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. here 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.
+ + + + + + +
Reflection:
Would you have the strength and courage to
carry your own cross?
After all the hardship, betrayal and
persecution Jesus has finally accomplished His salvific mission. It seems odd
that in His last days He was powerless even though He is powerful. He did
nothing to save Himself even if He has at His disposal all the power in this
world to save Himself.
But Jesus did not die for Himself, He died
for our sake. He endured everything including the humiliating death on the cross
to save us that is how great Jesus’ love for us! Therefore, the cross where He
died is also the cross that saved us.
In hindsight what are we willing to give
Jesus in return for saving us? Are we also willing to carry our own cross for
His sake? We may not be able to immediately answer this because many of us are
already used with the comforts of our hi-tech and smartphone driven world.
But the comforts of this world are nothing
compared to the eternal heavenly dwelling that awaits us. And what is the magic
word so that we would be able to go to that eternal heavenly dwelling
eventually?
We must be willing to carry our own cross
as well and what is this cross or who is this cross? He/she is someone who
makes life difficult for us, we have to be patient with him/her until he/she is
enlightened. Another cross is a sickness that we have to endure for as long as
we live. Anything that makes life harder for us is our cross and we
have to ask Jesus to help us overcome all of these crosses. – Marino J.
Dasmarinas
