Before the procession the Gospel of the Entry into Jerusalem is read from Mark 11:1-10.
The first reading, responsorial psalm and second reading are from Year A.
The Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ according to Mark (14:1 – 15:47)
It was two days before the Passover and the feast of Unleavened Bread, and the chief priests and the scribes were looking for a way to arrest Jesus by some trick and kill him. For they said, ‘Not during the feast, or there may be a disturbance among the people.’
When he was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, while he was at table a woman came in with an alabaster jar of very costly ointment, pure nard. She broke the jar and poured the ointment on his head. There were some who said to one another indignantly, ‘Why has this waste of ointment happened? This ointment could have been sold for over three hundred denarii and the money given to the poor’; and they were angry with her. But Jesus said, ‘Leave her alone. Why are you upsetting her? She has done me a good service. You have the poor with you always, and you can benefit them whenever you wish, but me you will not always have. She has done what she could: she has anointed my body beforehand for its burial. Amen I say to you, wherever throughout all the world the gospel is proclaimed, what she has done will also be told, in remembrance of her.’
Judas Iscariot, one of the Twelve, went off to the chief priests so that he might hand Jesus over to them. Hearing it, they were delighted, and promised to give him money; and he began to look for a way of betraying him at an opportune time.
On the first day of Unleavened Bread, when they used to sacrifice the Passover lamb, his disciples said to him, ‘Where do you want us to go and make the preparations for you to eat the Passover?’ So he sent two of his disciples, saying to them, ‘Go into the city and someone will meet you carrying a pitcher of water. Follow him, and wherever he enters say to the owner of the house, “The teacher says: Where is the room where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?” He will show you a large upper room ready set out. Make the preparations for us there.’ The disciples set out and went to the city and found everything as he had told them, and prepared the Passover.
When evening came he arrived with the Twelve. And while they were at table eating, Jesus said, ‘Amen I say to you, one of you is about to betray me, one of you eating with me.’ They were distressed and said to him, one after another, ‘Not me, surely?’ He said to them, ‘It is one of the Twelve, one who is dipping into the same dish with me. For the Son of man is going to his fate, as it is written about him, but alas for that man by whom the Son of man is betrayed! Better for that man if he had never been born.’
And as they were eating he took bread, and when he had said the blessing he broke it, gave it to them and said, ‘Take it, this is my body.’ Then taking a cup, after giving thanks he gave it to them, and all drank from it, and he said to them, ‘This is my blood of the covenant, poured out for many. Amen I say to you, I shall never again drink wine until that day when I drink new wine in the kingdom of God.’
Having sung the psalms they left for the Mount of Olives. And Jesus said to them, ‘You will all fall away, for it is written: I shall strike the shepherd and the sheep will be scattered; however, after I have been raised up I shall go before you into Galilee.’ Peter said, ‘Even if all fall away, I will not.’ And Jesus said to him, ‘Amen I say to you, today, this very night, before the cock crows twice, you will deny me three times.’ But he repeated still more strongly, ‘Even if I have to die with you, I will never deny you.’ And they all said the same.
They came to a plot of land called Gethsemane, and he said to his disciples, ‘Sit here while I pray.’ Then he took Peter and James and John with him. And he began to feel dismay and anguish. And he said to them, ‘My soul is deeply sorrowful to the point of death. Wait here, and stay awake.’ And going on a little further he began falling to the ground and prayed that, if it were possible, this hour might pass away from him. And he said, ‘Abba, Father! For you everything is possible. Take this cup away from me. Yet not what I want but what you want.’ He came and found them sleeping, and he said to Peter, ‘Simon, are you asleep? Had you not the strength to stay awake one hour? Stay awake and pray not to enter into temptation. The spirit is eager, but flesh is weak.’ Again he went away and prayed, saying the same words. And once more he came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were weighed down; and they did not know how they should answer him. He came a third time and said to them, ‘Sleep on and have your rest. Enough! The hour has come. See, the Son of man is being betrayed into the hands of sinners. Get up! Let us go! See, my betrayer is not far away.’
