(John) He Shows Goodwill Tells the Good Story 19
19
CROWN OF THORNS
1Spear of the Great Waters (Pilate) turned Creator Sets Free (Jesus) over to his soldiers to have him beaten. 2The soldiers twisted together a headdress from a thorn bush, pressed the thorns into his head, and wrapped a purple chief blanket around him. 3They bowed down before him, making a big show of it, and kept mocking him, saying, “Honor! Honor to the Great Chief of the tribes of Wrestles with Creator (Israel).”
They took turns hitting him on his face until he was bruised and bloodied.
4Spear of the Great Waters (Pilate) stood before the crowd again and said, “I bring to you the one in whom I have found no guilt.”
Creator Sets Free (Jesus) was brought forward, blood flowing down his bruised face. 5He was wearing the headdress of thorns and the purple chief blanket that was wrapped around him.
“Behold the man!” Spear of the Great Waters (Pilate) said to them. 6“Take a good long look at him!”
The crowd stared at him in stunned silence.
But then the head holy men and the lodge guards began to shout, “Death! Death on the cross!”
“Then take him and kill him yourselves,” Spear of the Great Waters (Pilate) said to them. “I find no guilt in him!”
7They answered him back, “Our law tells us he must die, for he has represented himself as the Son of the Great Spirit.”
POWER OF LIFE AND DEATH
8When Spear of the Great Waters (Pilate) heard this, his fear grew stronger, 9so he took Creator Sets Free (Jesus) back inside his lodge.
“Who are you, and where are you from?” he questioned him.
Creator Sets Free (Jesus) stood there and remained silent.
10“Speak to me! Do you not know I have the power of life and death over you? I can have you killed or set you free,” he warned him. “Have you nothing to say?”
11“The only power you have is what has been given you from above,” he answered. “The ones who turned me over to you carry the greater guilt.”
12Spear of the Great Waters (Pilate) tried harder to have Creator Sets Free (Jesus) released, but the people would not have it.
They stood their ground, saying, “If you release a man who says he is a chief, you are not honoring the ruler of your people, for anyone who claims to be a chief challenges his power.”
STONE OF DECIDING
13When Spear of the Great Waters (Pilate) heard this, he took Creator Sets Free (Jesus) and went to the Stone of Deciding, called Gabbatha in the tribal language, and sat down. 14It was now midday on the Day of Preparation for the Passover Festival.
He brought Creator Sets Free (Jesus) before the people and said, “Here is your chief.”
15“Take him away! Take him away!” the crowd shouted with one voice. “Nail him to the cross!”
“Would you have me nail your chief to the cross?” he asked them.
This time the head holy men answered back, “We have no other chief than the Ruler of the People of Iron (Caesar).”
16Spear of the Great Waters (Pilate) then turned Creator Sets Free (Jesus) over to the soldiers to have him put to death on a tree-pole—the cross—so they took him away.
The cross was an instrument of torture and terror used by the People of Iron (Romans) to strike fear into the hearts of any who dared to rise up against their empire. The victim’s hands and feet would be pierced with large iron nails, fastening them to the cross. The victims would hang there, sometimes for days, until they were dead. This was one of the most cruel and painful ways to die ever devised by human beings.
ULTIMATE SACRIFICE
The soldiers placed a wooden crossbeam on his back and forced him to carry it to the place where he would be executed.
17Creator Sets Free (Jesus) carried the crossbeam to the Place of the Skull, which is called Golgotha in the tribal language. 18There they nailed his hands and feet to the cross, along with the two others, and placed his cross between the two of them.
19Spear of the Great Waters (Pilate) fastened a sign to the top of the cross where they attached the crossbeam with these words written on it:
CREATOR SETS FREE FROM SEED PLANTERS VILLAGE CHIEF OF THE TRIBES OF WRESTLES WITH CREATOR
20This was near Village of Peace (Jerusalem). So that many of the Tribal Members could read it, the sign was written in Aramaic, their tribal language, but also in Latin and Greek, the languages of the People of Iron (Romans).
