Bible Reading Plan – Day 357

₁After Jesus finished saying this, he looked up to heaven and said, “Father, the hour has come. Give glory to your Son, so that the Son may give glory to you. ₂For you gave him authority over all humanity, so that he might give eternal life to all those you gave him. ₃And eternal life means knowing you, the only true God, and knowing Jesus Christ, whom you sent. ₄I have shown your glory on earth; I have finished the work you gave me to do. ₅Father! Give me glory in your presence now, the same glory I had with you before the world was made.

₆“I have made you known to those you gave me out of the world. They belonged to you, and you gave them to me. They have obeyed your word, ₇and now they know that everything you gave me comes from you. ₈I gave them the message that you gave me, and they received it; they know that it is true that I came from you, and they believe that you sent me.

₉“I pray for them. I do not pray for the world but for those you gave me, for they belong to you. ₁₀All I have is yours, and all you have is mine; and my glory is shown through them. ₁₁And now I am coming to you; I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world. Holy Father! Keep them safe by the power of your name, the name you gave me, so that they may be one just as you and I are one. ₁₂While I was with them, I kept them safe by the power of your name, the name you gave me. I protected them, and not one of them was lost, except the man who was bound to be lost — so that the scripture might come true. ₁₃And now I am coming to you, and I say these things in the world so that they might have my joy in their hearts in all its fullness. ₁₄I gave them your message, and the world hated them, because they do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world. ₁₅I do not ask you to take them out of the world, but I do ask you to keep them safe from the Evil One. ₁₆Just as I do not belong to the world, they do not belong to the world. ₁₇Dedicate them to yourself by means of the truth; your word is truth. ₁₈I sent them into the world, just as you sent me into the world. ₁₉And for their sake I dedicate myself to you, in order that they, too, may be truly dedicated to you.

₂₀“I pray not only for them, but also for those who believe in me because of their message. ₂₁I pray that they may all be one. Father! May they be in us, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they be one, so that the world will believe that you sent me. ₂₂I gave them the same glory you gave me, so that they may be one, just as you and I are one: ₂₃I in them and you in me, so that they may be completely one, in order that the world may know that you sent me and that you love them as you love me.

₂₄“Father! You have given them to me, and I want them to be with me where I am, so that they may see my glory, the glory you gave me; for you loved me before the world was made. ₂₅Righteous Father! The world does not know you, but I know you, and these know that you sent me. ₂₆I made you known to them, and I will continue to do so, in order that the love you have for me may be in them, and so that I also may be in them.”

₁After Jesus had said this prayer, he left with his disciples and went across the brook called Kidron. There was a garden in that place, and Jesus and his disciples went in. ₂Judas, the traitor, knew where it was, because many times Jesus had met there with his disciples. ₃So Judas went to the garden, taking with him a group of Roman soldiers, and some temple guards sent by the chief priests and the Pharisees; they were armed and carried lanterns and torches. ₄Jesus knew everything that was going to happen to him, so he stepped forward and asked them, “Who is it you are looking for?”

₅“Jesus of Nazareth,” they answered.

“I am he,” he said.

Judas, the traitor, was standing there with them. ₆When Jesus said to them, “I am he,” they moved back and fell to the ground. ₇Again Jesus asked them, “Who is it you are looking for?”

“Jesus of Nazareth,” they said.

₈“I have already told you that I am he,” Jesus said. “If, then, you are looking for me, let these others go.” ₉(He said this so that what he had said might come true: “Father, I have not lost even one of those you gave me.”)

₁₀Simon Peter, who had a sword, drew it and struck the High Priest's slave, cutting off his right ear. The name of the slave was Malchus. ₁₁Jesus said to Peter, “Put your sword back in its place! Do you think that I will not drink the cup of suffering which my Father has given me?”

₁₂Then the Roman soldiers with their commanding officer and the Jewish guards arrested Jesus, bound him, ₁₃and took him first to Annas. He was the father-in-law of Caiaphas, who was High Priest that year. ₁₄It was Caiaphas who had advised the Jewish authorities that it was better that one man should die for all the people.

₁₅Simon Peter and another disciple followed Jesus. That other disciple was well known to the High Priest, so he went with Jesus into the courtyard of the High Priest's house, ₁₆while Peter stayed outside by the gate. Then the other disciple went back out, spoke to the girl at the gate, and brought Peter inside. ₁₇The girl at the gate said to Peter, “Aren't you also one of the disciples of that man?”

“No, I am not,” answered Peter.

₁₈It was cold, so the servants and guards had built a charcoal fire and were standing round it, warming themselves. So Peter went over and stood with them, warming himself.

₁₉The High Priest questioned Jesus about his disciples and about his teaching. ₂₀Jesus answered, “I have always spoken publicly to everyone; all my teaching was done in the synagogues and in the Temple, where all the people come together. I have never said anything in secret. ₂₁Why, then, do you question me? Question the people who heard me. Ask them what I told them — they know what I said.”

₂₂When Jesus said this, one of the guards there slapped him and said, “How dare you talk like that to the High Priest!”

₂₃Jesus answered him, “If I have said anything wrong, tell everyone here what it was. But if I am right in what I have said, why do you hit me?”

