So they took charge of Jesus, and carrying the cross himself, he went out to what is called the Place of the Skull, that is called Golgotha in Aramaic, where they crucified him, and with him two others on either side, Jesus in the middle.
Pilate also wrote a notice and he put it on the cross. It was written: Jesus, from Nazareth, the King of the Jews.’ Many of the Jews read this notice, because the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city. And it was written in Aramaic, Latin and Greek. So the chief priests of the Jews said to Pilate: ‘Do not leave it written “The King of the Jews” but “He said ‘I am the King of the Jews.’” Pilate answered ‘What I have written, I have written.’
Thank you, dear Jesus, for all you have given me, for all you have taken away from me, for all you have left me.
So when Pilate heard this word, he was more fearful.
And he went into the Praetorium again and said to Jesus ‘Where are you from?’ But Jesus did not give him an answer.
So Pilate said to him: ‘Are you not going to speak to me? Do you not know that I have authority to release you and I have authority to crucify you?
Jesus answered: ‘You have no authority whatsoever over me, unless this situation has been given to you from above. Because of this the one who handed me over to you has a greater sin. ‘
For this reason, Pilate sought to release him.
But the Jewish leaders cried out: ‘If you release this man, you are no friend of Caesar. Everyone who makes themselves King opposes Caesar.’
So Pilate hearing these words led Jesus out and sat upon the Judgement Seat in a place called Stone Pavement – in Hebrew, Gabbatha.
It was the Day of Preparation of the Passover; it was the sixth hour.
And he said to the Jewish leaders: ‘Behold, your king.’
Then 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 at last he handed him over to be crucified, for them.
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace: Where there is hatred, let me sow love; Where there is injury, pardon; Where there is discord, union; Where there is doubt, faith; Where there is despair, hope; Where there is darkness, light; Where there is sadness, joy, For your mercy and for your truth’s sake. Amen
Herod's Palace - where Pilate would have stayed in Jerusalem
And having said this, he went out to the Jewish leaders and spoke to them: ‘I, for my part, find no reason for an accusation in him. It is your custom that I release one man to you at Passover. Therefore, do you wish that I release to you the King of the Jews?’ Then they shouted back ‘No! Not this one, but Barabbas’. (Barabbas was a rebel.)
So then Pilate had Jesus taken and flogged. And the soldiers, having twisted together a crown from thorn branches, put it on his head and put a purple cloak on him. And they said to him ‘Hail, King of the Jews’ and they struck him.
And Pilate went out again and said to them ‘Behold, I am bringing him out to you, that you might know that I find no reason for accusation in him. So Jesus went out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. And he said ‘Behold, the man.’
So when the chief priests and the officials saw him, they cried out ‘Crucify! Crucify!’’
Pilate said to them ‘Take him yourselves, and crucify him.’ For I cannot find a reason for accusation in him.’
The Jewish leaders answered ‘We have a law and according to the law he must die, because he has made himself the Son of God.’
O Lord Jesus Christ, stay beside me to defend me, within me to guide me, before me to lead me, and above me to bless me, that with you and in you, I may live, and move and have my being, for ever and ever. Amen.
So they led Jesus from Caiaphas to the Praetorium. It was early morning; they didn’t enter the Praetorium so that they would not not be defiled and could eat the Passover
So Pilate went out to them and said ‘What charge do you bring against this man?’
They answered: ‘If this man were not a criminal, we would not have handed him over to you.’
Pilate said ‘Take him yourselves and judge him according to your law.
The Jews said to him: ‘It is not lawful for us to kill anyone.’ This was to fulfil the word of Jesus which he spoke indicating what kind of death he was about to die.
So Pilate went into the Praetorium again and called Jesus and said to him: ‘Are you the King of the Jews?’
Jesus replied: ‘Are you saying this on your own account or have others spoken to you about me?
Pilate answered: ‘I am not a Jew am I? Your own people and the High Priests handed you over to me. What have you done?’
Jesus answered ‘My kingdom is not from this world. If my kingdom was from this world my ‘officials ‘ would be fighting so that I would not be handed over to the Jews. But my Kingdom is not from here.
So Pilate said to him ‘So you are a king?’
Jesus replied ‘You say that I am a king. For this I was born, and for this I have come into the world, that I might bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears my voice.
Pilate said to him ‘What is truth?’
God, give me grace to accept with serenity the things that cannot be changed, Courage to change the things which should be changed, and the Wisdom to distinguish the one from the other.
Living one day at a time, Enjoying one moment at a time, Accepting hardship as a pathway to peace, Taking, as Jesus did, This sinful world as it is, Not as I would have it, Trusting that You will make all things right, If I surrender to Your will, So that I may be reasonably happy in this life, And supremely happy with You forever in the next.
So the High Priest questioned Jesus about his disciples and about his teaching.
Jesus replied to him: ‘I have spoken to the world, openly. I have always taught in synagogue and in the temple, where all the Jews come together, and I have said nothing in secret. Why do you question me? Question those who have heard what I said to them. Certainly they know what I said.’
Jesus having said this, one of the officials standing by struck Jesus, saying ‘Is this how you answer the High Priest?’
Jesus replied to him ‘ If I have spoken wrongly, give witness to the wrong. If I spoke correctly, why strike me?’