21The chief head holy men and the tribal leaders said to Spear of the Great Waters (Pilate), “Do not write ‘chief of the tribes.’ Instead write, ‘He said he is chief.’”
22But he answered, “What I have written will stand.”
23The soldiers stripped his clothes from him when they nailed his hands and feet to the cross. They tore one of his garments into four pieces, one for each guard. His long outer garment was woven together into one piece, 24so they said, “Let us not tear this, we can draw straws for it.”
This gave full meaning to the Sacred Teachings that said, “They divided my clothes between them and gambled for my garment.”#19:24 Psalm 22:18 This is what the soldiers did as they kept watch over Creator Sets Free (Jesus).
25-26Standing near the cross was Bitter Tears (Mary), the mother of Creator Sets Free (Jesus), who had come to see him, along with her sister. Two other women also came with her, Brooding Tears (Mary) the wife of Trader (Clopas), and Strong Tears (Mary) from Creator’s High Lodge (Magdala). He Shows Goodwill (John), the much-loved follower of Creator Sets Free (Jesus), was also there with them.
When Creator Sets Free (Jesus) looked down and saw them, he said to his mother, “Honored woman, look to your son.” 27Then he said to his follower, “Look to your mother.”
From that time the follower took Bitter Tears (Mary) into his family and cared for her.
28Creator Sets Free (Jesus), knowing he had done all the ancient Sacred Teachings had foretold, said, “I thirst.”
29There was a vessel of sour and bitter wine standing nearby. One of the soldiers dipped a cloth in it to soak up some wine. He wrapped the cloth around the tip of a hyssop branch and held it up to the mouth of Creator Sets Free (Jesus).
30He then tasted the bitter wine, turned his head to the sky and cried out loud, “It is done!”
He then lowered his head to his chest and, with his last breath, gave up his spirit.
Creator Sets Free (Jesus) was dead.
NOT ONE BONE BROKEN
31Soon the sun would set and a special Day of Resting would begin, when no work could be done. It was time to prepare for this day, so the Tribal Members asked Spear of the Great Waters (Pilate) to have the legs of the men on the crosses broken, which would make them die sooner. Then they could take the bodies down and prepare them for burial.
32The soldiers came and broke the legs of the two men on each side of Creator Sets Free (Jesus). 33When they came to him, they saw he was already dead. Instead of breaking his legs, 34one of the soldiers took a spear and pierced his side. Blood and water flowed out from the wound.
35The one who saw these things with his own eyes is telling the truth about this—so that all will believe. 36This was foretold in the ancient Sacred Teachings that say, “Not one of his bones was broken,”#19:36 Psalm 34:20 37and, “They will look upon the one they have pierced.”#19:37 Zechariah 12:10
TRADITIONAL BURIAL
38He Gets More (Joseph) from High Mountain (Arimathea), a man with many possessions, was a follower of Creator Sets Free (Jesus), but in secret, because he feared the tribal leaders. Since it would soon be sunset, when the Day of Resting would begin, he went to Spear of the Great Waters (Pilate) and asked permission to remove the body of Creator Sets Free (Jesus) from the cross.
Spear of the Great Waters (Pilate) released the body to him. So he and another man, 39Conquers the People (Nicodemus), who had come to Creator Sets Free (Jesus) in secret at night, took his body away to prepare it ceremonially for burial. Conquers the People (Nicodemus) had brought a mixture of myrrh and oils weighing about seventy-five pounds. 40Together they ceremonially wrapped his body for burial in the traditional way, using strips of cloth and herbal spices and oils.
41-42So because it was the Day of Preparation for the Passover Festival, and the day of resting was about to begin, they laid the body of Creator Sets Free (Jesus) in a nearby burial cave that had never been used and then returned to their homes.
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