Lenten Reading: Good Friday March 25, 2016

Reading Guide for Lent

Each day read the Gospel passage for the day and the Psalm passage for the day (you can read them all at once or do one reading in the morning and one in the evening) and use the reflection questions to help process the passage.

The 39h day of Lent

Friday March 25, 2016

Gospel Reading:  Mark 15

Jesus Before Pilate

15      Very early in the morning, the chief priests, with the elders, the teachers of the law and the whole Sanhedrin, reached a decision. They bound Jesus, led him away and handed him over to Pilate.

²“Are you the king of the Jews?” asked Pilate.

“You have said so,” Jesus replied.

³The chief priests accused him of many things. ⁴So again Pilate asked him, “Aren’t you going to answer? See how many things they are accusing you of.”

⁵But Jesus still made no reply, and Pilate was amazed.

⁶Now it was the custom at the Festival to release a prisoner whom the people requested. ⁷A man called Barabbas was in prison with the insurrectionists who had committed murder in the uprising. ⁸The crowd came up and asked Pilate to do for them what he usually did.

⁹“Do you want me to release to you the king of the Jews?” asked Pilate, ¹⁰knowing it was out of envy that the chief priests had handed Jesus over to him. ¹¹But the chief priests stirred up the crowd to have Pilate release Barabbas instead.

¹²“What shall I do, then, with the one you call the king of the Jews?” Pilate asked them.

¹³“Crucify him!” they shouted.

¹⁴“Why? What crime has he committed?” asked Pilate.

But they shouted all the louder, “Crucify him!”

¹⁵Wanting to satisfy the crowd, Pilate released Barabbas to them. He had Jesus flogged, and handed him over to be crucified.

The Soldiers Mock Jesus

¹⁶The soldiers led Jesus away into the palace (that is, the Praetorium) and called together the whole company of soldiers. ¹⁷They put a purple robe on him, then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on him. ¹⁸And they began to call out to him, “Hail, king of the Jews!” ¹⁹Again and again they struck him on the head with a staff and spit on him. Falling on their knees, they paid homage to him. ²⁰And when they had mocked him, they took off the purple robe and put his own clothes on him. Then they led him out to crucify him.

The Crucifixion of Jesus

²¹A certain man from Cyrene, Simon, the father of Alexander and Rufus, was passing by on his way in from the country, and they forced him to carry the cross. ²²They brought Jesus to the place called Golgotha (which means “the place of the skull”). ²³Then they offered him wine mixed with myrrh, but he did not take it. ²⁴And they crucified him. Dividing up his clothes, they cast lots to see what each would get.

²⁵It was nine in the morning when they crucified him. ²⁶The written notice of the charge against him read: the king of the jews. ^27[28]They crucified two rebels with him, one on his right and one on his left. ²⁹Those who passed by hurled insults at him, shaking their heads and saying, “So! You who are going to destroy the temple and build it in three days, ³⁰come down from the cross and save yourself!”

³¹In the same way the chief priests and the teachers of the law mocked him among themselves. “He saved others,” they said, “but he can’t save himself! ³²Let this Messiah, this king of Israel, come down now from the cross, that we may see and believe.” Those crucified with him also heaped insults on him.

The Death of Jesus

³³At noon, darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon. ³⁴And at three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” (which means “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”).

³⁵When some of those standing near heard this, they said, “Listen, he’s calling Elijah.”

³⁶Someone ran, filled a sponge with wine vinegar, put it on a staff, and offered it to Jesus to drink. “Now leave him alone. Let’s see if Elijah comes to take him down,” he said.

³⁷With a loud cry, Jesus breathed his last.

³⁸The curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. ³⁹And when the centurion, who stood there in front of Jesus, saw how he died, he said, “Surely this man was the Son of God!”

⁴⁰Some women were watching from a distance. Among them were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James the younger and of Joseph, and Salome. ⁴¹In Galilee these women had followed him and cared for his needs. Many other women who had come up with him to Jerusalem were also there.

The Burial of Jesus

⁴²It was Preparation Day (that is, the day before the Sabbath). So as evening approached, ⁴³Joseph of Arimathea, a prominent member of the Council, who was himself waiting for the kingdom of God, went boldly to Pilate and asked for Jesus’ body. ⁴⁴Pilate was surprised to hear that he was already dead. Summoning the centurion, he asked him if Jesus had already died. ⁴⁵When he learned from the centurion that it was so, he gave the body to Joseph. ⁴⁶So Joseph bought some linen cloth, took down the body, wrapped it in the linen, and placed it in a tomb cut out of rock. Then he rolled a stone against the entrance of the tomb. ⁴⁷Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joseph saw where he was laid.

The Holy Bible : Today's New International Version. 2005. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.

Psalm Reading:  Psalm 22

For the director of music. To the tune of “The Doe of the Morning.” A psalm of David.

¹My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

Why are you so far from saving me,

so far from the words of my groaning?

²My God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer,

by night, but I find no rest.

³Yet you are enthroned as the Holy One;

you are the praise of Israel.

⁴In you our ancestors put their trust;

they trusted and you delivered them.

⁵They cried to you and were saved;

in you they trusted and were not disappointed.

⁶But I am a worm, not a human being;

I am scorned by everyone, despised by the people.

⁷All who see me mock me;

they hurl insults, shaking their heads.

⁸“He trusts in the Lord,” they say,

“let the Lord rescue him.

Let him deliver him,

since he delights in him.”

⁹Yet you brought me out of the womb;

you made me feel secure on my mother’s breast.

¹⁰From birth I was cast on you;

from my mother’s womb you have been my God.

¹¹Do not be far from me,

for trouble is near

and there is no one to help.

¹²Many bulls surround me;

strong bulls of Bashan encircle me.

¹³Roaring lions that tear their prey

open their mouths wide against me.

¹⁴I am poured out like water,

and all my bones are out of joint.

My heart has turned to wax;

it has melted within me.

¹⁵My mouth is dried up like a potsherd,

and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth;

you lay me in the dust of death.

¹⁶Dogs surround me,

a pack of villains encircles me;

they pierce my hands and my feet.

¹⁷All my bones are on display;

people stare and gloat over me.

¹⁸They divide my clothes among them

and cast lots for my garment.

¹⁹But you, Lord, do not be far from me.

You are my strength; come quickly to help me.

²⁰Deliver me from the sword,

my precious life from the power of the dogs.

²¹Rescue me from the mouth of the lions;

save me from the horns of the wild oxen.

²²I will declare your name to my people;

in the assembly I will praise you.

²³You who fear the Lord, praise him!

All you descendants of Jacob, honor him!

Revere him,

all you descendants of Israel!

²⁴For he has not despised or scorned

the suffering of the afflicted one;

he has not hidden his face from him

but has listened to his cry for help.

²⁵From you comes the theme of my praise in the great assembly;

before those who fear you I will fulfill my vows.

²⁶The poor will eat and be satisfied;

those who seek the Lord will praise him—

may your hearts live forever!

²⁷All the ends of the earth

will remember and turn to the Lord,

and all the families of the nations

will bow down before him,

²⁸for dominion belongs to the Lord

and he rules over the nations.

²⁹All the rich of the earth will feast and worship;

all who go down to the dust will kneel before him—

those who cannot keep themselves alive.

³⁰Posterity will serve him;

future generations will be told about the Lord.

³¹They will proclaim his righteousness,

declaring to a people yet unborn:

He has done it!