heard these words he brought Jesus out
and seated him on the judge’s bench
in the place called Stone Pavement, in Hebrew, Gabbatha.
It was preparation day for Passover, and it was about noon.
And he said to the Jews,
“Behold, your king!”
They cried out,
“Take him away, take him away! Crucify him!”
Pilate said to them,
“Shall I crucify your king?”
The chief priests answered,
“We have no king but Caesar.”
Then he handed him over to them to be crucified.
So they took Jesus, and, carrying the cross himself,
he went out to what is called the Place of the Skull,
in Hebrew, Golgotha.
There they crucified him, and with him two others,
one on either side, with Jesus in the middle.
Pilate also had an inscription written and put on the cross.
It read,
“Jesus the Nazorean, the King of the Jews.”
Now many of the Jews read this inscription,
because the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city;
and it was written in Hebrew, Latin, and Greek.
So the chief priests of the Jews said to Pilate,
“Do not write ‘The King of the Jews,’
but that he said, ‘I am the 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 shares,
a share for each soldier.
They also took his tunic, but the tunic was seamless,
woven in one piece from the top down.
So they said to one another,
“Let’s not tear it, but cast lots for it to see whose it will be, “
in order that the passage of Scripture might be fulfilled that says:
They divided my garments among them,
and for my vesture they cast lots.
This is what the soldiers did.
Standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother
and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas,
and Mary of Magdala.
When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple there whom he loved
he said to his mother, “Woman, behold, your son.”
Then he said to the disciple,
“Behold, your mother.”
And from that hour the disciple took her into his home.
After this, aware that everything was now finished,
in order that the Scripture might be fulfilled,
Jesus said, “I thirst.”
There was a vessel filled with common wine.
So they put a sponge soaked in wine on a sprig of hyssop
and put it up to his mouth.
When Jesus had taken the wine, he said,
“It is finished.”
And bowing his head, he handed over the spirit.
Here all kneel and pause for a short time.
Now since it was preparation day,
in order that the bodies might not remain on the cross on the sabbath,
for the sabbath day of that week was a solemn one,
the Jews asked Pilate that their legs be broken
and that they be taken down.
So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first
and then of the other one who was crucified with Jesus.
But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead,
they did not break his legs,
but one soldier thrust his lance into his side,
and immediately blood and water flowed out.
An eyewitness has testified, and his testimony is true;
he knows that he is speaking the truth,
so that you also may come to believe.
For this happened so that the Scripture passage might be fulfilled:
Not a bone of it will be broken.
And again another passage says:
They will look upon him whom they have pierced.
After this, Joseph of Arimathea,
secretly a disciple of Jesus for fear of the Jews,
asked Pilate if he could remove the body of Jesus.
And Pilate permitted it.
So he came and took his body.
Nicodemus, the one who had first come to him at night,
also came bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes
weighing about one hundred pounds.
They took the body of Jesus
and bound it with burial cloths along with the spices,
according to the Jewish burial custom.
Now in the place where he had been crucified there was a garden,
and in the garden a new tomb, in which no one had yet been buried.
So they laid Jesus there because of the Jewish preparation day;
for the tomb was close by.
When I see this scene, my first thought is the hymn, ‘Why Should He Love Me So?’. We understand so little of real love.
And a line from an early Newsboys song: “Why did He shed such precious blood for one such as me …”
Thank you my Lord Jesus for loving us beyond our comprehension and for the redemption and salvation of our souls. Amen.
Amen
AMEN!🙏
Amen!
cross posted in the thread at https://freedomaustralia.freeforums.net/thread/2140/crucifixion-passover?page=1&scrollTo=6569
John 3: 16
Also, John Chapter 14. “Let not your heart be troubled” has got to be one of the most comforting things Christ ever told us.
Menagerie – Thank you for recommending “The Bible in a Year” w/Fr. Mike Schmitz last week. Have a blessed day!
You’re welcome! It’s a great resource.
Yes thank you!
I too now have it saved as a favourite.
