Passion Sunday (B)

Official Translation

Reading 1 – Isaiah 50.4-7

The Lord God has given me
a well-trained tongue,
that I may know how
to sustain with words him who is weary.
Morning after morning,
he has opened my ear to hear,
and I was not rebellious,
neither turned away backward.

I gave my back to the strikers,
and my cheeks to those who plucked my beard;
I did not hide my face from shame and spitting.
For the Lord God will help me;
therefore I have not been confounded:
therefore have I set my face like a flint,
and I know that I shall not be disappointed.

Responsorial – Psalm 22.8-9, 17-18, 19-20, 23-24 Resp. 2a

R. My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

All those who see me mock me.
They insult me with their lips. They shake their heads, saying,
“He trusts in the Lord; let him deliver him.
Let him rescue him, since he delights in him.”

R. My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

For dogs have surrounded me.
A company of evildoers have enclosed me.
They have pierced my hands and feet.
I can count all of my bones.

R. My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

They divide my garments among them.
They cast lots for my clothing.
But you, be not far off, O Lord.
You are my help: hasten to help me.

R. My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

I will declare your name to my brothers.
Among the assembly, I will praise you.
You who fear the Lord, praise him!
All you descendants of Jacob, glorify him!
Stand in awe of him, all you descendants of Israel!

R. My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

Reading 2 – Philippians 2.6-11

Christ Jesus,
though existing in the form of God,
did not consider equality with God something to be grasped.
Rather, he emptied himself, taking the form of a slave,
being made in the likeness of humans.
And being found in human form,
he humbled himself, becoming obedient to death,
yes, the death of the cross.

Therefore God also highly exalted him,
and gave to him the name which is above every name;
that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
of those in heaven, those on earth, and those under the earth,
and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord
to the glory of God the Father.


Gospel – Mark 14.1-15.47

It was now two days before the feast of
the Passover and the unleavened bread,
and the chief priests and the scribes
were seeking a way that
they might seize him by deception,
and kill him.
They said,
“Not during the feast,
because there might be a riot of the people.”

While he was at Bethany,
in the house of Simon the leper,
as he sat at the table,
a woman came with
an alabaster jar of ointment
of very expensive pure nard.
She broke the jar, and poured it over his head.
But there were some who
were indignant among themselves, saying,
“Why has this ointment been wasted?
For this might have been sold
for more than three hundred denarii,
and given to the poor.”
They grumbled against her.

But Jesus said, “Leave her alone.
Why do you trouble her?
She has done a good work for me.
For you always have the poor with you,
and whenever you want to,
you can do them good;
but you will not always have me.
She has done what she could.
She has anointed my body
beforehand for the burying.
Amen I say to you,
wherever this Gospel may be preached
throughout the whole world,
what this woman has done
will also be spoken of
in memory of her.”

Judas Iscariot, who was one of the twelve,
went away to the chief priests,
that he might hand him over to them.
When they heard it, they were glad,
and promised to give him money.
He was seeking a way to
conveniently hand him over.

On the first day of unleavened bread,
when they sacrificed the Passover,
his disciples asked him,
“Where do you want us to go
and prepare that you may eat the Passover?”
He sent two of his disciples, and said to them,
“Go into the city, and there you will
meet a human carrying a pitcher of water.
Follow them, and wherever they enter in,
tell the master of the house,
‘The Teacher says,
“Where is the guest room,
where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?”’
He will himself show you a large upper room
furnished and ready. Get ready for us there.”
His disciples went out, and came into the city,
and found things as he had said to them,
and they prepared the Passover.

When it was evening he came with the twelve.
As they sat and were eating,
Jesus said, “Amen I say to you,
one of you will betray me—he who eats with me.”
They began to be anxious,
and to ask him one by one,
“Surely not I?” And another said, “Surely not I?”
He answered them, “It is one of the Twelve,
One who dips with me in the dish.
For the Son of Human goes,
even as it is written about him,
but woe to the human by whom
the Son of Human is betrayed!
It would be better for that human
if he had not been conceived.”

As they were eating, he took bread,
and when he had blessed,
he broke it, and gave to them, and said,
“Take; this is my body.”
He took a cup,
and when he had given thanks,
he gave it to them.
They all drank of it.
He said to them,
“This is my blood of the new covenant,
which is poured out for many.
Amen I say to you,
I will no longer drink of the fruit of the vine,
until that day when I drink it new
in the Kingdom of God.”

