The Crucifixion
1. THEN released he (Barabbas) unto them, and when he had scourged Iesus he delivered him to be crucified. Then the soldiers (of the governor) took Iesus to the common hall and gathered unto him the whole band of soldiers.
2. And they stripped him and put on him a purple robe. And when they had plaited a crown (of thorns) they put it upon his head and a reed in his right hand, and they bowed the knee before him and mocked him, saying,
Hail, King of the Jews!
3. Then came Iesus forth, wearing the crown (of thorns) and the purple robe. And Pilate saith unto them,
Behold the man!
4. When the chief priests therefore and officers saw him, they cried out, saying,
Crucify him, crucify him.
And Pilate saith unto them,
Take ye him and crucify him, for I find no fault in him.
5. And they spit upon him, and took the reed and smote him on the head. And after that they had mocked him they took the robe off from him, and put his own raiment on him, and led him away to crucify him.
6. And as they led him away, they laid hold upon one Simon (a Cyrenian) coming out of the county, and on him they laid the cross that he might bear it after Iesus. And there followed him a great company of people and of women, which also bewailed and lamented him.
7. But Iesus, turning unto them, said,
Daughters (of Jerusalem) weep not for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children. For behold the days are coming in which they shall say, Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bare, and the paps which never gave suck.
8. Then shall they begin to say to the mountains, Fall on us; and to the hills, Cover us. For it they do these things in a green tree, what shall be done in the dry.
9. And there were also two other malefactors led with him to be put to death. And when they were come unto a place called Calvary, and Golgotha (that is to say a place of a skull) there they crucified him; and the malefactors, one on the right hand, and other on the left.
10. And it was the third hour when they crucified him, and they gave him vinegar to drink (mingled with gall) and when he had tasted thereof, he would not drink. And Iesus said,
Abba Amma, forgive them, for they know not what they do.
11. Then the soldiers, when they had crucified Iesus, took his raiment and made four parts, to every soldier a part; and also his vesture. Now the vesture was without seam, woven from the top throughout. They said therefore among themselves,
Let us not rend it, but cast lots for it, whose it shall be.
12. That the scripture might be fulfilled, which saith, They parted my raiment among them, and for my vesture they did cast lots.[1] These things therefore the soldiers did. And sitting down they watched him there.
13. And a superscription was also written over him in letters of Greek, and Latin, and Hebrew, This is the King of the Jews.
14. This title then read many of the Jews, for the place where Iesus was crucified was nigh to the city, and it was written in Hebrew and Greek and Latin. then said the chief priests (of the Jews) to Pilate,
Write not, 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.
15. And one of the malefactors (which were hanged railed on him) saying,
If thou be the Christ, save thy self and us.
But the other answering rebuked him, saying,
Dost not thou honor God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we receive the due reward of our deeds, but this man hath done nothing amiss.
16. And he said unto Iesus,
Lord remember me when thou comest into thy Kingdom.
And Iesus said unto him,
Verily I say unto thee, to day shalt thou be with me in Paradise.
17. And they that passed by reviled him, wagging heir heads and saying,
Thou that wouldst destroy the temple, and build it in three days, save thyself. If thou be the Son (of God) come down from the Cross.
18. Likewise also the chief priests mocking him, while the scribes and elders said,
He saved a lamb, himself he cannot save. If he be the King (of Israel) let him now come down from the cross and we will believe him. He trusted in God, let Him deliver him now, if He will have him, for he said, I am the Son (of God).
19. The usurers and the dealers in beasts and birds also cast the like things into his teeth, saying,
Thou who drivest from the temple the traders in oxen and sheep and doves, art thyself but a sheep that is sacrificed.
20. Now from the Sixth hour there was darkness over all the land unto the Ninth hour, and some standing around, lighted their torches, for the darkness was very great. And about the Sixth hour Iesus cried with a loud voice,
Eli, Eli, lame sabachthani?
That, is to say, My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken me ?