Cheers!
Oh yes, that is an excellent pod cast.
I listen while tread milling, with my eyes closed. So good
Because Christ died for us, we need not fear death or Hell or judgment! The Bible says, “For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God” (1 Peter 3:18). God didn’t abandon Jesus, and He won’t abandon you. Make Him part of your life today. Rev. Billy Graham
My godly Mom always told me in times of teenage doubt and angst that we are in Christ’s hands and He is in the Father’s hands. That imagery has stayed with me since.
this is a wonderful thing your mom said. Jen’s image and scripture is lovely
Amen.
some take aways from rewatching Mel Gibson’s THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST: the sympathetic treatment of Pilate; the words exchanged by Christ and Pilate are in the Gospels; the scourging of Christ hard to watch; do God, the Holy Spirit and the Christ think it was worth it
population of Earth in a.d. 30 estimated at between 2 and 3 hundred million.
He preserved Lot and Lot’s family. One saved soul is worth it to our Mighty and Holy God. He doesn’t need us for anything. He loves us and desires our company. So he sacrificed Himself to make it so.
There’s an apocryphal letter from Pilate to Caesar regarding Jesus crucifixion that for the most part rings true. There is bogus stuff apparently added later but from Pilate’s perspective he was put in a no-win position. Nelsen Walters YouTube does a good analysis of it. There are others, too I think.
‘Jesus of Nazareth’ to me is just as compelling. Rod Steiger as Pontius Pilate, the Governor of the Roman protectorate Judaea, was incredible in showing the conflict of appeasing the Jews blood lust so as to maintain control of the province and stay in good standing with the Emperor.
The Divine mystery is that we are now massively more populated, with massively more and deeper varieties of sin, everywhere. And that Sacrifice, where a Man, the Son of Man, the Son of God, shed all His blood to the last drop…endured the indignities and horrendous pain of the scourging and crucifixion, carrying the cross, the vinegar, the lance…the pain of seeing His Mother…
All that He endured, still carries through for us, today.
Amen, Treepers.
I pray all Treepers and our indefatigable host and mods have a peaceful and blessed Easter weekend.
I don’t know why Jesus chose me; but I am very grateful that He mends cracked pots and makes them useful again.
ahh, I read your stuff, yer not a crack pot man
Well, I have my times going absolutely supernova–then shards fling all over the place. Then along comes my Savior and puts it back together. Happy Easter to you, Stu.
Wishing you a blessed Easter, as well, Alligator Gar.
And you, lolli. May you and your family be blessed this season.
Jesus is the Healer. Be at peace and just remember to thank him!
Sorry I denied you , Lord. Thank you for forgiving me.
And he said ” Follow me … and I will make you fishers of men. “
“The Gospel of the Lord” Praise to You, Lord Jesus Christ.
Thank you, Sundance. All of you are in my prayers.
A Muslim friend asked me to explain what Christianity was all about. It was the easiest job assignment I ever had.
Jesus died for our sins. That’s Christianity.
The western world is founded on the principle of Christ’s self-sacrifice. But targeted, reasoned, cogent self-sacrifice. Cowards refuse self-sacrifice, but moral reprobates demand baseless self sacrifice from others. Leftist atheists find demanding self-sacrifice, from others, splendidly facile.
The global warming hoax appears, most ominously, like a case of the very rich convincing themselves that sacrificing the poor to save the world (somehow) is a most admirable path forward. Except none dare specify what the sacrifice will be, and none dare specify (or knows?) what the sacrifice will accomplish. Human sacrifice for the sake of human sacrifice is most starkly a return to the pagan, pre-Christian world. It is throwing virgins into the volcano. It is in no way consistent with the Christian ethos.
Thank you for showing us the way..
Amazing grace… unmerited favor,
and His sacrifice on the cross… for a wretch like me.
Thank you, Lord.
Grace is receiving that which we don’t deserve. Mercy is not receiving that which we do deserve
Thanks for this. I needed a gentle reminder. Christ Jesus lives in my heart. I don’t deserve it. I’m eternally grateful for it.
