Other Sunday and Holy Day Readings
GOOD FRIDAY (ABC)
Readings:
Isaiah 52:13 - 53:12
Psalm 31:2, 6, 12-13, 15-17, 25
Hebrews 4:14-16; 5:7-9
John 18:1-19:42
Abbreviations: NJB (New Jerusalem Bible), NAB (New American Bible), IBHE (Interlinear Bible Hebrew-English), IBGE (Interlinear Bible Greek-English), or LXX (Greek Septuagint Old Testament translation). CCC designates a citation from the Catechism of the Catholic Church. The word LORD or GOD rendered in all capital letters is, in the Hebrew text, God's Divine Name YHWH (Yahweh).
God reveals His divine plan for humanity in the two Testaments, and that is why we read and relive the events of salvation history contained in the Old and New Testaments in the Church's Liturgy. The Catechism teaches that the Liturgy reveals the unfolding mystery of God's plan as we read the Old Testament in light of the New and the New Testament in light of the Old (CCC 1094-1095).
Good Friday is a day of prayer and fasting. According to ancient tradition, we do not celebrate the Sacraments on Good Friday or Holy Saturday, except for the Sacraments of Penance and Anointing of the Sick. The liturgy of Good Friday calls for us to meditate solemnly on the Passion and death of Jesus Christ. And during today's liturgical service, we show our reverence for the Cross of the crucifixion that is the sign of our redemption. The priest and deacon wear red vestments in honor of Christ's sacrifice. After a solemn procession, they approach the altar and make a demonstration of reverence by prostrating themselves (or they may kneel) as they pray silently. Then the priest goes to his chair with the ministers. He faces the congregation and, with hands joined, sings or says the opening prayer that begins the service. Today's worship service is in three parts:
The Theme of the Readings: Jesus Christ is God's Suffering Servant for the Sins of the World and Our Eternal High Priest (Is 52:13-53:12; Ps 31:2, 6, 12-13, 15-17, 25; Heb 4:14-16; 5:7-9; Jn 18:1-19:42) Today's First and Second Readings offer us the theology of the Passion narrative in St. John's Gospel. Jesus' suffering for us is both vicarious (on our behalf) and redemptive (for our eternal salvation) as He gave His life for us on the altar of the Cross (Jn 15:13).
The First Reading is from the prophet Isaiah's Fourth Servant's Song. The prophet again takes up the theme of the persecution of God's "Servant." He writes that the condition of God's Servant will scandalize people, but his sufferings are in intercession and expiation for the people's sins. The Suffering Servant's mission is to fulfill God's divine plan for His estranged covenant people's redemption. Jesus Christ fulfills the role of God's Suffering Servant in His Passion.
According to the title, the psalmist in the Responsorial Psalm is King David. The psalm is a lament in which David cries out to God that he is abandoned by his friends and persecuted by his enemies. However, he professes his trust in the Lord and his confidence that he can call upon God for help because of his close relationship with Him. At the end of the psalm, the psalmist advises others who have experienced the same kind of suffering to have courage and not waver in their faith. He urges those who suffer not to lose hope because Yahweh will not abandon those faithful to Him. In Jesus' last words from the Cross, He will quote our response from the Responsorial Psalm (Lk 23:46; Ps 31:5/6), but He makes the reference more personal by referring to God as "Father." In His suffering on the Cross, Jesus knew that God the Father would not abandon Him, and like His ancestor David, He placed His faith, hope, and trust entirely in the faithfulness and mercy of God.
In the Second Reading, the inspired writer of the Letter to the Hebrews elaborates on the readings' theme by comparing Jesus with the Sinai Covenant High Priest. Under the Law of the Sinai Covenant, the High Priest offered sacrifices twice daily in the Tamid liturgical worship sacrifices for the atonement and sanctification of the covenant people at the Jerusalem Temple. He also officiated in his role as the chief mediator between God and His people. Jesus is our New Covenant mediator, and He is the High Priest of the New and eternal Covenant. Unlike the Jewish High Priest of the Sinai Covenant, who continually offered blood sacrifices for the sake of the people, Jesus has offered Himself once and forever as the one perfect, unblemished sacrifice on the altar of the Cross (Heb 7:27; 10:11-14; Rev 5:6). See the book, " Jesus and the Mystery of the Tamid Sacrifice."
The Gospel Reading takes place on Friday, the day the Jews called Preparation Day for the Sabbath (Mk 15:42; Jn 19:31). After the Last Supper's Passover meal, we follow Jesus from the garden of Gethsemane to the Cross. Jesus and His disciples went to the garden of Gethsemane on the Mount of Olives to pray. There, He was betrayed by Judas Iscariot, arrested, and condemned to death by the High Priest Joseph Caiaphas and the Sanhedrin (the Jewish high court). At dawn, the chief priests took Him to the Roman governor. His trial by Pontius Pilate began the sixth-hour Roman time (our 6-7 AM). Pilate tried to release Jesus by pronouncing that He was without guilt three times (Jn 18:38; 19:4, 6). However, threatened by the religious leaders, he finally handed Jesus over for crucifixion as the King of the Jews and the spotless, sacrificial Lamb, who presented His sinless life in atonement for the sins of humanity (1 Pt 1:19). Jesus, the Son of God, died once and for all time, suffering on the Cross for six hours and giving up His life at the beginning of the seventh hour, as the ancients counted (Mk 15:25, 34 = 9 AM to 3 PM). Then He took His seat at the right hand of the throne of God as the New Covenant High Priest, the one mediator between humanity and God. He is the "Arion Hesketos," the "Lamb Standing" before God's throne, continually offering Himself in sacrifice for the sins of fallen humankind (Lk 22:29; Heb 8:1-4; Rev 5:6).
Jesus' sacrifice did not end in one tragic event in the spring of AD 30. Jesus' sacrifice is on-going. Forty days after His Resurrection, He ascended to Heaven and took His place as the unblemished sacrificial Lamb standing at the heavenly Sanctuary's altar (Rev 5:6). Serving as both our holy sacrifice and eternal High Priest, He gives us a share in His eternal priesthood. Ours is a priesthood of believers in which we participate in His sacrificial self-surrender. We do this when we take part in His sacrifice as Jesus continually offers Himself before the altar of God the Father in Heaven and on the altars of every Catholic church. During Jesus' words of Consecration, spoken by His priestly representative at every Mass, the sign of bread and wine miraculously transforms into Jesus' Body and Blood, and we partake of His glorified life for the sake of our eternal salvation (Jn 6:51-56). In the sacred meal of the Eucharist ("Thanksgiving"), He gives Himself for the salvation and sanctification of men and women in every generation until He returns to judge humanity and claim His Bride, the Church, to take her to His home in Heaven (Heb 8:3; 9:28; Rev 5:6; 19:6-9).
The First Reading Isaiah 52:13-53:12 ~ God's Suffering Servant
13 See, my servant
shall prosper, he shall be raised high and greatly exalted. 14 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; 15 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. 53:1 Who would believe what we have heard? To
whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed? 2 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. 3
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. 4 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. 5 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. 6 We had all gone
astray like sheep, each following his own way; but the LORD laid upon him the
guilt of us all. 7 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. 8 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, 9 a grave was assigned him among the wicked and
a burial place with evildoers, though he had done no wrong nor spoken any
falsehood. 10 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. 11 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. 12 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.
This passage is from Isaiah's Fourth Servant's Song, in which the prophet again takes up the theme of the sufferings and persecutions of God's chosen "Servant" (52:13), which he endured for the sake of the covenant people (53:7). His abuse will scandalize people (Is 52:14-15; 53:2-3, 7-9), but his sufferings are, in fact, an intercession and expiation for the sins of God's people (53:4, 6, 8, 10-12). The Suffering Servant's mission is God's divine plan for the redemption of His estranged covenant people. Jesus Christ fulfills the promised mission of God's Suffering Servant in His Passion:
| Isaiah Chapter 52:13-53:12 |
Other Old Testament references/ New Testament fulfillments |
| 52:13b he shall be raised high and greatly exalted | Jesus was "raised high" on the Cross, the sign He foretold in John 3:14-16. |
| 53:1 Who would believe what we have heard? | Quoted in John 12:38 and Romans 10:16 |
| 53:3 He was spurned and avoided by people | A quote from Psalm 22:6; Jesus will quote this Psalm from the cross: "Father, forgive them for they know not what they do" (Ps 22:1). |
| 53:3 A man of suffering | The Passion of Christ described in all the Gospels |
| 53:4 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. | He drove out the spirits by a word and cured all the sick, to fulfill what had been said by Isaiah the prophet: "He took away our infirmities and bore our diseases" (Mt 8:16-17). |
| while we thought of him as stricken, as one smitten by God and afflicted | For it was fitting that he, for whom and through whom all things exist, in bringing many children to glory, should make the leader to their salvation perfect through suffering (Heb 2:10). |
| 53:5 But he was pierced for our offenses | but one soldier thrust his lance into his side, and immediately blood and water flowed out (Jn 19:34). |
| crushed for our sins | who was handed over for our transgressions and was raised for our justification (Rom 4:25). |
| upon him was the chastisement that makes us whole | Christ ransomed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written, "Cursed be everyone who hangs on a tree" (Gal 3:13). |
| by his stripes, we were healed. | He himself bore our sins in his body upon the cross so that, free from sin, we might live for righteousness (1 Pt 2:24). |
| 53:6 We had all gone astray like sheep, each following his own way | For thus says the Lord GOD: "I myself will look after and tend my sheep ... I will rescue them from every place where they were scattered (Ez 34:11, 12). For you have gone astray like sheep, but you have now returned to the shepherd and guardian of your souls" (1 Pt 2:25). |
| but the LORD laid upon him the guilt of us all. | For our sake, he made him to be sin who did not know sin, so that we might become the righteousness of God in him (2 Cor 5:21). |
| 53:7 Though he was harshly treated, he submitted | When he was insulted, he returned no insult; when he suffered, he did not threaten; instead, he handed himself over to the one who judges justly (1 Pt 2:23). |
| and opened not his mouth | But Jesus was silent (Mt 26:63, also Mk 14:61; Lk 23:8-9). |
| like a lamb led to the slaughter | I, for my part, was like a trustful lamb being led to the slaughterhouse, not knowing the schemes they were plotting against me, "Let us destroy the tree in its strength, let us cut him off from the land of the living, so that his name may no longer be remembered" (Jer 11:19 NJB). Acts 8:32-33 quotes Isaiah 53:7. |
| or a sheep before the shearers | Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world (Jn 1:29). |
| he was silent and opened not his mouth. | But he did not answer one word so that the governor was greatly amazed (Mt 27:14). | 53:8 Oppressed and condemned, he was taken away ... when he was cut off from the land of the living, and smitten for the sin of his people. | Then the high priest tore his robes and said, "He has blasphemed ... what is your opinion?" Then they said in reply, "He deserves to die!" (Mt 26:65-66). The governor said to them ... then what shall I do with Jesus called Messiah?" They all said, "Let him be crucified!" (Mt 27:21-22; also see Mk 15:8-15; Lk 23:20-25; Jn 19:12-15). |
| 53:9 a grave was assigned him among the wicked | Jesus said: "For I tell you that this scripture must be fulfilled in me, namely, 'He was counted among the wicked,' and indeed what is written about me is coming to fulfillment" (Lk 22:37-38). Two revolutionaries were crucified with him (Mt 27:37-38; Mk 15:27). |
| and a burial place with evildoers, and his tomb is with the rich | When it was evening, there came a rich man from Arimathea named Joseph ... Taking the body, Joseph wrapped in it clean linen and laid it in his new tomb (Mt 27:57-60; also see Mk 15:42-46; Lk 23:50-5; Jn 19:38-42). |
| though he had done no wrong nor spoken any falsehood | He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth (1 Pt 2:22 quoting from Is 53:9 LXX). |
| 53:10 But the LORD was pleased to crush him in infirmity. If he gives his life as an offering for sin | Describes the Passion in all Gospels; also see Rom 6:7; Heb 9:26; 1 Jn 1:7. |
| he shall see his descendants in a long life, and the will of the LORD shall be accomplished through him. | Jesus appeared to His disciples who became His heirs of the New Covenant on Resurrection Sunday (Mt 28:5-10; Mk 16:1-18; Lk 24:1-49; Jn 20-21). |
| 53:11 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. | They are justified freely by his grace through the redemption in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as an expiation, through faith, by his blood ... and justify the one who has faith in Jesus (Rom 3:24-26). For Christ also suffered for sins once, the righteous for the sake of the unrighteous, that he might lead you to god. Put to death in the flesh, he was brought to life in the spirit (1 Pt 3:18). |
| 53:12 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. | Jesus took upon Himself the work of universal redemption, which Isaiah assigned to the Suffering Servant (see Mt 26:28; Mk 14:22-25; Lk 22:19-20; Jn 6:51-56). Just as at Sinai, when the blood of the sacrifice sealed the covenant of Yahweh with His people (Ex 24:4-8), on the Cross, the blood of Jesus, the sinless victim, sealed the "New Covenant" promised in Jeremiah 31:31-34 and announced in Luke 22:20. |
| Michal E. Hunt Copyright © 2006 | |
Responsorial Psalm 31:2, 6, 12-13, 15-17, 25
The response is: "Father, into your hands, I commend
my spirit" (Lk 23:46).
