Friday, March 25, 2016
Go to VIDEO
John 18:1 – 19:42(NLT)
Jesus Is Betrayed and Arrested
After saying
these things, Jesus crossed the Kidron Valley with his disciples and entered a
grove of olive trees. Judas, the betrayer, knew this place, because Jesus
had often gone there with his disciples. The
leading priests and Pharisees had given Judas a contingent of Roman soldiers
and Temple guards to accompany him. Now
with blazing torches, lanterns, and weapons, they arrived at the olive grove.
Jesus fully
realized all that was going to happen to him, so he stepped forward to meet
them. “Who are you looking for?” he asked. “Jesus the Nazarene,” they replied. “I am he,” Jesus said. (Judas, who betrayed him, was standing with
them.) As Jesus said “I
am he,” they all drew back and fell to the ground! Once
more he asked them, “Who are you looking for?” And again they replied, “Jesus the Nazarene.” “I told you
that I am he,” Jesus said. “And since I am the one you
want, let these others go.” He did this to fulfill
his own statement: “I did not lose a single one of those you have given
me.”
Then Simon
Peter drew a sword and slashed off the right ear of Malchus, the high priest’s
slave. But Jesus said to Peter, “Put your
sword back into its sheath. Shall I not
drink from the cup of suffering the Father has given me?”
Jesus at the High Priest’s House
So the
soldiers, their commanding officer, and the Temple guards arrested Jesus and
tied him up. First they took him to Annas, since
he was the father-in-law of Caiaphas, the high priest at that time. Caiaphas
was the one who had told the other Jewish leaders, “It’s better that one man
should die for the people.”
Peter’s First Denial
Simon Peter
followed Jesus, as did another of the disciples. That other disciple was acquainted with the
high priest, so he was allowed to enter the high priest’s courtyard with
Jesus. Peter had to stay outside the gate. Then the disciple who knew the high priest
spoke to the woman watching at the gate, and she let Peter in. The
woman asked Peter, “You’re not one of that man’s disciples, are you?” “No,” he said, “I am not.” Because it was cold, the household
servants and the guards had made a charcoal fire. They
stood around it, warming themselves, and Peter stood with them, warming
himself.
The High Priest Questions Jesus
Inside, the
high priest began asking Jesus about his followers and what he had been
teaching them. Jesus replied, “Everyone knows
what I teach. I have preached regularly
in the synagogues and the Temple, where the people gather. I have not spoken in secret. Why
are you asking me this question? Ask
those who heard me. They know what I
said.” Then one of the
Temple guards standing nearby slapped Jesus across the face. “Is that the way to answer the high priest?”
he demanded. Jesus
replied, “If I said anything wrong, you must prove it. But if I’m speaking the truth, why are you
beating me?” Then
Annas bound Jesus and sent him to Caiaphas, the high priest.
Peter’s Second and Third Denials
Meanwhile, as
Simon Peter was standing by the fire warming himself, they asked him again,
“You’re not one of his disciples, are you?”
He denied it, saying, “No, I am not.”
But one of the household slaves of the high priest, a relative of the
man whose ear Peter had cut off, asked, “Didn’t I see you out there in the
olive grove with Jesus?” Again Peter denied it. And immediately a rooster crowed.
Jesus’ Trial before Pilate
Jesus’ trial
before Caiaphas ended in the early hours of the morning. Then he was taken to the headquarters of the
Roman governor. His accusers didn’t go inside because it would defile
them, and they wouldn’t be allowed to celebrate the Passover. So
Pilate, the governor, went out to them and asked, “What is your charge against
this man?” “We
wouldn’t have handed him over to you if he weren’t a criminal!” they retorted. “Then take him away and judge him
by your own law,” Pilate told them. “Only
the Romans are permitted to execute someone,” the Jewish leaders replied. (This
fulfilled Jesus’ prediction about the way he would die.) Then Pilate went back into his
headquarters and called for Jesus to be brought to him. “Are you the king of the Jews?” he asked him. Jesus replied, “Is this your
own question, or did others tell you about me?” “Am I a Jew?” Pilate retorted. “Your own people and their leading priests
brought you to me for trial. Why? What
have you done?” Jesus
answered, “My Kingdom is not an earthly kingdom. If it were, my followers would fight to keep
me from being handed over to the Jewish leaders. But my Kingdom is not of this world.” Pilate said, “So you are a king?” Jesus responded, “You say I am a king. Actually, I was born and came into the world
to testify to the truth. All who love
the truth recognize that what I say is true.” “What is truth?” Pilate asked. Then he went out again to the people and told
them, “He is not guilty of any crime. But you have
a custom of asking me to release one prisoner each year at Passover. Would you like me to release this ‘King of the
Jews’?” But they
shouted back, “No! Not this man. We want Barabbas!” (Barabbas was a revolutionary.)
