thee, I never will disown thee. And all the disciples said the same. 36 Then Jesus went with them to a place called Gethsemane, Mar. 14. 32. and said to his disciples: Stay here, while I go yonder and Lu. 22. 40. 37 pray. And he took with him Peter, and the two sons of Zebe38 dee; and being oppressed with grief, said to them: My soul is overwhelmed with a deadly anguish; abide here, and watch 39 with me. And going a little before, he threw himself on his face, and praying, said: My Father, remove this cup from me if it be possible; nevertheless, not as I would, but as thou wilt. 40 And he returned to his disciples, and finding them asleep, said to Peter: Is it so then, that ye could not keep awake with me 41 a single hour? Watch and pray, that ye be not overcome by temptation the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. 42 A second time he withdrew and prayed, saying: O my Father, if there be no exemption for me, if I must drink this cup, thy 43 will be done. Upon his return, he again found them sleeping, 44 for their eyes were overpowered. Again, leaving them, he went 45 and prayed the third time, using the same words. Then he came back to his disciples, and said to them: Sleep on now, take your rest behold the hour approacheth when the Son of 46 Man must be delivered into the hands of sinners. Arise, let us be going; lo! he who betrayeth me is at hand. 47 Before he had done speaking, Judas, one of the twelve, Mar. 14. 43. appeared with a great multitude armed with swords and clubs, Lu. 22. 47. 48 and sent by the chief priests and elders of the people. Now Rev. 13. 10. the betrayer had given them a sign, saying: The man whom I 49 shall kiss is he, secure him. And coming directly to Jesus, he 50 said Hail, Rabbi, and kissed him. Jesus answered: Friend, for what purpose comest thou? Then they advanced, and lay51 ing hands on Jesus, seized him. Upon this, one of Jesus' company, laying his hand upon his sword, drew it, and striking the 52 servant of the high-priest, cut off his ear. Jesus said to him: Sheath thy sword; for whoever hath recourse to the sword Gen. 9.6. 53 shall fall by the sword. Thinkest thou that I cannot presently invoke my Father, who would send to my relief more than 54 twelve legions of angels?* But in that case how should the Scriptures be accomplished, which declare that these things 55 must be? Then, turning to the multitude, he said: Do ye come with swords and clubs to apprehend me, like people in pursuit of a robber? I sat daily amongst you, teaching in the 56 temple, and ye did not arrest me. But all this hath happened, that the writings of the prophets might be fulfilled. Then all the disciples forsook him and fled. " A Roman legion consisted of 6000 men; sometimes more, sometimes. fewer. Mar. 14. 53. Jo. 18. 13. & 24. Mar. 14. 55. Lu. 22. 66. Jo. 2. 19. Isa. 50. 6. Lu. 22. 55. Jo. 18. 17. & 25. 57 SECTION XV. THE CRUCIFIXION. NOW they who had apprehended Jesus brought him to Caiaphas the high-priest, with whom the scribes and elders 58 were assembled. But Peter followed him at a distance to the court of the high-priest's house, and having gone in, sat with the officers to see the issue. 59 Meantime the chief priests and the elders, and the whole Sanhedrim, sought out false evidence against Jesus, upon which 60 they might condemn him to die. But though many false witnesses appeared, they found it not. At length came two false 61 witnesses, who charged him with saying: 'I can demolish the 62 temple of God, and rebuild it in three days.' Then the high priest rising, said to him: Answerest thou nothing to what these 63 men testify against thee? Jesus remaining silent, he added: On the part of the living God I adjure thee to tell us, whether 64 thou be the Messiah, the Son of God? Jesus answered him :It is as thou sayest: nay, be assured, that hereafter ye shall see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Almighty, and 65 coming on the clouds of heaven. Then the high-priest, rending his clothes, said: He hath uttered blasphemy: What further need have we of witnesses, now that ye have heard him 66 blaspheme? What think ye? They answered: He deserveth 67 to die. Then they spat in his face. Some gave him blows on 68 the head, and others struck him on the cheeks, and said: Divine to us, Messiah, who it was that smote thee. 69 Now Peter was sitting without in the court, and a maid-servant came to him and said: Thou also wast with Jesus the Mar. 14. 