1 Then Pilate had Jesus taken away and scourged.
2 The soldiers also twisted thorns into a crown and put it on his head. They threw a cloak of royal purple around his shoulders
3 and began coming up to him and saluting him, “Hail, king of the Jews,” and they struck him on the face.
4 Pilate went outside yet another time and said to the Jews, “Look, I am bringing him out and I want you to know that I find no crime in him.”
5 Jesus then came out wearing the crown of thorns and the purple cloak and Pilate pointed to him saying, “Here is the man!”
6 On seeing him the chief priests and the guards cried out, “Crucify him! Crucify him!” Pilate replied, “Take him yourselves and have him crucified, for I find no case against him.”
7 The Jews then said, “We have a Law, and according to the Law this man must die because he made himself Son of God.”
8 When Pilate heard this he was more afraid.
9 And coming back into the court he asked Jesus, “Where are you from?” But Jesus gave him no answer.
10 Then Pilate said to him, “You will not speak to me? Do you not know that I have power to release you just as I have power to crucify you?”
11 Jesus replied, “You would have no power over me unless it had been given you from above; therefore the one who handed me over to you is more guilty.”
12 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 king is defying Caesar.”
13 When Pilate heard this, he had Jesus brought outside to the place called the Stone Floor – in Hebrew Gabbatha – and there he had him seated in the tribune.
14 It was the Preparation Day for the Passover, about noon. So Pilate said to the Jews, “Here is your king.”
15 But they cried out, “Away! Take him away! Crucify him!” Pilate replied, “Shall I crucify your king?” And the chief priests answered, “We have no king but Caesar.”
16 Then Pilate handed Jesus over to them to be crucified.
Jesus is crucified
They took charge of him.
17 Bear ing his own cross, Jesus went out of the city to what is called the Place of the Skull, in He brew: Golgotha.
18 There he was crucified and with him two others, one on either side, and Jesus was in the middle.
19 Pilate had a notice written and fastened to the cross that read: Jesus the Nazorean, King of the Jews.
20 Many Jewish people saw this title, because the place where Jesus was crucified was very close to the city. It was, moreover, written in Hebrew, Latin and Greek.
21 The chief priests said to Pi-late, “Do not write: ‘The king of the Jews’; but: “This man claimed to be king of the Jews.’ ”
22 Pilate answered them, “What I have written, I have written.”
23 When the soldiers crucified Jesus, they took his clothes and divided them into four parts, one part for each of them. But as the tunic was woven in one piece from top to bottom,
24 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 clothing among them; they cast lots for my garment. This was what the soldiers did.
Jesus’ last words
25 Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother, his mother’s sister Mary, who was the wife of Cleophas, and Mary of Magdala.
26 When Jesus saw the Mother, and the disciple whom he loved, he said to the Mother, “Woman, this is your son.”
27 Then he said to the disciple, “There is your mother.” And from that moment the disciple took her to his own home.
28 With that Jesus knew all was now finished and he said, I am thirsty, to fulfill what was written in Scripture.
29 A jar full of bitter wine stood there; so, putting a sponge soaked in the wine on a twig of hyssop, they raised it to his lips.
30 Jesus took the wine and said, “It is accomplished.” Then he bowed his head and gave up the spirit.
The pierced Christ
31 As it was Preparation Day, the Jews did not want the bodies to remain on the cross during the Sabbath, for this Sabbath was a very solemn day. They asked Pilate to have the legs of the condemned men bro ken, so they might take away the bodies.
32 The soldiers came and broke the legs of the first man and of the other who had been crucified with Jesus.
33 When they came to Jesus, they saw that he was already dead; so they did not break his legs.
34 One of the soldiers, however, pierced his side with a lance and immediately there came out blood and water.
35 The one who has seen here gives his witness so that you may believe: his witness is true and He knows that he speaks the truth.
36 All this happened to fulfill the words of Scrip ture, Not one of his bones shall be broken.
37 Another text says: They shall look on him whom they have pierced.
38 After this, Joseph of Arima thea approached Pilate, for he was a disciple of Jesus, though secretly, for fear of the Jews. And he asked Pilate to let him re move the body of Jesus. Pilate agreed, so he came and took away the body.
39 Nicodemus, the man who earlier had come to Jesus by night, also came and brought a jar of myrrh mixed with aloes, about a hundred pounds.
40 They took the body of Jesus and wrapped it in linen cloths with the spices, following the buri al custom of the Jews.
41 There was a garden in the place where Jesus had been crucified, and, in the garden, a new tomb in which no one had ever been laid.
