The Gospels

by Sarah Ruden

  43 And right away, while he was still speaking, Ioudas arrived, one of the twelve, and along with him a mob, armed with swords and clubs, who came from the high priests and scholars and elders.*164 44 The one handing Iēsous over had told them a signal to act on, saying, “Whoever I kiss, it’s him. Get hold of him and take him away under guard.” 45 So right when he arrived, Ioudas approached him and said, “Rabbí!” and gave him the kiss of respect.*165 46 And they laid hold and took control of him. 47 And a certain one of the bystanders drew a sword and struck the chief priest’s slave, taking off his ear.

  48 And Iēsous’ response to them was to say, “You’ve come out with swords and clubs to seize me, as if I were a bandit?*166 49 Day after day I was with you in the temple precinct teaching, and you didn’t take hold of me. But this is the way the writings can be fulfilled.” 50 And everyone ran off, leaving him behind.*167 51 But there was a certain young man accompanying him, wearing only a linen cloth over his bare body, and they took hold of him. 52 But he left the linen cloth behind and ran off naked.*168

  53 And they led Iēsous away to the chief priest, and all the high priests and elders and scholars came together, 54 and Petros followed him at a distance clear into the chief priest’s courtyard, where he sat with the retainers and warmed himself by the fire.

  55 And the high priests and the whole of the high council*169 were looking for testimony against Iēsous to justify putting him to death, but they couldn’t find any. 56 Many people in fact gave false testimony against him, but all the testimony didn’t match. 57 And certain people stood up and gave false testimony against him, saying, 58 “We heard him saying, ‘I’ll destroy this shrine that was built with human hands, and in the course of three days*170 I’ll build another one without the aid of anyone’s hands.’ ”*171 59 But even on this point, their testimony didn’t match. 60 And the chief priest stood up among them and questioned Iēsous, saying, “Don’t you have any answer? What are these people accusing you of in their testimony?” 61 But he was silent and gave no answer. Again the chief priest questioned him, now saying to him, “Are you the anointed one, the son of the blessed one?”*172 62 And Iēsous said, “I am, and you’ll see the son of mankind sitting to the right of the power and coming with the clouds of the sky.”*173 63 Then the chief priest tore his tunic*174 and said, “Why do we need any more witnesses? 64 You’ve heard the blasphemy. What’s your decision?” And they all condemned him as deserving death.*175

  65 Then some began to spit on him and wrap up his head to hide his face,*176 and to punch him and say to him, “Give us a prophecy!” And the retainers took him and slapped him around.

  66 And while Petros was below in the courtyard, one of the chief priest’s slave girls came, 67 and, seeing him warming himself at the fire, she stared at him and said, “You too, you were with the Nazarēnos Iēsous.” 68 And he denied it, saying, “I don’t know or understand what you’re talking about.” And he went out into the forecourt. [Then the rooster crowed.]

  69 But the slave girl, looking at him, began saying again to the bystanders, “He’s one of them.” 70 And he denied it again. Then after a little while the bystanders in turn said to Petros, “It’s true, you’re one of them—in fact, you’re a Galilaian.” 71 And he began to curse, and to swear, “I don’t know this guy you’re talking about.”*177 72 And right after he’d spoken the rooster crowed a second time. And Petros remembered what Iēsous had told him: “Before the rooster crows twice, you’ll deny three times that you know me.” And he broke down and cried.

  Chapter 15

  1 And right at dawn, the high priests had a consultation with the elders and the scholars and the whole of the high council. Then they tied Iēsous up, led him away, and handed him over to Pilatos.*178

  2 And Pilatos questioned him, saying, “Are you the king of the Ioudaioi?”*179 And he answered by saying, “You say so.” 3 And the high priests made many accusations against him. 4 But Pilatos questioned him again, saying, “Don’t you have any answer? Look how many things they’re accusing you of!” 5 But Iēsous no longer gave any answer, and this surprised Pilatos.

  6 At the festival every year he released to them one prisoner they asked for.*180 7 Now, there was someone called Barabbas, being held in chains along with other insurrectionists who during the insurrection had committed murder.*181 8 So the crowd came up and proceeded to ask Pilatos to do what he usually did for them. 9 But Pilatos responded to them by saying, “Do you want me to release to you ‘the king of the Ioudaioi’?” 10 He in fact knew that the high priests had handed him over because of jealousy. 11 But the high priests stirred up the crowd to demand the release of Barabbas to themselves instead. 12 Then Pilatos, responding again, said to them, “So what [do you want] me to do with [the one you call] ‘the king of the Ioudaioi’?” 13 Then they yelled back, “Hang him on the stakes!”*182 14 But Pilatos said to them, “What’s he in fact done wrong?” But they yelled even louder, “Hang him on the stakes!”

  15 Now Pilatos, wishing to mollify the crowd, released Barabbas to them, had Iēsous flogged,*183 and handed him over to be hung on the stakes.

  16 The soldiers led Iēsous off into the palace, meaning the provincial government’s headquarters,*184 and they called together their whole cohort. 17 And they put a purple robe on him, and they wove a garland out of thorny branches and put it on him.*185 18 And they began to greet him: “Joy, king of the Ioudaioi!” 19 And they struck his head with a reed, and spat on him, and they knelt down and groveled before him. 20 And when they’d finished taunting him, they took off the purple robe and put his own clothes back on him.

