The Way
Golgotha
The day it was finished, and the stillness of the tomb
Story
The soldiers dressed Jesus in a purple robe and pressed a crown woven of thorns onto his head. Hail, king of the Jews! On the road out of the city, Simon of Cyrene, coming in from the country, was seized and made to carry the cross in his place. At Golgotha, which means the place of the skull, they nailed Jesus to the cross. It was nine in the morning. The notice above his head read, the King of the Jews.
At noon darkness came over the whole land and lasted until three in the afternoon. On either side of him two criminals hung with him. Jesus prayed. Father, forgive them. They do not know what they are doing. To the criminal who repented he said, today you will be with me in paradise, and his mother, standing nearby, he entrusted to the disciple he loved. At last Jesus cried out with a loud voice and breathed his last. At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom.
At dusk, as the Sabbath drew near, Joseph of Arimathea went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. He was a member of the council, but a disciple who had followed Jesus in secret. Nicodemus came too, bringing about a hundred pounds of myrrh mixed with aloes. The two men took down the body, wrapped it in fine linen with the spices, and laid it in a new tomb cut in the rock, in a garden. A great stone was rolled across the entrance of the tomb.
Walk this scene on the map →His Words
Father, forgive them. They do not know what they are doing.
I promise you, this very day you will be with me in paradise.
Woman, here is your son. And you, take her now as your mother.
Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani? My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
I am thirsty.
It is finished.
Father, into your hands I entrust my spirit.
The sayings are fresh renderings of the original meaning in today's language. Text: Mt 27:27–66 · Mk 15:16–47 · Lk 23:26–56 · Jn 19:16–42
Background
Crucifixion was the most shameful death Rome dealt out, reserved for rebels and slaves. Tradition most strongly places Golgotha at the site of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, and the Garden Tomb, proposed in the nineteenth century, is also known as a place of pilgrimage.
Pause and Reflect
Even before the cross, do I think of others' wrongs before my own sin?