Take parts; proclaim this short version of the passion gospel.
NARRATOR: Jesus stood before the Roman governor, Pilate.
PILATE: Are you the king of the Jews?
JESUS: As you say.
PILATE: Surely you hear how many charges they bring against you?
NARRATOR: Jesus did not answer him, not on a single count, much to Pilate’s amazement. Now at the festival the governor was accustomed to release one prisoner for the crowd, anyone they wanted. At the time they had a notorious prisoner named Barabbas. When the crowd gathered, Pilate asked —
PILATE: Whom do you want me to release for you, Barabbas or Jesus, who is called the Messiah?
NARRATOR: Pilate realized it was out of jealousy that the chief priests and elders had handed Jesus over. As he was presiding, his wife sent him a message.
WIFE: Have nothing to do with that innocent man. I had a dream about him today which has greatly upset me.
NARRATOR: Meanwhile the chief priests and elders persuaded the crowd to ask for Barabbas and have Jesus put to death.
PILATE: Which of the two do you wish me to release for you?
CROWD: Barabbas.
PILATE: Then what should I do with Jesus, called the Messiah?
CROWD: Crucify him!
PILATE: Why? What crime has he committed?
NARRATOR: They shouted all the louder.
CROWD: Crucify him!
NARRATOR: When Pilate realized he could do nothing but rather a riot was breaking out, he called for water and washed his hands in front of the crowd.
PILATE: I am innocent of the blood of this just man. You see to it.
CROWD: Let his blood be on us and on our children.
NARRATOR: Pilate released Barabbas to them. After having Jesus scourged, he handed him over to be crucified. The governor’s soldiers took Jesus inside their headquarters and gathered the whole cohort around him. They stripped him and put a scarlet cloak on him. Weaving a crown of thorns, they fixed it on his head and stuck a reed in his right hand. They knelt before him and mocked him.
SOLDIERS: All hail, King of the Jews!
NARRATOR: They spat at him, took the reed, and kept striking him on the head. Finally, when they had finished making a fool of him, they stripped him of the cloak and put his own clothes on him. Then they led him off to crucifixion.
On their way out they met a man from Cyrene named Simon. They forced him to help carry the cross. When they arrived at a site called Golgotha, a name which means Skull Place, they gave Jesus a drink of wine flavored with gall, which he tasted but refused to drink. When they had crucified him, they divided his clothes among them by casting lots; then they sat down and kept watch over him. Above his head they put the charge against him: This is Jesus, the King of the Jews.
Two insurgents were crucified along with him, one at his right and one at his left. Passersby insulted him, shaking their heads.
CROWD: So you are the one who was going to destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days. Save yourself, why don’t you? Come down off that cross if you are God’s Son.
NARRATOR: The chief priest, the scribes, and the elders also joined in the jeering.
PRIESTS: He saved others, but he cannot save himself.
SCRIBES: So he is the king of Israel. Let’s see him come down from that cross, then we will believe in him.
ELDERS: He relied on God; let God rescue him now. After all, he claimed, “I am God’s Son.”
NARRATOR: Even the insurgents crucified with him kept taunting him the same way. From noon on, darkness came over the whole land until midafternoon. About three o’clock Jesus cried out in a loud tone.
JESUS: Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?
NARRATOR: This means, “My God, my God. Why have you forsaken me?”
BYSTANDER: He is invoking Elijah!
NARRATOR: Immediately one of them ran off, got a sponge, soaked it in cheap wine, and putting it on a stick, gave it to him to drink.
CROWD: Wait, let’s see whether Elijah comes to his rescue.
NARRATOR: Jesus cried out again in a loud voice and gave up his spirit. Suddenly the curtain of the sanctuary was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth quaked, boulders split, tombs opened. Many bodies of saints who had fallen asleep were raised. After Jesus’ resurrection they came forth from their tombs and entered the holy city and appeared to many. The centurion and his men who were keeping watch over Jesus were terror-stricken at seeing the earthquake and all that was happening.
CENTURION: Clearly this was the Son of God.
Matthew 27.11-54
Sunday Readings: Matthew 21.1-11; Isaiah 50.4-7; Philippians 2.6-11; Matthew 26.14—27.66 or 27.11-54