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Caravaggio, Michelangelo
Merisi
Christ at the Column
c.
1607, oil on canvas,
Musée des Beaux-Arts, Rouen |
Pilate turned Jesus over his soldiers to be
be crucified. They seized Jesus and led him away. He went,
carrying his own cross, to the place called "The Hill of the Skull,"
called "Golgotha" in Hebrew. There they crucified
him along with two other men, one on each side and Jesus in the middle.
Pilate wrote a sign to be put on the cross. It read: "JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE
JEWS." Many of the Jews saw this sign since the place where Jesus was
crucified was close to the city and it was written in Hebrew, Latin, and Greek.
But because of the sign the head priests asked Pilate, "Don't write, 'The King
of the Jews,' but, 'he said, I am King of the Jews.'"
But Pilate answered, "I have written what I've written."
The soldiers, after
crucifying Jesus, took his clothing and divided them four ways so each one could
have a piece. But when they came to his coat, it was without a single seam since
it had been woven from the top down. The soldiers agreed, "Let's not rip
it. Instead we'll roll for it to see who gets it." This happen to
fulfill the ancient prophecy which says:
They divided my clothes among them.
For my coat, they rolled the dice.
[David, Psalm 22:18, c. 970 B.C.]
A few people were
standing near the cross of Jesus: his mother, and his mother's sister, Mary
the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus
saw his mother standing with the disciple whom he loved, he said to
his mother, "Woman, look, beside you is your
son!" Then he told the disciple, "Look,
she's your mother!" From that time on,
this disciple made Jesus' mother part of his own family.
Jesus knew his mission was now finished and that all the
Scripture said was being fulfilled, so he said, "I am thirsty." A
container of sour wine sitting there, so they put a sponge on a stick, dipped it
in the sour wine and held it up to
his mouth. Once Jesus took the wine, he said, "It is finished."
His head dropped, and he gave up his spirit.
It was the day before a special Sabbath, so the Jews asked
Pilate to break the legs of the crucified men so they would die faster and not
hang through the Sabbath. The soldiers
broke the legs of the first man and then the legs of the other man who was crucified with
Jesus. But when they came to Jesus, they saw he was already dead, so they
left his legs alone. One of the soldiers pierced
his side with a spear just to make sure, and instantly separated blood and water
poured out.
The witness who has seen these things is testifying, and his testimony is true. He knows
he's telling the truth, so you can believe. These last things happened, so that the
prophecies might be fulfilled:
A bone of him will not be broken.
[David, Psalm 34:20, c. 970 B.C.]
They will look on him whom they pierced.
[Zechariah, 12:10, c. 480 B.C.]
Mary was standing outside Jesus' grave sobbing. As she
cried, she bent down and looked into the tomb. There she saw to angels
sitting in white, one at the head and one at the foot of the shelf were Jesus'
body had been lain. They asked, "Woman, why are you crying?"
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Caravaggio, Michelangelo
Merisi
The Entombment
(detail)
1602-3, oil on canvas,
Pinacoteca, Vatican |
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She answered, "Because someone has carried off my Master, and I
don't know where they've put him."
After she said
this, she turned and saw Jesus standing there, but she didn't recognize him.
Jesus also asked, "Woman, why are you crying? Who are you looking
for?"
Mary, thinking he was the gardener, said to him, "Sir, if you
have moved the body, tell me where you've put him and I'll take him away."
Jesus said her name, "Mary."
She turned and exclaimed, "Teacher!"
Jesus told her, "Don't cling to me, because I haven't
gone up to my
Father yet. But, go to my brothers and tell them, 'I am going up to my Father
and your Father, to my God and your God.'"
Mary Magdalene ran and told the
disciples that she had seen the Lord, and that he had said these things to
her. That evening while it was still Sunday, after it was dark, the
disciples were together behind locked doors hiding from the Jews. Jesus
entered and stood
in the middle of them. He said, "May you have peace."
Then he showed them his hands and his side. The disciples were
overjoyed to see their Lord. Jesus said again, "May you have peace.
Just as the Father sent me, I am also sending you."
As soon as he said this, he breathed on
them, and said, "Receive the Holy
Spirit! Whoever you forgive for their wrongs are
forgiven. But, whoever you don't forgive for their wrongs, will still have
their guilt."
But Thomas the Twin, one of the twelve, wasn't with the rest when Jesus
visited. The other disciples
tried to tell him, "We have seen the Lord!"
But Thomas told them, "Unless I see the nail prints in
his hands and put my hand in his side for myself, I will not believe."
Eight days after Jesus came back from the dead, his disciples
were hiding in a house together. Thomas, who doubted that Jesus was alive,
was with them. Jesus entered the house, even though the door was locked.
He stood right in the middle of the group and said, "May you have peace."
He turned to Thomas: "Place your finger here and examine my hands.
Take
your hand and put it into my side. Don't doubt:
believe!"
Thomas said to him, "My Lord
and my God!"
Jesus answered, "You believe because you have seen me. Blessed are the
ones who have not seen, but who have
believed."
This is why Jesus did many other signs
in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. But these
signs are recorded, so you may
believe that Jesus is the Chosen One, the Son of God, so that by believing you
may have life by the power of his name.
