Jesus Is Crucified By His Enemie

The soldiers led Jesus to the courtyard of the governor's palace and

called together the whole company. Then they clothed him in a purple

robe and, making a crown of thorns, they put it on his head and began to

salute him, "Hail, King of the Jews!" They struck him on the head with a

reed and spat on him, and on bended knee paid homage to him. After they

had made sport of him, they stripped off the purple robe and put on his
< r /> own clothes, and led him out to be crucified.



They forced a man named Simon, of Cyrene, who was coming in from the

country, to carry his cross. So they brought Jesus to the place called

Golgotha, which means, the place of the skull. And they offered him wine

mixed with myrrh, but he would not take it. Then they crucified him and

divided his clothes among them, drawing lots to decide what each should

take. It was nine in the morning when they crucified him. The

inscription over his head stating the charge against him read:



THE KING OF THE JEWS



With him they crucified two robbers, one on his right and one on his

left. And those who passed by scoffed at him, shaking their heads in

derision and saying, "Ha! you who were to destroy the Temple and

rebuild it in three days, save yourself and come down from the cross!"

In the same way the high priests and the scribes mocked him among

themselves and said, "He saved others, but he cannot save himself. Let

the Christ, the 'King of Israel,' now come down from the cross, that we

may see and believe!" But Jesus said, "Father, forgive them, for they

know not what they do."



One of the criminals who was crucified also scoffed at him, saying, "Are

you not the Christ? Save yourself and us!" But the other said in rebuke,

"Have you no fear of God even though you are being put to death? We are

suffering justly, receiving what we deserve for our crimes, but he has

done no wrong." Then he said, "Jesus, remember me when you enter your

kingdom." Jesus said to him, "This very day you will be with me in

paradise."



Now beside the cross of Jesus stood his mother. Seeing her and the

disciple whom he loved standing near, Jesus said to her, "Woman, he is

your son!" And to the disciple he said, "She is your mother!" And from

that hour the disciple took her into his own home.



Darkness covered the whole land from noon until three o'clock in the

afternoon. At that hour Jesus cried aloud, "Eloi, Eloi, lama

sabachthani," which means, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?"

When they heard it, some who stood by, said, "He is calling Elijah." And

a man ran and, soaking a sponge in vinegar, put it on the end of a reed

and was about to give it to him to drink when the others said, "Stop,

let us see if Elijah will come to take him down." But Jesus uttered a

loud cry and gave up his life. And the curtain of the Temple was torn in

two from the top to the bottom. When the Roman captain who stood facing

him saw in what way he died, he said, "Surely this man was a son of

God."



Looking on from a distance were some women also, among them Mary of

Magdala, Mary the mother of James, the younger, and of Joses, and

Salome, who had followed him and waited on him when he was in Galilee,

and many other women who had come up with him to Jerusalem.



Because it was now evening of the day before the Sabbath, Joseph of

Arimathaea, an honorable member of the Jewish national council, who was

himself looking for the coming of the Kingdom of God, went to Pilate and

had the courage to ask him for the body of Jesus. Pilate, surprised that

he was dead, called the captain and asked whether Jesus was already

dead, and when he learned this from the captain he gave the body to

Joseph. After Joseph had taken Jesus from the cross, he wrapped him in

a linen sheet which he had bought, and laid him in a tomb cut out of

rock; and he rolled a stone against the door of the tomb. And Mary of

Magdala and Mary the mother of Joses, watched to see where Jesus was

laid.