Gospel
John 18:1-19:42
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.
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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 much Jesus loves
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
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.
We have to ask Jesus to help us go through all of these crosses. –
Marino J. Dasmarinas
