Song: In manus tuas – Tallis
Today we follow Jesus to the cross and the grave. As you pray today, think about the love that Jesus showed on the cross. Are there people we need to forgive, or do we need to ask someone to forgive us? Sorry is a good word to say today.
Matthew 27v2 They bound him, led him away, and handed him over to Pilate the governor.
Matthew 27v11 ‘Are you the King of the Jews?’ Jesus said, ‘You say so.’
Matthew 27v23 But they shouted all the more, ‘Let him be crucified!’
Matthew 27v26 So he released Barabbas for them; and after flogging Jesus, he handed him over to be crucified.
Matthew 27v28-31 They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, and after twisting some thorns into a crown, they put it on his head. They put a reed in his right hand and knelt before him and mocked him, saying, ‘Hail, King of the Jews!’ They spat on him, and took the reed and struck him on the head. After mocking him, they stripped him of the robe and put his own clothes on him. Then they led him away to crucify him.
Music: Miserere mihi, Domine – Byrd
John 19v19-20
Pilate had a notice prepared and fastened to the cross. It read: JESUS OF NAZARETH, KING OF THE JEWS. 20 Many of the Jews read this sign, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and the sign was written in Aramaic, Latin and Greek.
Matthew 27v38
Then two bandits were crucified with him, one on his right and one on his left.
Matthew 27v45-48
From noon on, darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon. And about three o’clock Jesus cried with a loud voice, ‘Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?’ that is, ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’ When some of the bystanders heard it, they said, ‘This man is calling for Elijah.’ At once one of them ran and got a sponge, filled it with sour wine, put it on a stick, and gave it to him to drink.
Matthew 27v50-54 Then Jesus cried again with a loud voice and breathed his last. At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom…Now when the centurion and those with him, who were keeping watch over Jesus, saw the earthquake and what took place, they were terrified and said, ‘Truly this man was God’s Son!’
Matthew 27v55-56 Many women were also there, looking on from a distance; they had followed Jesus from Galilee and had provided for him. Among them were Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James and Joseph, and the mother of the sons of Zebedee.
Music: O Christe Domine Jesu – Taize
Prayer
We remember Jesus on the cross and in the tomb and we pray for all of us who are tortured or dying in enclosed spaces at this time both psychological and physical. Amen