When they had sung a hymn,
they went out to the Mount of Olives.

Jesus said to them,
“All of you will be scandalized
because of me tonight, for it is written,
‘I will strike the shepherd,
and the sheep will be scattered.’
However, after I am raised up,
I will go before you into Galilee.”

But Peter said to him,
“Although all will be scandalized, yet I will not.”

Jesus said to him, “Amen I say to you,
that you today, this very night,
before the rooster crows twice,
you will deny me three times.”

But he spoke all the more,
“Though I must die with you,
I will not deny you.”
They all said the same thing.

They came to a place which was named Gethsemane.
He said to his disciples, “Sit here, while I pray.”
He took with him Peter, James, and John,
and began to be greatly troubled and distressed.
He said to them,
“My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death.
Stay here, and watch.”

He went forward a little, and fell on the ground,
and prayed that, if it were possible,
the hour might pass away from him.
He said, “Abba, Father, all things are possible to you.
Please remove this cup from me.
However, not what I desire, but what you desire.”

He came and found them sleeping, and said to Peter,
“Simon, are you sleeping? Could you not watch one hour?
Watch and pray, that you may not enter into temptation.
The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.”

Again he went away, and prayed, saying the same words.
Again he returned, and found them sleeping,
for their eyes were very heavy,
and they did not know what to answer him.
He came the third time, and said to them,
“Do you still sleep and take your rest? It is enough.
The hour has come.
Behold, the Son of Man is betrayed
into the hands of sinners.
Arise, let us be going.
Behold, he who betrays me is at hand.”

Immediately, while he was still speaking,
Judas, one of the twelve, came,
and with him a crowd with swords and clubs,
from the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders.
Now he who betrayed him had given them a sign, saying,
“Whomever I will kiss, that is he.
Seize him, and lead him away safely.”
When he had come,
immediately he came to him, and said,
“Rabbi! Rabbi!” and kissed him.
They laid their hands on him, and seized him.
But a certain one of those who stood by drew his sword,
and struck the servant of the high priest, and cut off his ear.

Jesus answered them,
“Have you come out, as against a robber,
with swords and clubs to seize me?
I was daily with you in the temple teaching,
and you did not arrest me.
But this is so that the Scriptures might be fulfilled.”
They all left him, and fled.

A certain young man followed him,
having a linen cloth thrown around himself,
over his nakedness.
They grabbed him,
but he left the linen cloth,
and fled from them naked.

They led Jesus away to the high priest.
All the chief priests, the elders, and the scribes
gathered together with him.

Peter had followed him from a distance,
until he came into the court of the high priest.
He was sitting with the officers,
and warming himself in the light of the fire.

Now the chief priests and the whole council
sought witnesses against Jesus to put him to death,
and found none.
For many gave false testimony against him,
and their testimony did not agree.
Some stood up, and gave false testimony against him, saying,
“We heard him say, ‘I will destroy this temple
that is made with hands,
and in three days I will build another
made without hands.’”
Even so, their testimony did not agree.

The high priest stood up in the middle, and asked Jesus,
“Have you no answer?
What is it which they testify against you?”
But he stayed quiet, and answered nothing.
Again the high priest asked him,
“Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?”
Jesus said, “I am.
You will see the Son of Human
sitting at the right hand of Power,
and coming with the clouds of the sky.”
The high priest tore his clothes, and said,
“What further need have we of witnesses?
You have heard the blasphemy! What do you think?”
They all condemned him to be worthy of death.
Some began to spit on him, and to cover his face,
and to beat him with fists,
and to tell him: “Prophesy!”
The officers struck him with the palms of their hands.

As Peter was in the courtyard below,
one of the maids of the high priest came,
and seeing Peter warming himself,
she looked at him, and said,
“You were also with the Nazarene, Jesus!”
But he denied it, saying,
“I neither know, nor understand what you are saying.”
He went out on the porch, and the rooster crowed.
The maid saw him, and began again to tell those who stood by,
“This is one of them.”
But he again denied it.
After a little while again those who stood by said to Peter,
“You truly are one of them, for you are a Galilean.”
But he began to curse, and to swear,
“I do not know this man of whom you speak!”
The rooster crowed the second time.
Peter remembered the word, how that Jesus said to him,
“Before the rooster crows twice,
you will deny me three times.”
He broke down and wept.

