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The Holy Gospel

John 19:17-41

Carrying his own cross, he went out to the place of the Skull (which in Aramaic is called Golgotha). There they crucified him, and with him two others—one on each side and Jesus in the middle.

Pilate had a notice prepared and fastened to the cross. It read: Jesus of Nazareth, the king of the jews. Many of the Jews read this sign, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and the sign was written in Aramaic, Latin and Greek. The chief priests of the Jews protested to Pilate, “Do not write ‘The King of the Jews,’ but that this man claimed to be king of the Jews.”

Pilate answered, “What I have written, I have written.”

When the soldiers crucified Jesus, they took his clothes, dividing them into four shares, one for each of them, with the undergarment remaining. This garment was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom.

“Let’s not tear it,” they said to one another. “Let’s decide by lot who will get it.”

This happened that the scripture might be fulfilled that said,

“They divided my clothes among them
    and cast lots for my garment.”

So this is what the soldiers did.

Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother, his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to her, “Woman, here is your son,” and to the disciple, “Here is your mother.” From that time on, this disciple took her into his home.

Later, knowing that everything had now been finished, and so that Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, “I am thirsty.” A jar of wine vinegar was there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put the sponge on a stalk of the hyssop plant, and lifted it to Jesus’ lips. When he had received the drink, Jesus said, “It is finished.” With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

Now it was the day of Preparation, and the next day was to be a special Sabbath. Because the Jewish leaders did not want the bodies left on the crosses during the Sabbath, they asked Pilate to have the legs broken and the bodies taken down. The soldiers therefore came and broke the legs of the first man who had been crucified with Jesus, and then those of the other. But when they came to Jesus and found that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. Instead, one of the soldiers pierced Jesus’ side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water. The man who saw it has given testimony, and his testimony is true. He knows that he tells the truth, and he testifies so that you also may believe. These things happened so that the scripture would be fulfilled: “Not one of his bones will be broken,” and, as another scripture says, “They will look on the one they have pierced.”

Later, Joseph of Arimathea asked Pilate for the body of Jesus. Now Joseph was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly because he feared the Jewish leaders. With Pilate’s permission, he came and took the body away. He was accompanied by Nicodemus, the man who earlier had visited Jesus at night. Nicodemus brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds. Taking Jesus’ body, the two of them wrapped it, with the spices, in strips of linen. This was in accordance with Jewish burial customs. At the place where Jesus was crucified, there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb, in which no one had ever been laid.
 

The Word of the Lord

 

​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​The Lord’s Prayer (New Translation from the Aramaic)  

1. O Birther! Father-Mother of the Cosmos, 

2. Focus your light within us – make it useful 

3. Create your reign of unity now 

 4. Your one desire then acts with ours, as in all light, so in all forms. 

5. Grant what we need each day in bread and insight. 

6. Loose the cords of mistakes binding us, as we release the strands we hold of others’ guilt. 

7. Don’t let surface things delude us, But free us from what holds us back. 

8. From you is born all ruling will, the power and the life to do, the song that beautifies all, from age to age it renews. Truly – power to these statements – may they be the ground from which all my actions grow: Amen.

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Prayers of the People​

In his days on earth,

Jesus prayed with tears and cries,

lifting his sorrow to the One

who could deliver him from death.

So we pray now, in his holy name:

 

O Lord, do not be far from us;

O God, come quickly to help.

 

For your Church…

Give us courage to keep proclaiming Christ,

even when the way is dark,

even when the cross is near.

Keep us true to the gospel

and faithful in our witness.

 

O Lord, do not be far from us;

O God, come quickly to help.

 

For your wounded world…

Heal what human hands have broken.

Let the groaning of creation

rise no more in vain.

Bring renewal to earth and sky and sea.

 

O Lord, do not be far from us;

O God, come quickly to help.

 

For the nations…

Dismantle weapons of war

and tear down every wall of hate.

Plant seeds of peace where fear has taken root,

and let justice roll like a river.

 

O Lord, do not be far from us;

O God, come quickly to help.

 

For those who face death this day…

Be the strength of the suffering,

the hope of the hopeless,

the peace of the dying.

Gather them gently into your eternal arms.

 

O Lord, do not be far from us;

O God, come quickly to help.

 

All this we ask

through Jesus Christ,

your wounded and risen Son,

the One who bears the sorrow of the world. Amen.