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Today's Readings
Reading I
Is 52:13—53:12
See, my servant shall prosper, he shall be raised high and greatly
exalted. Even as many were amazed at him so marred was his look
beyond human semblance and his appearance beyond that of the sons of
man so shall he startle many nations, because of him kings shall
stand speechless; for those who have not been told shall see, those
who have not heard shall ponder it. Who would believe what we
have heard? To whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed? He grew
up like a sapling before him, like a shoot from the parched earth;
there was in him no stately bearing to make us look at him, nor
appearance that would attract us to him. He was spurned and avoided
by people, a man of suffering, accustomed to infirmity, one of those
from whom people hide their faces, spurned, and we held him in no
esteem. Yet it was our infirmities that he bore, our
sufferings that he endured, while we thought of him as stricken, as
one smitten by God and afflicted. But he was pierced for our
offenses, crushed for our sins; upon him was the chastisement that
makes us whole, by his stripes we were healed. We had all gone
astray like sheep, each following his own way; but the LORD laid
upon him the guilt of us all. Though he was harshly
treated, he submitted and opened not his mouth; like a lamb led to
the slaughter or a sheep before the shearers, he was silent and
opened not his mouth. Oppressed and condemned, he was taken
away, and who would have thought any more of his destiny? When he
was cut off from the land of the living, and smitten for the sin of
his people, a grave was assigned him among the wicked and a burial
place with evildoers, though he had done no wrong nor spoken any
falsehood. But the LORD was pleased to crush him in infirmity.
If he gives his life as an offering for sin, he shall see his
descendants in a long life, and the will of the LORD shall be
accomplished through him. Because of his affliction he shall
see the light in fullness of days; through his suffering, my servant
shall justify many, and their guilt he shall bear. Therefore I will
give him his portion among the great, and he shall divide the spoils
with the mighty, because he surrendered himself to death and was
counted among the wicked; and he shall take away the sins of many,
and win pardon for their offenses.
Responsorial Psalm
Ps 31:2, 6, 12-13, 15-16, 17, 25
R. (Lk 23:46) Father, into your hands I commend my spirit. In
you, O LORD, I take refuge; let me never be put to shame. In your
justice rescue me. Into your hands I commend my spirit; you will
redeem me, O LORD, O faithful God. R. Father, into your hands I
commend my spirit. For all my foes I am an object of reproach, a
laughingstock to my neighbors, and a dread to my friends; they who
see me abroad flee from me. I am forgotten like the unremembered
dead; I am like a dish that is broken. R. Father, into your hands
I commend my spirit. But my trust is in you, O LORD; I say, “You
are my God. In your hands is my destiny; rescue me from the
clutches of my enemies and my persecutors.” R. Father, into your
hands I commend my spirit. Let your face shine upon your
servant; save me in your kindness. Take courage and be stouthearted,
all you who hope in the LORD. R. Father, into your hands I
commend my spirit.
Reading II
Heb 4:14-16;
5:7-9
Brothers and sisters: Since we have a great high priest who has
passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast
to our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to
sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has similarly been
tested in every way, yet without sin. So let us confidently approach
the throne of grace to receive mercy and to find grace for timely
help. In the days when Christ was in the flesh, he offered
prayers and supplications with loud cries and tears to the one who
was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his
reverence. Son though he was, he learned obedience from what he
suffered; and when he was made perfect, he became the source of
eternal salvation for all who obey him.
Gospel
Jn
18:1—19:42
Jesus went out with his disciples across the Kidron valley to where
there was a garden, into which he and his disciples entered. Judas
his betrayer also knew the place, because Jesus had often met there
with his disciples. So Judas got a band of soldiers and guards from
the chief priests and the Pharisees and went there with lanterns,
torches, and weapons. Jesus, knowing everything that was going to
happen to him, went out and said to them, “Whom are you looking
for?” They answered him, “Jesus the Nazorean.” He said to them, “I
AM.” Judas his betrayer was also with them. When he said to them, “I
AM," they turned away and fell to the ground. So he again asked
them, “Whom are you looking for?” They said, “Jesus the Nazorean.”
Jesus answered, “I told you that I AM. So if you are looking for me,
let these men go.” This was to fulfill what he had said, “I have not
lost any of those you gave me.” Then Simon Peter, who had a sword,
drew it, 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 scabbard. Shall I not drink the cup that the Father gave
me?” So the band of soldiers, the tribune, and the Jewish
guards seized Jesus, bound him, and brought him to Annas first. He
was the father- in-law of Caiaphas, who was high priest that year.
