John's Story (29 page)

¹³
When Pilate therefore heard that saying, he brought Jesus out and sat down in the judgment seat in a place that is called
The
Pavement, but in Hebrew, Gabbatha.
¹⁴
Now it was the Preparation Day of the Passover, and about the sixth hour. And he said to the Jews, “Behold your King!”

¹⁵
But they cried out, “Away with
Him,
away with
Him!
Crucify Him!”

Pilate said to them, “Shall I crucify your King?”

The chief priests answered, “We have no king but Caesar!”

¹⁶
Then he delivered Him to them to be crucified. Then they took Jesus and led
Him
away.
a

The King on a Cross

¹⁷
And He, bearing His cross, went out to a place called
the Place
of a Skull, which is called in Hebrew, Golgotha,
¹⁸
where they crucified Him, and two others with Him, one on either side, and Jesus in the center.
¹⁹
Now Pilate wrote a title and put
it
on the cross. And the writing was:

JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS.

²⁰
Then many of the Jews read this title, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city; and it was written in Hebrew, Greek,
and
Latin.

²¹
Therefore the chief priests of the Jews said to Pilate, “Do not write, ‘The King of the Jews,’ but, ‘He said, “I am the King of the Jews.”’”

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

²³
Then the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took His garments and made four parts, to each soldier a part, and also the tunic. Now the tunic was without seam, woven from the top in one piece.
²⁴
They said therefore among themselves, “Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it, whose it shall be,” that the Scripture might be fulfilled which says:

“They divided My garments among them,

And for My clothing they cast lots.”
a

Therefore the soldiers did these things.

Behold Your Mother

²⁵
Now there stood by the cross of Jesus His mother, and His mother’s sister, Mary the
wife
of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene.
²⁶
When Jesus therefore saw His mother, and the disciple whom He loved standing by, He said to His mother, “Woman, behold your son!”
²⁷
Then He said to the disciple, “Behold your mother!” And from that hour that disciple took her to his own
home.

It Is Finished

²⁸
After this, Jesus, knowing
a
that all things were now accomplished, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, said, “I thirst!”
²⁹
Now a vessel full of sour wine was sitting there; and they filled a sponge with sour wine, put
it
on hyssop, and put
it
to His mouth.

³⁰
So when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished!” And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit.

Jesus’ Side Is Pierced

³¹
Therefore, because it was the Preparation
Day,
that the bodies should not remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a high day), the Jews asked Pilate that their legs might be broken, and
that
they might be taken away.
³²
Then the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first and of the other who was crucified with Him.
³³
But when they came to Jesus and saw that He was already dead, they did not break His legs.
³⁴
But one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and immediately blood and water came out.
³⁵
And he who has seen has testified, and his testimony is true; and he knows that he is telling the truth, so that you may believe.
³⁶
For these things were done that the Scripture should be fulfilled,
“Not one of His bones shall be broken.”
a
³⁷
And again another Scripture says,
“They shall look on Him whom they pierced.”
a

Jesus Buried in Joseph’s Tomb

³⁸
After this, Joseph of Arimathea, being a disciple of Jesus, but secretly, for fear of the Jews, asked Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus; and Pilate gave
him
permission. So he came and took the body of Jesus.

³⁹
And Nicodemus, who at first came to Jesus by night, also came, bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about a hundred pounds.
⁴⁰
Then they took the body of Jesus, and bound it in strips of linen with the spices, as the custom of the Jews is to bury.
⁴¹
Now in the place where He was crucified there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb in which no one had yet been laid.
⁴²
So there they laid Jesus, because of the Jews’ Preparation
Day,
for the tomb was nearby.

The Empty Tomb

20
Now the first
day
of the week Mary Magdalene went to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw
that
the stone had been taken away from the tomb.
²
Then she ran and came to Simon Peter, and to the other disciple, whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken away the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid Him.”

³
Peter therefore went out, and the other disciple, and were going to the tomb.
⁴
So they both ran together, and the other disciple outran Peter and came to the tomb first.
⁵
And he, stooping down and looking in, saw the linen cloths lying
there;
yet he did not go in.
⁶
Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb; and he saw the linen cloths lying
there,
⁷
and the handkerchief that had been around His head, not lying with the linen cloths, but folded together in a place by itself.
⁸
Then the other disciple, who came to the tomb first, went in also; and he saw and believed.
⁹
For as yet they did not know the Scripture, that He must rise again from the dead.
¹⁰
Then the disciples went away again to their own homes.

