Jesus
carried his cross out of the city to a hill called Golgotha. There they nailed him
to the cross. Two criminals had been
sentences with him. Their
crosses stood to the left and to the right of Jesus’ cross. Pilate had an
inscription placed at the top of Jesus’ cross. It read: This is Jesus of
Nazareth, the King of the Jews. The chief priests were annoyed at this and
said to Pilate: Change the inscription so that it reads: He claimed to be the
King of the Jews. But Pilate was adamant: What I have written remains
written.
Four
women stood at the foot of Jesus’ cross: his mother, his mother’s sister, the
wife of Clopas and Mary Magdalene. The disciples whom Jesus loved stood near
his mother. When Jesus saw his mother, he said to her: From now on he is your
son. And to the disciples he said: From now on she is your mother. From that
time the disciple took Mary to his own home and cared for her.
Jesus
now knew that he had accomplished everything. He said: It is accomplished.
Then he bowed his head and died.