2 In you, O LORD, I
take refuge; let me never be put to shame. In your justice, rescue me.
6 Into your hands I
commend my spirit; you will redeem me, O LORD, O faithful God.
Response:
12 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. 13 I am forgotten like the unremembered dead; I am like a dish
that is broken.
Response:
15 But my trust is
in you, O LORD; I say, "You are my God. 16
In your hands is my destiny; rescue me from the clutches of my enemies
and my persecutors."
Response:
17 Let your face
shine upon your servant; save me in your kindness.
25 Take courage and
be stouthearted, all you who hope in the LORD.
Response:
Psalm 31 is another of the psalms attributed to King David. In his last words, just before his death, King David spoke of his life's three significant accomplishments. The third accomplishment he listed was the songs he wrote for the Lord by which "the spirit of Yahweh speaks through me" (2 Sam 23:1-2). The "songs" of David are the psalms that are entitled "a psalm of David." St. Peter, in his homily to the Jewish crowd at Pentecost, called David a prophet who had foreknowledge of the Christ (Acts 2:29-31). In our passage, David expresses his trust in God to rescue him in his hour of distress (verse 2). Despite what he has suffered, he trusts God's divine plan for his life and puts his destiny and his salvation entirely into God's hands (verses 6 and 16). Jesus will allude to verse 6 from the Cross, as He cries out in what is our communal response in this psalm: "Father, into your hands I commend my spirit" (Lk 23:46).
In verses 12-13, the psalmist laments that his friends have abandoned him, and his enemies persecute him. Again, the psalmist professes his trust in the Lord and his confidence that he can call upon God for help because of his close relationship with the Lord (verses 15-17). At the end of the psalm, he advises others who have experienced the same kind of suffering to remain strong, have courage, and not waver in faith but have hope because Yahweh will not abandon His faithful.
Jesus referred to this psalm when He quoted from verse 6, making the reference more personal by referring to God as "Father." Whenever there is a quotation from an Old Testament verse in the New Testament, the intention is for the reader to reflect upon the whole passage. While He suffered on the Cross, Jesus knew that God the Father would not abandon Him. Like His ancestor David, Jesus placed His faith, hope, and trust entirely in the faithfulness and mercy of God.
The Second Reading Hebrews 4:14-16; 5:7-9
14 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. 15 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. 16 So let us confidently approach the throne of
grace to receive mercy and to find grace for timely help. [...] 5:7 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. 8 Son though he was, he learned obedience from
what he suffered; 9 and when he was
made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him.
These verses provide a transition to the next section in the Letter to the Hebrews. They also serve to connect the audience to the theme introduced in 2:16-3:1. That theme is Jesus, the merciful and faithful high priest who passed through the heavens and is now before the throne of God, expiating the covenant people's sins. These verses are the first mention of Heaven as the place where Jesus administers His priestly function until the Book of Revelation, where His sacrifice takes on eternal and timeless value.
Once again, with the phrase, let us hold fast to our confession (verse 14), referring to our profession of faith (see Heb 3:1 and in 10:23), the inspired writer urges his listeners to be vigilant in their faith, avoiding sin and trusting God's plan in their lives.
15 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.
The Greek word peirazein [pi-rad'-zin] can mean both
"test" and "tempt," as in temptation to sin. Satan tempted and tested Jesus
after St. John's baptism, as recorded in the Synoptic Gospels (Mt 4:1-11; Mk 1:12-13; Lk 4:1-13). However, Jesus was also tested throughout His public
ministry by the religious authorities and the people (Mt 4:7; 19:3; Mk 8:11; Lk 10:25; 22:28; Jn 6:6). He was tested again in His willingness to fulfill God's
plan as He prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane (Mt 26:39, 42; Mk 14:34-36;
22:42-44; Heb 5:7-8). Although tempted to sin, Jesus was never enticed to sin
because He was free from the temptation to sin (concupiscence): For our sake,
he made him to be sin who did not know sin, so that we might become the righteousness
of God in him (2 Cor 5:21; also see CCC# 603; 2119, and 2515 = the definition
of concupiscence). In that often-misunderstood verse, Paul does not mean that
God placed all the sins of humanity upon Jesus (the false doctrine of Penal
Substitution), but that He died as the sinless Lamb of God in place of sinful
humanity (see Rom 4:15; 5:8-9; 1 Pt 1:17-18; CCC 603). The teaching from the earliest years of the Church is that Christ's blood
was the ultimate Mercy Seat (Ex 25:17-18, 21-22). Christ covered and forgave
our sins, and Himself showed the unconditional love that He commanded us to offer
one another.
Hebrews 4:16 urges Christians to have no fear and confidently approach God's Throne of Grace to receive mercy and find grace for timely help. The faithful who belong to Christ do not need to fear sin, death, and judgment. Although Jesus was without sin, He witnessed wrongdoing and experienced the temptations of sin. Therefore, He can sympathize with our struggles to resist sin. Jesus promises us that He will intercede for us with the Father and will help us overcome the challenges we face as we journey in this world toward our Promised Land in heaven. The Catechism gives us assurance of Christ's intervention on our behalf: "All Christ's riches 'are for every individual and are everybody's property.' Christ did not live his life for himself but for us, from his Incarnation 'for us men and for our salvation' to his death 'for our sins' and Resurrection 'for our justification.' He is still 'our advocate with the Father,' who 'always lives to make intercession' for us. He remains ever 'in the presence of God on our behalf, bringing before him all that he lived and suffered for us'" (CCC 519 quoting 1 Cor 15:3; Rom 4:25; 1 Jn 2:1; Heb 7:25 and 9:24). Jesus' promise to us in Matthew 28:20 should give us the courage we need to seek both God's mercy and grace: And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age.
Hebrews 5:7-10 contains a concise summary of Jesus' life on earth. St. Cyril of Alexandria wrote that Jesus offered "his life as a model of saintly existence to be used by earthly beings, he took on the weaknesses of humanity, and what was his purpose in doing this? That we might truly believe that he became man, although he remained what he was, namely God" (Letter to Euopitus, Anathema 10).
Jesus came in the flesh to redeem humanity, and in the Garden of Gethsemane, he offered prayers and supplications with loud cries and tears to the one who was able to save him from death. Verse 7 assures us that God heard Him, but why didn't God answer His prayer by sparing His Son an agonizing death; how was Jesus "made perfect," and how did he "learn obedience" from what He suffered? God did answer Jesus' prayer. The answer was "submit in obedience," and God the Son's response was, "not my will, Father, but Yours!" God "heard" Jesus because He did not disobey! In His obedient response, the Son was "made perfect" (verse 9), and Jesus, the new Adam, overcame the sin of the first Adam whose disobedience had brought sin and death into the world (1 Cor 15:45-49; CCC 411; 504).
Jesus, being "made perfect," became the source of our salvation for all who obey Him. In His "perfect" obedience, the Son submitted Himself to death on the Cross for the salvation of man. St. Ephraim wrote concerning this passage, "He became the source of our eternal salvation" by replacing Adam, who had been the source of our death through his disobedience. But as Adam's death did not reign in those who did not sin, so life reigns in those who do not need to be absolved. Even though he is a liberal giver of life, life is given to those who obey, not to those who fall away from him" (Ephraim, Commentary on the Epistle to the Hebrews).
It is not through this submission that Jesus "learned" obedience; instead, He "experienced" obedience. It is easy to be "obedient" to one's superior or to one's parent when it involves a pleasant experience. However, it is something else entirely when compliance is submission to something that one does not want to experience. St. John Chrysostom advised the faithful: "If he, though the Son, gains obedience from his sufferings, how much more shall we? Do you see how many things Paul says about obedience in order to persuade them to obedience? [...]. 'Though what he suffered' he continually 'learned' to obey God, and he was 'made perfect' through sufferings. This then is perfection, and this means we must arrive at perfection. For not only was he himself saved; but also became an abundant supply of salvation to others" (The Epistle to the Hebrews, 8.3).
St. Paul also wrote about Jesus' perfect obedience in his letter to the Philippians: Christ became obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Because of this, God greatly exalted him and bestowed on him the name which is above every other name (Phil 2:8-9). In today's liturgy, this is the verse before the Gospel reading.
