John 19–20

Jesus Sentenced to Be Crucified

19:1–16pp—Mt 27:27–31; Mk 15:16–20

19Then Pilate took Jesus and had him flogged.^{b 2}The soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head. They clothed him in a purple robe ³and went up to him again and again, saying, “Hail, king of the Jews!”^c And they slapped him in the face.^d

⁴Once more Pilate came out and said to the Jews gathered there, “Look, I am bringing him out^e to you to let you know that I find no basis for a charge against him.”^{f 5}When Jesus came out wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe,^g Pilate said to them, “Here is the man!”

⁶As soon as the chief priests and their officials saw him, they shouted, “Crucify! Crucify!”

But Pilate answered, “You take him and crucify him.^h As for me, I find no basis for a charge against him.”ⁱ

⁷The Jewish leaders insisted, “We have a law, and according to that law he must die,^j because he claimed to be the Son of God.”^k

⁸When Pilate heard this, he was even more afraid, ⁹and he went back inside the palace.^l “Where do you come from?” he asked Jesus, but Jesus gave him no answer.^{m 10}“Do you refuse to speak to me?” Pilate said. “Don’t you realize I have power either to free you or to crucify you?”

¹¹Jesus answered, “You would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above.ⁿ Therefore the one who handed me over to you^o is guilty of a greater sin.”

¹²From then on, Pilate tried to set Jesus free, but the Jewish leaders kept shouting, “If you let this man go, you are no friend of Caesar. Anyone who claims to be a king^p opposes Caesar.”

¹³When Pilate heard this, he brought Jesus out and sat down on the judge’s seat^q at a place known as the Stone Pavement (which in Aramaic^r is Gabbatha). ¹⁴It was the day of Preparation^s of the Passover; it was about noon.^t

“Here is your king,”^u Pilate said to the Jews.

¹⁵But they shouted, “Take him away! Take him away! Crucify him!”

“Shall I crucify your king?” Pilate asked.

“We have no king but Caesar,” the chief priests answered.

¹⁶Finally Pilate handed him over to them to be crucified.^v

The Crucifixion of Jesus

19:17–24pp—Mt 27:33–44; Mk 15:22–32; Lk 23:33–43

So the soldiers took charge of Jesus. ¹⁷Carrying his own cross,^w he went out to the place of the Skull^x (which in Aramaic^y is called Golgotha). ¹⁸There they crucified him, and with him two others^z—one on each side and Jesus in the middle.

¹⁹Pilate had a notice prepared and fastened to the cross. It read: jesus of nazareth,^a the king of the jews.^{b 20}Many of the Jews read this sign, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city,^c and the sign was written in Aramaic, Latin and Greek. ²¹The chief priests of the Jews protested to Pilate, “Do not write ‘The King of the Jews,’ but that this man claimed to be king of the Jews.”^d

²²Pilate answered, “What I have written, I have written.”

²³When the soldiers crucified Jesus, they took his clothes, dividing them into four shares, one for each of them, with the undergarment remaining. This garment was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom.

²⁴“Let’s not tear it,” they said to one another. “Let’s decide by lot who will get it.”

This happened that the scripture might be fulfilled^e that said,

“They divided my clothes among them

and cast lots for my garment.”^af

So this is what the soldiers did.

²⁵Near the cross^g of Jesus stood his mother,^h his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene.^{i 26}When Jesus saw his mother^j there, and the disciple whom he loved^k standing nearby, he said to her, “Woman,^b here is your son,” ²⁷and to the disciple, “Here is your mother.” From that time on, this disciple took her into his home.

