Genesis 22.1-18

A reading from the book of Genesis.

God tested Abraham.
He said to him, "Abraham!"
And he said, "Here I am."

God said,
"Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love,
and go to the land of Moriah,
and offer him there as a burnt offering
on one of the mountains that I shall show you."

So Abraham rose early in the morning, saddled his donkey,
and took two of his young men with him, and his son Isaac;
he cut the wood for the burnt offering,
and set out and went to the place in the distance
that God had shown him.

On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place far away.

Then Abraham said to his young men,
"Stay here with the donkey;
the boy and I will go over there;
we will worship, and then we will come back to you."

Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering
and laid it on his son Isaac,
and he himself carried the fire and the knife.
So the two of them walked on together.

Isaac said to his father Abraham, "Father!"
And he said,
"Here I am, my son."
Issac said, "The fire and the wood are here,
but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?"

Abraham said,
"God himself will provide the lamb for a burnt offering, my son."
So the two of them walked on together.

When they came to the place that God had shown him,
Abraham built an altar there and laid the wood in order.
He bound his son Isaac,
and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood.

 Then Abraham reached out his hand
 and took the knife to kill his son.

But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven, and said,
"Abraham, Abraham!"
And he said, "Here I am."

The angel said,
"Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him; f
or now I know that you fear God,
since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.

And Abraham looked up and saw a ram,
caught in a thicket by its horns.
Abraham went and took the ram
and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son.

So Abraham called that place "The Lord will provide";
as it is said to this day,
"On the mount of the Lord it shall be provided."

The angel of the Lord called to Abraham
a second time from heaven,

and said,
"By myself I have sworn, says the Lord:
Because you have done this,
and have not withheld your son, your only son,

I will indeed bless you,
and I will make your offspring as numerous as the stars of heaven
and as the sand that is on the seashore.
And your offspring shall possess the gate of their enemies,

and by your offspring
shall all the nations of the earth gain blessing for themselves,
because you have obeyed my voice."


Hebrews 10.1-10

Since the law has only a shadow of the good things to come
and not the true form of these realities,
it can never,
by the same sacrifices that are continually offered year after year,
make perfect those who approach.

Otherwise, would they not have ceased being offered,
since the worshippers,
cleansed once for all,
would no longer have any consciousness of sin?

But in these sacrifices there is a reminder of sin year after year.

For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.

Consequently, when Christ came into the world, he said,
 "Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired,
but a body you have prepared for me;

in burnt offerings and sin offerings you have taken no pleasure.

Then I said, "See, God, I have come to do your will, O God'
(in the scroll of the book it is written of me)."

When he said above,
"You have neither desired nor taken pleasure in sacrifices
and offerings and burnt offerings and sin offerings"
(these are offered according to the law),

then he added,
 "See, I have come to do your will."
He abolishes the first in order to establish the second.

And it is by God's will that we have been sanctified
through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.


John 18.1 - 19.42

Hear the passion of our Lord Jesus Christ according to John.

After they had eaten the supper

Jesus went out with his disciples across the Kidron valley
to a place where there was a garden,
which he and his disciples entered.

Now Judas, who betrayed him, also knew the place,
because Jesus often met there with his disciples.

So Judas brought a detachment of soldiers
together with police from the chief priests and the Pharisees,
and they came there with lanterns and torches and weapons.

Then Jesus, knowing all that was to happen to him,
came forward and asked them,
"For whom are you looking?"

They answered, "Jesus of Nazareth."
Jesus replied, "I am he."
Judas, who betrayed him, was standing with them.

When Jesus said to them, "I am he,"
they stepped back and fell to the ground.

Again he asked them, "For whom are you looking?"
And they said, "Jesus of Nazareth."

Jesus answered, "I told you that I am he.
So if you are looking for me, let these men go."

This was to fulfil the word that he had spoken,
"I did not lose a single one of those whom you gave me."

Then Simon Peter, who had a sword,
drew it, struck the high priest's slave,
and cut off his right ear.
The slave's name was Malchus.