The Gospel of John 18:1-19:42 ~ Jesus is Arrested and Condemned to Death
John 18:1-11 ~ The Temple Guards Arrest Jesus
1 Jesus went out
with his disciples across the Kidron valley to where there was a garden, into
which he and his disciples entered. 2 Judas,
his betrayer, also knew the place because Jesus had often met there with his
disciples. 3 So Judas got a band
of soldiers and guards from the chief priests and the Pharisees and went there
with lanterns, torches, and weapons. 4 Jesus,
knowing everything that was going to happen to him, went out and said to them,
"Whom are you looking for?" 5 They
answered him, "Jesus the Nazorean." He said to them, "I AM." Judas, his
betrayer, was also with them. 6 When
he said to them, "I AM," they turned away and fell to the ground. 7 So he again asked them, "Whom are you looking
for?" They said, "Jesus the Nazorean." 8
Jesus answered, "I told you that I AM. So if you are looking for me,
let these men go." 9 This was to
fulfill what he had said, "I have not lost any of those you gave me." 10 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. 11 Jesus said to
Peter, "Put your sword into its scabbard. Shall I not drink the cup that the
Father gave me?"
That night (Nisan the 15th, the Jewish Friday that began at sundown), after the Last Supper, Jesus and His disciples traveled out of Jerusalem across the Kidron Valley to reach the Mt. of Olives. We know from the Gospels that the Mt. of Olives was where Jesus and the disciples stayed each night during their last week in Jerusalem (Lk 21:37). St. Matthew's and Mark's Gospels include the information that they spent the nights in the village of Bethany on the Mt. of Olives and took meals there (Mt 21:17; 26:6; Mk 11:11; 14:3).
The Kidron, nahal qidron in Hebrew, is a deep ravine (wadi in Aramaic) to the east of Jerusalem that separates the city from the Mt. of Olives. The valley begins north of Jerusalem, just west of Mt. Scopus, and continues past the old city walls to the south, where the ravine joins with the Hinnom Valley south of the city. The Kidron Valley then angles southeast, crossing into the Judean wilderness and empties into the Dead Sea. With the accumulation of debris over the centuries, the Kidron valley's elevation is 10-50 feet higher than it was in Jesus' time. It was a dry ravine during most of the year except in the rainy season when it was full of swiftly flowing water in the winter and the very early spring during the Passover. At that time, the blood of the Temple's sacrifices poured out on the Temple sacrificial altar flowed through drains into the Kidron stream and made it a river of blood (Anchor Bible Dictionary, volume 4, pages 37-38; Dictionary of the Bible, page 473).
where there was a garden
The Gospel of John is the only Gospel to mention "a
garden." The other three accounts record they crossed over to the Mount of
Olives, and Matthew and Mark testify that the site they came to was called
Gethsemane. The word "Gethsemane" means "oil press" or "oil valley." Since the
4th century AD, a site at the foot of the Mount of Olives facing Jerusalem has been identified as the location of Jesus' arrest. At this place are ancient
olive trees (some are 3,000 years old) and a cave nearby identified by
archaeologists as an ancient olive oil manufacturing site. During their last
week in Jerusalem, Jesus and His disciples probably slept at the homes of
friends in Bethany or this cave. The city was overwhelmed with pilgrims during
the pilgrim feasts (Dt 16:16); therefore, it was deemed acceptable by the religious
hierarchy for the faithful to camp outside the city walls and on the Mount of
Olives so long as they ate the sacred meal of the Passover victim within the
walls of the holy city.
There is a theological reason why St. John used the word kepos = garden. The Greek word refers to a plot of land planted with vegetables or flowers, and sometimes trees (Raymond Brown, The Anchor Bible: Gospel of John vol. II, page 806). St. Cyril of Jerusalem and St. Thomas Aquinas believed that John is drawing our attention to the parallel that exists in the struggle between Satan and Adam in the Garden of Eden and the struggle between the traitor Judas, the tool of Satan, and Jesus the new Adam, in the Garden of Gethsemane. The fall of humanity began in a garden with Adam's disobedience, and now Jesus, the new Adam, will begin His defeat of Satan in a garden where, in obedience, He yields Himself to the will of God the Father and accepts the cup that the Father has given Him (John 18:11).
Notice that in St. John's account of the events in the garden of Gethsemane, as is his usual practice, he does not re-tell Jesus' prayer of agony in the garden recorded in Matthew 26:36-46; Mark 14:32-42; Luke 22:41-46.
2 Judas, his betrayer,
also knew the place because Jesus had often met there with his disciples. 3 So Judas got a band of soldiers and guards
from the chief priests and the Pharisees and went there with lanterns, torches,
and weapons.
The literal translation here and in verse 5 is the one who
was handing him over. All the Gospel accounts identify Judas as the
betrayer or traitor
(Mt 10:4; 26:14-16, 25, 47-48; 27:3;
Mk 3:19; 14:10-11, 43-44;
Lk 6:16; 22:3, 47-48;
Jn 6:71; 12:4; 13:2; 21-30; 18:2-5).
It was the moment Satan has been waiting for since Jesus defeated him in Satan's attempt to tempt the new Adam: Having exhausted every way of putting him to the test, the devil left him until the opportune moment (Lk 4:19). Satan's opportune moment had come. It is what St. Luke called "the hour of darkness" (Lk 22:53).
Exactly a year earlier at the Bread of Life Discourse, Jesus told the Apostles: "Did I not choose you twelve? Yet is not one of you a devil?" He was referring to Judas, son of Simon the Iscariot; it was he who would betray him, one of the Twelve" (Jn 6:70-71). Some Bible scholars want to exonerate Judas, proposing that he didn't want Jesus put to death; he just wanted to force Jesus to reveal His power as the Messiah. That is a theory entirely without merit. John 12:6 tells us that Judas was the treasurer who collected donations for the poor, but he was a thief who stole from the contributions. Scripture describes Judas as a thief, and Jesus called him "a devil" and "a son of destruction" (Jn 6:70-71; 12:6; 17:12). In his treacherous act, Satan influenced him the same way he tries to tempt all of us to sin (Lk 22:3; Jn 13:27). However, Judas made the conscious determination to betray Jesus, and no psychological explanation can mitigate his free-will decision.
Judas brought the Jewish Temple guards (Temple Levites) and a "cohort" of Gentile Roman soldiers under a Roman officer's command to arrest Jesus. Only John's Gospel mentions that Roman soldiers were involved in Jesus' arrest. A cohort is a unit of 600 men, but this is probably the maniple of 200 soldiers (1/3 a cohort). John probably did not mean to imply that such a large number of Roman soldiers were involved. Perhaps only some Roman cohort soldiers were put at the chief priests' disposal and sent to accompany the Temple guards if they refused to do their duty. You may recall the Temple Guards refused to arrest Jesus when sent by the chief priests in John 7:45-47. This time the chief priests were not taking any chances.
John adds another detail. The soldiers and guards brought lanterns. It was the time of the Paschal full moon, but under the spreading branches of the olive trees, the garden would have had many dark places. It is another detail that indicates an eyewitness account of the events (see Jn 19:35-36). The irony associated with these men carrying lanterns and torches to provide light is that, like all men, they have been seeking God, and sadly, they do not understand that they have found Him. They came bearing lanterns and torches to cut through the darkness, and yet the "Light of the world" stood in front of them, but because of the darkness of their souls, they could not see the "Light" (Jn 1:9; 8:12; 3:19).
4 Jesus, knowing
everything that was going to happen to him, went out and said to them, "Whom
are you looking for?" 5 They
answered him, "Jesus the Nazorean." He said to them, "I AM." Judas, his
betrayer, was also with them. 6 When
he said to them, "I AM," they turned away and fell to the ground.
In verse 4, "knowing everything" emphasizes Jesus'
foreknowledge and indicates His divinity, a reoccurring theme in John's
Gospel. That Jesus "came forward" also shows that He is in control of the unfolding
events. Jesus identified Himself to the soldiers, saying, "I AM" a significant
three times in verses 5, 6, and 8. The Greek text has only the words "Ego Ami"
(I AM) and not "I am he," as in some translations. Jesus' "I AM" statement is
a three-fold declaration of the Divine Name of the Triune God, YHWH, or Yahweh
with vowels (Ex 3:14).
When Jesus spoke the Divine Name, I AM, the men who came to arrest Him fell to the ground. Some Biblical scholars think that the Jews, hearing the Divine Name, prostrated themselves. But what about the Romans? They would not have fallen to the ground in reverence to the Divine Name of Yahweh. Other scholars suggest that, in another demonstration of His divinity, when Jesus pronounced the Divine Name, a flash of His divine power pushed the men back and knocked them to the ground. Several Old Testament passages may be prophetically linked to this incident, for example, Isaiah 28:13b [in the Greek Septuagint translation]: that they may go and fall back and be crushed and be in danger and be destroyed (also see Is 28:16; Ps 27:2 and 35:4).
St. Peter may have been alluding to this incident when he quoted Psalms 118:22 and compared Jesus to the "cornerstone," causing unbelievers to "stumble. " In 1 Peter 2:6-8, he wrote ~ As scripture says: Now I am laying a stone in Zion, a chosen, precious cornerstone and no one who relies on this will be brought to disgrace. To you believers, it brings honor. But for unbelievers, it is rather a stone which the builders rejected that became a cornerstone, a stumbling stone, a rock to trip people up. They stumble over it because they do not believe in the Word; it was the fate in store for them. And in Acts 4:11, during his address to the Jewish High Court of the Sanhedrin after Jesus' Ascension, Peter identified the chief priests and Pharisees as the "builders" who rejected Christ when he also quoted from Psalm 118:22.
If it was a demonstration of Jesus' divine power, the incident reveals once again that Jesus is entirely in control of the events and that, although He had the power to resist His adversaries, He freely allowed them to make Him their prisoner. It is what Jesus told the disciples in John 10:17-18 ~ The Father loves me because I lay down my life in order to take it up again. No one takes it from me; I lay it down of my own free will, and as I have power to lay it down, so I have power to take it up again, and this is the command I have received from my Father.
In the Synoptic narratives, Judas came forward and identified Jesus with a kiss, which was probably a kiss on the hand, the recognized greeting from a disciple to His Rabbi, and not the kiss on the cheek as depicted in Western art. As his usual practice, John does not repeat the detail of the treacherous kiss recorded in the Gospels; he expects his readers to be familiar with those accounts (Mt 26:47-56; Mk 14:43-46; Lk 22:47-53).
7 So he again asked
them, "Whom are you looking for?" They said, "Jesus the Nazorean." 8 Jesus answered, "I told you that I AM. So if
you are looking for me, let these men go." 9
This was to fulfill what he had said, "I have not lost any of those you
gave me."
Jesus used the Divine Name for Himself three times in verses
5, 6, and 8. He is the I AM who revealed Himself to Moses in Exodus 3:13-14.
He is the Second Person of the Most Holy Trinity (see CCC# 205-207).
Jesus commanded them to "let these men go." In John 17:12, Jesus prayed to the Father: "When I was with them I protected them in your name that you gave me, and I guarded them, and none of them was lost except the son of destruction, in order that the Scripture might be fulfilled." Notice the implication in John 17:12 that Judas, the betrayer, who is lost, was not given to Jesus by the Father. Instead, his inclusion was to fulfill the Scriptural prophecy of Psalm 41:10/9 and remind every generation of believers that there will be wolves among the sheep of Jesus' flock. He was a "seed of the serpent" who, along with the other "children of Satan," stood in opposition to God's divine plan and chose to do violence against the "seed of the woman" (Gen 3:15). The Hebrew in Genesis 3:15 is "lift his heel against" (meaning "to do violence"), repeated in Psalm 41:10/9, and from the Greek Septuagint text by Jesus in speaking of His betrayer in John 13:18b.