And at once, while he was still speaking, Judas, one of the Twelve, came up, and with him a crowd with swords and clubs from the chief priests and the scribes and the elders. Now the traitor had arranged a sign with them saying, ‘The one I will kiss, he is the man. Take charge of him, and lead him away securely.’ So when he came, he went up to Jesus at once and said, ‘Rabbi!’ and kissed him. The others laid hands on him and took charge of him. Then one of the bystanders drew his sword and struck out at the high priest’s servant and cut off his ear.
Then Jesus replied saying, ‘Have you come out with swords and clubs to capture me as though I were a bandit? Day by day I was among you teaching in the Temple and you did not lay hands on me. But let the scriptures be fulfilled.’ And they all deserted him and fled. A young man was following him with nothing on but a linen cloth. They caught hold of him, but he left the cloth behind and fled naked.
They led Jesus off to the high priest; and all the chief priests and the elders and the scribes assembled. Peter had followed him at a distance, right into the courtyard of the high priest, and was sitting with the attendants warming himself at the fire.
The chief priests and the whole council were looking for evidence against Jesus in order to put him to death. But they could not find any, for many gave false evidence against him, but their evidence did not agree. Some stood up and gave this false evidence against him, ‘We heard him say, “I will destroy this Temple made by human hands, and in three days build another, not made by human hands.” ’ But even so their evidence did not agree. The high priest then stood up before the whole council and questioned Jesus saying, ‘Have you no answer at all to the evidence they are bringing against you?’ But he was silent and made no answer at all. Again the high priest questioned him saying, ‘Are you the Messiah, the Son of the Blessed One?’ Jesus said, ‘I am; and you will see the Son of man seated at the right hand of the Power and coming with the clouds of heaven.’ Then the high priest tore his clothes and said, ‘Why do we still need witnesses? You heard the blasphemy. What is your opinion?’ They all condemned him as deserving death.
Some of them started to spit at him, cover his face, buffet him and say ‘Prophesy!’ And the attendants took him over, slapping him in the face.
While Peter was down below in the courtyard, one of the high priest’s servant-girls came up. She saw Peter warming himself there, she stared at him and said, ‘You were with Jesus, the man from Nazareth, too.’ But he denied it saying, ‘I do not know, and do not understand what you are talking about.’ And he went out into the forecourt, and a cock crowed. And seeing him the servant-girl again started saying to the bystanders, ‘This man is one of them.’ But again he denied it. A little later the bystanders themselves said to Peter, ‘You certainly are one of them! You are a Galilean too.’ But he started cursing and swearing, ‘I do not know this man you are talking about.’ And at once the cock crowed for the second time, and Peter recalled how Jesus had said to him, ‘Before the cock crows twice, you will deny me three times.’ And he burst into tears.
And at once in the morning, the chief priests, together with the elders and scribes and the rest of the assembly, having prepared a plan and bound Jesus, took him off and handed him over to Pilate. Pilate asked him, ‘Are you the king of the Jews?’ He replied, ‘You say so.’ And the chief priests brought many accusations against him. Pilate questioned him again, ‘Do you make no reply at all? See how many accusations they are bringing against you!’ But Jesus made no further reply, so that Pilate was amazed.
At festival time Pilate used to release a prisoner for them, any one they asked for. Now someone called Barabbas was then in prison with the rebels who had committed murder during the uprising. When the crowd went up and began to ask Pilate to do the customary favour for them, Pilate answered them, ‘Do you want me to release for you the king of the Jews?’ For he realised it was out of spite that the chief priests had handed Jesus over. The chief priests, however, stirred up the crowd so that he should release Barabbas for them instead. Then Pilate spoke to them again, ‘What, then, am I to do with the man you call king of the Jews?’ They shouted back, ‘Crucify him!’ Pilate asked them, ‘What evil has he done?’ But they shouted all the more, ‘Crucify him!’ So Pilate, anxious to satisfy the crowd, released Barabbas for them and, after having Jesus scourged, handed him over to be crucified.
