Jesus Is Crucified
(Matthew 27.32-44; Mark 15.21-32; Luke 23.26-43)

John 19 So they took charge of Jesus. ¹⁷He went out, carrying his cross, and came to "The Place of the Skull," as it is called. (In Hebrew it is called "Golgotha.") ¹⁸There they crucified him; and they also crucified two other men, one on each side, with Jesus between them. ¹⁹Pilate wrote a notice and had it put on the cross. "Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews," is what he wrote. ²⁰Many people read it, because the place where Jesus was crucified was not far from the city. The notice was written in Hebrew, Latin, and Greek. ²¹The chief priests said to Pilate, "Do not write 'The King of the Jews,' but rather, 'This man said, I am the King of the Jews.'"
²²Pilate answered, "What I have written stays written."
²³After the soldiers had crucified Jesus, they took his clothes and divided them into four parts, one part for each soldier. They also took the robe, which was made of one piece of woven cloth without any seams in it. ²⁴The soldiers said to one another, "Let's not tear it; let's throw dice to see who will get it." This happened in order to make the scripture come true:
"They divided my clothes among themselves
and gambled for my robe."
And this is what the soldiers did.
²⁵Standing close to Jesus' cross were his mother, his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. ²⁶Jesus saw his mother and the disciple he loved standing there; so he said to his mother, "He is your son."
²⁷Then he said to the disciple, "She is your mother." From that time the disciple took her to live in his home.

The Death of Jesus
(Matthew 27.45-56; Mark 15.33-41; Luke 23.44-49)

²⁸Jesus knew that by now everything had been completed; and in order to make the scripture come true, he said, "I am thirsty."
²⁹A bowl was there, full of cheap wine; so a sponge was soaked in the wine, put on a stalk of hyssop, and lifted up to his lips. ³⁰Jesus drank the wine and said, "It is finished!"
Then he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

Jesus' Side Is Pierced

³¹Then the Jewish authorities asked Pilate to allow them to break the legs of the men who had been crucified, and to take the bodies down from the crosses. They requested this because it was Friday, and they did not want the bodies to stay on the crosses on the Sabbath, since the coming Sabbath was especially holy. ³²So the soldiers went and broke the legs of the first man and then of the other man who had been crucified with Jesus. ³³But when they came to Jesus, they saw that he was already dead, so they did not break his legs. ³⁴One of the soldiers, however, plunged his spear into Jesus' side, and at once blood and water poured out. ( ³⁵The one who saw this happen has spoken of it, so that you also may believe. What he said is true, and he knows that he speaks the truth.) ³⁶This was done to make the scripture come true: "Not one of his bones will be broken." ³⁷And there is another scripture that says, "People will look at him whom they pierced."

The Burial of Jesus
(Matthew 27.57-61; Mark 15.42-47; Luke 23.50-56)

³⁸After this, Joseph, who was from the town of Arimathea, asked Pilate if he could take Jesus' body. (Joseph was a follower of Jesus, but in secret, because he was afraid of the Jewish authorities.) Pilate told him he could have the body, so Joseph went and took it away. ³⁹Nicodemus, who at first had gone to see Jesus at night, went with Joseph, taking with him about one hundred pounds of spices, a mixture of myrrh and aloes. ⁴⁰The two men took Jesus' body and wrapped it in linen cloths with the spices according to the Jewish custom of preparing a body for burial. ⁴¹There was a garden in the place where Jesus had been put to death, and in it there was a new tomb where no one had ever been buried. ⁴²Since it was the day before the Sabbath and because the tomb was close by, they placed Jesus' body there.

Preparations for Passover

2 Chronicles 30 ^1-3The people had not been able to celebrate the Passover Festival at the proper time in the first month, because not enough priests were ritually clean and not many people had assembled in Jerusalem. So King Hezekiah, his officials, and the people of Jerusalem agreed to celebrate it in the second month, and the king sent word to all the people of Israel and Judah. He took special care to send letters to the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh, inviting them to come to the Temple in Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover in honor of the LORD, the God of Israel. ⁴The king and the people were pleased with their plan, ⁵so they invited all the Israelites, from Dan in the north to Beersheba in the south, to come together in Jerusalem and celebrate the Passover according to the Law, in larger numbers than ever before. ⁶Messengers went out at the command of the king and his officials through all Judah and Israel with the following invitation:
"People of Israel, you have survived the Assyrian conquest of the land. Now return to the LORD, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and he will return to you. ⁷Do not be like your ancestors and your Israelite relatives who were unfaithful to the LORD their God. As you can see, he punished them severely. ⁸Do not be stubborn as they were, but obey the LORD. Come to the Temple in Jerusalem, which the LORD your God has made holy forever, and worship him so that he will no longer be angry with you. ⁹If you return to the LORD, then those who have taken your relatives away as prisoners will take pity on them and let them come back home. The LORD your God is kind and merciful, and if you return to him, he will accept you."
¹⁰The messengers went to every city in the territory of the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh, and as far north as the tribe of Zebulun, but people laughed at them and made fun of them. ¹¹Still, there were some from the tribes of Asher, Manasseh, and Zebulun who were willing to come to Jerusalem. ¹²God was also at work in Judah and united the people in their determination to obey his will by following the commands of the king and his officials.