10 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. 11 Jesus
said to Peter, "Put your sword into its scabbard. Shall I not drink the cup
that the Father gave me?"
Departing from his usual practice, the Gospel of John records
an incident that is in the Synoptic Gospels (see Mt 26:51; Mk 14:46-47; Lk 22:50-51). However, only John includes the information that Simon-Peter struck
the man with his sword to defend Jesus, and only John gives the name of the
high priest's servant. However, he does not add that Jesus healed the wounded
man; only Luke records the healing (see Lk 22:51).
There are two reasons why Jesus heals this man: to correct the wrong made by Peter and as evidence of His true identity as the Son of God whose mission is to heal and save. Then in verse 11, Jesus makes a significant statement when He says to Peter, "Shall I not drink the cup that the Father gave me?" In Jesus' prayer of agony, in each of the Synoptic Gospels, He prays for the Father to take away "this cup." For example, in Mark 14:36, Jesus says, "Abba, Father!" He said, "For you, everything is possible. Take this cup away from me. But let it be as you, not I, would have it." Scripture associates the symbolism of suffering with drinking "the cup of God's wrath" in the Old Testament. See passages like Isaiah 51:17 and 22 (see the section on "drinking wine" in the chart "The Symbolic Images of the Old Testament Prophets." Also, there is the comment Jesus made about sharing in drinking from "His cup" to John and James Zebedee in Matthew 20:22-23 and Mark 10:38. Also, see CCC #607.
In verse 11, Jesus is referring to His cup of suffering that He will drink on the Cross according to the Father's plan, freeing humanity from God's "cup of wrath." It was a divine judgment which the nation of Judea deserved for covenant disobedience, for rejecting the Divine Messiah, and which humanity as a whole deserved for sinful, unrepentant lives and rejection of the One, true God (Rom 1:18; 2:5-10).
In Jesus' exchange with John and James Zebedee, they swore that they could "drink of His cup," not understanding the full extent of their statement. They were thinking only of God's cup of salvation and glory (Ps 166:13). It must have been with great love that Jesus prophesied that they would indeed "drink of His cup," but He meant His "cup of suffering" for the sake of the Kingdom of God! James Zebedee was the first Apostle to suffer martyrdom (AD 42), and John suffered beatings, imprisonment in a Roman penal colony, and other severe hardships. Ironically, it was because they were willing to drink from Jesus' cup of suffering that they did indeed drink from His cup of salvation and glory in the heavenly Kingdom. Notice that in fulfillment of John 17:10 and Jesus' command in 18:8-9 that even Peter, who attacked and wounded a servant of the High Priest, was allowed to go free!
John 18:12-18 ~ They Bring Jesus to the Former High Priest
Annas
12 So the band of
soldiers, the tribune, and the Jewish guards seized Jesus, bound him, 13 and brought him to Annas first. He was the
father-in-law of Caiaphas, who was high priest that year. 14 It was Caiaphas who had counseled the Jews
that it was better that one man should die rather than the people. 15 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. 16
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.
17 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." 18 Now, the
slaves and the guards were standing around a charcoal fire that they had made
because it was cold, and they were warming themselves. Peter was also standing
there, keeping warm.
John is the only Gospel writer to include the information that they took Jesus to Annas, the father-in-law of the High Priest Joseph Caiaphas and the former high priest. Annas was the High Priest from AD 6-15 before the Roman procurator Valerius Gratus deposed him; the Romans no longer allowed the Jewish high priest to serve for his lifetime (Lk 3:2; Acts 4:6). In including the information that they first took Jesus to Annas, John may be suggesting that the former high priest still maintained power. Taking Jesus to Annas first also allowed enough time for Caiaphas to assemble the members of the Sanhedrin and the false witnesses who would testify against Jesus. The reigning high priest served as the President of the Sanhedrin, but Caiaphas will also take on the chief prosecutor's role in Jesus' trial.
Notice that John's Gospel associates the phrase Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, with Jesus' death three times (see Jn 11:49, 51, and 18:13). "That year" refers to that fateful year that Caiaphas, in his role as the High Priest, unknowingly chose Jesus, the Lamb of God, as the sin sacrifice for the covenant people. St. John also records that Caiaphas condemned Jesus to death three times in 11:50, 51, and 18:14. As the reigning High Priest, Caiaphas chose Jesus as the sacrifice for the sake of the people.
In verses 15-16, Peter and
another disciple followed Jesus to the high priest's palace.
Who is the unnamed "other
disciple," and how was he known to Annas and his household staff? Some
scholars suggest the unnamed disciple is Matthew, a Levite and, therefore, a
member of the ministerial priesthood's lesser order (Num 18:1-3). That this
disciple is unnamed is the key. John usually identifies the disciples when he
writes about them, but he never names himself. Most modern Biblical scholars
and the Fathers of the Church recognize the unnamed disciple as St. John
Zebedee, the Apostle, who identifies himself five times in 13:23; 19:26; 20:2;
21:7 & 20 as the disciple Jesus loved. The inspired writer of the
fourth Gospel also identifies himself as "this disciple" who is an eyewitness
to these events in John 21:24.
The difficulty with this theory is how did the son of a Galilean fisherman have a strong enough connection to the High Priest to be recognized and admitted to his palace by the household staff? One tradition, repeated by Bishop Eusebius in his 4th century Church History, is that St. John the Apostle was from a priestly family. Eusebius based his assumption on the fact that Polycrates, Bishop of Ephesus, in the 2nd century AD, and the early Church historian Hegesippus both reported that John, when he as the Bishop of Ephesus, wore a golden sacerdotal plate similar to what was worn by a Jewish high priest (see Ex 39:30-31). The golden plate, in Hebrew, was the ziz. Early Church historians also recorded that both John Mark, when he became Bishop of Alexandria, Egypt, and James Bishop of Jerusalem wore such a device to indicate their high office. There is evidence that Saints James and Mark did indeed wear a version of the sacerdotal plate to distinguish themselves as Apostolic bishops of the New Covenant Church. However, we have no evidence that either James, the Bishop of Jerusalem and a relative of Jesus, or Mark, the son of a Roman soldier and a Jewish mother, were from a priestly Jewish family. Although Jesus' disciple Joseph Barnabas, a relative of John-Mark and his mother Mary, was a Levite (Acts 4:36; 9:27; 11:22f; Col 4:10; Philem 1:24; 1Cor 9:6). St. James Bishop of Jerusalem, St. Mark, the author of the second Gospel, and St. John Zebedee were all born and raised in the Old Covenant faith and traditions. Perhaps they saw themselves as the replacement of the hereditary priesthood and may have adopted a device similar to the high priest's ziz to illustrate their spiritual appointment and authority over the New Covenant Church.
Significantly, it appears John Zebedee, the inspired writer of the fourth Gospel, had information the other Gospel writers did not have:
The suggestion that John Zebedee sold fish to the servants and, therefore, he came to know Annas' household seems without merit. However, it was the practice to take exceptionally bright young students from the outer districts of Judah, the Galilee, and beyond in the Diaspora to train them in Jerusalem to fill the scribal positions. St. Paul was one such lucky student who came from a Jewish community in Asia Minor. Is it possible that John was also a student in Jerusalem when he began to follow John the Baptist and later Jesus? Is it possible that he was studying under the tutorage of Annas himself and was therefore known and trusted by the household staff?
It is impossible to know the connection between John and this priestly house, but it is clear that from the time of Jesus' arrest, only "the other," "the beloved disciple," continues to follow Jesus to the Cross and the tomb. It is also important to note that the unnamed disciple is clearly distinguished from, but associated with, Peter in John's Gospel chapters 18-21. The close association between Peter and the unnamed disciple also mirrors the close association recorded in Luke 22:8; Acts 3:1; and 8:14 between Peter and John the Apostle.
17 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." 18 Now,
the slaves and the guards were standing around a charcoal fire that they had
made because it was cold, and they were warming themselves. Peter was also
standing there, keeping warm.
John includes the detail
that it was cold. Jerusalem is more than 2,400 feet above sea level and can be
very chilly in the early springtime. Some scholars see a fulfillment of Zechariah 14:6 in this detail: That Day, there will be no light, but only cold and
frost. St. John's Gospel will also end with the Apostles seated around a
charcoal fire (Jn 21:9-25). Verse 17 is Peter's first denial of Christ, as
Jesus foretold, at the 3 AM trumpet signal at the beginning of the Third Watch
known as "cockcrow" (see Mk 13:35 for Jesus' list of the Four Watches and "cockcrow"
as the Third Watch; for the prophecy see Mt 26:34; Mk 14:30; Lk 22:35).
John 18:19-24 ~ The Former High Priest, Annas, Questions Jesus
19 The high priest
questioned Jesus about his disciples and about his doctrine. 20 Jesus answered him, "I have spoken publicly
to the world. I have always taught in a Synagogue or in the Temple area [hieron*]
where all the Jews gather, and in secret, I have said nothing. 21 Why ask me? Ask those who heard me what I
said to them. They know what I said." 22
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?" 23 Jesus answered him, "If I have spoken
wrongly, testify to the wrong; but if I have spoken rightly, why do you strike
me?" 24 Then Annas sent him bound
to Caiaphas, the high priest.
*The Greek word hieron refers to areas within the
Temple complex and not the Sanctuary (naos), which only the chief priests
entered.
Annas begins an informal examination of Jesus. He had political power over the priesthood and the Sanhedrin (Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, 18.12). John identified Annas as the high priest in 18:19, and the guard referred to Annas as the high priest when he slapped Jesus in 18:22. Annas held the office of high priest from AD 6-15. Annas probably had Jesus brought to his house to give Caiaphas the time to assembly the Sanhedrin court at this late (or very early) hour. Jesus' response to Annas recalls the words of the prophesized future Messiah in Isaiah 48:16 ~ Come near and listen to this; from the first, I never spoke obscurely; when it happened, I was there, and now Lord Yahweh has sent me with his spirit.
Jesus ignored Annas' questions about His disciples, but He told His interrogator that He had previously spoken openly in both the Synagogue and the Temple. In the local Synagogues (located in every village with approximately 350 in the holy city of Jerusalem), the faithful studied the word of God. However, in the Jerusalem Temple, the people provided sacrifices in atonement for sin and offered worship to reestablish communion with Yahweh. Our New Covenant liturgy of the Mass contains both elements: the Liturgy of the Word studies the Word of God, and the Liturgy of the Eucharist is the sacrifice that restores fellowship with God.
In verse 22, one of the Temple guards (mentioned in verses 3 and 12) slapped Jesus. Conduct of this kind was usually not permitted at a formal judicial setting of the Sanhedrin High Court. The passage is all that John will record of Jesus' trial. He does not repeat the Synoptic accounts of Jesus' shameful trial before the illegally convened Sanhedrin.