The soldiers led him away to the inner part of the palace, that is, the Praetorium, and called the whole cohort together. They clothed him in purple, twisted some thorns into a crown and put it on him. And they began saluting him, ‘Hail, king of the Jews!’ They struck his head with a reed and spat on him; and kneeling down they worshipped him. And when they had mocked him, they took off the purple, dressed him in his own clothes and led him out to crucify him.
They enlisted a passer-by, Simon of Cyrene, father of Alexander and Rufus, who was coming from the country, to carry his cross. They brought Jesus to the place called Golgotha, which means the place of the skull.
They offered him wine mixed with myrrh, but he did not take it. Then they crucified him, and shared out his clothes by casting lots to decide what each should take. It was mid-morning when they crucified him. The inscription of the charge against him read, ‘The King of the Jews’. And they crucified two bandits with him, one on his right and one on his left. The passers-by jeered at him, shaking their heads and saying, ‘Aha! You who destroy the Temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself! Come down from the cross!’ The chief priests and the scribes mocked him among themselves in the same way saying, ‘He saved others, he cannot save himself. Let the Messiah, the king of Israel, come down from the cross now, so that we may see it and believe.’ Those who were crucified with him also taunted him.
When noon came there was darkness over the whole land until mid-afternoon. And at that time Jesus cried out in a loud voice, ‘Eloi, eloi, lama sabachthani?’ which means, ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’ When some of the bystanders heard, they said, ‘Listen, he is calling Elijah.’ And someone ran and soaked a sponge in vinegar and, putting it on a stick, gave it to him to drink saying, ‘Wait! Let us see if Elijah comes to take him down.’ But Jesus let out a loud cry and breathed his last. And the curtain of the Temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The centurion, who was standing opposite him, seeing that he had breathed his last, said, ‘In truth this man was Son of God.’
There were some women watching from a distance. Among them were Mary of Magdala, Mary who was the mother of James the younger and Joset, and Salome. These used to follow him and look after him when he was in Galilee. And many other women were there who had come up to Jerusalem with him.
Now as soon as evening came, since it was Preparation Day – that is, the day before the Sabbath – Joseph of Arimathaea, a respected member of the council, who was himself awaiting the kingdom of God, went boldly to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Pilate, surprised if he was already dead, summoned the centurion and asked if he had been long dead. Having been assured of this by the centurion, he granted the corpse to Joseph. Joseph bought a linen cloth, and taking him down from the cross, wrapped him in the shroud, laid him in a tomb which had been hewn out of the rock and rolled a stone against the doorway of the tomb. Mary of Magdala and Mary the mother of Joset were watching where he was laid.
The story of the death of Jesus in the Gospel of Mark is the earliest account. These final chapters of the gospel contain in narrative form what is the essence of Christian preaching: the death and resurrection of Christ. The whole gospel of Mark leads to this climax. Jesus journeys just once to Jerusalem, the place of his martyrdom, and on the way speaks starkly about what he foresees to the shocked disciples. In Gethsemane Mark describes Jesus as feeling ‘dismay and anguish’, while the disciples sleep. When the crowd arrives to arrest Jesus, the disciples flee, joined by a young man wrapped in a ‘linen cloth’. As false accusations are brought against Jesus, Peter equally falsely denies Jesus three times with increasing vehemence. Pilate is amazed at the silence of Jesus. Eventually, in order to ‘satisfy the crowd’, and for his own political ends, he hands Jesus over to be crucified. The scene described on Golgotha is stark, as Jesus is derided by the passers-by, by the chief priests and scribes, and by both of the two bandits crucified with him. His words from the cross are the poignant beginning of Psalm 22: ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’ As in the other synoptic gospels it is the centurion who after his death makes a declaration of faith in Jesus. Mark stresses that at his burial the women ‘were watching where he was laid’.
The story of the Passion is the climax of the gospel.
Pray for those who use religion for violence and domination.