Text of the Gospel (Jn 18,1—19,42):
Good Friday
When he had said these things, Jesus went with his disciples to the other side of the Kidron brook, where there was a garden, into which he entered, he and his disciples. Judas, who betrayed him, knew this place, because Jesus and his disciples had often met there. Judas therefore, having taken the cohort, and guards sent by the chief priests and the Pharisees, came there with lanterns and torches and weapons. Jesus, knowing all that would happen to him, came and said to them, “Who are you looking for?” They answered him: “Jesus of Nazareth.” Jesus said to them, “It is I.” And Judas, who betrayed him, was with them. When Jesus said to them, “It is I,” they fell back and fell to the ground. He asked them again, “Who are you looking for?” And they said, “Jesus of Nazareth.” Jesus answered, “I told you it is I. So if it is me you are looking for, let these go.” He said this, so that what he had said might be fulfilled: “Of those whom you gave me, I have lost none.” Simon Peter, who had a sword, drew it and struck the servant of the high priest, and cut off his right ear. This servant was called Malchus. Jesus said to Peter, “Put your sword back into its sheath. Shall I not drink the cup that the Father gave me to drink?”
The cohort, the tribune, and the guards of the Jews then seized Jesus and bound him. They took him first to Anne’s; for he was the father-in-law of Caiaphas, who was high priest that year. And Caiaphas was the one who gave this advice to the Jews: “It is profitable for one man to die for the people.” Simon Peter, with another disciple, followed Jesus. This disciple was known to the high priest, and he entered with Jesus into the court of the high priest; but Peter remained outside near the door. The other disciple, who was known to the high priest, went out, spoke to the doorkeeper, and brought Peter in. Then the maidservant, the doorkeeper, said to Peter, “Aren’t you also this man’s disciples?” He said: “I am not one of them.” The servants and guards who were there had lit a fire, because it was cold, and they were warming themselves. Pierre stood with them and warmed himself. The high priest asked Jesus about his disciples and his doctrine. Jesus answered him, “I have spoken openly to the world; I have always taught in the synagogue and in the temple, where all the Jews assemble, and I have said nothing in secret. Why are you questioning me? Ask those who heard me about what I said; behold, these know what I have said.” At these words, one of the guards, who was there, gave Jesus a slap in the face, saying: “Is this how you answer the high priest?” Jesus said to him, “If I have spoken evil, show what I have said evil; and if I have spoken well, why are you hitting me?” Annas sent him bound to Caiaphas, the high priest. Simon Pierre was there, warming himself. They said to him, “Aren’t you also one of his disciples?” He denied it, and said, “I am not one.” One of the servants of the high priest, a relative of the one whose ear Peter had cut off, said, “Did I not see you with him in the garden?” Pierre denied it again. And immediately the rooster crowed.
They led Jesus from Caiaphas to the praetorium: it was morning. They did not enter the praetorium themselves, so as not to defile themselves, and to be able to eat the Passover. So Pilate went out to them and said, “What accusation do you bring against this man?” They answered him: “If he had not been a criminal, we would not have handed him over to you.” Whereupon Pilate said to them, “Take him yourselves, and judge him according to your law.” The Jews said to him, “It is not lawful for us to put anyone to death.” It was in order that the word which Jesus had spoken might be fulfilled, when he indicated by what death he was to die. Pilate entered the praetorium, called Jesus, and said to him, “Are you the king of the Jews?” Jesus answered, “Are you saying this about yourself, or have others told you about me?” Pilate replied: “Am I a Jew? Your nation and the chief priests have handed you over to me: what have you done?” “My kingdom is not of this world,” Jesus replied. “If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have fought for me so that I would not be handed over to the Jews; but now my kingdom is not from here below. Pilate said to him: “Are you then a king?” Jesus replied: “You say it, I am a king. I was born and came into the world to bear witness to the truth. Whoever is of the truth listens to my voice.” Pilate said to him, “What is truth?” Having said this, he went out again to the Jews, and said to them, “I find no crime in him. But as it is customary among you that I release someone to you at the Passover feast, do you want me to release the King of the Jews to you?” Then again they all cried out, “Not him, but Barabbas. Now, Barabbas was a bandit.
Then Pilate took Jesus and beat him with rods. The soldiers wove a crown of thorns which they placed on his head, and they clothed him with a purple cloak; then, approaching him, they said: “Hail, king of the Jews!” And they beat him in the face. Pilate went out again and said to the Jews, “Behold, I am bringing him outside to you, that you may know that I find no crime in him.” So Jesus went out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. And Pilate said to them, “Here is the man.” When the chief priests and guards 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 Jews answered him: “We have a law; and, according to our law, he must die, because he made himself the Son of God.” When Pilate heard this, his fear increased. He returned to the praetorium and said to Jesus, “Where are you from?” But Jesus gave him no answer. Pilate said to him, “Are you not talking to me? Do you not know that I have the power to crucify you, and that I have the power to release you?” Jesus answered, “You would have no power over me unless it had been given to you from above. Therefore he who hands me over to you commits a greater sin.” From that moment, Pilate sought to release him. But the Jews cried out: “If you release him, you are no friend of Caesar. Whoever makes himself king declares himself against Caesar.
Pilate, having heard these words, brought Jesus outside; and he sat on the court, in the place called the Pavement, and in Hebrew Gabbatha. It was the preparation for the Passover, and about the sixth hour. Pilate said to the Jews, “Here is your king.” But they cried out, “Outside, crucify him!” Pilate said to them, “Shall I crucify your king?” The chief priests replied, “We have no king but Caesar.” So he handed him over to them to be crucified.