John 18:25-27 ~ Peter Denies Jesus Again
25 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." 26 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?" 27 Again, Peter
denied it. And immediately, the cock crowed [the cockcrow].
Like the Synoptic Gospels,
St. John includes Jesus' prediction of Peter's three denials as well as the
fulfillment of Jesus' prophecy of Peter's failure (see Jn 13:36-38; Mt 26:33-35;
Mk 14:29-31; Lk 22:31-34 and Jn 18:17-27; Mt 26:69-75; Mk 14:66-72; Lk 22:55-62; Jn 18:16-18, 25-27). The "cockcrow" was the trumpet signal that
announced the end of the Third Watch at 3 AM and the beginning of the Fourth and
last Night Watch that ended at dawn. Jesus named the four-night watches in
Mark 13:35 ~ Watch, therefore; you do not know when the lord of the house is
coming, whether in the evening, or at midnight, or at cockcrow, or in the
morning [dawn]. The Fathers of the Church and the diaries of Christian
pilgrims to Jerusalem in the fourth century AD testified to the trumpet signal
of the "cockcrow" at 3 AM.
The Four Roman watches of the night:
| #1: Evening watch | Sundown to 9 PM |
| #2: Midnight watch | 9 PM to Midnight |
| #3: Cockcrow watch | Midnight to 3 AM |
| #4: Dawn watch | 3 AM to Dawn |
Using their trumpets, the guards at the Temple and the Roman soldiers at the Antonio Fortress signaled the end of each night watch, the beginning of the next, and the changing of the guard with a trumpet blast. The Third Watch was from midnight to 3 AM. The Romans called the trumpet blast at the end of the Third Watch the "gallicinium" or "the cockcrow." If Jesus was identifying the time of Peter's last denial as literally before "a cock crows," it could not be a specific time since roosters are notoriously unpredictable in their crowing. There was also a rabbinic ordinance against keeping chickens within the Holy City for fear that their scratching would produce "unclean things," thereby violating the purity laws (J. Jeremias, Jerusalem in the Time of Jesus, page 47, note 44). However, if Jesus was referring to the gallicinium, "the hour of the cockcrow," this was a precise military signal (Anchor Bible: The Gospel According to John, page 828).
St. Mark's Gospel includes the additional detail in Mark 14:30, where Jesus says: In truth, I tell you, this day, this very night, before the cock crows twice, you will have disowned me three times. And then records the fulfillment of Jesus' prophecy, But he started cursing and swearing, 'I do not know the man you speak of.' And at once, the cock crowed [the cockcrow] for the second time (Mk 14:71-72). The Jewish Mishnah, the record of the oral traditions and Temple services, identifies the "cockcrow" as a signal. At the Jerusalem Temple, the cockcrow trumpet blast alerted the priestly superintendent rouse the chief priests assigned to serving in the morning worship service to ritually bathe and dress in their liturgical garments (Mishnah: Tamid 1:2).
John's Gospel includes the information that after His interview with Annas, the guards took Jesus to the High Priest Joseph Caiaphas and then to the Roman governor Pontus Pilate (Jn 18:28). However, as was his custom, he did not repeat the events of Jesus' trial with the Sanhedrin, covered dramatically in all the Synoptic accounts (see Mt 26:57-68; Mk 14:53-65; Lk 22:66-71). Caiaphas hastily convened a session of the Sanhedrin. The regulations for the court of justice are in Deuteronomy 17:2-13 and the Mishnah: Sanhedrin, 1:1-11:6. A violation of the covenant constituted judgment, and blasphemy was a crime punishable by death (Lev 24:10-14; Dt 17:2; Mishnah: Sanhedrin, 7:4-7:5). If it was a complex case, the accused person was to be taken to Jerusalem ("to the place chosen by Yahweh") and tried by the High Court (Dt 17:8-13). A death sentence required the word of at least two or three witnesses who must be the first to strike a blow when the person was condemned (Dt 17:6; 19:15-21). The execution was to take place outside the city gates (Dt 17:5; 21:22-23).
John 18:28-40 ~ Jesus Trial Before the Roman Governor,
Pontius Pilate
28 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. 29 So Pilate came
out to them and said, "What charge do you bring against this man?" 30 They answered and said to him, "If he were
not a criminal, we would not have handed him over to you." 31 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," 32
in order that the word of Jesus might be fulfilled that he said
indicating the kind of death he would die. 33
So Pilate went back into the Praetorium and summoned Jesus and said to
him, "Are you the King of the Jews?" 34 Jesus
answered, "Do you say this on your own, or have others told you about me?" 35 Pilate answered, "I am not a Jew, am I?"
Your own nation and chief priests handed you over to me. What have you done?"
36 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." 37 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." 38 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. 39 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?" 40 They cried out again, "Not this one, but Barabbas!" Now
Barabbas was a revolutionary.
It was common in the 1st century AD to refer to the entire eight days as one feast, as either Passover or Unleavened Bread (see Mt 26:17; Mk 14:12; Lk 22:7). However, the Gospel of John, like the Jewish Mishnah (completed in c. AD 200) and for Jews today, the two feasts are only called "Passover." Verse 28 refers to the Sacred Assembly that required the attendance of every man of the covenant at the Temple that morning (Num 28:18). After the morning Tamid lamb offering, there were communal sacrifices in addition to individual festival communion sacrifices (hagigah) eaten by the members of the covenant community that day in the city (Lev 23:5-8; Num 28:17-25). Verse 28 cannot be referring to the Passover sacred meal because, if someone became ritual impurity, bathing in a ritual pool (mikveh) would restore purity at sunset (Lev 22:6-7). All the Synoptic Gospels agree that the Passover sacrifice and sacred meal occurred the day before Jesus was arrested and crucified (Jn 12:1; Mt 26:17-19; Mk 14:12-16; Lk 22:7-13).
The Romans allowed people in their provinces to govern themselves under their own civil and religious laws. However, only the Romans had the power over life and death, so the chief priests brought Jesus to the Roman governor. They want Jesus condemned as a common criminal and crucified to discredit Him with the people. According to the Law, any man who was "hung on a tree" was someone cursed by God; therefore, if the Romans crucified Jesus by hanging Him on a wooden cross," He couldn't possibly be the Messiah (see Dt 21:22-23).
39 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?" 40 They
cried out again, "Not this one, but Barabbas!" Now Barabbas was a
revolutionary.
The Gospels describe Barabbas as a robber, a revolutionary
or insurrectionist, and a murderer (Mk 15:7; Lk 23:19). Ironically, his name was
an Aramaic surname meaning "son [bar] of the father [abbas]. Aramaic names often
added an "s" at the end as in abbas instead of the Hebrew "abba" and Jonas
(Yonas) instead of Jonah (Yonah). The irony is that these people were so blind
in their sins that they could not tell the murdering false "son of the father"
from the innocent, true Son of God the Father, Jesus the Messiah.
Matthew 27:18 records that Pilate understood the motivation for the Jewish authorities' desire to execute Jesus was jealousy. It was the same sin that led Cain to murder his brother Abel. Jesus' "brothers" (countrymen) wanted to murder Him for the same reason. The sin of envy can defy both justice and logic. Was the sin of spiritual envy that motivated the Old Covenant priesthood and hierarchy to condemn Jesus of Nazareth to death prophesized in the Old Testament? Read the Old Testament Book of Wisdom 2:12-24 for a description of the malice that foretold the unjust condemnation of the Messiah and the persecution of other righteous men and women who took up their crosses to follow Him down through the centuries.
John 19:1-16 ~ Pilate Attempts to Release Jesus, but the
Jews Demand His Crucifixion
1 Then Pilate took
Jesus and had him scourged. 2 And
the soldiers wove a crown out of thorns and placed it on his head, and clothed
him in a purple cloak, 3 and they
came to him and said, "Hail, King of the Jews!" And they struck him
repeatedly. 4 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." 5 So
Jesus came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple cloak. And he said
to them, "Behold, the man!" 6 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." 7 The Jews answered,
"We have a law, and according to that law, he ought to die because he made
himself the Son of God." 8 Now, when
Pilate heard this statement, he became even more afraid, 9 and went back into the Praetorium and said to
Jesus, "Where are you from?" Jesus did not answer him. 10 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?" 11 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." 12 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." 13 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. 14 It was
preparation day for the Passover, and it was about noon [the sixth-hour*]. And
he said to the Jews, "Behold, your king!" 15
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." 16 Then
he handed him over to them to be crucified.
*the sixth-hour Roman time
is from 6-7 AM. We keep Roman time. This time agrees with the Synoptic
Gospels that record Jesus was first taken to Pilate at dawn, the seasonal hour
of 6 AM.
Pilate had Jesus scoured in the hope that His suffering would satisfy the crowd, and he would be able to free Jesus. There are five elements of irony in the chief priests bringing Jesus to the Romans:
Jesus willingly offered Himself as a sacrifice for the covenant judgments the people deserved for violations of their covenant oath to Yahweh (Ex 24:3, 7; Lev 26:14-45 and Dt 28:15-69) and to atone for their sins and all humanity.
12 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." 13 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. 14 It was preparation day for the Passover, and it was about noon
[the sixth-hour*]. And he said to the Jews, "Behold, your king!" 15 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." 16 Then he handed him over to them to be
crucified.
The Jews charged Jesus with blasphemy for claiming to be
equal to God, but this was not an offense that would bring a Roman conviction
of crucifixion. Therefore, they threaten Pilate by telling him, if he found
Jesus innocent, he was releasing someone who had committed treason against
Caesar. Their argument was, in claiming to be the King of the Jews and the Son
of God, Jesus was usurping Tiberius Caesar's titles as the rightful king of the
Jews and the step-son of the deified Augustus Caesar. Failure to punish
someone who made these claims could have cost Pilate his position and his
life. In 19:15, the chief priests even declared: "We have no king but
Caesar!" This statement was the final break in the covenant formed with Yahweh
at Mt. Sinai when Yahweh became the Israelites' Divine King. They have
renounced the Son of God and rightful Davidic king in favor of a Roman king who
was a false god's stepson. It is the "sixth-hour" Roman time, between 6-7 AM
(Jn 19:14). John cannot be referring to Jewish time since the Jewish sixth-hour
is noon and the Gospel of Mark records Jesus' crucifixion took place at the third-hour
(9 AM) Jewish time in Mark 15:35. All the Synoptic Gospels record a total
eclipse of the sun from the sixth to the ninth hours (from noon to 3 PM Jewish
time) after Jesus was crucified (Mt 27:35, 45; Mk 15:33-41; Lk 23:33,
44-49). In his Gospel, John always uses Roman time and Roman geographic names (like
the Sea of Tiberias instead of the Sea of Galilee) for his predominantly
Gentile faith community in the Roman city of Ephesus.