  Then they led him out to hang him on the execution stakes. 21 And they commandeered a man passing by, Simōn, a Kurēnaios, who was coming in from the countryside, and who was the father of Alexandros and Roufos, to carry his stake.*186

  22 And they took him out to the place called Golgotha, which translates as “the Place of the Skull,”*187 23 and they tried to give him wine infused with myrrh.*188 But he wouldn’t take it. 24 And they hung him on the stakes, and they divided up his clothes, throwing lots for them to decide who would get what. 25 It was the third hour after dawn when they hung him on the stakes. 26 And a written sign*189 had the charge against him written on it:

  “The king of the Ioudaioi.”

  27 And along with him two bandits were hung on stakes,*190 one on his right and one on his side “with the blessed name.”*191

  29 And those who passed by on the road insulted him, shaking their heads and saying, “So much for you! Destroying the shrine and building it again in three days!*192 30 Come down off those stakes and rescue yourself.” 31 Similarly the high priests, along with the scholars, made fun of him among themselves, saying, “He saved other people, but he can’t save himself. 32 The anointed one, the king of Israēl, needs to come down from the stakes, so that we can see and believe.” And those who were hanging on stakes alongside him berated him.

  33 And when it was the sixth hour after dawn, there was darkness over the whole earth, and the darkness lasted until the ninth hour. 34 And at the ninth hour Iēsous shouted in a loud voice: “Elōi elōi, lema sabachthani?” The translation of this is “My god, my god, why have you abandoned me?”*193 35 And some of those standing near heard him and said, “Look, he’s calling Ēlias!” 36 Then someone ran [and] filled a sponge with vinegar, stuck a reed into it, and offered him a drink,*194 saying, “Let it be, all of you—we should see whether Ēlias comes to take him down.”*195 37 But Iēsous let out a loud cry and breathed his last.

  38 Then the curtain of the inner shrine split in two from top to bottom.*196 39 And when the centurion, who was standing facing him, saw how he breathed his last, he said, “Truly, this man was the son of god.”*197

  40 But there were also women watching from far off, among them Maria the Magdalēnē, Maria the mother of the younger Iakōbos and of Iōsēs, and Salōmē.
41 When he was in Galilaia they followed him and waited on him. And there were many other women who had come up with him to Hierosoluma.*198

  42 Soon enough, it was evening. Since it was the day of preparation, that is, before the sabbaton, 43 Iōsēf came from Arimathaia, a prominent member of the council,*199 and he himself was waiting for god’s kingdom. He dared to go in to Pilatos and ask him for the body of Iēsous. 44 But Pilatos was surprised that he was already dead. He called in the centurion and asked him if he’d been dead for some time now. 45 And when he learned from the centurion that this was the case, he granted the corpse to Iōsēf. 46 Then Iōsēf bought linen, and took Iēsous down and wrapped him in the linen and placed him in a tomb hewn out of solid rock and rolled a stone against the door of the tomb.*200 47 And Maria the Magdalēnē and Maria the mother of Iōsēs looked on and saw where he was placed.

  Chapter 16

  1 And when the sabbaton had passed, Maria the Magdalēnē, and Maria the mother of Iakōbos, and Salōmē bought aromatic spices so that they could go and rub them on him. 2 And very early on the first day of the sabbata week, they went to the tomb after the sun had risen.*201 3 And they said to each other, “Who’s going to roll away the stone from the door of the tomb for us?” 4 But when they looked up, they saw that the stone had been rolled away; yet it was very large.

  5 And when they went into the tomb, they saw a young man sitting on the right side of it, draped in a white robe, and they were stunned. 6 But he said to them, “Don’t be stunned. You’re looking for Iēsous the Nazarēnos, who was hung on the stakes. He’s awakened; he’s not here. See, this is the place where they laid him. 7 But be on your way, and tell his students, including Petros, that he’s going ahead of you into Galilaia: there you’ll see him, just as he told you.”

  8 Then they went bolting out of the tomb, convulsed and out of their minds with shock. But they said nothing to anyone, as they were terrified.

  [But to those around Petros they reported in a few words what they’d been instructed to report. And afterward Iēsous himself sent out through them, from the place the sun rises clear to where it sets, the sacred proclamation that never rots away, of rescue that lasts for all time. Amēn.]*202

  [9 Then he rose to his feet at dawn on the first day of the sabbaton week, and appeared first to Maria the Magdalēnē, from whom he’d expelled seven demons.*203 10 She went and brought the news to those who had been with him and were now mourning and crying. 11 But when they heard he was alive and had been seen by her, they didn’t believe it.

  12 But afterward he was seen in another form by two of them, as they were walking, on a journey to the countryside. 13 Then they went back and brought the news back to the others, who didn’t believe them either.

