Friday, April 06, 2007

Friday Afternoon: Jesus' Death

At the ninth hour (3pm), Jesus cried with a loud voice in Aramaic, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me," quoting Psalm 22:1. Some mistook him to be calling for Elijah, since the Aramic word for "my God" is "Eloi." Someone went to offer Jesus some vinegar. In John this is in response to Jesus saying that he thirst and in John he drinks it.

John records, "It is finished." Luke records, "Father, into your hands I commit my spirit." In Matthew and Mark we are just told that Jesus utters a loud cry and dies.

The curtain of the temple rips from top to bottom, and a Roman centurion standing by the cross voices at last the connection between Jesus' death and his suffering: "Truly this man was the Son of God" (Luke, truly this man was innocent).

In Matthew, there is an earthquake and various saints of the past rise from their tombs and appear in the city.

Those present at the cross include many women looking from afar who had followed Jesus from Galilee, ministering to him, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Joseph, and the mother of James and John, the sons of Zebedee (Matthew; is this Salome in Mark?).

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