Eyewitness

John at the prison-island called Patmos

Jesus loved the student John like a dear brother.   All the other disciples became martyrs, but John died a natural death as an old man.  But also John had to live through tribulations and later several prisons.

What did really happen after Jesus was sentenced to death?   John was eyewitness to it all.  John has left us the gospel according to an eyewitness:

The Crucifixion

So the soldiers took Jesus. He carried his own cross and went out of the city to a location called The Skull. (In Hebrew this place is called Golgotha.) The soldiers crucified Jesus and two other men there. Jesus was in the middle.

Pilate wrote a notice and put it on the cross. The notice read, “Jesus from Nazareth, the king of the Jews.” Many Jews read this notice, because the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city. The notice was written in Hebrew, Latin, and Greek.

The chief priests of the Jewish people told Pilate, “Don’t write, ‘The king of the Jews!’ Instead, write, ‘He said that he is the king of the Jews.’”

Pilate replied, “I have written what I’ve written.”

When the soldiers had crucified Jesus, they took his clothes and divided them four ways so that each soldier could have a share. His robe was left over. It didn’t have a seam because it had been woven in one piece from top to bottom. The soldiers said to each other, “Let’s not rip it apart. Let’s throw dice to see who will get it.” In this way the Scripture came true: “They divided my clothes among themselves. They threw dice for my clothing.” So that’s what the soldiers did.

Jesus’ mother, her sister, Mary (the wife of Clopas), and Mary from Magdala were standing beside Jesus’ cross. Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom He loved standing there. He said to his mother, “Look, here’s your son!” Then he said to the disciple, “Look, here’s your mother!” From that time on she lived with that disciple in his home.

 

John and Mary, eyewitnesses.

 

Jesus Dies on the Cross

After this, when Jesus knew that everything had now been finished, he said, “I’m thirsty.” He said this so that Scripture could finally be concluded.

A jar filled with vinegar was there. So the soldiers put a sponge soaked in the vinegar on a hyssop stick and held it to his mouth.

After Jesus had taken the vinegar, he said, “It is finished!”

Then he bowed his head and died.

Since it was Friday and the next day was an especially important day of worship, the Jews didn’t want the bodies to stay on the crosses. So they asked Pilate to have the men’s legs broken and their bodies removed. The soldiers broke the legs of the first man and then of the other man who had been crucified with Jesus.

When the soldiers came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they didn’t break his legs. However, one of the soldiers stabbed Jesus’ side with his spear, and blood and water immediately came out. The one who saw this is an eyewitness. What he says is true, and he knows that he is telling the truth so that you, too, will believe.

This happened so that the Scripture would come true: “None of his bones will be broken.” Another Scripture passage says, “They will look at the person whom they have stabbed.”

Jesus Is Placed in a Tomb

Later Joseph from the city of Arimathea asked Pilate to let him remove Jesus’ body. (Joseph was a disciple of Jesus but secretly because he was afraid of the Jews). Pilate gave him permission to remove Jesus’ body. So Joseph removed it. Nicodemus, the one who had first come to Jesus at night, went with Joseph and brought 75 pounds of a myrrh and aloe mixture.

These two men took the body of Jesus and bound it with strips of linen. They laced the strips with spices. This was the Jewish custom for burial.

A garden was located in the place where Jesus was crucified. In that garden was a new tomb in which no one had yet been placed. Joseph and Nicodemus put Jesus in that tomb, since that day was the Jewish day of preparation and since the tomb was nearby.

 

Jesus Comes Back to Life

Early on Sunday morning, while it was still dark, Mary from Magdala went to the tomb. She saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb’s entrance. So she ran to Simon Peter and the other disciple, whom Jesus loved. She told them, “They have removed the Lord from the tomb, and we don’t know where they’ve put him.”

So Peter and the other disciple headed for the tomb. The two were running side by side, but the other disciple ran faster than Peter and came to the tomb first. He bent over and looked inside the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there but didn’t go inside.

Simon Peter arrived after him and went into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there. He also saw the cloth that had been on Jesus’ head. It wasn’t lying with the strips of linen but was rolled up separately. Then the other disciple, who arrived at the tomb first, went inside. He saw and believed. They didn’t know yet what Scripture meant when it said that Jesus had to come back to life. So the disciples went back home.

Jesus Appears to Mary from Magdala

Mary, however, stood there and cried as she looked at the tomb. As she cried, she bent over and looked inside. She saw two angels in white clothes. They were sitting where the body of Jesus had been lying. One angel was where Jesus’ head had been, and the other was where his feet had been. The angels asked her why she was crying.

Mary told them, “They have removed my Lord, and I don’t know where they’ve put him.”

After she said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there. However, she didn’t know that it was Jesus. Jesus asked her, “Why are you crying? Who are you looking for?”

Mary thought it was the gardener speaking to her. So she said to him, “Sir, if you carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I’ll remove him.”

Jesus said to her, “Mary!”

Mary turned around and said to him in Hebrew, “Rabboni!” (This word means “teacher.”)

Jesus told her, “Don’t hold on to me. I have not yet gone to the Father. But go to my brothers and sisters and tell them, ‘I am going to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”

Mary from Magdala went to the disciples and told them, “I have seen the Lord.” She also told them what he had said to her.

Jesus Appears to the Disciples

That Sunday evening, the disciples were together behind locked doors because they were afraid of the Jews. Jesus stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you!” When he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. The disciples were glad to see the Lord.

Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, so I am sending you.” After he had said this, he breathed on the disciples and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. Whenever you forgive sins, they are forgiven. Whenever you don’t forgive them, they are not forgiven.”

Jesus Appears to Thomas

Thomas, one of the twelve apostles, who was called Didymus, wasn’t with them when Jesus came. The other disciples told him, “We’ve seen the Lord.”

Thomas told them, “I refuse to believe this unless I see the nail marks in his hands, put my fingers into them, and put my hand into his side.”

A week later Jesus’ disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. Even though the doors were locked, Jesus stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” Then Jesus said to Thomas, “Put your finger here, and look at my hands. Take your hand, and put it into my side. Stop doubting, and believe.”

Thomas responded to Jesus, “My Lord and my God!”

Jesus said to Thomas, “You believe because you’ve seen me. Blessed are those who haven’t seen me but believe.”

Jesus performed many other miracles that his disciples saw. Those miracles are not written in this book. But these miracles have been written so that you will believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and so that you will have life by believing in him.

Copied from the Gospel according to John, God’s Word translation.