It was Caiaphas who had counseled the Jews that it was better that
one man should die rather than the people. Simon Peter and
another disciple followed Jesus. Now the other disciple was known to
the high priest, and he entered the courtyard of the high priest
with Jesus. But Peter stood at the gate outside. So the other
disciple, the acquaintance of the high priest, went out and spoke to
the gatekeeper and brought Peter in. Then the maid who was the
gatekeeper said to Peter, “You are not one of this man’s disciples,
are you?” He said, “I am not.” Now the slaves and the guards were
standing around a charcoal fire that they had made, because it was
cold, and were warming themselves. Peter was also standing there
keeping warm. The high priest questioned Jesus about his
disciples and about his doctrine. Jesus answered him, “I have spoken
publicly to the world. I have always taught in a synagogue or
in the temple area where all the Jews gather, and in secret I have
said nothing. Why ask me? Ask those who heard me what I said to
them. They know what I said.” When he had said this, one of
the temple guards standing there struck Jesus and said, “Is this the
way you answer the high priest?” Jesus answered him, “If I have
spoken wrongly, testify to the wrong; but if I have spoken rightly,
why do you strike me?” Then Annas sent him bound to Caiaphas the
high priest. Now Simon Peter was standing there keeping warm.
And they said to him, “You are not one of his disciples, are you?”
He denied it and said, “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. Then they brought Jesus from
Caiaphas to the praetorium. It was morning. And they themselves did
not enter the praetorium, in order not to be defiled so that they
could eat the Passover. 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.” The Jews answered
him, “We do not have the right to execute anyone,“ in order that the
word of Jesus might be fulfilled that he said indicating the kind of
death he would die. So Pilate went back into the praetorium and
summoned Jesus and said to him, “Are you the King of the Jews?”
Jesus answered, “Do you say this on your own or have others told you
about me?” Pilate answered, “I am not a Jew, am I? Your own nation
and the chief priests handed you over to me. What have you done?”
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?” When he had said this, he again went out to the Jews
and said to them, “I find no guilt in him. But you have a custom
that I release one prisoner to you at Passover. Do you want me to
release to you the King of the Jews?” They cried out again, “Not
this one but Barabbas!” Now Barabbas was a revolutionary. Then
Pilate took Jesus and had him scourged. And the soldiers wove a
crown out of thorns and placed it on his head, and clothed him in a
purple cloak, and they came to him and said, “Hail, King of the
Jews!” And they struck him repeatedly. 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, “We have a law, and according to that law he ought to die,
because he made himself the Son of God.” Now when Pilate heard this
statement, he became even more afraid, and went back into the
praetorium and said to Jesus, “Where are you from?” Jesus did not
answer him. So Pilate said to him, “Do you not speak to me? Do you
not know that I have power to release you and I have power to
crucify you?” Jesus answered him, “You would have no power over me
if it had not been given to you from above. For this reason the one
who handed me over to you has the greater sin.” Consequently, Pilate
tried to release him; but the Jews cried out, “If you release him,
you are not a Friend of Caesar. Everyone who makes himself a king
opposes Caesar.” When Pilate heard these words he brought
Jesus out and seated him on the judge’s bench in the place
called Stone Pavement, in Hebrew, Gabbatha. It was preparation day
for Passover, and it was about noon. And he said to the Jews,
“Behold, your king!” 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 he handed
him over to them to be crucified. So they took Jesus, and,
carrying the cross himself, he went out to what is called the Place
of the Skull, in Hebrew, Golgotha. There they crucified him, and
with him two others, one on either side, with Jesus in the middle.
Pilate also had an inscription written and put on the cross. It
read, “Jesus the Nazorean, the King of the Jews.” Now many of the
Jews read this inscription, because the place where Jesus was
crucified was near the city; and it was written in Hebrew, Latin,
and Greek. So the chief priests of the Jews said to Pilate, “Do not
write ‘The King of the Jews,’ but that he said, ‘I am the King of
the Jews’.” Pilate answered, “What I have written, I have written.”
When the soldiers had crucified Jesus, they took his clothes and
divided them into four shares, a share for each soldier. They also
took his tunic, but the tunic was seamless, woven in one piece from
the top down. So they said to one another, “Let’s not tear it, but
cast lots for it to see whose it will be," in order that the passage
of Scripture might be fulfilled that says: They divided my garments
among them, and for my vesture they cast lots. This is what the
soldiers did. 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.
Here all kneel and pause for a short time.
Now since it was preparation day, in order that the bodies might not
remain on the cross on the sabbath, for the sabbath day of that week
was a solemn one, the Jews asked Pilate that their legs be broken
and that they be taken down. So the soldiers came and broke the legs
of the first and then of the other one who was crucified with Jesus.
But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead,
they did not break his legs, but one soldier thrust his lance into
his side, and immediately blood and water flowed out. An eyewitness
has testified, and his testimony is true; he knows that he is
speaking the truth, so that you also may come to believe. For
this happened so that the Scripture passage might be fulfilled: Not
a bone of it will be broken. And again another passage says: They
will look upon him whom they have pierced. After this, Joseph
of Arimathea, secretly a disciple of Jesus for fear of the Jews,
asked Pilate if he could remove the body of Jesus. And Pilate
permitted it. So he came and took his body. Nicodemus, the one who
had first come to him at night, also came bringing a mixture of
myrrh and aloes weighing about one hundred pounds. They took the
body of Jesus and bound it with burial cloths along with the spices,
according to the Jewish burial custom. Now in the place where he had
been crucified there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb, in
which no one had yet been buried. So they laid Jesus there because
of the Jewish preparation day; for the tomb was close by. |