Jesus said to Peter,
"Put your sword back into its sheath.
Am I not to drink the cup that the Father has given me?"

So the soldiers, their officer, and the Jewish police
arrested Jesus and bound him.

13 First they took him to Annas,
who was the father-in-law of Caiaphas,
the high priest that year.

Caiaphas was the one who had advised the Jews
that it was better to have one person die for the people.

Simon Peter and another disciple followed Jesus.
Since that disciple was known to the high priest,
he went with Jesus into the courtyard of the high priest,

but Peter was standing outside at the gate.
So the other disciple, who was known to the high priest,
went out, spoke to the woman who guarded the gate,
and brought Peter in.

The woman said to Peter,
"You are not also one of this man's disciples, are you?"
He said, "I am not."

Now the slaves and the police had made a charcoal fire
because it was cold,
and they were standing around it and warming themselves.
Peter also was standing with them and warming himself.

Then the high priest questioned Jesus
about his disciples and about his teaching.

Jesus answered, "I have spoken openly to the world;
I have always taught in synagogues and in the temple,
where all the Jews come together.
I have said nothing in secret.

Why do you ask me?
Ask those who heard what I said to them;
they know what I said."

When he had said this,
one of the police standing nearby struck Jesus on the face, saying,
"Is that how you answer the high priest?"

Jesus answered, "If I have spoken wrongly,
testify to the wrong.
But if I have spoken rightly,
why do you strike me?"

Then Annas sent him bound to Caiaphas the high priest.

Now Simon Peter was standing and warming himself.
They asked him,
"You are not also one of his disciples, are you?"
He denied it and said, "I am not."

One of the slaves of the high priest,
a relative of the man whose ear Peter had cut off,
asked, "Did I not see you in the garden with him?"

Again Peter denied it,
and at that moment the cock crowed.

Then they took Jesus from Caiaphas to Pilate's headquarters.
It was early in the morning.
They themselves did not enter the headquarters,
so as to avoid ritual defilement
and to be able to eat the Passover.

So Pilate went out to them and said,
"What accusation do you bring against this man?"

They answered, "If this man were not a criminal,
we would not have handed him over to you."

Pilate said to them,
"Take him yourselves and judge him according to your law."
The Jews replied, "We are not permitted to put anyone to death."

(This was to fulfill what Jesus had said
when he indicated the kind of death he was to die.)

Then Pilate entered the headquarters again,
summoned Jesus, and asked him,
"Are you the King of the Jews?"

Jesus answered, "Do you ask this on your own,
or did others tell you about me?"

Pilate replied, "I am not a Jew, am I?
Your own nation and the chief priests have handed you over to me.
What have you done?"

Jesus answered, "My kingdom is not from this world.
If my kingdom were from this world,
my followers would be fighting
to keep me from being handed over to the Jews.
But as it is, my kingdom is not from here."

Pilate asked him, "So you are a king?"
Jesus answered, "You say that I am a king.
For this I was born,
and for this I came into the world,
to testify to the truth.
Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice."

Pilate asked him, "What is truth?"
After he had said this, he went out to the Jews again and told them,
"I find no case against him.

But you have a custom that I release someone for you at the Passover.
Do you want me to release for you the King of the Jews?"

They shouted in reply,
"Not this man, but Barabbas!"
Now Barabbas was a bandit.

Then Pilate took Jesus and had him flogged.

And the soldiers wove a crown of thorns
and put it on his head,
and they dressed him in a purple robe.

They kept coming up to him, saying,
"Hail, King of the Jews!"
and striking him on the face.

Pilate went out again and said to them,
"Look, I am bringing him out to you
to let you know that I find no case against him."

So Jesus came out,
wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe.
Pilate said to them,
"Here is the man!"

When the chief priests and the police saw him, they shouted,
"Crucify him! Crucify him!"
Pilate said to them,
"Take him yourselves and crucify him;
I find no case against him."

The Jews answered him, "We have a law,
and according to that law he ought to die
because he has claimed to be the Son of God."

Now when Pilate heard this, he was more afraid than ever.

He entered his headquarters again and asked Jesus,
"Where are you from?"
But Jesus gave him no answer.