₂₄Then Annas sent him, still bound, to Caiaphas the High Priest.

₂₅Peter was still standing there keeping himself warm. So the others said to him, “Aren't you also one of the disciples of that man?”

But Peter denied it. “No, I am not,” he said.

₂₆One of the High Priest's slaves, a relative of the man whose ear Peter had cut off, spoke up. “Didn't I see you with him in the garden?” he asked.

₂₇Again Peter said “No” — and at once a cock crowed.

₂₈Early in the morning Jesus was taken from Caiaphas' house to the governor's palace. The Jewish authorities did not go inside the palace, for they wanted to keep themselves ritually clean, in order to be able to eat the Passover meal. ₂₉So Pilate went outside to them and asked, “What do you accuse this man of?”

₃₀Their answer was, “We would not have brought him to you if he had not committed a crime.”

₃₁Pilate said to them, “Then you yourselves take him and try him according to your own law.”

They replied, “We are not allowed to put anyone to death.” ₃₂(This happened in order to make the words of Jesus come true, the words he used when he indicated the kind of death he would die.)

₃₃Pilate went back into the palace and called Jesus. “Are you the King of the Jews?” he asked him.

₃₄Jesus answered, “Does this question come from you or have others told you about me?”

₃₅Pilate replied, “Do you think I am a Jew? It was your own people and the chief priests who handed you over to me. What have you done?”

₃₆Jesus said, “My kingdom does not belong to this world; if my kingdom belonged to this world, my followers would fight to keep me from being handed over to the Jewish authorities. No, my kingdom does not belong here!”

₃₇So Pilate asked him, “Are you a king, then?”

Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. I was born and came into the world for this one purpose, to speak about the truth. Whoever belongs to the truth listens to me.”

₃₈“And what is truth?” Pilate asked.

Then Pilate went back outside to the people and said to them, “I cannot find any reason to condemn him. ₃₉But according to the custom you have, I always set free a prisoner for you during the Passover. Do you want me to set free for you the King of the Jews?”

₄₀They answered him with a shout, “No, not him! We want Barabbas!” (Barabbas was a bandit.)

₁Then Pilate took Jesus and had him whipped. ₂The soldiers made a crown out of thorny branches and put it on his head; then they put a purple robe on him ₃and came to him and said, “Long live the King of the Jews!” And they went up and slapped him.

₄Pilate went out once more and said to the crowd, “Look, I will bring him out here to you to let you see that I cannot find any reason to condemn him.” ₅So Jesus came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. Pilate said to them, “Look! Here is the man!”

₆When the chief priests and the temple guards saw him, they shouted, “Crucify him! Crucify him!”

Pilate said to them, “You take him, then, and crucify him. I find no reason to condemn him.”

₇The crowd answered back, “We have a law that says he ought to die, because he claimed to be the Son of God.”

₈When Pilate heard this, he was even more afraid. ₉He went back into the palace and asked Jesus, “Where do you come from?”

But Jesus did not answer. ₁₀Pilate said to him, “You will not speak to me? Remember, I have the authority to set you free and also to have you crucified.”

₁₁Jesus answered, “You have authority over me only because it was given to you by God. So the man who handed me over to you is guilty of a worse sin.”

₁₂When Pilate heard this, he tried to find a way to set Jesus free. But the crowd shouted back, “If you set him free, that means that you are not the Emperor's friend! Anyone who claims to be a king is a rebel against the Emperor!”

₁₃When Pilate heard these words, he took Jesus outside and sat down on the judge's seat in the place called “The Stone Pavement”. (In Hebrew the name is “Gabbatha”.) ₁₄It was then almost noon of the day before the Passover. Pilate said to the people, “Here is your king!”

₁₅They shouted back, “Kill him! Kill him! Crucify him!”

Pilate asked them, “Do you want me to crucify your king?”

The chief priests answered, “The only king we have is the Emperor!”

₁₆Then Pilate handed Jesus over to them to be crucified.

So they took charge of Jesus. ₁₇He went out, carrying his cross, and came to “The Place of the Skull”, as it is called. (In Hebrew it is called “Golgotha”.) ₁₈There they crucified him; and they also crucified two other men, one on each side, with Jesus between them. ₁₉Pilate wrote a notice and had it put on the cross. “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews”, is what he wrote. ₂₀Many people read it, because the place where Jesus was crucified was not far from the city. The notice was written in Hebrew, Latin, and Greek. ₂₁The chief priests said to Pilate, “Do not write ‘The King of the Jews’, but rather, ‘This man said, I am the King of the Jews.’ ”

₂₂Pilate answered, “What I have written stays written.”

₂₃After the soldiers had crucified Jesus, they took his clothes and divided them into four parts, one part for each soldier. They also took the robe, which was made of one piece of woven cloth without any seams in it. ₂₄The soldiers said to one another, “Let's not tear it; let's throw dice to see who will get it.” This happened in order to make the scripture come true:

₂₅Standing close to Jesus' cross were his mother, his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. ₂₆Jesus saw his mother and the disciple he loved standing there; so he said to his mother, “He is your son.”

₂₇Then he said to the disciple, “She is your mother.” From that time the disciple took her to live in his home.