John 19:17-41

Jesus carried his own cross out of the city to the place called “The Skull,” which in Aramaic is Golgotha. And there they nailed him to the cross. He was crucified, along with two others, one on each side with Jesus in the middle. Pilate had them post a sign over the cross, which was written in three languages—Aramaic, Latin, and Greek. Many of the people of Jerusalem read the sign, for he was crucified near the city. The sign stated: “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.” But the chief priests of the Jews said to Pilate, “You must change the sign! Don’t let it say, ‘King of the Jews,’ but rather—‘he claimed to be the King of the Jews!’ ” Pilate responded, “What I have written will remain!” Now when the soldiers crucified Jesus, they divided up his clothes into four shares, one for each of them. But his tunic was seamless, woven from the top to the bottom as a single garment. So the soldiers said to each other, “Don’t tear it—let’s throw dice to see who gets it!” The soldiers did all of this not knowing they fulfilled the Scripture that says, “They divided my garments among them and gambled for my clothing.” Mary, Jesus’ mother, was standing next to his cross, along with Mary’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. So when Jesus looked down and saw the disciple he loved standing with her, he said, “Mother, look—John will be a son to you.” Then he said, “John, look—she will be a mother to you!” From that day on, John accepted Mary into his home as one of his own family. Jesus knew that his mission was accomplished, and to fulfill the Scripture, Jesus said: “I am thirsty.” A jar of sour wine was sitting nearby, so they soaked a sponge with it and put it on the stalk of hyssop and raised it to his lips. When he had sipped the sour wine, he said, “It is finished, my bride!” Then he bowed his head and surrendered his spirit to God. The Jewish leaders did not want the bodies of the victims to remain on the cross through the next day, since it was the day of preparation for a very important Sabbath. So they asked Pilate’s permission to have the victims’ legs broken to hasten their death and their bodies taken down before sunset. So the soldiers broke the legs of the two men who were nailed there. But when they came to Jesus, they realized that he had already died, so they decided not to break his legs. But one of the soldiers took a spear and pierced Jesus’ side, and blood and water gushed out. (I, John, do testify to the certainty of what took place, and I write the truth so that you might also believe.) For all these things happened to fulfill the prophecies of the Scriptures: “Not one of his bones will be broken,” and, “They will gaze on the one they have pierced!” After this, Joseph from the city of Ramah, who was a secret disciple of Jesus for fear of the Jewish authorities, asked Pilate if he could remove the body of Jesus. So Pilate granted him permission to remove the body from the cross. Now Nicodemus, who had once come to Jesus privately at night, accompanied Joseph, and together they carried a significant amount of myrrh and aloes to the cross. Then they took Jesus’ body and wrapped it in strips of linen with the embalming spices according to the Jewish burial customs. Near the place where Jesus was crucified was a garden, and in the garden there was a new tomb where no one had yet been laid to rest.