Then Annas sent him, still bound, to Caiaphas the High Priest.
Simon Peter was standing and warming himself. Then they said to him: ‘You too are of his disciples, aren’t you?’ He denied it: ‘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.
Be thou my vision, O Lord of my heart; Naught be all else to me, save that thou art – Thou my best thought, by day or by night; Waking or sleeping, thy presence my light.
So the High Priest questioned Jesus about his disciples and about his teaching.
Jesus replied to him: ‘I have spoken to the world, openly. I have always taught in synagogue and in the temple, where all the Jews come together, and I have said nothing in secret. Why do you question me? Question those who have heard what I said to them. Certainly they know what I said.’
Jesus having said this, one of the officials standing by struck Jesus, saying ‘Is this how you answer the High Priest?’
Jesus replied to him: ‘If I have spoken wrongly, give witness to the wrong. If I spoke correctly, why strike me?’
Then Annas sent him, still bound, to Caiaphas the High Priest.
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Simon Peter was standing and warming himself. Then they said to him: ‘You too are one of his disciples, aren’t you?’ He denied it: ‘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.
Lord, you have given me so much, I ask for one more thing – a grateful heart.
Then the soldiers, the officer and the Jewish officials arrested Jesus and bound him.
And they led him first to Annas. For he was Caiaphas’s father-in-law, who was the High-Priest that year. It was Caiaphas who advised the Jewish leaders that it was an advantage for one man to die, rather than the whole people.
He was followed by Simon Peter, and another disciple. That disciple was known to the High Priest and went in with Jesus into the High Priest’s courtyard. Peter stood near the door, outside. The other disciple (known by the High Priest) went in and spoke to the door-keeper and she brought Peter in. The slave-girl who was the door-keeper said to Peter: ‘Can it be that you too are one of this man’s disciples?’ He said ‘I am not’.
The slaves and the officials were standing around a charcoal fire that they had made because they were cold, and they were warming themselves. Peter was also with them, and warming himself.
Be thou a bright flame before me, Be thou a guiding star above me Be thou a smooth path below me Be thou a kindly shepherd behind me Today – tonight -forever Amen.
Having said these things, Jesus with his disciples went across the Kidron wadi, to where there was a garden; he and his disciples entered it.
A view from near the Temple Mount across the Kidron Wadi – Gethsemane is on the left of the Church of All Nations on the left of the picture with the arched entrance.
Judas, who betrayed him, knew the place, because Jesus had often met with his disciples there.
So Judas took a squad of soldiers, and some officers from the Chief Priests and the Pharisees and came with torches and lanterns and weapons.
Then Jesus knowing everything that was coming upon him, went out and said them: ‘Whom are you seeking?’ They said to him: ‘Jesus of Nazareth.’ He said to them: ‘I am he’.
Judas, who betrayed him, was also standing with them.
Then as Jesus said to them ‘I am he’ they went back and fell to the ground.
So again he asked them ‘Whom are you seeking?’ Then they said ‘ Jesus of Nazareth’ Jesus answered ‘ I said to you that I am he, So If you want me, let these ones go.’
… to fulfil the word which he had spoken ‘In regard to those whom you have given me, I will not lose anyone of them.’
Then Simon Peter having a short sword, drew it and struck the slave of the High Priest, and cut off his right ear. The name of the slave was Malchus.
Jesus said to Peter ‘Put your sword in its sheath. How can I refuse to drink the cup which the Father has given me?’
O Love, O God who created me, in your love recreate me. O Love, who redeemed me, fill up in me whatever part of your love has fallen into neglect within me. O Love, O God, who first loved me, grant that with my whole heart, and with my whole soul, and with my whole strength, I may love you.
I do not pray only for these, but also for those who will believe in me through their word: –that is that they all might be one;
just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you; then they also might be in us – so that the world might believe that you sent me.
And the glory which you have given to me, I have given to them, so they might be one, as we are, I am in them and you are me, that is that they might be perfectly one so that the world might know that you sent me , and you love them as you love me.
Father, the ones you have given me, I want that where I am, they are with me so that they might see my glory which you gave me because you love me, before the foundation of the world.
Righteous Father, even if the world does not know you, I know you, and these know you because you sent me. And I have made known to them your word and i will make it known, so that the love which which you loved may be in them, and I in them.
Teach us, good Lord, to serve thee as thou deservest; to give and not to count the cost; to fight and not to heed the wounds; to toil and not to seek for rest; to labour and not to ask for any reward, save that of knowing that we do thy will, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen
Holy Father, keep them in your name which you gave me so that they might be one as we are. While I was with them I kept them in your name which you have given me and I guarded them and not one of them was lost, except the son of destruction, that the scripture might be fulfilled.
Now I am coming to you and I say these things in the world so that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves. I gave them your word and the world hated them, because they do not belong to the world as I do not belong to this world. I do not pray that you take them out of the world, but that you would keep them from the evil one. They do not belong to the world, as I do not belong to the world. Set them apart by your truth. Your word is truth. Just as you sent me into the world, I send them into the world. And I consecrate myself on their behalf so that they might be consecrated by the truth.
Grant, Lord, that we may hold to you without parting, worship you without wearying, serve you without failing; faithfully seek you, happily find you, and forever possess you, the only God,blessed now and for ever. Amen