66. 70 Galilean. But he denied before them all, saying, I know noth71 ing of the matter. And as he went out into the porch, another maid observing him, said to them: This man too was there 72 with Jesus the Nazarene. Again he denied, swearing that he 73 knew him not. Soon after some of the bystanders said to Peter: Thou art certainly one of them, for thy speech discover74 eth thee. Whereupon, with execrations and oaths, he asserted that he did not know him; and immediately the cock crew. 75 Then Peter remembered the word which Jesus had said to him, "Before the cock crow, thou wilt thrice disown me." And he went out and wept bitterly. ch. 26. 34. Lu. 23. 1. Jo. 18. 28. Mar. 15. 1. XXVII. WHEN it was morning, all the chief priests and the elders of the people, having consulted against Jesus how they 2 might procure his death, conducted him bound to Pontius Pilate the procurator, to whom they consigned him. 3 Then Judas who had betrayed him, finding that he was E condemned, repented; and returning the thirty shekels to the 4 chief priests and the elders, said: I have sinned, in that I have betrayed the innocent. They answered: What is that to us? 5 see thou to that. After which, having thrown down the money 6 in the temple, he went away and strangled himself. The chief Acts 1. 18. priests taking the money, said: It is not lawful to put it into the 7 sacred treasury, because it is the price of blood. But after deliberating, they bought with it the potter's field, to be a bury8 ing-place for strangers; for which reason that field is to this day 9 called the field of blood. Then was the word of Jeremiah the Zech. 11. 12. prophet verified, "The thirty shekels, the price at which he 10 was valued, I took, as the Lord* appointed me, from the sons of Israel, who gave them for the potter's field." 11 Lu. 23. 1. Now Jesus appeared before the procurator, who questioned Mar. 15. 2. him, saying: Thou art the King of the Jews? He answered, 12 Thou sayest right. But when he was arraigned by the chief 13 priests and the elders, he made no reply. Then Pilate said to him: Hearest thou not of how many crimes they accuse thee? 14 But he answered not one word, which surprised the procurator ceedingly. 15 6. Now the procurator was wont to release, at the festival, any Mar. 15.5. 16 one of the prisoners whom the multitude demanded. And they Jo. 18. 39. 17 had then a famous prisoner named Barabbas. Therefore, when they were assembled, Pilate said unto them: Whom shall I release to you? Barabbas, or Jesus who is called Messiah? 18 (For he perceived that through envy they had delivered him 19 up; besides, while he was sitting on the tribunal, his wife sent him this message: Have thou nothing to do with that innocent person; for to-day I have suffered much, in a dream, on his 20 account.) But the chief priests and the elders instigated the populace to demand Barabbas, and cause Jesus to be executed. 21 Therefore, when the procurator asked which of the two he 22 should release, they all answered: Barabbas. Pilate replied: Acts 3. 14. What then shall I do with Jesus, whom they call Messiah? 23 They all answered: Let him be crucified. The procurator said: Why? what evil hath he done? But they cried the louder, say24 ing Let him be crucified. Pilate perceiving that he was so far from prevailing that they grew more tumultuous, took water, and washed his hands before the multitude, saying: I am guilt25 less of the blood of this innocent person: See ye to it. And all the people answering, said: his blood be upon us and upon our children. Then he released Barabbas to them and having caused Jesus to be scourged, delivered him to be crucified. 27 After this the procurator's soldiers took Jesus into the pre- Mar 15, 28 torium, where they gathered around him all the band. And P. 22. 16. Jehovah. The governor's palace, or hall of audience. 16. Mar. 15. 21. 29 having stripped him, they robed him in a scarlet cloak, and 32 Lu. 23. 26,33. 33 Jo. 19. 17. Ps. 22. 18. Mar. 15. 29. Jo. 2. 