  14 [But] later he appeared to the eleven themselves as they were reclining at the table; and he berated them for their failure to trust and their calloused, thick-skinned hearts, because they hadn’t believed those who saw him after he awakened. 15 And he said to them, “Travel to the whole world and announce the good news to all that god made. 16 Whoever trusts and is baptized will be rescued; but whoever doesn’t trust will be condemned.*204 17 And these signs will go along with those who trust: by using my name they’ll expel demons; they’ll speak in languages unknown to them;*205 18 [and] they’ll lift up snakes [in their hands];*206 and if they drink anything deadly, it won’t hurt them at all; they’ll lay their hands on the sick, who will then get well.”

  19 So then the lord Iēsous, after he’d spoken to them, was taken up into the sky and sat at god’s right side. 20 And they went out and made the announcement everywhere, and the lord worked with them and confirmed the message by the signs that accompanied it.]

  Skip Notes

  *1 See the introduction, this page, on “son of god.” It is questionable whether the words are authentic here at the very beginning of the earliest Gospel.

  *2 Isaiah 40:3. The word for “wasteland” in Hebrew is literally “the place of speaking” (midbar). The Greek word used here for “wasteland” (erēmos) itself sounds as if it has a root for “asking” or “speaking” in it. This is a special Greek word for “tracks” (triboi), indicating that they are worn smooth, and evoking Isaiah’s special word for a broad, pleasant “highway” (mesillah) for the return of the exiles to their country.

  *3 The basic meaning of the Greek verb we translate as “baptize” is “dip,” and the verb is often used elsewhere for dyeing. In the Gospels the word describes Jewish ritual cleansing by immersion in water. It was a constant practice of the ascetic Essene sect, whose communities required it after toileting, but facilities for immersion were connected to the Temple too. John’s baptism apparently required fresh and visibly moving or “living” water, which had long-standing and important symbolism for blessing and renewal, as witnessed in many passages of the Hebrew Bible. Such baptism early on became the essential ritual for becoming a follower of Jesus.

  *4 John is near the center of pious Judaism, in the southern region Judah or Judea (confusingly, the entire Roman province also went by the latter name), containing the Jerusalem Temple, which had been the center of the ancient Southern Kingdom.

  *5 Galilee in hilly northeast Judea (the province, not the region around Jerusalem) was a recently rebellious backwater.

  *6 The dove was among acceptable temple sacrifices and could replace a larger beast as a “sin offering” by those of modest means. See “S/spirit” in the Glossary.

  *7 Similar language is used by God to Abraham concerning his son Isaac, in the command to sacrifice the boy (Genesis 22:2).

  *8 See Mark 6:14–29.

  *9 Compare Elisha following Elijah (1 Kings 19:19–21). The detail of the hired men may indicate that Jesus’ followers were not ordinary laborers but instead belonged to a class from which students could normally come.

  *10 Capernaum was a sizable fishing town on the northern shore of the Sea of Galilee.

  *11 See “scribe” in the Glossary.

  *12 If Jesus himself was married—which would have been expected for a Jewish man of his age at the time of his mission (he was about thirty, according to Luke 3:23)—it would not have been mentioned absent a special circumstance; Simon Peter’s marriage is alluded to only because of his mother-in-law’s healing. Custom prescribed that a young wife would stay at home to the extent possible, unnamed and unmentioned in public, at least until she had borne a child.

  *13 See Leviticus 13–14, which probably covers a variety of skin conditions, including the effects of Hansen’s disease, or leprosy.

  *14 Blasphemy, or outrageous speech about the divine, had stoning as punishment (Leviticus 24:13–16).

  *15 The wit of this retort may hang on the comparative length of the two commands, four words in Greek in the first, eight in the second.

  *16 Tax collectors are casually identified with the rest of the criminal class because their private contracts with the Roman Imperial government allowed them to extort and pocket additional sums.

  *17 See “scribe” in the Glossary. Along with Sadducees, Pharisees were an important Jewish sect during the time of the late Second Temple. The Pharisees, as predecessors of the rabbis, were mediators between the common people and authoritative Jewish tradition.

  *18 The Hebrew Bible has no rules for fasting, only showing through stories how it naturally suited certain occasions. Jesus uses metaphors of ill-matched items to criticize what he saw as forced and artificial fasting in his time.

  *19 1 Samuel 21:1–6. When David is on the run during a political emergency, he makes use of loaves that are placed as an offering to God, next to the Holy of Holies in the Tabernacle, to be eaten by priests only, after a fixed time.

  *20 Jesus’ point is that to do no work, the general rule for the Sabbath, can amount to taking a life—a violation o
f another of the Ten Commandments, of course. The Talmud explicitly allows exertion on the Sabbath to save human life.

  *21 These would likely be officials of Herod Antipas, a son of Herod the Great, who ruled Galilee at the time.

  *22 To his own region by the Sea of Galilee, Jesus draws an audience from the Jewish heartland, Judea, and from the capital and home of the Temple, Jerusalem. Idumea, to the south, below the Dead Sea, had converted to Judaism only after conquest led by the Hasmoneans in the second century B.C.E. Beyond the Jordan to the east was the Decapolis or “Ten Cities” area, an outpost of Greek and Roman culture. Tyre and Sidon were Phoenician cities, coastal and living off international trade, and maintaining a pagan religion repellent to traditional Jews.