Notice that the High Priest Caiaphas chose Jesus for sacrifice like the unblemished Tamid lamb of the morning and afternoon liturgical worship service. However, it was the Roman Gentile who pronounced Jesus "without fault"; the same pronouncement made over the unblemished Tamid lamb before its sacrifice. Three times Pilate declared he found Jesus (literally in the Greek translation) "without fault" (Jn 18:38; 19:4 and 6). As in everything else, even with the Roman governor who has the power of life and death, Jesus is the one who is in charge of His destiny.
John 19:17-22 ~ The Crucifixion
17 So they took
Jesus, and, carrying the cross himself, he went out to what is called the Place
of the Skull, in Hebrew, Golgotha. 18 There
they crucified him and with him two others, one on either side, with Jesus in
the middle. 19 Pilate also had an
inscription written and put on the cross. It read, "Jesus the Nazorean, the
King of the Jews." 20 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. 21 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'." 22 Pilate answered,
What I have written, I have written."
The Romans crucified Jesus at the third-hour Jewish time, 9 AM our time (Mk 15:35) on Friday that was "Preparation Day," the day before the Jewish Saturday Sabbath (Mk 15:42; Jn 20:31). The third-hour was when the Temple doors opened for the morning liturgical worship service as the Tamid-man (a layman assigned the task in the name of the covenant people) sacrificed the first Tamid lamb. It was a common Roman practice to list the crimes for which the criminal died on his cross. It is ironic that Pilate, who had asked Jesus "What is true," had written the truth on the titulus (wooden plaque) that hung on Jesus' cross: "Jesus the Nazorean, the King of the Jews," written in three languages: Hebrew/Aramaic, Greek, and Latin (Jn 19:20).
St. John does not revisit what he feels has been adequately recounted in the other three Holy Spirit inspired Gospels. He expects that we are familiar with the information in them, and what he adds will expand and clarify our knowledge and understanding. He includes information from the account of the crucifixion not found in the Synoptic Gospels, and true to St. John's focus on a spiritually oriented Gospel, he builds the crucifixion of Jesus the Messiah around seven symbolic events that are unique to the fourth Gospel:
| 1. the Multi-language titulus |
| 2. the seamless garment |
| 3. Mary, "the Woman" of Genesis 3:15 and Mother of the New Israel |
| 4. the hyssop and the wine |
| 5. Jesus' death and the gift of His Spirit |
| 6. Jesus' bones remaining unbroken |
| 7. the water and the blood |
John 19:23-24 ~ The Roman Soldiers Cast Lots for Jesus' Garment
According to Prophecy
23 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. 24 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.
The Roman soldiers divided Jesus' garments, fulfilling the prophecy from Psalm 22 that described a crucifixion centuries before the Persians invented it (Ps 22:19). Jesus' seamless garment was theologically symbolic of the seamless tunics only worn by the chief priests serving God in the Temple. As such, the tunic is a symbol of Jesus' high priesthood when, after His Ascension to the Father, Jesus took His place as High Priest of the Heavenly Sanctuary (Heb 8:1-2). The fact that Jesus wore the seamless garment during the Last Supper and at the crucifixion elevates those events to liturgical services since priests only wore their seamless tunics when offering liturgical service to Yahweh (Ez 42:124).
The High Priest, dressed in his priestly robes, was the symbol of man fully restored in God's image. Jesus is not only our King but also our High Priest, offering the pure and holy sacrifice of Himself to God the Father (Rev 5:6). Both Exodus 28:4 and Leviticus 16:4, when describing the high priestly garment, use chiton in the Greek translation (Hebrew = ketonet) in referring to the priestly tunic and describe it as "a woven piece." The word seamless (Hebrew = arraphos) is not in the Greek (Septuagint) translation. However, the 1st century AD Jewish priest/historian Flavius Josephus describes the high priest's ankle-length tunic as one seamless, woven cloth. Joseph wrote: "Now this vesture was not composed of two pieces, nor was it sewed together upon the shoulders and the sides, but it was one long vestment so woven as to have an aperture for the neck ... it was also parted where the hands were to come out" (Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews 3.7.4).
St John wanted the reader to understand that Jesus is not only our King, but He is also our eternal and High Priest and covenant Mediator, offering the pure and spotless sacrifice of Himself. It is the vision of Christ in the heavenly court that St. John saw in Revelation 1:13 ~ And when I turned, I saw seven golden lampstands and, in the middle of them, one like a Son of Man, dressed in a long robe tied at the waist with a belt of gold. St. Augustine and other Church fathers have also seen the dividing of the garments as symbolic of the spread of the Catholic (meaning "universal") Church throughout the world and in the undivided, seamless tunic a symbol of the unity of the Church.
John 19:25-27 ~ Jesus Gives His Mother to the Church
25 Standing by the cross
of Jesus were his mother and his mother's sister, Mary, the wife of Clopas*,
and Mary of Magdala. 26 When Jesus
saw his mother and the disciple there whom he loved, he said to his mother, "Woman,
behold, your son." 27 Then he said
to the disciple, "Behold, your mother." And from that hour, the disciple took
her into his home.
* the Greek reads "Mary of Clopas, so she is more likely the
daughter of Clopas.
Verse 26 is the third of Jesus' seven last statements from the Cross. He placed His mother under the protection of the "beloved disciple," the only Apostle at the Cross. In this act, He gave His mother to all the beloved disciples of His Church. Mary is our inheritance. The gift of His mother is the first of the three gifts Jesus gave the New Covenant Church from the cross. From "that hour" of His Passion and death, Mary was united forever to her Son physically and spiritually. And from the hour of His death forward in the time, she fulfilled her destiny in God's plan of salvation by bringing forth Christian children in the image of her son as the Mother of the Church (Rev 12:17). This daughter of Zion (the old Israel) became the mother of the New Israel, the universal Church, and new Eve, the mother of everyone alive in Christ Jesus (CCC# 877, 411).
| MARY, the new Eve | Mother of all New Covenant Believers = Mother of the Church |
| THE CHURCH, the New Israel | The vehicle of salvation: the salvation kingdom of Christ the King |
It is also the third of John's symbolic elements during the crucifixion. After this, the Synoptic Gospels record what had the appearance of a total eclipse from noon to the ninth-hour Jewish time or 3 PM. At noon the priests brought the second lamb of the Tamid sacrifice to the altar at the Temple and sacrificed it at 3 PM. The Tamid was the single sacrifice of the two lambs (Ex 29:38-41). It foretold the one sacrifice of the Son of God, who was both human and divine. For more information on the link between Jesus' sacrifice and the liturgy of the Tamid lambs, see the book, "Jesus and the Mystery of the Tamid Sacrifice."
John 19:28-30 ~ Jesus Completes His Mission
28 After this, aware
that everything was now finished, in order that the Scripture might be
fulfilled, Jesus said, "I thirst." 29 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. 30 When Jesus had taken the wine, he said, "It is finished." And
bowing his head, he handed over the spirit.
At this moment, Jesus presented Himself as the spotless Lamb of sacrifice, offered in atonement for the sins of the world to restore and welcome back humanity into fellowship with God. In the afternoon Temple liturgy, the second lamb of the Tamid received one final drink before being sacrificed in atonement for the sins and sanctification of the covenant people and restoration of their fellowship with God.
Jesus has fulfilled the promise of the restoration of the children of God prophesized in Sacred Scripture, beginning with Genesis 3:15. As a woman brings forth children, so shall the New Covenant Church bring forth offspring, "born from above" "in the image and likeness" of God. These spiritual children will form a loving relationship that will bind the New Covenant children to their "mother," the Church, as symbolized by Mary. Fr. Brown, in his commentary on the Gospel of St. John, wrote: "The revelatory formula 'Here is your mother,' on which we have commented, is truly appropriate in this scene since Jesus' mother and the Beloved Disciple are established in a new relationship representative of that which will bind the Church and the Christian ... His mother, the symbol of the New Israel, was denied a role at Cana because his hour had not yet come. Now that his hour has come, she is given a role as the mother of the Beloved Disciple, i.e., of the Christian" (Anchor Bible Commentary: The Gospel According to John, page 913). At the wedding at Cana, Mary was Jesus' physical mother, but now, her Son elevated her to the role God destined her to fulfill.
In speaking of the "completion" or "fulfillment" of Scripture, Jesus uses the verb teleioun instead of the more commonly used verb in this context, pleroun. Teleioun is a verb, which Fr. Brown, in his commentary on the Gospel of John, points out, is not otherwise used in the New Testament in reference to fulfilling Scripture. Fr. Brown does not suggest any explanation, but perhaps the use of this particular verb is to draw our attention to Jesus' last statement from the Cross, which will use this same Greek verb form (Thayer's Greek-English Lexicon; Brown, 908, 927).
He said, 'I THIRST.'
Only the Gospel of John mentions Jesus making this
statement. He didn't take the wine mixed with a narcotic just before His
crucifixion (Mt 27:34-35; Mk 15:23-24; Lk 23:33-34) because He must show that
He accepted in obedience all the suffering of God's "Cup of Wrath." Jesus also
didn't take it because He made an oath during the Last Supper that He would not
drink wine again until He came into His kingdom (Mt 26:29; Mk 14:25; Lk 22:18-19). Now He accepts the drink of wine because it is that time!
29 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. 30 When
Jesus had taken the wine, he said, "It is finished [teltelestai]." And bowing
his head, he handed over the spirit.
His spirit is the second gift to the Church from the altar
of the Cross; the first gift was the Virgin Mary as our mother. Only John
includes the information that the "vinegar" was cheap, red wine, and the Roman guard
used a hyssop stick to give Jesus the wine. It is symbolic element #4.
Jesus' Passion began in the Upper Room when He held His Body, separated from His Blood, in His hands and offered to His disciples what He had promised in the Bread of Life Discourse in John Chapter 6: "His flesh and His blood" to eat and drink to eternal life (Jn 6:53-57). The cup of His Precious Blood was the third of the Passover meal's four ritual cups on the night of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Cup of Blessing (1 Cor 10:16). During the Last Supper, Luke 22:17 and 20 mention two of the four cups; the cup of His Blood is in verse 20. In the prescribed ritual of the sacred meal of the Passover victim, there was a fourth ritual cup that closed the meal and sealed the covenant for another year, called the Cup of Acceptance. It was after consuming this final communal cup that the host of the Passover supper would cry out: 'Teltelestai," meaning "It is fulfilled [finished/completed/accomplished]." Since Jesus made an oath that He would not drink wine until He came into His kingdom (Mt 26:29; Mk 14:25; Lk 22:17), He could not drink the fourth cup at the Last Supper. Therefore, according to custom, He could not have officially closed the Passover sacrificial meal in the Upper Room.
The hyssop branch that the Roman guard used to give Jesus the drink of sour wine is another crucial symbolic element (see Ex 12:22; Num 19:18; Ps 51:7; Heb 9:18-20).
The Symbolic
Importance of Hyssop
(see Ex 12:22; Lev 14:4-6; 14:49-52; Num 19:6, 18; Ps 51:7; Jn 19:29; Heb 9:19)
In the ratification of the Old Covenant, Moses used hyssop in the sprinkling of the blood of the sacrificial victim on the altar and the people to form one covenant family (Ex 24:7-8; Heb 9:19). In the climax of Jesus' crucifixion, the hyssop branch's use symbolically brings about the ratification of the New Covenant in the blood sacrifice of Jesus Christ (Jn 19:29). His Precious Blood transforms and unites the New Covenant people into God's Holy Covenant family of the Universal Church!
