Good Friday

 On a hill far away stood an old rugged cross,
 the emblem of suffering and shame;
 and I love that old cross where the Dearest and Best
 for a world of lost sinners was slain.

 So I'll cherish the old rugged cross,
 till my trophies at last I lay down;
 I will cling to the old rugged cross,
 and exchange it some day for a crown.

 In that old rugged cross, stained with blood so divine,
 a wondrous beauty I see,
 for 'twas on that old cross Jesus suffered and died,
 to pardon and sanctify me.
                             George Bernard, 1873-1958

27Then the governor's soldiers took Jesus into the Praetorium
and gathered the whole company of soldiers around him. 28They
stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, 29and then twisted
together a crown of thorns and set it on his head. They put a
staff in his right hand and knelt in front of him and mocked
him. "Hail, king of the Jews!" they said. 30They spit on him, 
and took the staff and struck him on the head again and again.
31After they had mocked him, they took off the robe and put his
own clothes on him. Then they led him away to crucify him.
32As they were going out, they met a man from Cyrene, named
Simon, and they forced him to carry the cross. 33They came to
a place called Golgotha (which means The Place of the Skull).

18Here they crucified him, and with him two others—one on each
side and Jesus in the middle.
19Pilate had a notice prepared and fastened to the cross. It read:
JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS. 20Many of the
Jews read this sign, for the place where Jesus was crucified was
near the city, and the sign was written in Aramaic, Latin and Greek.
21The chief priests of the Jews protested to Pilate, "Do not write
'The King of the Jews,' but that  this man claimed to be king of the
Jews."  22Pilate answered, "What I have written, I have  written." 

²³When the soldiers crucified Jesus, they took his clothes,

dividing them into four shares, one for each of them, with

the undergarment remaining. This garment was seamless,

woven in one piece from top to bottom. ²⁴"Let's not tear it,"

they said to one another. "Let's decide by lot who will get it."

This happened that the scripture might be fulfilled which said,

"They divided my garments among them
and cast lots for my clothing."

So this is what the soldiers did.

²⁵Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother, his mother's sister,
Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. ²⁶When Jesus saw
his mother there, and the disciple whom he loved standing
nearby, he said to his mother, "Dear woman, here is your son,"
²⁷and to the disciple, "Here is your mother." From that time on,
this disciple took her into his home.

²⁸Later, knowing that all was now completed, and so that the
Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, "I am thirsty." ²⁹A jar of
wine vinegar was there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put the
sponge on a stalk of the hyssop plant, and lifted it to Jesus' lips.
³⁰When he had received the drink, Jesus said, "It is finished."
With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

⁵¹At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two
from top to bottom. The earth shook and the rocks split. ⁵²The
tombs broke open and the bodies of many holy people who had
died were raised to life. ⁵³They came out of the tombs, and
after Jesus' resurrection they went into the holy city and
appeared to many people.

⁵⁴When the centurion and those with him who were guarding

Jesus saw the earthquake and all that had happened, they

were terrified, and exclaimed, "Surely he was the Son of God!"

³¹Now it was the day of Preparation, and the next day was to
be a special Sabbath. Because the Jews did not want the bodies
left on the crosses during the Sabbath, they asked Pilate to
have the legs broken and the bodies taken down. ³²The
soldiers therefore came and broke the legs of the first man who
had been crucified with Jesus, and then those of the other.
³³But when they came to Jesus and found that he was already
dead, they did not break his legs. ³⁴Instead, one of the soldiers
pierced Jesus' side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of
blood and water. ³⁵The man who saw it has given testimony,
and his testimony is true. He knows that he tells the truth,
and he testifies so that you also may believe. ³⁶These things
happened so that the scripture would be fulfilled: "Not one of
his bones will be broken," ³⁷and, as another scripture says,
"They will look on the one they have pierced."

Matthew 27:27-32, 51-54; John 19:18-37

"But God demonstrates His own love for us in this:  While we were
still sinners, Christ died for us."
                                                                Romans 5:8