Pilate therefore said to him,
"Do you refuse to speak to me?
Do you not know that I have power to release you,
and power to crucify you?"

Jesus answered him,
"You would have no power over me
unless it had been given you from above;
therefore the one who handed me over to you
is guilty of a greater sin."

From then on Pilate tried to release him,
but the Jews cried out,
"If you release this man, you are no friend of the emperor.
Everyone who claims to be a king
sets himself against the emperor."

When Pilate heard these words,
he brought Jesus outside and sat on the judge's bench
at a place called The Stone Pavement,
or in Hebrew Gabbatha.

Now it was the day of Preparation for the Passover;
and it was about noon.
He said to the Jews,
"Here is your King!"

They cried out,
"Away with him! Away with him! Crucify him!"
Pilate asked them, "Shall I crucify your King?"
The chief priests answered, "We have no king but the emperor."

Then he handed him over to them to be crucified.
So they took Jesus;

and carrying the cross by himself,
he went out to what is called The Place of the Skull,
which in Hebrew is called Golgotha.

There they crucified him,
and with him two others, one on either side,
with Jesus between them.

Pilate also had an inscription written and put on the cross.
It read, "Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews."

Many of the Jews read this inscription,
because the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city;
and it was written in Hebrew, in Latin, and in Greek.

Then the chief priests of the Jews said to Pilate,
"Do not write, "The King of the Jews,'
but, "This man said, I am King of the Jews.' "

Pilate answered, "What I have written I have written."

When the soldiers had crucified Jesus,
they took his clothes and divided them into four parts,
one for each soldier.
They also took his tunic;
now the tunic was seamless, woven in one piece from the top.

So they said to one another,
"Let us not tear it,
but cast lots for it to see who will get it."
This was to fulfill what the scripture says,
"They divided my clothes among themselves,
and for my clothing they cast lots."

And that is what the soldiers did.
Meanwhile, standing near the cross of Jesus were his mother,
and his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas,
and Mary Magdalene.

When Jesus saw his mother
and the disciple whom he loved standing beside her,
he said to his mother,
"Woman, here is your son."

Then he said to the disciple,
"Here is your mother."
And from that hour the disciple took her into his own home.

After this, when Jesus knew that all was now finished,
he said (in order to fulfil the scripture),
"I am thirsty."

A jar full of sour wine was standing there.
So they put a sponge full of the wine on a branch of hyssop
and held it to his mouth.

When Jesus had received the wine, he said,
"It is finished."
Then he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

Since it was the day of Preparation,
the Jews did not want the bodies left on the cross
during the sabbath,
especially because that sabbath was a day of great solemnity.
So they asked Pilate to have the legs of the crucified men broken
and the bodies removed.

Then the soldiers came
and broke the legs of the first and of the other
who had been crucified with him.

But when they came to Jesus
and saw that he was already dead,
 they did not break his legs.

Instead, one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear,
and at once blood and water came out.

(He who saw this has testified so that you also may believe.
His testimony is true,
and he knows that he tells the truth.)

These things occurred so that the scripture might be fulfilled,
"None of his bones shall be broken."

And again another passage of scripture says,
"They will look on the one whom they have pierced."

After these things, Joseph of Arimathea,
who was a disciple of Jesus,
though a secret one because of his fear of the Jews,
asked Pilate to let him take away the body of Jesus.
Pilate gave him permission;
so he came and removed his body.

Nicodemus, who had at first come to Jesus by night,
also came, bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes,
weighing about a hundred pounds.

They took the body of Jesus
and wrapped it with the spices in linen cloths,
 according to the burial custom of the Jews.

Now there was a garden in the place where he was crucified,
and in the garden there was a new tomb
in which no one had ever been laid.

And so, because it was the Jewish day of Preparation,
and the tomb was nearby,
they laid Jesus there.


Collect

Almighty Father,
look with mercy on this your family
for which our Lord Jesus Christ
was contact to be betrayed
and given up into the hands of sinners
and to suffer death upon the cross;
who is alive and glorified
with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
Amen.