The Readings for Palm/ Passion Sunday 2015

First Reading: Isaiah 50:4–9a

⁴The Lord GOD has given me

the tongue of a teacher, 

that I may know how to sustain

the weary with a word.

Morning by morning he wakens — 

wakens my ear

to listen as those who are taught.

  ⁵The Lord GOD has opened my ear,

and I was not rebellious,

I did not turn backward.

  ⁶I gave my back to those who struck me,

and my cheeks to those who pulled out the beard;

I did not hide my face

from insult and spitting.

  ⁷The Lord GOD helps me;

therefore I have not been disgraced;

therefore I have set my face like flint,

and I know that I shall not be put to shame;

  ⁸he who vindicates me is near.

Who will contend with me?

Let us stand up together.

Who are my adversaries?

Let them confront me.

  ⁹It is the Lord GOD who helps me;

who will declare me guilty?

Psalm 31:9–16

Second Reading: Philippians 2:5–11

⁵Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus,

⁶who, though he was in the form of God,

did not regard equality with God

as something to be exploited,

  ⁷but emptied himself,

taking the form of a slave,

being born in human likeness.

And being found in human form,

  ⁸he humbled himself

and became obedient to the point of death — 

even death on a cross.

  ⁹Therefore God also highly exalted him

and gave him the name

that is above every name,

  ¹⁰so that at the name of Jesus

every knee should bend,

in heaven and on earth and under the earth,

  ¹¹and every tongue should confess

that Jesus Christ is Lord,

to the glory of God the Father.\

Gospel (Alternate): Mark 15:1–39 [40–47]

As soon as it was morning, the chief priests held a consultation with the elders and scribes and the whole council. They bound Jesus, led him away, and handed him over to Pilate.  ²Pilate asked him, "Are you the King of the Jews?" He answered him, "You say so."  ³Then the chief priests accused him of many things.  ⁴Pilate asked him again, "Have you no answer? See how many charges they bring against you."  ⁵But Jesus made no further reply, so that Pilate was amazed.

⁶Now at the festival he used to release a prisoner for them, anyone for whom they asked.  ⁷Now a man called Barabbas was in prison with the rebels who had committed murder during the insurrection.  ⁸So the crowd came and began to ask Pilate to do for them according to his custom.  ⁹Then he answered them, "Do you want me to release for you the King of the Jews?"  ¹⁰For he realized that it was out of jealousy that the chief priests had handed him over.  ¹¹But the chief priests stirred up the crowd to have him release Barabbas for them instead.  ¹²Pilate spoke to them again, "Then what do you wish me to do with the man you call the King of the Jews?"  ¹³They shouted back, "Crucify him!"  ¹⁴Pilate asked them, "Why, what evil has he done?" But they shouted all the more, "Crucify him!"  ¹⁵So Pilate, wishing to satisfy the crowd, released Barabbas for them; and after flogging Jesus, he handed him over to be crucified.

¹⁶Then the soldiers led him into the courtyard of the palace (that is, the governor's headquarters); and they called together the whole cohort.  ¹⁷And they clothed him in a purple cloak; and after twisting some thorns into a crown, they put it on him.  ¹⁸And they began saluting him, "Hail, King of the Jews!"  ¹⁹They struck his head with a reed, spat upon him, and knelt down in homage to him.  ²⁰After mocking him, they stripped him of the purple cloak and put his own clothes on him. Then they led him out to crucify him.

²¹They compelled a passer-by, who was coming in from the country, to carry his cross; it was Simon of Cyrene, the father of Alexander and Rufus.  ²²Then they brought Jesus to the place called Golgotha (which means the place of a skull).  ²³And they offered him wine mixed with myrrh; but he did not take it.  ²⁴And they crucified him, and divided his clothes among them, casting lots to decide what each should take.

²⁵It was nine o'clock in the morning when they crucified him.  ²⁶The inscription of the charge against him read, "The King of the Jews."  ²⁷And with him they crucified two bandits, one on his right and one on his left.

²⁹Those who passed by derided him, shaking their heads and saying, "Aha! You who would destroy the temple and build it in three days,  ³⁰save yourself, and come down from the cross!"  ³¹In the same way the chief priests, along with the scribes, were also mocking him among themselves and saying, "He saved others; he cannot save himself.  ³²Let the Messiah, the King of Israel, come down from the cross now, so that we may see and believe." Those who were crucified with him also taunted him.

³³When it was noon, darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon.  ³⁴At three o'clock Jesus cried out with a loud voice, "Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?" which means, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"

³⁵When some of the bystanders heard it, they said, "Listen, he is calling for Elijah."  ³⁶And someone ran, filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on a stick, and gave it to him to drink, saying, "Wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to take him down."  ³⁷Then Jesus gave a loud cry and breathed his last.  ³⁸And the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom.  ³⁹Now when the centurion, who stood facing him, saw that in this way he breathed his last, he said, "Truly this man was God's Son!"

⁴⁰There were also women looking on from a distance; among them were Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James the younger and of Joses, and Salome.  ⁴¹These used to follow him and provided for him when he was in Galilee; and there were many other women who had come up with him to Jerusalem.

⁴²When evening had come, and since it was the day of Preparation, that is, the day before the sabbath,  ⁴³Joseph of Arimathea, a respected member of the council, who was also himself waiting expectantly for the kingdom of God, went boldly to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus.  ⁴⁴Then Pilate wondered if he were already dead; and summoning the centurion, he asked him whether he had been dead for some time.  ⁴⁵When he learned from the centurion that he was dead, he granted the body to Joseph.  ⁴⁶Then Joseph bought a linen cloth, and taking down the body, wrapped it in the linen cloth, and laid it in a tomb that had been hewn out of the rock. He then rolled a stone against the door of the tomb.  ⁴⁷Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses saw where the body was laid.