Passover Is Celebrated

¹³A great number of people gathered in Jerusalem in the second month to celebrate the Festival of Unleavened Bread. ¹⁴They took all the altars that had been used in Jerusalem for offering sacrifices and burning incense and threw them into Kidron Valley. ¹⁵And on the fourteenth day of the month they killed the lambs for the Passover sacrifice. The priests and Levites who were not ritually clean became so ashamed that they dedicated themselves to the LORD, and now they could sacrifice burnt offerings in the Temple. ¹⁶They took their places in the Temple according to the instructions in the Law of Moses, the man of God. The Levites gave the blood of the sacrifices to the priests, who sprinkled it on the altar. ¹⁷Because many of the people were not ritually clean, they could not kill the Passover lambs, so the Levites did it for them and dedicated the lambs to the LORD. ¹⁸In addition, many of those who had come from the tribes of Ephraim, Manasseh, Issachar, and Zebulun had not performed the ritual of purification, and so they were observing Passover improperly. King Hezekiah offered this prayer for them: ¹⁹"O LORD, the God of our ancestors, in your goodness forgive those who are worshiping you with all their heart, even though they are not ritually clean." ²⁰The LORD answered Hezekiah's prayer; he forgave the people and did not harm them. ²¹For seven days the people who had gathered in Jerusalem celebrated the Festival of Unleavened Bread with great joy, and day after day the Levites and the priests praised the LORD with all their strength. ²²Hezekiah praised the Levites for their skill in conducting the worship of the LORD.

A Second Celebration

After the seven days during which they offered sacrifices in praise of the LORD, the God of their ancestors, ²³they all decided to celebrate for another seven days. So they celebrated with joy. ²⁴King Hezekiah contributed 1,000 bulls and 7,000 sheep for the people to kill and eat, and the officials gave them another 1,000 bulls and 10,000 sheep. A large number of priests went through the ritual of purification. ²⁵So everyone was happy--the people of Judah, the priests, the Levites, the people who had come from the north, and the foreigners who had settled permanently in Israel and Judah. ²⁶The city of Jerusalem was filled with joy, because nothing like this had happened since the days of King Solomon, the son of David. ²⁷The priests and the Levites asked the LORD's blessing on the people. In his home in heaven God heard their prayers and accepted them.

A Prayer for Help

Psalm 86 Listen to me, LORD, and answer me,
for I am helpless and weak.
²Save me from death, because I am loyal to you;
save me, for I am your servant and I trust in you.

³You are my God, so be merciful to me;
I pray to you all day long.
⁴Make your servant glad, O Lord,
because my prayers go up to you.
⁵You are good to us and forgiving,
full of constant love for all who pray to you.

⁶Listen, LORD, to my prayer;
hear my cries for help.
⁷I call to you in times of trouble,
because you answer my prayers.

⁸There is no god like you, O Lord,
not one has done what you have done.
⁹All the nations that you have created
will come and bow down to you;
they will praise your greatness.
¹⁰You are mighty and do wonderful things;
you alone are God.

¹¹Teach me, LORD, what you want me to do,
and I will obey you faithfully;
teach me to serve you with complete devotion.
¹²I will praise you with all my heart, O Lord my God;
I will proclaim your greatness forever.
¹³How great is your constant love for me!
You have saved me from the grave itself.
¹⁴Proud people are coming against me, O God;
a cruel gang is trying to kill me--
people who pay no attention to you.
¹⁵But you, O Lord, are a merciful and loving God,
always patient, always kind and faithful.
¹⁶Turn to me and have mercy on me;
strengthen me and save me,
because I serve you just as my mother did.
¹⁷Show me proof of your goodness, LORD;
those who hate me will be ashamed
when they see that you have given me comfort and help.