Mary Magdalene Sees the Risen Lord

¹¹
But Mary stood outside by the tomb weeping, and as she wept she stooped down
and looked
into the tomb.
¹²
And she saw two angels in white sitting, one at the head and the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain.
¹³
Then they said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?”

She said to them, “Because they have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid Him.”

¹⁴
Now when she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing
there,
and did not know that it was Jesus.
¹⁵
Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?”

She, supposing Him to be the gardener, said to Him, “Sir, if You have carried Him away, tell me where You have laid Him, and I will take Him away.”

¹⁶
Jesus said to her, “Mary!”

She turned and said to Him,
a
“Rabboni!” (which is to say, Teacher).

¹⁷
Jesus said to her, “Do not cling to Me, for I have not yet ascended to My Father; but go to My brethren and say to them, ‘I am ascending to My Father and your Father, and
to
My God and your God.’”

¹⁸
Mary Magdalene came and told the disciples that she had seen the Lord,
a
and
that
He had spoken these things to her.

The Apostles Commissioned

¹⁹
Then, the same day at evening, being the first
day
of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled,
a
for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in the midst, and said to them, “Peace
be
with you.”
²⁰
When He had said this, He showed them
His
hands and His side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord.

²¹
So Jesus said to them again, “Peace to you! As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.”
²²
And when He had said this, He breathed on
them,
and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.
²³
If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the
sins
of any, they are retained.”

Seeing and Believing

²⁴
Now Thomas, called the Twin, one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came.
²⁵
The other disciples therefore said to him, “We have seen the Lord.”

So he said to them, “Unless I see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe.”

²⁶
And after eight days His disciples were again inside, and Thomas with them. Jesus came, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, “Peace to you!”
²⁷
Then He said to Thomas, “Reach your finger here, and look at My hands; and reach your hand
here,
and put
it
into My side. Do not be unbelieving, but believing.”

²⁸
And Thomas answered and said to Him, “My Lord and my God!”

²⁹
Jesus said to him, “Thomas,
a
because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed
are
those who have not seen and
yet
have believed.”

That You May Believe

³⁰
And truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book;

³¹
but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name.

Breakfast by the Sea

21
After these things Jesus showed Himself again to the disciples at the Sea of Tiberias, and in this way He showed
Himself:
²
Simon Peter, Thomas called the Twin, Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, the
sons
of Zebedee, and two others of His disciples were together.
³
Simon Peter said to them, “I am going fishing.”

They said to him, “We are going with you also.” They went out and immediately
a
got into the boat, and that night they caught nothing.
⁴
But when the morning had now come, Jesus stood on the shore; yet the disciples did not know that it was Jesus.

⁵
Then Jesus said to them, “Children, have you any food?”

They answered Him, “No.”

⁶
And He said to them, “Cast the net on the right side of the boat, and you will find
some.
” So they cast, and now they were not able to draw it in because of the multitude of fish.

⁷
Therefore that disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, “It is the Lord!” Now when Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on
his
outer garment (for he had removed it), and plunged into the sea.
⁸
But the other disciples came in the little boat (for they were not far from land, but about two hundred cubits), dragging the net with fish.
⁹
Then, as soon as they had come to land, they saw a fire of coals there, and fish laid on it, and bread.
¹⁰
Jesus said to them, “Bring some of the fish which you have just caught.”

¹¹
Simon Peter went up and dragged the net to land, full of large fish, one hundred and fifty-three; and although there were so many, the net was not broken.
¹²
Jesus said to them, “Come
and
eat breakfast.” Yet none of the disciples dared ask Him, “Who are You?”—knowing that it was the Lord.
¹³
Jesus then came and took the bread and gave it to them, and likewise the fish.

¹⁴
This
is
now the third time Jesus showed Himself to His disciples after He was raised from the dead.

Jesus Restores Peter

¹⁵
So when they had eaten breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon,
son
of Jonah,
a
do you love Me more than these?”

He said to Him, “Yes, Lord; You know that I love You.”

He said to him, “Feed My lambs.”

¹⁶
He said to him again a second time, “Simon,
son
of Jonah,
a
do you love Me?”

He said to Him, “Yes, Lord; You know that I love You.”

He said to him, “Tend My sheep.”

¹⁷
He said to him the third time, “Simon,
son
of Jonah,
a
do you love Me?” Peter was grieved because He said to him the third time, “Do you love Me?”

And he said to Him, “Lord, You know all things; You know that I love You.”