42 As the tomb was very near, they buried Jesus there because they had no time left before the Jewish Prepara tion Day.
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Comments John, Chapter 19
• 19.25 THE MOTHER OF THE BELIEVERS
At the moment of Man’s fall, Eve was with Adam. Now, at the moment of restoration, that is, the second creation, another woman is with the Son of Man (the Human One), the second Adam. Mary has neither spouse nor son who can receive her and, for the Jews, a woman who re mains alone would be considered cursed. Jesus entrusts Mary to John and, also, John to Mary. John testifies having heard both phrases. Notice that he writes: Jesus said to the Mother, and not, to his mother. This is a new symbolic gesture of Jesus. Mary will be the Mother of believers.
Through this last deed of Jesus, the Church discovered something about the mystery of the Christian life. The believer is a member of a spiritual family. As a child needs a father and a mother to grow normally so, too, does the be liever need Mary and the heavenly Father. This is an unchanging doctrine of the Church, which in no way attempts to make the creature equal with the Creator.
Not without reason has God given us a mother: if it is a misfortune for a child not to have known a mother, it is also a misfortune for a believer when his religion only expresses itself in masculine terms. The believer who welcomes Mary to his home as did John is neither a fanatic nor a quibbler regarding faith. There exists a form of humility, joy, interior peace and simple piety characteristic of those Catholics who have known how to open their doors to Mary without throwing out their Savior.
• 28. I am thirsty. Jesus is tortured by thirst. He also thirsts that the Kingdom of his Father be realized in the world. He thirsts for self less love from those who may share his deepest thoughts and be willing to follow him until Cal vary.
It is accomplished. Jesus drank the cup of sorrow and humiliation to the last drop. The Father had placed it in his hands as the means for becoming the Savior we need. The Work of the Son of God made flesh, which should be nothing less than a new creation of the world, is accomplished. The earthly existence of the Son of God comes to an end, and from the seed planted in the earth will come forth the New Creature.
The preparatory times of the Jewish reli gion, in which the Law occupied first place and the fear due to unforgiven sins was never lost, are finished. A stage of his tory has ended, in which the rest of humanity had been dragged by its fears and acceptance of its deadly fate, which was a form of its slavery to the Evil Spirit.
Now begins a new era in history, the era of the New Covenant of God with humanity. The Spirit will be communicated to the Church. John said: Jesus gave up the spirit; a word that also indicated that he was giving his Spirit to us.
• 31. After the account of the passion and the death of Jesus, John adds and repeats three times the personal seal of his testimony. Christ is dead. The soldier pierces his side and from Jesus’ pierced heart blood and water come out. For John, this is the moment of the revelation of the meaning of the drama.
It was preparation day for Passover and, on that Friday afternoon near the place of the executions, the Jews were coming down the hill to the Temple for the immolation of the Passover lamb. In this ritual of the Passover sacrifice, not a single drop of blood was to be lost. That year, John did not join the crowd. Instead, he was there at the foot of the cross with Mary and a few holy women. Then, like the priest at the same time in the Temple, the soldier drew the last drop of blood from Christ on the cross. At that very moment, John’s eyes really opened up. What John the Baptist had said much earlier on the shore of the Jordan suddenly became clear: There is the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.
The soldier’s gesture became a prophetic gesture, unveiling the mystery of the Lamb. Christ’s redemptive blood was poured out, no longer on the altar of the Temple but instead, on the earth renewed and enlivened by that blood. Now the sacrifice of the Passover lamb that Moses inaugurated reaches its fulfillment and its transfiguration. And like the “blood and water” of childbirth, the blood and water coming out of the side of Christ are announcing a new age with baptism and the Eucharist as its sacraments. At that point, John recalls another prescription of the ritual: Not one of his bones shall be broken (Ex 12:46).
• 38. All four evangelists mention the participation of Joseph of Arimathea in Jesus’ burial. John also introduces Nicodemus. For John, both men are breaking free from the darkness of their fear. Jesus has just died and it is two Pha risees who took care of giving him a decent burial. Joseph of Arimathea ap proached Pilate: be cause the disciples had no means of approach ing the Roman governor. Joseph and Nicodemus were disciples in “secret.” Because Jesus identified himself with the common people, it was difficult for those in better social positions to integrate themselves into his group. Here we have an example of the in evitable consequences of a preferential option for the poor.
Nicodemus, Joseph of Arima thea, Laza rus and the women mentioned in Luke 8:2 were people of upper or middle class. This fact was enough for some scholars to hastily conclude that Jesus did not live among the poor: seemingly forgetting all the rest of the Gospel’s evidence. Let us remark that, even now, wherever an apostolic person lives as a poor person among the poor, there are always people, who are better off financially, who recognize him and give him support. By being truly committed to the poor, Jesus saved the rich and won the admiration and friendship of some of them.
The huge amount of myrrh and aloes used for the burial may be one final reference to Jesus’ kingship. He receives a regal burial.
There was a garden. The place for the execu tions was an abandoned quarry near the walls of Jerusalem. Tombs were dug along the sides while the bottom was filled and passed as gardens. A rock projected, about four meters high, from the middle of the area. This rock was called Calvary and on it were raised the crosses.