21. Some of them that stood there, when they heard that, said,
This man calleth for Elias;
others said,
He calleth on the Sun.
The rest said,
Let be, let us see whether Elias will come to save him.
22. Now there stood by the cross (of Iesus) his mother and his mother’s sister, Mary (the wife of Cleophas) and Mary Magdalene.
23. When Iesus therefore saw his mother, and the disciple standing by whom he loved, he saith unto his mother,
Woman, behold thy son!
And he said to the disciple,
Behold thy mother!
And from that hour that disciple took her into his own home.
24. After this, Iesus knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the scripture might be fulfilled, saith, I am athirst. And from a vessel they filled a sponge with vinegar and put it upon hyssop and put it to his mouth.
25. And Iesus cried with a loud voice, saying,
Abba Amma, into Thy hand I commend my spirit.
26. When Iesus had therefore received the vinegar, he cried aloud,
It is finished;
and he bowed his head and gave up the ghost. And it was the ninth hour.
27. And behold there was great thunder and lightning, and the partition wall (of the Holy place from which hung the veil) fell down, and was rent in twain, and the earth did quake, and the rocks also were rent.
28. Now when the centurion and they that were with him watching Iesus, saw the earthquake and those things that were done, they feared greatly, saying,
Truly this was a Son (of God).
29. And many women were there (which followed from Galilee) ministering unto them, and among them were Mary (the mother of James and Joses) and the mother (of Zebedee’s children) and they lamented, saying,
The light (of the world) is hid from our eyes, the Lord our Love is crucified.
30. Then the Jews, because it was the preparation, that the bodies should not remain upon the cross on the Sabbath (for that was a Paschal Sabbath) besought Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away.
31. Then came the soldiers, and brake the legs of the two who were crucified with him. But when they came to Iesus, and saw that he was dead already, they brake not his legs, but one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his heart and forthwith came there out blood and water.
32. And he that saw it bare record and his record is true, and he knoweth that he saith true, that ye might believe. For these things were done that the Scriptures might be fulfilled—A bone of him shall not be broken, and again—In the midst of the week the Messiah shall be cut off.[2]
LECTION 82. 10-12. -Eli Reclus, a French writer, has some interesting remarks on the rite of human sacrifice as practised among the Khonds from time immemorial. The coincidences in the details are very striking, shewing the similarity of superstitious ideas in all countries and tribes of the primitive world-ideas which survive even in our own times " civilized ., as we boast them to be, but in reality savages when the skin deep "civilization" and culture are suddenly brushed away by some violent popular outburst, as in England, against the peaceful peoples of the Transvaal by which she brought herself to the lowest depths of infamy, and unwittingly clothed herself in the colour symbolic of dirt and mire.
v. 20. -In the Gospel attributed to Peter there is mention of the same circumstance. And to bring to mind, by symbolical art, this awful scene, among other reasons, the dark unbleached candles are lighted on the Altar on the day and at the hour when the Church commemorates the crucifixion of the Redeemer by an ingrate priesthood and people, when the light of the sun is shut out or obscured, and the chancels are draped in black.
v. 30. -It should be observed that in this Gospel, the mystically central organ of the Sacred Body, the "Heart" is emphasized rather than "his side," as in the A. V. on which last reading the strange custom of having a side entrance or porch to Churches is alleged to have been founded. The traditonal but corrupt reading of Gen. vi.16 has doubtless originated the error. (See "Original Genesis.")
v. 31. -They pierced his Sacred Heart with a spear, and this is symbolised in Christian Churches (which are generally cruciform either externally or internally where they are not circular), where the choir (Cor.) is in the intersection of nave and transept, and the altar of incense is (ought to be) in the midst under the great dome, symbolizing that the Sacred Heart of the Crucified is venerated from the centre to the extreme limits of Christendom-the Heart of God which embraces all creatures in its boundless love.
Read: Psalms 22:18
Read: Daniel 9:26