Only John's Gospel mentions Jesus taking a drink of wine on the hyssop branch from the cross and using what should have been the last words of the host of the Passover meal when the faithful consumed the Fourth Cup, the Cup of Acceptance. The wine Jesus drank from the hyssop branch was symbolically the Fourth Cup of the Passover. In offering up His perfect sacrifice, Jesus came into His Kingdom, fulfilling "all things," as He announced in Matthew 5:17-18 and John 19:28. Therefore, He took the Cup of Acceptance and called out His sixth statement from the altar of the Cross: "It is fulfilled or finished/accomplished." In announcing "Teltelestai," in John 19:30, Jesus used the same verb that He used when He spoke of fulfilling Scripture in John 19:28. In Greek, Teltelestai was also an accounting term written across a debt record when it was "paid in full."
| Jesus' Last Seven Statements from the Cross | Scripture |
| 1. "Father, forgive them; they know not what they do." | Lk 23:34 |
| 2. "Amen, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise." | Lk 23:42 |
| 3. "Woman, behold, your son" .... "Behold, your mother." | Jn 19:26-27 |
| 4. "Eli, Eli lema/lama sabachthani," "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" ~ Hebrew |
Mt 27:46 (*Ps 22:1a quoted in Hebrew) |
| "Eloi, Eloi, lema/lama sabachthani," "My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?" ~ Aramaic* |
Mk 15:34 (Jesus quoted from Ps 22:1/2a in Aramaic) |
| 5. "I thirst." | Jn 19:28 |
| 6. "It is fulfilled." | Jn 19:30 |
| 7. "Father, into your hands I commend my Spirit." | Lk 23:46 (Ps 31:5/6 quoted) |
| Michal E. Hunt Copyright © 2012 | |
*Jesus alluded to Psalms 22 in Mt 27:35, 39, and 43.
What is the IT that Jesus has fulfilled, accomplished, completed, or finished? Many Christians would answer that He fulfilled humanity's justification and redemption in His sacrificial death. In Romans 4:25, St. Paul wrote: our faith, too, will be reckoned because we believe in him who raised from the dead our Lord Jesus who was handed over to death for our sins and raised to life for our justification. In his fourteen letters, St. Paul never writes of the death of Jesus as separate from His resurrection. "Justification" is entering into the life of the risen Savior (CCC# 1987-95). In Romans 6:4-5, St. Paul wrote: We were indeed buried with him through baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the death by the glory of the Father, we too might live in newness of life. For if we have grown into union with him through a death like his, we shall also be united with him in the resurrection (also see Rom 8:10). The point is that sacrifice is only the first step. The desired result is the restoration of communion with God, a restoration Jesus completed upon His glorious Resurrection. Therefore, it isn't Christ's work of justification and redemption that He completed/accomplished on the Cross.
Then what is the "IT" that He accomplished/finished/completed? See Jeremiah 31:31-34; John 1:29; Hebrews 10:4-10 and CCC 1964. When John the Baptist first saw Jesus, he said, "Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world." The Old Covenant was imperfect because no animal offered for sacrifice would be perfect enough to remove the stain of sin, and that was why no human could enter Heaven (CCC 1962-64). Every imperfect Old Covenant animal sacrifice only foreshadowed the true Lamb of God offered in sacrifice for the forgiveness of sin. The New Covenant that God promised in Jeremiah 31:31-34 fulfills what the old Sinai Covenant could not when God said: I shall forgive their guilt and never more call their sin to mind. What was it that Jesus referred to in Matthew 5:17-18 that He came to finish or fulfill? It was the Fourth Cup, the Cup of Acceptance, that closed and ratified the Sinai Covenant for another year at the end of every sacred meal of the Passover victim. But Jesus and those assembled at the Last Supper did not drink the Cup of Acceptance; it was the drink Jesus took from the altar of the Cross and the "cup of God's wrath" He prayed about in His agony at Gethsemane.
The Old Covenant Passover liturgy began on Thursday at noon in the Temple with the last imperfect communal sacrifice of the thousands of Passover lambs and goat kids and celebrated by Jesus and His disciples in the sacrificial meal of the Passover victim in the Upper Room. Now it ends in the New Passover in Christ and the perfected sacrifice He offers of Himself in the sacred meal of the Eucharist, the New Covenant meal of thanksgiving! In the first Passover, God redeemed His people from slavery and defeated a foreign power. Now God has brought about the New Passover in which Christ delivered the people from slavery to sin and defeated death. On Resurrection Sunday, humanity was no longer held in bondage to sin and death because sin and death no longer had power over men and women who embraced the Risen Lord as the promised Redeemer-Messiah. The Old Covenant found its fulfillment in the sacrifice of Jesus, the unblemished Lamb of God: Do not imagine that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets. I have come not to abolish but to complete [fulfill] them (Mt 5:17).
At the ninth-hour, 3 PM, and Jesus had suffered on the altar of the Cross for six hours as the ancients counted from our 9 AM as hour #1. It was now the beginning of His seventh hour on the Cross as the ancients counted from the third to the ninth hours Jewish time (9 AM to 3 PM = Mk 15:25; Mt 27:46, 50). He suffered one hour for each of the days of the old Creation event and for each of the seven Old Testament covenants that He fulfilled on the sixth day of the week when God created humans (Gen 1:26, 31)! See the chart on Yahweh's Eight Covenants. Resurrection Sunday was the beginning of a New Creation (Rev 21:5-7).
And in that fulfillment, we celebrate the precious Body that hung upon the altar of the Cross as St Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 5:7 ~ For our Passover had been sacrificed, that is, Christ; let us keep the feast. We must consume Jesus in the New Covenant communion meal of the Toda ("Thanksgiving" in Hebrew) that has become in Greek, the Euchaistia ("Thanksgiving"). We must feast on Jesus who is the Living Bread from Heaven and the better wine of the New Covenant wedding feast, hidden under the form and appearance of unleavened bread and red wine that becomes for us nothing less than the Resurrected Jesus Christ, Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity!
On the cross, when Jesus drank the wine and said the last words of the Passover meal, He took the Fourth Cup of Acceptance. It was a cup of suffering that He willingly took in obedience to the Father, and He drank the last drop of that suffering as He gave up His spirit. All New Covenant believers, past, present, and future, take the Fourth Cup of Acceptance when, in obedience to the will of God, they follow His commandment to take up their crosses and follow the Savior and receive the Eucharist: "The way of perfection passes by way of the Cross. There is no holiness without renunciation and spiritual battle" (CCC # 2015; also see Mt 10:3; 8; Mk 8:34; Lk 9:23 and 14:27).
Do you remember what Jesus said to James and John Zebedee in Matthew 20:20-23 when He asked them: Can you drink the cup that I am going to drink? When they replied that they could, Jesus' response, which He must have spoken with much tenderness, was: "My cup you will indeed drink..." The brothers did "drink the cup" in faith and obedience. James suffered martyred in about the year AD 42, and John valiantly "carried his cross" for Christ until his death when he was an old man.
St. Polycarp, a disciple of the beloved St. John Zebedee and Bishop of Smyrna, spoke of this same "cup" when facing martyrdom in his 86th year. He prayed: "O Lord God Almighty, the Father of Your beloved and blessed Son Jesus Christ, by whom we have received the knowledge of You, the God of angels and powers, and of every creature, and of the whole race of the righteous who live before You, I give you thanks that You have counted me worthy of this day and this hour, that I should be counted in the number of Your martyrs, in the cup of your Christ, to the resurrection of eternal life" (Jurgens, The Fathers of the Church, vol. I, page 73).
and bowing his head, he handed over his spirit.
The last breath Jesus took was the first moment of the outpouring
of the Holy Spirit upon the earth! It was another gift to the Church from the
altar of the Cross. The Synoptic Gospels' Holy Spirit inspired writers
recorded that it was about the ninth-hour, or 3 PM (Mt 27:46; Mk 15:34; Lk 23:44).
In the Temple, the afternoon Tamid lamb died in sacrifice to Yahweh at 3 PM. The Jewish priest-historian, Flavius Josephus, wrote about the afternoon sacrifice of the Tamid lamb: "the priests ... twice each day, in the morning and about the ninth-hour [3 PM], offer their sacrifices on the altar" (Antiquities of the Jews, 14.4.3). Then a priest poured out the blood of the lamb collected in a chalice at the base of the altar, and another priest laid its body on the altar fire. While that was taking place in the Courtyard of the Priests, inside the Sanctuary, the High Priest or his representative burned the sacred incense on the golden Altar of Incense that stood in front of the curtain covering the entrance to the Holy of Holies. The Holy of Holies was the sacred space that represented the presence of God among His people.
It was at that moment that Jesus breathed out His Spirit. He was the sacrifice that every sacrifice of the Tamid lambs prefigured (tamid means "standing" as in continual). For centuries, since the Sinai Covenant's ratification, the people obeyed the command to sacrifice perpetually/continually two perfect male lambs. The sacrifice of the first Tamid lamb was at 9 AM (the third-hour Jewish time) and the second at 3 PM (the ninth-hour Jewish time). The Passover victim did not have to be a lamb; it could be a kid or a lamb (Ex 12:5). The Tamid was the only communal sacrifice that had to be a single, unblemished male lamb other than the single lamb offered on the Feast of Firstfruits (on the day after the Sabbath of the Holy Week of Unleavened Bread that will be Resurrection Sunday). There was the offering of one Tamid lamb in the morning and the second in the afternoon. And after His Ascension, Jesus, perfect in two ways in His humanity and His divinity, took His rightful place as the true Standing [tamid as in perpetual] Sacrifice. In the late 1st century AD, this is the way St. John saw Christ in the heavenly court presenting Himself before the throne of God: but one of the elders said to me, "Do not weep. Look, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed, and so he will open the scroll and its seven seals." Then I saw, in the middle of the throne with its four living creatures and the circle of elders, a Lamb standing [Arnion Hestekos] that seemed to have been sacrificed (Rev 5:5-6 NJB). A sacrificed lamb doesn't "stand." But Jesus stands continually before the throne of God as the true Tamid sacrifice in the on-going application of His full and complete sacrifice on the altar of the cross, offering Himself perpetually until the end of time as we know it, at the altar of the Heavenly Sanctuary for the sins of man.
John 19:31-37 ~ Blood and Water
31 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. 32 So the soldiers came and broke the legs of
the first and then of the other one who was crucified with Jesus. 33 But when they came to Jesus and saw that he
was already dead, they did not break his legs, 34 but one soldier thrust his lance into his side, and immediately
blood and water flowed out. 35 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. 36 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."