19. As they went out of the city, they met one Simon a Cyrenian, whom they constrained to carry the cross; and being arri34 ved at a place called Golgotha, which signifies a place of skulls, they gave him to drink vinegar mixed with wormwood, which 35 having tasted it, he would not drink. After they had nailed him to the cross, they parted his garments by lot: [thus verifying the words of the prophet, "They shared my mantle 36 among them, and cast lots for my vesture."] And having sat 37 down there, they guarded him. And over his head they placed this inscription, denoting the cause of his death. THIS IS 38 JESUS THE KING OF THE JEWS. Two robbers also were crucified with him, one at his right hand, and the other at his left. 39 Meanwhile the passengers reviled him, shaking their heads, 40 and saying: Thou who demolishest the temple, and rebuildest it in three days; if thou be God's Son, come down from the 41 cross. The chief priests also, with the scribes, the elders, and the Pharisees, deriding him, said: He saved others; cannot he 42 save himself? If he be the king of Israel, let him now descend from the cross, and we will believe him. He trusted in God: Wisd. 2. 16. 43 Let God deliver him now, if he regard him; for he called him44 self God's Son. The robbers, too, his fellow-sufferers, upbraided him in the same manner. P. 22. 8. Mar. 15. 33. Lu. 23. 44. Mar. 15. 38. 45 Now from the sixth hour* to the ninth,† the whole land was 51 And behold the veil of the temple was rent in two from top 52 to bottom, the earth trembled, and the rocks split. Graves also burst open, and, after his resurrection, the bodies of several saints 53 who slept were raised, came out of the graves, went into the 54 holy city, and were seen by many. Now the centurion, and †Three, afternoon. Twelve o'clock, noon. 1 55 they who with him gaurded Jesus, observing the earthquake, and what passed, were exceedingly terrified, and said: This was certainly the Son of a God. Mar. 15. 40, Several women also were there, looking on at a distance, who had followed Jesus from Galilee, assisting him with their Lu. 23. 55% 56 service. Among them were Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James and Joses, and the mother of Zebedee's sons. 57 SECTION XVI.-THE RESURRECTION. Mar. 15. 42. IN the evening, a rich Arimathean named Joseph, who was Lu. 23. 50. 58 himself a disciple of Jesus, went to Pilate and begged the body Jo. 19. 38. of Jesus. Pilate having given orders to deliver it to Joseph; 59 he took the body, wrapped it in clean linen, and deposited 60 it in his own monument, which he had newly caused to be hewn in the rock; and having rolled a great stone to the 61 entrance, he went way. Now Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were there, sitting over against the sepulchre. 62 On the morrow, being the day after the preparation,* the Mar. 16. 1. chief priests and the Pharisees repaired in a body to Pilate, 63 and said: My Lord, we remember that this impostor when 64 alive, said, "Within three days I shall be raised." Command, therefore, that the sepulchre be guarded for three days, lest his disciples come by night and steal him, and say to the people, 'He is raised from the dead;' for this last imposture would 65 prove worse than the first. Pilate answered: Ye have a guard, 66 make the sepulchre as secure as ye can. Accordingly they went and secured it, sealing the stone, and posting guards. XXVIII. SABBATH+ being over, and the first day of the week Jo. 20. 1. beginning to dawn, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to 2 visit the sepulchre. Now there had been a great earthquake; for a messenger of the Lord had descended from heaven, who, 3 having rolled the stone from the entrance, sat upon it. His countenance was like lightning, and his apparel white as snow. 4 Seeing him, the guards quaked with terror, and became as dead men. But the angel said to the women: Fear not ye; 6 for I know that ye seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here; for he is risen, as he foretold. Come see the place 7 where the Lord lay. And go quickly, say to his disciples, 'He is risen from the dead; behold he goeth before you to Galilee, where ye shall see him.' Take notice: I have told you. 8 Instantly they went out from the monument with fear and * The Preparation is our Friday. With us Sunday. + With us Saturday. |