Immediately in the morning the chief priests,
with the elders and scribes, and the whole council,
held a consultation, and bound Jesus,
and carried him away, and delivered him up to Pilate.

Pilate asked him, “Are you the King of the Jews?”
He answered, “So you say.”
The chief priests accused him of many things.
Pilate again asked him, “Have you no answer?
See how many things they testify against you!”
But Jesus made no further answer, so that Pilate marveled.

Now at the feast he used to release to them one prisoner,
whom they asked of him.
There was one called Barabbas,
bound with those who had made insurrection,
men who in the insurrection had committed murder.
The crowd, crying aloud,
began to ask him to do as he always did for them.
Pilate answered them, saying,
“Do you want me to release to you the King of the Jews?”
For he perceived that it was because of envy
that the chief priests had delivered him up.
But the chief priests stirred up the crowd,
that he should release Barabbas to them instead.

Pilate again asked them,
“What then should I do to him
whom you call the King of the Jews?”
They cried out again, “Crucify him!”
Pilate said to them, “Why, what evil has he done?”
But they cried out exceedingly, “Crucify him!”
Pilate, wishing to please the crowd,
released Barabbas to them,
and handed over Jesus, when he had flogged him, to be crucified.

The soldiers led him away within the court,
which is the Praetorium;
and they called together the whole cohort.
They clothed him with purple,
and weaving a crown of thorns,
they put it on him.
They began to salute him, “Hail, King of the Jews!”
They struck his head with a reed, and spat on him,
and bowing their knees, did homage to him.
When they had mocked him, they took the purple off of him,
and put his own garments on him.
They led him out to crucify him.

They compelled one passerby, coming from the country,
Simon of Cyrene, the father of Alexander and Rufus,
to go with them, that he might bear his cross.
They brought him to the place called Golgotha,
which is translated “The place of a skull.”
They offered him wine mixed with myrrh to drink,
but he did not take it.
Crucifying him, they parted his garments among them,
casting lots on them, what each should take.
It was the third hour, and they crucified him.

The superscription of his accusation was written over him:
“THE KING OF THE JEWS.”
With him they crucified two robbers;
one on his right hand, and one on his left.
Those who passed by blasphemed him,
wagging their heads, and saying,
“Ha! You who would destroy the temple,
and build it in three days,
save yourself, and come down from the cross!”
Likewise, also the chief priests
mocking among themselves with the scribes said,
“He saved others. He cannot save himself.
Let the Christ, the King of Israel,
now come down from the cross,
that we may see and believe him.”
Those who were crucified with him insulted him.

When the sixth hour had come,
there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour.
At the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying,
“Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?” which is translated,
“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
Some of those who stood by,
when they heard it, said, “Behold, he is calling Elijah.”
One ran, and filling a sponge full of vinegar, put it on a reed,
and gave it to him to drink, saying,
“Wait. Let us see whether Elijah comes to take him down.”

Jesus cried out with a loud voice, and gave up the spirit.
The veil of the temple was torn in two
from the top to the bottom.
When the centurion, who stood by opposite him,
saw that he cried out like this and breathed his last, he said,
“Truly this human was the Son of God!”

There were also women watching from afar,
among whom were Mary Magdalene,
and Mary the mother of James the younger and of Joses, and Salome;
They, when he was in Galilee, followed him, and served him;
and there were many other women who came up with him to Jerusalem.
When evening had now come,
because it was the Preparation Day,
that is, the day before the Sabbath,

Joseph of Arimathaea, a prominent council member
who also himself was looking for the Kingdom of God, came.
He boldly went in to Pilate, and asked for Jesus’ body.
Pilate marveled if he were already dead;
and summoning the centurion,
he asked him whether he had already died.
When he found out from the centurion,
he granted the body to Joseph.
He bought a linen cloth, and taking him down,
wound him in the linen cloth,
and laid him in a tomb which had been cut out of a rock.
He rolled a stone against the door of the tomb.
Mary Magdalene and Mary, the mother of Joses, saw where he was laid.