Amen.
G.R.A.C.E. = God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense.
Eternally grateful for His GRACE!
Merciful Father,
Today, we remember how your son died on the cross for us. He suffered betrayal, humiliation, and mockery for our sake. He was beaten and wounded for our sins.
He was crowned with thorns and crucified so that we may be saved.
Our hearts are heavy as we remember his suffering.
Though we mourn today,
we find comfort in the hope that his death and resurrection brought to us.
Because he died, we have the gift of eternal life.
Because he overcame death, we know we are more than conquerors.
Thank you Father for this ultimate demonstration of love. Thank you for the gift of eternal life. Thank you for the forgiveness of our sins, through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior
Amen.
Amen
Deposition…Caravaggio 1600-1604, oil on canvas
It is Well with my Soul;
“My sin-oh, the bliss of this glorious thought!-
My sin, not in part but the whole,
Is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more,
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!”
Thank you Lord.
It is Well With My Soul
https://thexvid.com/video/Nqv8LmRaLRo/the-isaacs-it-is-well-with-my-soul-live.html
My mother used to listen to ‘Jesus Christ Superstar’ on Good Friday. She gave the double album set to me and I recorded it onto cassette tape and years later onto a CD. I have no CD player in my new truck but I just checked on Spotify and it is there!
Along those same lines, the Godspell album is wonderful listening.
Christ you know I love you
Did you see I waved
I believe in you and God
So tell me that I’m saved
I listened to “They Sold Me Out” by Van Morrison on the way home from Good Friday mass:
Sold me out for a few shekels and divided up my robes
They sold me me out
It’s the oldest story that’s ever been told
They sold me out
It was Thursday…
Matt 12:40 For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
Saturday night, Friday night, Thursday night
per the Jewish reckoning of days, in accordance with the sequential evenings and mornings pattern of the creation week, the subsequent day starts at sundown of the previous day
crucified on Thursday before the holy day of Friday and the Saturday sabbath
I agree Stu.
There a two types of sabbaths – weekly sabbaths and high holy day sabbaths. Passover is a high holy day. I think that it is likely that the Passover sabbath began at sundown on Thursday the year that Christ was crucified. I have read that Christ was being crucified while the Passover lambs were being sacrificed on Thursday afternoon.
So much subtlety and information in this passage. Jesus declares he is a Nazorean. Don’t hear much about that these days. Probably vamooses the Judeo-Xtian[Khazarian Mafia] angle. Pilate names him on his crucifixion placard “King of the Jews” and the priests [uncapitalized on purpose and acting as kings] want him writ with their bloody doctrinal sin by prefacing it with “I am”. Pilate denies them their lie. He seems to understand what he is dealing with and overwhelmed by it. The Jews cause Joseph to be afraid because he believes in Jesus’ ministry and claims. Sound familiar to today’s issues IMHO. If he was Jewish why would he be afraid of what seems to be described as other to him in this passage. I see many other subtleties unfold in the specific sequence of events and language and phraseology but i presume I am in trouble already for not adhering to somebody’s doctrine or other.
Why a garden? And a betraying snake? Evil came full circle at Gethsemane
“ Cursed are you above all the livestock and all the wild animals …… I will put enmity between the seed (one singular seed )? of the woman, and between your seed and hers;
he will crush your head and you will strike his heel.”
Gen.3:14-15
On Good Friday he bruised Jesus’s heel.
Satan is really ticked off now and knows he’s just about out of time until that prophecy is executed. It will be fulfilled as surely as Jesus’s heel was bruised that day.
The debt of our sin against God our Father was paid that day. Jesus was our stand-in .Imputed to our overdrawn accounts His righteous .
This was mans worst answered with Gods best.
He is risen indeed!
And God wept. The “teardrop from heaven” scene from The Passion of the Christ. So incredibly moving.
Thank you, Sundance.
I am humbled.
