Lenten Reading, Friday, April 2

Lent Reading: The death of Jesus. John 19:16-42



So he then handed Him over to them to be crucified.

 They took Jesus, therefore, and He went out, bearing His own cross, to the place called the Place of a Skull, which is called in Hebrew, Golgotha.

 There they crucified Him, and with Him two other men, one on either side, and Jesus in between.

 Pilate also wrote an inscription and put it on the cross. It was written, "JESUS THE NAZARENE, THE KING OF THE JEWS."

 Therefore many of the Jews read this inscription, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city; and it was written in Hebrew, Latin and in Greek.

 So the chief priests of the Jews were saying to Pilate, "Do not write, 'The King of the Jews'; but that He said, 'I am King of the Jews.'"

 Pilate answered, "What I have written I have written."

 Then the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took His outer garments and made four parts, a part to every soldier and also the tunic; now the tunic was seamless, woven in one piece.

 So they said to one another, "Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it, to decide whose it shall be"; this was to fulfill the Scripture: "THEY DIVIDED MY OUTER GARMENTS AMONG THEM, AND FOR MY CLOTHING THEY CAST LOTS."

 Therefore the soldiers did these things. But standing by the cross of Jesus were His mother, and His mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene.

 When Jesus then saw His mother, and the disciple whom He loved standing nearby, He said to His mother, "Woman, behold, your son!"

 Then He said to the disciple, "Behold, your mother!" From that hour the disciple took her into his own household.

 After this, Jesus, knowing that all things had already been accomplished, to fulfill the Scripture, said, "I am thirsty."

 A jar full of sour wine was standing there; so they put a sponge full of the sour wine upon a branch of hyssop and brought it up to His mouth.

 Therefore when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, "It is finished!" And He bowed His head and gave up His spirit. Then the Jews, because it was the day of preparation, so that the bodies would not remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a high day), asked Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away.

 So the soldiers came, and broke the legs of the first man and of the other who was crucified with Him;

 but coming to Jesus, when they saw that He was already dead, they did not break His legs.

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

 And he who has seen has testified, and his testimony is true; and he knows that he is telling the truth, so that you also may believe.

 For these things came to pass to fulfill the Scripture, "NOT A BONE OF HIM SHALL BE BROKEN."

 And again another Scripture says, "THEY SHALL LOOK ON HIM WHOM THEY PIERCED."

 After these things Joseph of Arimathea, being a disciple of Jesus, but a secret one for fear of the Jews, asked Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus; and Pilate granted permission. So he came and took away His body.

 Nicodemus, who had first come to Him by night, also came, bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about a hundred pounds weight.

 So they took the body of Jesus and bound it in linen wrappings with the spices, as is the burial custom of the Jews.

 Now in the place where He was crucified there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb in which no one had yet been laid.

 Therefore because of the Jewish day of preparation, since the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there.