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Friday 29 March 2013

HOLY WEEK - Part Five


Our focus for this posting is the Voices of the Passion of the Lord. 



The Agony in the Garden

Then they came to a place named Gethsemane, and he said to his disciples,

          “Sit here while I pray.” 



He took with him Peter, James, and John, and began to be troubled and distressed. Then he said to them, 

          “My soul is sorrowful even to death. Remain here and keep watch.” 

He advanced a little and fell to the ground and prayed that if it were possible the hour might pass by him; he said,

          "not what I will but what you will. 

When he returned he found them asleep. He said, 

          “Simon, are you asleep? Could you not keep watch for one hour? Watch  
           and pray that you may not undergo the test. The spirit is willing but  
           the flesh is weak.”, 

The Betrayal and Arrest of Jesus

While he was still speaking, a crowd approached and in front was one of the Twelve, a man named Judas. He went up to Jesus to kiss him. Jesus said to him,

             “Judas, are you betraying the Son of Man with a kiss?”

 And Jesus said to the chief priests and temple guards and elders who had come for him, 

          “Have you come out as against a robber, with swords and clubs? Day
           after day I was with you in the temple area, and you did not seize
           me; but this is your hour, the time for the power of darkness.”

Peter’s Denial of Jesus

After arresting him they led him away and took him into the house of the high priest; Peter was following at a distance. They lit a fire in the middle of the courtyard and sat around it, and Peter sat down with them. When a maid saw him seated in the light, she looked intently at him and said,

           “This man too was with him.”

But he denied it saying,

          “Woman, I do not know him.”

A short while later someone else saw him and said, “You too are one of them”; but Peter answered, “My friend, I am not.” About an hour later, still another insisted,
          “Assuredly, this man too was with him, for he also is a Galilean.” 

But Peter said, 

           “My friend, I do not know what you are talking about.” 

Just as he was saying this, the cock crowed, and the Lord turned and looked at Peter; and Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how he had said to him,

           “Before the cock crows today, you will deny me three times. He went 
            out and began to weep bitterly.

Jesus before the Sanhedrin
When day came the council of elders of the people met, both chief priests and scribes, and they brought him before their Sanhedrin. They said, 

           “If you are the Messiah, tell us,”

But he replied to them,

          “If I tell you, you will not believe, and if I question, you will not  

           respond. But from this time on the Son of Man will be seated at the  
           right hand of the power of God. 

They all asked, “Are you then the Son of God?” He replied to them,

          “You say that I am.”

Then they said, 


          “What further need have we for testimony? We have heard it from his  
           own mouth.”


The Death of Judas. 

Then Judas, his betrayer, seeing that Jesus had been condemned, deeply regretted what he had done. He returned the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, saying,

          “I have sinned in betraying innocent blood.”

They said, “What is that to us? Look to it yourself.” Flinging the money into the temple, he departed and went off and hanged himself.



The Trial before Pilate.

So Pilate came out to them and said,
         

          “What charge do you bring [against] this man?” 

They answered and said to him,
         

          “If he were not a criminal, we would not have handed him over to you.” 

At this, Pilate said to them,

          “Take him yourselves, and judge him according to your law.” 

Pilate went back into the praetorium and summoned Jesus and said to him,

           “Are you the King of the Jews?” 

Jesus answered,

          "My kingdom does not belong to this world. If my kingdom did belong  
           to this world, my attendants would be fighting to keep me from being 
           handed over to the Jews. But as it is, my kingdom is not here.” 

           So Pilate said to him, “Then you are a king?” 

Jesus answered,  

          “You say I am a king. For this I was born and for this I came into the    
           world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth 
           listens to my voice.” 

          Pilate said to him, “What is truth?” 

Once more Pilate went out and said to them, 

          “Look, I am bringing him out to you, so that you may know that I find 
           no guilt in him.” 

So Jesus came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple cloak. And he said to them, 

          “Behold, the man!” 

When the chief priests and the guards saw him they cried out, 

         “Crucify him, crucify him!” 

Pilate said to them, 

          “Take him yourselves and crucify him. I find no guilt in him.” 

The Jews answered, 

          “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 he handed him over to them to be crucified. The Crucifixion. When they came to the place called the Skull, they crucified him and the criminals there, one on his right, the other on his left. Then Jesus said, 

          “Father, forgive them, they know not what they do.” 

They divided his garments by casting lots. Above him there was an inscription that read, 

          “This is the King of the Jews.”

 Now one of the criminals hanging there reviled Jesus, saying, 

          “Are you not the Messiah? Save yourself and us.” 

The other, however, rebuking him, said in reply, 

          “Have you no fear of God, for you are subject to the same  
           condemnation? And indeed, we have been condemned justly, for the 
           sentence we received corresponds to our crimes, but this man has 
           done nothing criminal.” Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you 
           come into your kingdom.” 

He replied to him, 

          “Amen, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.”


Standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary of Magdala. When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple there whom he loved, he said to his mother, 

          “Woman, behold, your son.” Then he said to the disciple, “Behold, your 
           mother.” 

And from that hour the disciple took her into his home. After this, aware that everything was now finished, in order that the scripture might be fulfilled, Jesus said, 

           “I thirst.”   

There was a vessel filled with common wine. So they put a sponge soaked in wine on a sprig of hyssop and put it up to his mouth. When Jesus had taken the wine, he said, 

           “It is finished.” 

And bowing his head, he handed over the spirit.


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