Jesus Sentenced to Death
Then Pilate
had Jesus flogged with a lead-tipped whip. The
soldiers wove a crown of thorns and put it on his head, and they put a purple
robe on him. “Hail! King of the Jews!” they
mocked, as they slapped him across the face. Pilate went outside again and said
to the people, “I am going to bring him out to you now, but understand clearly
that I find him not guilty.” Then Jesus came out
wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. And Pilate said, “Look, here is the man!” When they saw him, the leading
priests and Temple guards began shouting, “Crucify him! Crucify him!” “Take him yourselves and crucify him,” Pilate
said. “I find him not guilty.” The
Jewish leaders replied, “By our law he ought to die because he called himself
the Son of God.” When
Pilate heard this, he was more frightened than ever. He
took Jesus back into the headquarters again and asked him, “Where are you
from?” But Jesus gave no answer. “Why
don’t you talk to me?” Pilate demanded. “Don’t
you realize that I have the power to release you or crucify you?” Then Jesus said, “You would
have no power over me at all unless it were given to you from above. So the one who handed me over to you has the
greater sin.” Then Pilate tried to
release him, but the Jewish leaders shouted, “If you release this man, you are
no ‘friend of Caesar.’ Anyone who declares himself a king is a rebel
against Caesar.” When
they said this, Pilate brought Jesus out to them again. Then Pilate sat down on the judgment seat on
the platform that is called the Stone Pavement (in Hebrew, Gabbatha). It
was now about noon on the day of preparation for the Passover. And Pilate said to the people,“Look, here is
your king!” “Away with
him,” they yelled. “Away with him!
Crucify him!” “What? Crucify your king?”
Pilate asked. “We have no king but
Caesar,” the leading priests shouted back. Then Pilate turned Jesus over to
them to be crucified.
The Crucifixion
So they took
Jesus away. Carrying the cross by himself, he went
to the place called Place of the Skull (in Hebrew, Golgotha). There
they nailed him to the cross. Two others
were crucified with him, one on either side, with Jesus between them. And
Pilate posted a sign on the cross that read, “Jesus of Nazareth, the King
of the Jews.” The place where Jesus was crucified
was near the city, and the sign was written in Hebrew, Latin, and Greek, so
that many people could read it. Then
the leading priests objected and said to Pilate, “Change it from ‘The King of
the Jews’ to ‘He said, I am King of the Jews.’” Pilate replied, “No, what I have
written, I have written.” When
the soldiers had crucified Jesus, they divided his clothes among the four of
them. They also took his robe, but it
was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom. So
they said, “Rather than tearing it apart, let’s throw dice for it.” This fulfilled the Scripture that says, “They
divided my garments among themselves and threw dice for my clothing.” So
that is what they did. Standing
near the cross were Jesus’ mother, and his mother’s sister, Mary (the wife of
Clopas), and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw his
mother standing there beside the disciple he loved, he said to her, “Dear
woman, here is your son.” And he said to this
disciple, “Here is your mother.” And from then on this disciple took
her into his home.
The Death of Jesus
Jesus knew
that his mission was now finished, and to fulfill Scripture he said, “I am
thirsty.” A jar of sour wine was sitting there, so
they soaked a sponge in it, put it on a hyssop branch, and held it up to his
lips. When Jesus had tasted it, he said, “It
is finished!” Then he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.
It was the
day of preparation, and the Jewish leaders didn’t want the bodies hanging there
the next day, which was the Sabbath (and a very special Sabbath, because it was
Passover week). So they asked Pilate to
hasten their deaths by ordering that their legs be broken. Then their bodies could be taken down. So
the soldiers came and broke the legs of the two men crucified with Jesus. But
when they came to Jesus, they saw that he was already dead, so they didn’t
break his legs. One of the soldiers, however,
pierced his side with a spear, and immediately blood and water flowed
out. (This report is from an eyewitness giving an
accurate account. He speaks the truth so
that you also may continue to believe.) These
things happened in fulfillment of the Scriptures that say, “Not one of his
bones will be broken,” and “They will look on the
one they pierced.”
The Burial of Jesus
Afterward
Joseph of Arimathea, who had been a secret disciple of Jesus (because he feared
the Jewish leaders), asked Pilate for permission to take down Jesus’ body. When Pilate gave permission, Joseph came and
took the body away. With him came Nicodemus, the
man who had come to Jesus at night. He
brought about seventy-five pounds of perfumed ointment made from myrrh and
aloes. Following Jewish burial custom, they
wrapped Jesus’ body with the spices in long sheets of linen cloth. The
place of crucifixion was near a garden, where there was a new tomb, never used
before. And so, because it was the day of
preparation for the Jewish Passover and since the tomb was close at hand,
they laid Jesus there.
[1] Title Image: By Andrew A. Shenouda from
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia (It's the Holy Week!), via Wikimedia Commons
No comments:
Post a Comment