Wednesday, August 19

⁴⁵Now from noon until three, darkness came over all the land. ⁴⁶At about three o’clock Jesus shouted with a loud voice, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” that is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” ⁴⁷When some of the bystanders heard it, they said, “This man is calling for Elijah.” ⁴⁸Immediately one of them ran and got a sponge, filled it with sour wine, put it on a stick, and gave it to him to drink. ⁴⁹But the rest said, “Leave him alone! Let’s see if Elijah will come to save him.” ⁵⁰Then Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and gave up his spirit. ⁵¹Just then the temple curtain was torn in two, from top to bottom. The earth shook and the rocks were split apart. ⁵²And tombs were opened, and the bodies of many saints who had died were raised. ⁵³(They came out of the tombs after his resurrection and went into the holy city and appeared to many people.) ⁵⁴Now when the centurion and those with him who were guarding Jesus saw the earthquake and what took place, they were extremely terrified and said, “Truly this one was God’s Son!” ⁵⁵Many women who had followed Jesus from Galilee and given him support were also there, watching from a distance. ⁵⁶Among them were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Joseph, and the mother of the sons of Zebedee.

⁵⁷Now when it was evening, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who was also a disciple of Jesus. ⁵⁸He went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Then Pilate ordered that it be given to him. ⁵⁹Joseph took the body, wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, ⁶⁰and placed it in his own new tomb that he had cut in the rock. Then he rolled a great stone across the entrance of the tomb and went away. ⁶¹(Now Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were sitting there, opposite the tomb.)

⁶²The next day (which is after the day of preparation) the chief priests and the Pharisees assembled before Pilate ⁶³and said, “Sir, we remember that while that deceiver was still alive he said, ‘After three days I will rise again.’ ⁶⁴So give orders to secure the tomb until the third day. Otherwise his disciples may come and steal his body and say to the people, ‘He has been raised from the dead,’ and the last deception will be worse than the first.” ⁶⁵Pilate said to them, “Take a guard of soldiers. Go and make it as secure as you can.” ⁶⁶So they went with the soldiers of the guard and made the tomb secure by sealing the stone.