EASTER from Pg 3
A large number of people followed him, includ-
ing women who mourned and wailed for him. Jesus
turned and said to them, “Daughters of Jerusalem,
do not weep for me; weep for yourselves and for your
children. For the time will come when you will say,
‘Blessed are the barren women, the wombs that never
bore and the breasts that never nursed!’
Then they will say to the mountains, “Fall on us!”
and to the hills, “Cover us!” For if men do these
things when the tree is green, what will happen when
it is dry?”
Two other men, both criminals, were also led
out with him to be executed. When they came to
the place called the Skull, there they crucifi ed him,
along with the criminals – one on his right, the other
on his left.
Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not
know what they are doing.” And they divided up his
clothes by casting lots.
The people stood watching, and the rulers even
sneered at him. They said, “He saved others; let him
save himself if he is the Christ of God, the Chosen
One.”
The soldiers also came up and mocked him. They
offered him wine vinegar and said, “If you are the
king of the Jews, save yourself.”
There was a written notice above him, which read:
THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS.
One of the criminals who hung there hurled in-
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Senior
sults at him: “Aren’t you the Christ? Save yourself
and us!”
But the other criminal rebuked him. “Don’t you
fear God,” he said, “since you are under the same
sentence? We are punished justly, for we are getting
what our deeds deserve. But this man has done noth-
ing wrong.”
Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come
into your kingdom.”
Jesus answered him, “I tell you the truth, today
you will be with me in paradise.”
The death of Jesus
Matthew 27:45-56
From the sixth hour until the ninth hour dark-
ness came over all the land. About the ninth hour
Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lama
sabachthani?” – which means, “My God, my God,
why have you forsaken me?”
When some of those standing there heard this,
they said, “He’s calling Elijah.”
Immediately one of them ran and got a sponge.
He fi lled it with wine vinegar, put it on a stick, and
offered it to Jesus to drink. The rest said, “Now
leave him alone. Let’s see if Elijah comes to save
him.”
And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud
voice, he gave up his spirit.
At that moment the curtain of the temple was
torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook
and the rocks split.
Connections April 2019
The tombs broke open and the bodies of many
holy people who had died were raised to life. They
came out of the tombs, and after Jesus’ resurrec-
tion they went into the holy city and appeared to
many people.
When the centurion and those with him who
were guarding Jesus saw the earthquake and all
that had happened, they were terrifi ed, and ex-
claimed, “Surely he was the Son of God!”
Many women were there, watching from a dis-
tance. They had followed Jesus from Galilee to
care for his needs. Among them were Mary Mag-
dalene, Mary the mother of James and Joses, and
the mother of Zebedee’s sons.
John 19:28-36
Later, knowing that all was now completed, and
so that the Scripture would be fulfi lled, Jesus said,
“I am thirsty.”
A jar of wine vinegar 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.
When he had received the drink, Jesus said, “It
is fi nished.” With that, he bowed his head and gave
up his spirit.
Now it was the day of Preparation, and the next
day was to be a special Sabbath. Because the Jews
did not want the bodies left on the crosses during
the Sabbath, they asked Pilate to have the legs bro-
ken and the bodies taken down.
The soldiers there-
fore came and broke
the legs of the fi rst man
who had been cruci-
fi ed with Jesus, and
then those of the other.
But when they came to
Jesus and found that he
was already dead, they
did not break his legs.
Instead, one of the
soldiers pierced Je-
sus’ side with a spear,
bringing a sudden fl ow
of blood and water.
The man who saw
it has given testimony,
and his testimony is
true. He knows that
he tells the truth, and
he testifi es so that you
also may believe.
These things hap-
pened so that the scrip-
ture would be fulfi lled:
“Not one of his bones
will be broken,” and,
as another scripture
says, “They will look
on the one they have
pierced.”
Jesus’ burial
Luke 23:50-56
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