So they took Jesus and led him away. Jesus, carrying his cross, arrived at the place of the skull, which in Hebrew is called Golgotha. It was there that he was crucified, and two others with him, one on each side, and Jesus in the middle. Pilate made an inscription, which he placed on the cross, and which read: “Jesus of Nazareth, king of the Jews.” Many Jews read this inscription, because the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city: it was in Hebrew, Greek and Latin. The chief priests of the Jews said to Pilate, “Do not write, ‘King of the Jews.’ But write that he said: ‘I am king of the Jews’. Pilate replied, “What I have written, I have written.” The soldiers, after crucifying Jesus, took his clothes, and they divided them into four parts, one part for each soldier. They also took his tunic, which was seamless, of one fabric from top to bottom. And they said among themselves, “Let us not tear it apart, but let us cast lots for whose name it will be.” This happened so that the words of Scripture might be fulfilled: “They divided my garments among them,” and “they cast lots for my tunic.” This is what the soldiers did. Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. Jesus, seeing his mother, and with her the disciple whom he loved, said to his mother: “Woman, behold your son.” Then he said to the disciple: “Here is your mother.” And, from that moment, the disciple took her into his home.
After this, Jesus, who knew that everything was already finished, said, so that the Scripture might be fulfilled: “I thirst.” There was a vase full of vinegar there. The soldiers filled a sponge with it, and, having attached it to a branch of hyssop, they brought it close to his mouth. When Jesus had taken the vinegar, he said, “It is finished.” And, bowing his head, he gave up the ghost.
Fearing that the bodies would remain on the cross during the Sabbath – for it was the preparation, and this Sabbath day was a great day – the Jews asked Pilate that the legs of the crucified people be broken, and that they were removed. So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first, then of the other who had been crucified with him. Having approached Jesus, and seeing him already dead, they did not break his legs; but one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and immediately blood and water came out. He who saw it has borne witness of it, and his testimony is true; and he knows that he speaks truth, that you also may believe. These things happened, that the scripture might be fulfilled: “Not one of his bones shall be broken.” And elsewhere the Scripture still says: “They will see him whom they have pierced.”
After this, Joseph of Arimathea, who was a disciple of Jesus, but in secret for fear of the Jews, asked Pilate for permission to take the body of Jesus. And Pilate permitted it. So he came and took the body of Jesus. Nicodemus, who previously had gone to Jesus by night, also came, bringing a mixture of about a hundred pounds of myrrh and aloes. So they took the body of Jesus, and wrapped it in wrappings, with the spices, as is the custom of burial among the Jews. Now there was a garden in the place where Jesus was crucified, and in the garden a new tomb, where no one had yet been laid. It was there that they laid Jesus, because of the preparation of the Jews, because the tomb was near.
“When Jesus had taken the vinegar, he said: It is finished. And, bowing his head, he gave up the ghost »Abbot Francesc CATARINEU i Vilageliu (Sabadell, Barcelona, Spain)
Today we celebrate the first day of the Easter Triduum. It is therefore the day of the victorious cross, from which Jesus left us the best of Himself: Mary as mother, forgiveness – to his executioners too – and total trust in God the Father.
We heard it in the reading of the Passion according to the testimony of Saint John, present on Calvary with Mary, the Mother of the Lord, and the holy women. It is a story rich in symbols, where every little detail has meaning. But the silence and austerity of the Church today also help us to live in a climate of prayer, attentive to the gift we celebrate.
Faced with this great mystery, we are above all called to see. The Christian faith does not consist in reverence of a distant and abstract God that we do not understand, but in adherence to a Person, a true man like us and also a true God. The Invisible became flesh from our flesh, he became man unto death and death on a cross. But it was a death accepted for the redemption of all, a redemptive death, a death which gives us life. Those who were there and saw it, transmitted the facts to us and, at the same time, revealed to us the meaning of this death.
Above all, we feel grateful and full of admiration. We know the price of love: “There is no greater love than to give life for his friends” (Jn 15:13). Christian prayer does not consist only of asking, but — above all — of admiring with gratitude.
Jesus, for us, is a model that we must imitate, that is to say, reproduce his attitudes. We must be people who love to the point of giving themselves and who trust the Father in all circumstances.
This contrasts with the indifferent atmosphere of our society; this is why our testimony must be more courageous than ever, because the gift is for everyone. As Meliton of Sardis said, “He brought us from slavery to freedom, from darkness to light, from death to life. He is the Passover of our salvation.”
Thoughts for Today’s Gospel “The cross is the deepest predisposition of the Divinity towards man. The cross is like a touch of love on the most painful wounds of man’s earthly existence” (Saint John Paul II) “Forgiveness costs a little, especially for the one who forgives (…) Only God could overcome the fault and suffering of men by personally intervening, by suffering Himself through his Son, who carried this burden and overcame it by giving himself up” (Benedict XVI) “This desire to embrace his Father’s plan of redemptive love animates the entire life of Jesus because his redemptive passion is the reason for his Incarnation: “Father, save me from this hour! But that’s why I came at this hour! » (Jn 12:27). » The cup that the Father gave me, shall I not drink it? » (Jn 18:11). And again on the cross before “all is accomplished” (Jn 19:30), he says: “I am thirsty”” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, no. 607)
