Jesus knew that his time on earth was coming to an end. He had come for a mission: to save humanity from sin. And now the moment had come to complete it.

On the night before he died, Jesus was with his disciples, celebrating the Jewish Passover. It was on that night that he instituted something new and wonderful: the Eucharist.

Jesus took the bread, blessed it, broke it, and gave it to the disciples, saying:

Then he took the cup of wine and said:

Jesus was saying that his body would be given up and his blood poured out. He was going to die for us.

After the supper, Jesus went with his disciples to the Garden of Gethsemane to pray. He knew what was about to happen, and he felt a deep anguish. He prayed to the Father:

Jesus did not want to suffer. He was human, and he felt fear and anguish just as we do. But he chose to obey the Father, whatever it might cost. His anguish was so great that his sweat became like drops of blood falling to the ground. The disciples, worn out, were sleeping, and Jesus prayed alone in the night.

While Jesus was still praying, Judas Iscariot arrived, one of the twelve disciples, bringing a crowd with swords and clubs. Judas had betrayed Jesus for thirty pieces of silver, and had arranged a signal with the soldiers: the one he kissed was the one they should arrest.

Judas came up to Jesus, said "Hail, Master," and kissed him. A kiss of betrayal.

"Judas," said Jesus, "do you betray the Son of Man with a kiss?"

Then they arrested Jesus. Peter tried to defend him with a sword, but Jesus told him to put it away. He wanted no violence; he was giving himself up of his own free will.

They took Jesus first to Annas, then to Caiaphas, the high priest, where they accused him falsely.

"Are you the Christ, the Son of God?" Caiaphas asked.

"I am," Jesus answered.

Caiaphas tore his own robes and cried out that this was blasphemy. They condemned Jesus to death for telling the truth: that he was the Son of God. They spat on him, struck him, and mocked him. The Son of God was humiliated and mistreated, and he bore it all in silence.

Meanwhile, in the courtyard, Peter, who had sworn never to abandon Jesus, denied knowing him three times, out of fear. When he realized what he had done, he went out and wept bitterly.

In the morning, they took Jesus to Pilate, the Roman governor, because only the Romans could condemn someone to death.

Pilate questioned Jesus and found no crime at all. He told the crowd he found no fault in him. But the religious leaders stirred the people up to shout, "Crucify him!" Pilate tried to release Jesus, but the crowd would not have it. Afraid of a riot, he had Jesus scourged and then handed him over to be crucified.

The soldiers mocked Jesus. They dressed him in a red cloak, set a crown made of thorns on his head, and said, laughing, "Hail, king of the Jews."

They made Jesus carry his own cross to a place called Golgotha, which means "the place of the skull". Weakened, Jesus fell beneath the weight of the cross, and the soldiers forced a man named Simon of Cyrene to help him.

Women of Jerusalem wept for him. Jesus turned and said:

"Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me. Weep for yourselves and for your children."

They reached Golgotha, and there they crucified Jesus between two thieves, one on each side. As they nailed him to the cross, he prayed:

Even in his suffering, Jesus prayed for those who were hurting him. What extraordinary love.

On the cross, above Jesus' head, they placed a sign: "Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews". The people passing by mocked him, saying that he had saved others and could not save himself.

One of the thieves mocked him too, but the other defended Jesus and asked humbly:

"Lord, remember me when you come into your kingdom."

Jesus answered:

Even on the cross, Jesus went on saving.

Nearby stood Mary, the mother of Jesus, and John, the beloved disciple. Jesus said to Mary, "Woman, behold thy son," and to John, "Behold thy mother." To the very end, he was caring for his mother.

From noon until three in the afternoon, darkness fell over all the land, as if nature itself were in mourning. Near three o'clock, Jesus cried out in a loud voice:

They were the words of an ancient psalm, Psalm 22. Jesus was praying in the midst of his pain, carrying upon himself the whole weight of our sins.

Then he said, "I thirst," and they gave him vinegar. Then he said, "It is finished." His mission was complete. And at last, with a strong voice, he cried:

And bowing his head, he gave up his spirit. Jesus died.

At that moment, the veil of the Temple, the thick curtain that closed off the holiest place of all, was torn from top to bottom. The way to God stood open for everyone. The earth shook, and the rocks split apart.

The Roman centurion guarding the cross, seeing all this, exclaimed:

A good man named Joseph of Arimathea asked Pilate for the body of Jesus. With Nicodemus, he took Jesus down from the cross, wrapped his body in linen cloths with fragrant spices, and laid him in a new tomb, carved into the rock. Then they rolled a great stone across the entrance.

There the body of Jesus lay, in silence. The disciples were heartbroken. Their Master was dead, and all their hopes seemed to have died with him.

But this was not the end of the story.

The crucifixion of Jesus is the saddest story, but also the most important. Jesus loved the world so much that he gave up his own life to save us. He could have come down from the cross, but he did not, because he loved us too much to leave us lost.