It’s Friday
Its only Friday and they don’t know ;Sunday’s coming
https://m.youtube.com>watch?v=Qs2wPotScZY
Another wonderful source of truth:
https://shepherdschapel.com/
I went to Maundy Thursday, and then today a Good Friday Noon service. Two different churches, two different ministers. Last night was great, but honestly today didn’t move me.
When the service was over today I grabbed the dog and we walked through the old cemetery to the garden where they have a statute of St. Francis and some benches. Beautiful little spot. We soaked in the warm sunshine, enjoyed the blooms on the spring flowers and trees, said some prayers and just sat w/the Lord. My dog jumped up on the bench w/me and seemed so content to be still and meditate too. It was awesome.
Not to argue w/the ministers but they do seem to love to throw it out how many people tell them communing in nature is their way of connecting to God, and of course the ministers hoo-haw that. I don’t know, it works for me.
Wishing everyone a Blessed Easter.
Q.E.D.
Crying…..
I put on Bach’s Matthäus-Passion in my media player (Kodi) and am enjoying it. It is one of the greatest pieces of music ever written. My version is the Philips’ CD by Rundfunkchor Leipzig / Staatskapelle Dresden / Peter Schreier from 1985
Unusual 2016 movie “Risen” on ROKU about Jesus and a Roman Tribune who converts to Christianity.
I recommend it.
What a beautiful and somber day here. We had outdoor Stations of the Cross which were overwhelming, so meaningful and mesmerizing. It was in the mid-70s.
Just before 3:00, it began to lightning and rain. Tonight is our Good Friday service with the reading of John’s Passion posted above.
Thanks for the Plaintive Gregorian chant also posted above, so meaningful.
Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.
What the Lord has begun, He will finish! In the world’s eyes, the last they saw Jesus was His dead corpse being taken down from the cross and laid in Joseph’s tomb (the Garden Tomb); none considering that God had arranged all of it, and was using it to break the serpent’s head. The endless stream of witnesses through the centuries about the meaning of Jesus’ death, and the power of His resurrection; have been sent as Announced Glad tidings of the kingdom of God into all the earth: not as conquerors on horses, but as Ambassadors of reconciliation; for Jesus has already conquered the world, and sin, and the devil! And what Jesus began on the cross He has been working on continually ever since; and will finish it with His coming in power and great glory, with all His holy angels. The completing of the Glad Tidings will be the taking away of all the wicked and every cause of sin from the world, and cast them into the furnace of fire. The Day of the LORD is the Day of Reckoning and Vengeance, of fire and brimstone and a horrible tempest upon the ungodly. And the completion of the Glad Tidings will at that day will see ALL the righteous from all ages raised again with new and glorified bodies, and set over the government of the world; the Lord Jesus Christ Himself being KING of Kings, sitting on the throne of His glory in Jerusalem. Those whom the Lord chooses to live and remain of the Jews; who shall look upon Him whom they pierced, and mourn for Him as for an only Son; they shall weep and mourn many days, and be converted for ever; never again to go away from Him. The nations which remain, shall be under the new government of the world of the Saints and Christ; and they shall keep the Law of the LORD, and every man come up to worship Jesus during Succoth (the Feast of Tabernacles).
The things that we see all happening today are to let us know, that His finger is on the curtain, and He is about to step through. The triumphing of the wicked shall be short-lived; and all these things are sent from God to try and to prove us, what kind we are; who will be saved, and who will perish. The day of mercy for us will be the day of wrath for those.
Amen & God Bless!
I was just thinking about our Lord sweating blood in the Garden of Gethsemane. I had always thought that even though crucifixion is utterly horrific, why did he sweat blood and ask God to let the cup pass from him. And just this week it occurred to me that his taking all of our sins on himself means that he was not only being crucified but feeling all of the punishments of all of his people over those hours and I cannot even imagine. I cannot even imagine.
I find this very readable. Can Sundance or anyone else tell me which version of the Bible this is? I cannot read the ones in archaic English, but find this one readable. Please post your answer here.