The Death of Jesus

19:29,30pp—Mt 27:48,50; Mk 15:36,37; Lk 23:36

²⁸Later, knowing that everything had now been finished,^l and so that Scripture would be fulfilled,^m Jesus said, “I am thirsty.” ²⁹A jar of wine vinegarⁿ was there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put the sponge on a stalk of the hyssop plant, and lifted it to Jesus’ lips. ³⁰When he had received the drink, Jesus said, “It is finished.”^o With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

³¹Now it was the day of Preparation,^p and the next day was to be a special Sabbath. Because the Jewish leaders did not want the bodies left on the crosses^q during the Sabbath, they asked Pilate to have the legs broken and the bodies taken down. ³²The soldiers therefore came and broke the legs of the first man who had been crucified with Jesus, and then those of the other.^{r 33}But when they came to Jesus and found that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. ³⁴Instead, one of the soldiers pierced^s Jesus’ side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water.^{t 35}The man who saw it^u has given testimony, and his testimony is true.^v He knows that he tells the truth, and he testifies so that you also may believe. ³⁶These things happened so that the scripture would be fulfilled:^w “Not one of his bones will be broken,”^{cx 37}and, as another scripture says, “They will look on the one they have pierced.”^dy

The Burial of Jesus

19:38–42pp—Mt 27:57–61; Mk 15:42–47; Lk 23:50–56

³⁸Later, Joseph of Arimathea asked Pilate for the body of Jesus. Now Joseph was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly because he feared the Jewish leaders.^z With Pilate’s permission, he came and took the body away. ³⁹He was accompanied by Nicodemus,^a the man who earlier had visited Jesus at night. Nicodemus brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds.^{e 40}Taking Jesus’ body, the two of them wrapped it, with the spices, in strips of linen.^b This was in accordance with Jewish burial customs.^{c 41}At the place where Jesus was crucified, there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb, in which no one had ever been laid. ⁴²Because it was the Jewish day of Preparation^d and since the tomb was nearby,^e they laid Jesus there.

The Empty Tomb

20:1–8pp—Mt 28:1–8; Mk 16:1–8; Lk 24:1–10

20Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene^f went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance.^{g 2}So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved,^h and said, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!”ⁱ

³So Peter and the other disciple started for the tomb.^{j 4}Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. ⁵He bent over and looked in^k at the strips of linen^l lying there but did not go in. ⁶Then Simon Peter came along behind him and went straight into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there, ⁷as well as the cloth that had been wrapped around Jesus’ head.^m The cloth was still lying in its place, separate from the linen. ⁸Finally the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first,ⁿ also went inside. He saw and believed. ⁹(They still did not understand from Scripture^o that Jesus had to rise from the dead.)^{p 10}Then the disciples went back to where they were staying.

Jesus Appears to Mary Magdalene

¹¹Now Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb^{q 12}and saw two angels in white,^r seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot.

¹³They asked her, “Woman, why are you crying?”^s

“They have taken my Lord away,” she said, “and I don’t know where they have put him.”^{t 14}At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there,^u but she did not realize that it was Jesus.^v

¹⁵He asked her, “Woman, why are you crying?^w Who is it you are looking for?”

Thinking he was the gardener, she said, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.”

¹⁶Jesus said to her, “Mary.”

She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic,^x “Rabboni!”^y (which means “Teacher”).

¹⁷Jesus said, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Go instead to my brothers^z and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father^a and your Father, to my God and your God.’ ”

¹⁸Mary Magdalene^b went to the disciples^c with the news: “I have seen the Lord!” And she told them that he had said these things to her.

Jesus Appears to His Disciples

¹⁹On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jewish leaders,^d Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace^e be with you!”^{f 20}After he said this, he showed them his hands and side.^g The disciples were overjoyed^h when they saw the Lord.

²¹Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you!ⁱ As the Father has sent me,^j I am sending you.”^{k 22}And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.^{l 23}If you forgive anyone’s sins, their sins are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.”^m

Jesus Appears to Thomas

²⁴Now Thomasⁿ (also known as Didymus^a), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. ²⁵So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord!”

But he said to them, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side,^o I will not believe.”^p

²⁶A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace^q be with you!”^{r 27}Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.”^s

²⁸Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!”

²⁹Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed;^t blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”^u

The Purpose of John’s Gospel

³⁰Jesus performed many other signs^v in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book.^{w 31}But these are written that you may believe^bx that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God,^y and that by believing you may have life in his name.^z