John

Then Pilate had Jesus taken away and scourged.

The soldiers twisted thorns into a crown and placed it on his head. They threw a cloak of royal purple around his shoulders,

and then started approaching him to salute:

“Hail, King of the Jews!”

And they struck him on the face.

Pilate went outside yet again and said to the Jews:

“Look, I am bringing him out, and I want you to know that I find no crime in him.”

Jesus then came out wearing the crown of thorns and the purple cloak, and Pilate pointed at him, saying:

“Behold the man!”

On seeing him, the chief priests and the guards cried out:

“Crucify him! Crucify him!”

Pilate said to them:

“Take him yourselves and have him crucified, for I find no case against him.”

The Jews then said:

“We have a law, and according to that law, this man must die because he made himself Son of God.”

When Pilate heard this, he was more afraid.

And coming back into the court, he asked Jesus:

“Where are you from?”

But Jesus did not answer him.

Then Pilate said to him:

“You refuse to speak to me? Do you not know that I have power to release you, and I have power to crucify you?”

Jesus replied:

“You would have no power over me unless it had been given to you from above; therefore, the one who handed me over to you is guilty of a greater sin.”

From that moment, Pilate tried to release him, but the Jews cried out:

“If you release this man, you are no friend of Caesar. Anyone who makes himself a king opposes Caesar.”

When Pilate heard this, he brought Jesus outside to the place called the Stone Pavement—in Hebrew, Gabbatha—and seated him on the judge’s bench.

It was the day of preparation for the Passover, around noon. Pilate said to the Jews:

“Here is your king!”

But they shouted:

“Away! Take him away! Crucify him!”

Pilate asked:

“Shall I crucify your king?”

The chief priests answered:

“We have no king but Caesar!”

Then he handed Jesus over to them to be crucified.

Crucifixion and Death of Jesus

Introduction

So they took Jesus;

and carrying his cross himself, he went out to what is called the Place of the Skull, in Hebrew Golgotha.

There they crucify him, and with him two others, one on each side, with Jesus in the middle.

Proclamation of Jesus’ Kingship

Pilate had a notice written and fastened to the cross, which read: Jesus the Nazorean, the King of the Jews.

Many of the Jews saw this title because the place where Jesus was crucified was very close to the city, and the title was written in Hebrew, Latin, and Greek.

The chief priests said to Pilate:

“Do not write ‘The King of the Jews’ but, ‘This man claimed to be King of the Jews.’”

Pilate answered them:

“What I have written, I have written.”

Distribution and Casting of Lots for the Garments

When the soldiers crucified Jesus, they took his clothes and divided them into four parts, one for each of them. But since the tunic was woven in one piece from top to bottom,

they said:

“Let us not tear it, but cast lots to decide who will get it.”

This fulfilled the words of Scripture:

They divided my garments among them;

And for my vesture they cast lots.

This was what the soldiers did.

The Hour of the Ecclesial Community

Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother, his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Cleophas, and Mary of Magdala.

When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple there whom he loved, he said to his mother:

“Woman, here is your son.”

Then he said to the disciple:

“Here is your mother.”

And from that moment the disciple took her to his own home.

Fulfillment of Scripture

Jesus knew that everything was now finished, and to fulfill the scripture, he said:

“I am thirsty.”

A jar full of bitter wine was there; so, placing a sponge soaked in the wine on a hyssop branch, they raised it to his mouth.

When Jesus had taken the wine, he said:

“It is finished.”

Then he bowed his head and handed over the spirit.

Jesus, Source of Life

As it was Preparation Day, the Jews didn’t want the bodies to stay on the crosses during the sabbath, because this sabbath was a very sacred day. They asked Pilate to have the condemned men’s legs broken so the bodies could be taken down.

The soldiers came and broke the legs of the first and the other who had been crucified with Jesus.

When they came to Jesus, they saw that he was already dead, so they didn’t break his legs.

However, one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and immediately blood and water came out.

The one who saw that has testified to it, and his testimony is true; he knows he speaks the truth so that you also might believe.

All this happened to fulfill the words of scripture: Not one of his bones shall be broken.

Another text says: They will look upon him whom they have pierced.

Burial of Jesus

After this, Joseph of Arimathea approached Pilate because he was a disciple of Jesus, though secretly, out of fear of the Jews. He asked Pilate for permission to remove Jesus’ body. Pilate agreed, so he came and took the body away.

Nicodemus, the one who first visited Jesus by night, also came with a mixture of about a hundred pounds of myrrh and aloes.

They took Jesus’ body and wrapped it in linen cloths with spices, following the Jewish burial customs.

There was a garden near the place where Jesus was crucified, and in it was a new tomb in which no one had ever been laid.

And therefore, because the tomb was nearby and the Jewish day of preparation was ending, they placed Jesus’ body there.