On a Friday, Bloody Friday

Pilate, having passed sentence, handed Jesus over to be crucified. On this all the evangelists agree, although they disagree on the details. Matthew stays close to Mark, only adding the story of Pilate posting a guard at the tomb. Luke, as usual, goes off in his own direction and John focuses on aspects of the story that fits his theology.

The Way of the Cross

Mark/Matthew mention that after Jesus is scourged the soldiers mock him as King of the Jews, much as he was mocked as a false prophet after his Sanhedrin trial. The soldiers placed a cloak around him and crown of thorns on his head and pressed Simon of Cyrene to carry the cross, presumably because Jesus was too weak to carry it.

Luke (23:26-32) keeps the mention of Simon but eliminates all reference to Jesus being scourged, mocked, or crowned with thorns. Only Luke relates the scene of a large crowd of people following Jesus with the women mourning and lamenting him. Jesus tells them to weep for themselves and their children. What does Jesus mean with his proverb about the green wood and the dry? Perhaps that is his way of saying that if he can be treated this way by the Jewish leaders now, how much worse will the Romans treat them during the Jewish revolt that results in the destruction of Jerusalem.

The Johannine Jesus, scourged and crowned earlier as part of Pilate’s attempt to avoid the sentence of crucifixion, carries his own cross to Golgotha.

The Crucifixion

Mark/Matthew mentions it was 9 am when Jesus was crucified on Golgotha (translated as “Place of the Skull”) with two bandits to either side of him. He is offered, and refuses a drugged wine, and his clothes are divided among the soldiers. The charge – “King of the Jews” – is inscribed above his head. Jesus is reviled by three groups: passersby, the chief priests and scribes, and those crucified alongside him.

Luke typically avoids Hebrew-sounding names like Golgotha, only referring to it as “the place called the Skull.” As he is being crucified, the Lucan Jesus says, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do” (Lk 23:34). This verse is not found in the oldest and most important copies of Luke, so there is question as to whether they were original or added by a later copyist in imitation of Stephen’s words in Acts 7:60. Luke preserves Jesus being taunted by the rulers (but not the people in general), the soldiers, and one of those crucified alongside him.

John expounds upon the details of the charge above his head and the division of clothes. Pilate’s choice of words causes a controversy with the Jewish leaders and John sees the untorn tunic as either symbolic of the garment of a high priest or as a symbol of unity, we can’t be sure. John eliminates the taunts. He is also the only evangelist to feature the Mother of Jesus at the foot of the cross alongside Mary Magdalene and the Beloved Disciple. This scene is loaded with symbolic and theological importance that will have to be discussed in more detail at a later time.

Christ Crucified (1632) by Diego Velazquez

The Death of Jesus

According to Mark/Matthew, at noon darkness covered the land until 3 pm when Jesus said his only words (“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”). “My God” in Hebrew is “Eli”, so it is understandable that a bystander would think Jesus is calling on Elijah, but it doesn’t make much sense that a natural response would be to lift a vinegary wine-soaked sponge up on reed to Jesus’ lips.

Luke also mentions the darkness over the land (attributing it to an eclipse) but moves up the offer of vinegary wine to the mocking by the soldiers. There’s no confusion of a call on Elijah because, instead of quoting Psalm 22, Jesus’ last words are from Ps 31:6: “Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.”

John does not mention the darkness at noon; in John's timeline, it was noon when Pilate condemned Jesus to death. John is the only evangelist to state that Jesus specifically said, “I thirst,” so the wine would was not offered in mockery, but in response to his request. But just to confuse things, instead of offering the sponge on a reed, John has it stuck on the fernlike hyssop, totally unsuitable for that purpose. This is undoubtedly a reference to Exod 12:22 where hyssop is to be used to sprinkle the blood of the paschal lamb on the doorposts of the Israelite home at Passover. After taking the wine, Jesus says his final words in John, “It is finished,” and dies.

The Aftermath

The Synoptic evangelists make a point to mention that at the moment of Jesus’ death on Golgotha, the veil in the Temple was torn. (Matthew further adds that the earth quaked, tombs were opened, and the dead were raised.) There’s symbolism here, but exactly what is debatable. A common interpretation is that since the veil separates God’s presence in the Holy of Holies from the people, Jesus’ death removes that barrier.

In both Mark and Matthew, the centurion overseeing the crucifixion, seeing how Jesus died, declared, “Truly, this man was the Son of God.” It is the first time in the entire Gospel of Mark that a human being testified to Jesus’ true identity. In Luke, the centurion says, “This man was innocent beyond doubt.”

John has no Roman centurion or torn veils. Only John mentions that towards sundown Pilate gave orders to break the legs of the crucified to hasten their deaths. Since Jesus was already dead, that was not necessary and so he is the Passover lamb whose bones were not broken. But he was stabbed in the side to make sure he was dead and blood and water came forth, possibly symbolizing baptism and Eucharist.

The Burial

Meanwhile, Joseph of Arimathea asked Pilate for the body. Mark said Joseph was a respected member of the Sanhedrin who was waiting for the kingdom of God. Matthew specifies that Joseph was a rich man and also a disciple of Jesus – but not a member of the Sanhedrin. Luke clarifies that although Joseph was a member of the Sanhedrin, he was a good and just man and had not consented to the council’s decision and actions.

Women who had accompanied Jesus from Galilee watched at a distance while Joseph wrapped Jesus’ body in a linen cloth and laid him in a nearby tomb. Luke also specifies that, watching where and how Jesus was buried, the women went off to prepare spices and oils to bury him properly. This is the evangelists’ way of preparing the reader for the return of the women to the tomb on Easter Sunday to anoint the body.

In John, Joseph of Arimathea is a secret disciple of Jesus who asks Pilate for the body. The Johannine-only character of Nicodemus arrives with a hundred pounds of myrrh and aloes to give Jesus a burial fit for a king, following appropriate Jewish burial customs, not the quick wrapping as in the Synoptic gospels. 

With Jesus now in the tomb, we close the Passion Narrative and the close alignment of the evangelists. The Resurrection Narratives veer off in wildly different directions with almost no parallels.