Notice how John has clarified the term "Day of Preparation" to mean the day before the Saturday Sabbath. This statement should eliminate the confusion about the designation of that term in John 19:14. St. John has also identified the day of Jesus' crucifixion as Friday, the 6th day of the week, the day in Creation event when God created humans (Gen 1:26-31), Jesus suffered on the cross and died for the sins of humanity (Mt 27:62; Mk 15:42; Lk 23:54-56).
The Romans began to take the crucified men down from the crosses in the afternoon because sunset was the beginning of the Jewish Sabbath. It was a solemn Sabbath since it came during the holy week of Passover and Unleavened Bread (verse 31). In Jesus' time, it was called the Shabbat HaGadol, the Great Sabbath. "Preparation Day" (verse 31) refers to the sixth day of the week and the time to prepare for the Sabbath when all work was forbidden, even lighting a fire, and identifies the day of Jesus' crucifixion as a Friday. In Mt 15:42; Lk 23:54 and Jn 19:14, some misunderstand the term as meaning preparation for the Passover sacrifice that had already taken place the day earlier on Thursday.
33 But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs, 34 but one soldier thrust his lance into his side, and immediately blood and water flowed out.br /> According to Jewish Law, there was a requirement to bury bodies before sundown, and there was a law explicitly pertaining to someone "hung on a tree" (Dt 21:22-23). The Romans complied with Jewish law. It was their custom to hasten death by breaking the victim's legs so that taking a breath by pushing against the foot support was no longer possible, causing shock followed by suffocation and death. It was for this reason that crucifixion was also known to the Romans as "broken legs" [Cicero, Philippicae XIII.12 (27)]. The Romans broke the other two crucifixion victims' legs, but they did not break Jesus' legs; instead, a soldier pierced His side with a spear.
and immediately blood and water flowed out. 35 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.
36 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."
This passage confirms three points:
That the Romans did not break Jesus' legs fulfills the prophecy in Psalm 34:19-20 ~ Though hardships without number beset the upright, Yahweh brings rescue from them all. Yahweh takes care of all their bones, not one of them will be broken (NJB). Jesus' bones remaining unbroken is the sixth symbolic element of John's account. Not only was prophecy fulfilled, but not breaking Jesus' legs also fulfilled the requirements concerning the Passover victim: Yahweh said to Moses and Aaron, "This is the ritual for the Passover ... It must be eaten in one house alone; you will not take any of the meat out of the house; nor may you break any of its bones" (Ex 12:43-46 NJB). It is another symbolic connection between the Passover victim's flesh that the covenant people had to eat in a sacred meal and Jesus Christ's flesh that the faithful must consume and "celebrate the feast" of the Eucharist (see Jn 6:17-58; 1 Cor 5:7).
But there is a second Old Testament passage that St. John quotes: They will look to the one whom they have pierced. It is a verse from the prophet Zechariah, writing in approximately 480 BC: But over the House of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, I shall pour out a spirit of grace and prayer, and they will look to me. They will mourn for the one whom they have pierced as though for an only child, and weep for him as people weep for a first-born child. When that day comes, the mourning in Jerusalem will be as great as the mourning for Hadad Rimmon in the Plain of Megiddo (Zec 12:10-11 NJB). Zechariah, writing centuries before the birth of Jesus, prophesied that the death of a messiah-like figure would open a fountain of salvation: When that day comes, a fountain will be opened for the House of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, to wash sin and impurity away (Zec 13:1 NJB). Jesus fulfilled this prophecy in His sacrificial death when the piercing of Jesus, a descendant of the great King David, opened up a fountain of Divine Mercy! This prophecy is related to John's 7th symbolic element: the outpouring of the blood and the water from the side of Jesus: and immediately blood and water flowed out (Jn 19:34b).
Jesus' first gift from the cross was His mother; the second was His last breath, which was the first moment of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. His third gift was the water and blood, symbolizing the Sacraments of Baptism and the Eucharist through which the Church is both continually reborn and nourished throughout the generations. This event fulfilled Jesus' statement at the Feast of Tabernacles in John 7:38 when He cried out to the worshipers in the Temple: "Let anyone who is thirsty come to me! Let anyone who believes in me come and drink." The breaking open of His heart and the outpouring of water and blood symbolize the Old Testament's revelation in the light of the Gospel of salvation in the New Covenant. The Old Covenant offered temporary salvation through the blood of animal sacrifice and gave the Law that showed the path to salvation. However, the New Covenant gave spiritual rebirth through water and the Spirit (Christian Baptism). The way to salvation in the blood of Jesus the Lamb of God (see Lk 24:25-27 and 44-48) opened the gates of Heaven to the saved and gave the faithful the gift of the indwelling of God the Holy Spirit.
The symbolic significance of this last gift and its connection to Old Testament symbolism appears in Genesis 2:21-23; Exodus 17:1-7 and Numbers 20:1-11:
All these interpretations are in accord and reflect the fullness of Christ's perfect sacrifice. In 19:34-36, St. John wants the readers and hearers of his Gospel to understand that Christ's blood, a symbol of the sacrifice, shows that the Lamb of God offered Himself for the salvation of the world. And he wants the faithful to understand that the water, a symbol of the Holy Spirit, shows that the sacrifice is a rich source of grace. Again, it is what Jesus promised at the Feast of Tabernacles, about six months before His crucifixion, when He cried out: "Let anyone who is thirsty come to me! Let anyone who believes in me come and drink! As scripture says, 'from his heart shall flow streams of living water'" (Jn 7:37-38).
John identified three elements flowing from the Savior's dead body in 19:30 and 34: His Spirit, water, and blood. St. John wrote about them as three witnesses in 1 John 5:7, So there are three witnesses, the Spirit, water, and blood, and the three of them coincide. These three testimonies converge: blood and water join with the Spirit to bear witness to the origin, mission, and the sacrifice of the Son who gives life!
John 19:38-45 ~ Jesus Laid in the Tomb
38 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. 39 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. 40 They took the body of Jesus and bound it with burial cloths
along with the spices, according to the Jewish burial custom. 41 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.
42 So they laid Jesus there because
of the Jewish Preparation Day, for the tomb was close by.
After Jesus' death, Joseph of Arimathaea and Nicodemus (John 3:1, 4, 9, 7:50), both members of the Sanhedrin, bravely came forward to ask Pilate for Jesus' body. St. Mark records that Pilate was astonished when he heard that Jesus had died so soon, and he even questioned the centurion in charge of the execution (Mk 15:44). Nicodemus, a wealthy man, provided an expensive mixture of herbs and spices, equivalent to about 75 pounds. They would not have washed His body since, according to Jewish customs, the blood must accompany the body in burial. They also had to prepare Jesus' body hastily because at sundown, the Sabbath began, and according to the Sabbath law of rest, they could not continue until after sunset on the Sabbath (Ex 20:8-11; 23:12; 31:12-17; 34:21; 35:1-3; Lev 19:3; 23:3; Num 15:32-36; Dt 5:12-15). The blood-splattered image of the crucified man on the linen shroud known as the "Shroud of Turin" had not been bathed but had been covered with herbs, resins, and spices in preparation for burial (myrrh is a resin).
Some scholars dispute the historical accuracy of this episode. They contend that Pilate would not have released the body of a criminal, and the Romans would have thrown Jesus' body into a common grave. However, Ulpian, a Roman jurist of the 3rd century, wrote: "The bodies of those who are capitally punished cannot be denied to their relatives. At this day, however, the bodies of those who are executed are buried only in case permission is asked and granted, and sometimes permission is not given, especially in the cases of those who are punished for high treason. The bodies of the executed are to be given for burial to anyone who asks for them" (Vincent's Word Studies in the New Testament, page 289). Given Pilate's reluctance to execute Jesus, it is perfectly understandable that he would be inclined to release Jesus' body since it was within his power to do so, according to custom.
The plural "linen wrappings" indicates a burial shroud as well as a soudarion or cloth used to cover the face of a dead person. The Shroud of Turin, believed by many to be the burial cloth of Christ, is about 14 feet long and less than 4 feet wide. The Vatican possesses the Soudarion believed to be the cloth placed over Jesus' face after His removal from the cross. The blood type on the Shroud of Turin and the Soudarion are both AB+.
Only St. John's Gospel mentions that the tomb where the disciples placed Jesus' body was in a garden. He identifies it as being very near the site of Jesus' execution, which agrees with the location of Calvary and Jesus' tomb, both within the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. The Church Fathers have written movingly of the mystical connection between the Son of God's burial in a garden after victoriously redeeming humanity from the first sin that Adam and Eve committed in the Garden of Eden (Gen 2:8). Jesus' disciples had to wait until the Sabbath has ended before they could return on the first day of the week, on the Jewish Feast of Firstfruits, to finish preparing Jesus' body for burial (Mt 28:1; Lev 23:5-14). The Law defined the observance of Firstfruits on the first day of the week after the Great Sabbath during the week of Unleavened Bread as a perpetual law (Lev 23:14b), as it has remained since its transformation into the Feast of the Lord's Resurrection.
Catechism references (* indicated Scripture quoted or
paraphrased in the citation):
Isaiah 52:13 - 53:12 (CCC 713*);
53:1 (CCC 591*);
53:4-6 (CCC 1505*);
53:4 (CCC 517*, 1505*);
53:7-8(CCC 601*);
53:7 (CCC 608);
53:8 (CCC 627);
53:10-12 (CCC 440*, 615);
53:10 (CCC 623*);
53:11-12 (CCC 601*);
53:11 (CCC 64*, 579*, 601, 623, 1502*);
53:12 (CCC 536*, 608*)
Hebrews 4:14-15 (CCC 1137*); 4:15 (CCC 467, 540, 609*, 612*, 2602*); 4:16 (CCC 2778*); 5:7-9 (CCC 609*, 2606); 5:7-8 (CCC 612*, 1009*); 5:7 (CCC 2741*); 5:8 (CCC 2825); 5:9 (CCC 617)
John 18:4-6 (CCC 609*); 18:11 (CCC 607); 18:12 (CCC 575*); 18:20 (CCC 586*); 18:31 (CCC 596*); 18:36 (CCC 549*, 600*); 18:37 (CCC 217, 559*, 2471); 19:11 (CCC 600*); 19:12, 15 (CCC 596*); 19:19-22 (CCC 440*); 19:21 (CCC 596*); 19:25-27 (CCC 726*, 2618*); 19:25 (CCC 495); 19:26-27 (CCC 501*, 964, 2605); 19:27 (CCC 2677*, 2679*); 19:28 (CCC 544*, 607, 2561*, 2605); 19:30 (CCC 607, 624*, 730*, 2605*); 19:31 (CCC 641*); 19:34 (CCC 478, 694*, 1225); 19:36 (CCC 608*); 19:37 (CCC 1432*); 19:38-39 (CCC 595*); 19:38 (CCC 575*); 19:42 (CCC 624*, 641*)
The Passion of Christ (CCC 602-618*)
The prayer of Jesus (CCC 612*, 2606*, 2741*)
Christ the High Priest (CCC 467, 540*, 1137*)
Christ's obedience and ours (CCC 2825*)
Michal E. Hunt Copyright © 2015; revised 2021