This Week

• What do you like about Palm Sunday? What do you like about this story? If you only hear the Palm Sunday story and the Easter story you miss a lot of the drama and horror of the Holy Week story. Is that okay? Is there anything good that comes from hearing the story of the death of Jesus? Why?

This reading was followed by a service of Tenebrae, a service of darkness.  Sixteen passages from the gospel of Luke were read aloud, and a candle was extinguished after each one.

1
Jesus... went forth with his disciples across the Kidron valley,
where there was a garden, which he and his disciples entered.
Now Judas, who betrayed him, also knew the place; for Jesus often met there
with his disciples.
So Judas, procuring a band of soldiers and some officers from the chief
priests and the Pharisees,
went there with lanterns and torches and weapons.
Then Jesus, knowing all that was to befall him, came forward and said to
them, "Whom do you seek?"
They answered him, "Jesus of Nazareth."
Jesus said to them, "I am he."
Judas, who betrayed him, was standing with them.
When he said to them, "I am he," they drew back and fell to the
ground.
Again he asked them, "Whom do you seek?"
And they said, "Jesus of Nazareth."
Jesus answered, "I told you that I am he; so, if you seek me, let these
men go."
This was to fulfill the word which he had spoken, "I did not lose a
single one of those whom you gave me."
Then Simon Peter, having a sword, drew it and struck the high priest's slave
and cut off his right ear.
The slave's name was Malchus.
Jesus said to Peter, "Put your sword into its sheath; shall I not drink
the cup which the Father has given me?"
2
So the band of soldiers and their captain and the officers of the Judean
authorities seized Jesus and bound him.
First they led him to Annas; for he was the father-in-law of Caiaphas, who
was high priest that year.
It was Caiaphas who had given counsel to the religious authorities
that it was expedient that one man should die for the people.
3
Simon Peter followed Jesus, and so did another disciple. As this disciple was
known to the high priest, he entered the court of the high priest along with
Jesus, while Peter stood outside at the door.
So the other disciple, who was known to the high priest, went out and spoke
to the woman who guarded the gate, and brought Peter in. The woman who guarded
the gate said to Peter, "Are not you also one of this man's
disciples?"
He said, "I am not."
Now the servants and officers had made a charcoal fire, because it was cold,
and they were standing and warming themselves; Peter also was with them,
standing and warming himself.
4
The high priest then questioned Jesus about his disciples and his teaching.
Jesus answered him, "I have spoken openly to the world; I have always
taught in synagogues and in the temple,
where all Jewish people come together; I have said nothing secretly. Why do
you ask me?
Ask those who have heard me, what I said to them; they know what I
said."
When he had said this, one of the officers standing by struck Jesus with his
hand, saying,
"Is that how you answer the high priest?"
Jesus answered him, "If I have spoken wrongly, bear witness to the
wrong;
but if I have spoken rightly, why do you strike me?"
Annas then sent him bound to Caiaphas the high priest.
5
Now Simon Peter was standing and warming himself. They said to him, "Are
not you also one of his disciples?"
He denied it and said, "I am not."
One of the servants of the high priest, a kinsman of the man whose ear Peter
had cut off, asked,
"Did I not see you in the garden with him?"
Peter again denied it; and at once the cock crowed.
6
Then they led Jesus from the house of Caiaphas to Pilate's headquarters. It
was early.
They themselves did not enter the headquarters, so that they might not be
defiled, but might eat the Passover.
So Pilate went out to them and said, "What accusation do you bring
against this man?"
They answered him, "If this man were not an evildoer, we would not have
handed him over."
Pilate said to them, "Take him yourselves and judge him by your own
law."
The religious authorities said to him, "It is not lawful for us to put
any man to death."
This was to fulfill the word which Jesus had spoken to show by what death he
was to die.
7
Pilate entered the headquarters again and called Jesus, and said to him,
"Are you the King of the Jews?"
Jesus answered, "Do you say this of your own accord, or did others say
it to you about me?"
Pilate answered, "Am I a Jew? Your own nation and the chief priests have
handed you over to me;
what have you done?"
Jesus answered, "My kingship is not of this world; if my kingship were
of this world, my servants would fight,
that I might not be handed over to the religious authorities; but my kingship
is not from the world."
Pilate said to him, "So you are a king?"
Jesus answered, "You say that I am a king. For this I was born, and for
this I have come into the world,
to bear witness to the truth. Every one who is of the truth hears my
voice."
Pilate said to him, "What is truth?"
8
After Pilate had said this, he went to the religious authorities again, and
told them,
"I find no crime in him. But you have a custom that I should release one
man for you at the Passover;
will you have me release for you the King of the Jews?"
