The Essence of Easter

The Death of Jesus

³³And when the sixth hour6 had come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour.7 ³⁴And at the ninth hour Jesus vcried with a loud voice, w“Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” ³⁵And some of the bystanders hearing it said, “Behold, he is calling Elijah.” ³⁶And someone ran and filled a sponge with xsour wine, put it on a reed yand gave it to him to drink, saying, “Wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to take him down.” ³⁷And Jesus zuttered a loud cry and abreathed his last. ³⁸And bthe curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. ³⁹cAnd when the centurion, who stood facing him, saw that in this way he8 breathed his last, he said, d“Truly this man was the Son9 of God!”

⁴⁰There were also ewomen looking on ffrom a distance, among whom were gMary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James the younger and of Joses, and iSalome. ⁴¹When he was in Galilee, they followed him and gministered to him, and there were also many other women who jcame up with him to Jerusalem.

Jesus Is Buried

⁴²kAnd when evening had come, since it was lthe day of Preparation, that is, the day before the Sabbath, ⁴³Joseph of Arimathea, ma respected member of the council, who nwas also himself looking for the kingdom of God, took courage and went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. ⁴⁴Pilate was surprised to hear that he should have already died.10 And summoning othe centurion, he asked him whether he was already dead. ⁴⁵And when he learned from othe centurion that he was dead, he granted the corpse to Joseph. ⁴⁶And Joseph11 bought pa linen shroud, and taking him down, wrapped him in the linen shroud and qlaid him in a tomb rthat had been cut out of the rock. And he rolled sa stone against the entrance of the tomb. ⁴⁷tMary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses saw where he was laid.

The Resurrection

¹uvWhen the Sabbath was past, wMary Magdalene, wMary the mother of James, and iSalome xbought spices, so that they might go and anoint him. ²And very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb. ³And they were saying to one another, “Who will roll away ythe stone for us from the entrance of the tomb?” ⁴And looking up, they saw that the stone had been rolled back—zit was very large. ⁵And aentering the tomb, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, bdressed in ca white robe, and dthey were alarmed. ⁶And he said to them, d“Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has risen; he is not here. See the place where they laid him. ⁷But go, tell his disciples and Peter that ehe is going before you to Galilee. There you will see him, ejust as he told you.” ⁸And they went out and fled from the tomb, for trembling and astonishment had seized them, and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.