They cried out again, "Not this man, but Barabbas!"
Now Barabbas was a robber.
9
Then Pilate took Jesus and scourged him.
And the soldiers plaited a crown of thorns, and put it on his head, and
arrayed him in a purple robe;
they came up to him, saying, "Hail, King of the Jews!"and struck
him with their hands.
Pilate went out again, and said to them, "See, I am bringing him out to
you,
that you may know that I find no crime in him."
So Jesus came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. Pilate
said to them, "Behold the man!"
When the chief priests and the officers saw him, they cried out,
"Crucify him, crucify him!"
Pilate said to them, "Take him yourselves and crucify him, for I find no
crime in him."
The religious authorities answered him,
"We have a law, and by that law he ought to die, because he has made
himself the Son of God."
When Pilate heard these words, he was the more afraid; he entered the
headquarters again and said to Jesus,
"Where are you from?" But Jesus gave no answer.
Pilate therefore said to him, "You will not speak to me? Do you not know
that I have power to release you, and power to crucify you?"
Jesus answered him, "You would have no power over me unless it had been
given you from above;
therefore he who delivered me to you has the greater sin."
10
Upon this Pilate sought to release him, but the religious authorities cried
out, "If you release this man, you are not Caesar's friend; every one who
makes himself a king sets himself against Caesar."
When Pilate heard these words, he brought Jesus out and sat down on the
judgment seat
at a place called The Pavement, and in Hebrew, Gab' ba tha .
Now it was the day of Preparation of the Passover; it was about the sixth
hour.
He said to the religious authorities, "Behold your King!"
They cried out, "Away with him, away with him, crucify him!"
Pilate said to them, "Shall I crucify your King?"
The chief priests answered, "We have no king but Caesar." They
handed him over to them to be crucified.
11
So they took Jesus, and he went out, bearing his own cross,
to the place called the place of a skull, which is called in Hebrew, Golgotha.
There they crucified him, and with him two others, one on either side, and
Jesus between them.
Pilate also wrote a title and put it on the cross; it read, "Jesus of
Nazareth, the King of the Jews."
Many of the Judeans read this title, for the place where Jesus was crucified
was near the city;
and it was written in Hebrew, in Latin, and in Greek.
The Jewish chief priests then said to Pilate, "Do not write, 'The King
of the Jews,' but, 'This man said, I am King of the Jews.'" Pilate
answered, "What I have written I have written."
12
When the soldiers had crucified Jesus they took his garments and made four
parts, one for each soldier;
also his tunic. But the tunic was without seam, woven from top to bottom; so
they said to one another, "Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it to see
whose it shall be."
This was to fulfill the scripture, "They parted my garments among them,
and for my clothing they cast lots."
13
So the soldiers did this.
But standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother,
and his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene.
When Jesus saw his mother, and the disciple whom he loved standing near,
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 to his own home.
14
After this Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said (to fulfill the
scripture), "I thirst."
A bowl full of vinegar stood there; so they put a sponge full of the vinegar
on hyssop and held it to his mouth.
When Jesus had received the vinegar, he said, "It is finished"; and
he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.
15
Since it was the day of Preparation, in order to prevent the bodies from
remaining on the cross on the sabbath (for that sabbath was a high day), the
religious authorities asked Pilate that their legs might be broken,
and that they might be taken away.
So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first, and of the other who
had been crucified with him;
but when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not
break his legs.
But one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and at once there came
out blood and water. He who saw it has borne witness--his testimony is true, and
he knows that he tells the truth--that you also may believe.
For these things took place that the scripture might be fulfilled, "Not
a bone of him shall be broken."
And again another scripture says, "They shall look on him whom they have
pierced."
(Christ candle extinguished;)
16
After this Joseph of Arimathea, who was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly,
for fear of the religious authorities,
asked Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus, and Pilate gave him
leave.
So he came and took away his body.
Nicodemus also, who had at first come to him by night, came bringing a
mixture of myrrh and aloes,
about a hundred pounds' weight.
They took the body of Jesus, and bound it in linen cloths with the spices, as
is the burial custom of the Jews.
Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden,
and in the garden a new tomb where no one had ever been laid.
So because of the Jewish day of Preparation, as the tomb was close at hand,
they laid Jesus there.