READER 1	As they led him away,
READER 2	away from Pilate's judgment hall,
READER 3	away from the soldiers' mocking
READER 2	and lacerating scourge
READER 3	and began the journey from the Praetorium to the place of execution.
READER 1	Jesus begins to carry his cross-beam,
READER 2	But stumbles and falls
READER 3	stumbles and falls
READER 1	Weak from blood loss
READER 2	Too weak to carry the heavy beam on his own bloody shoulders.
READER 1	They seized Simon from Cyrene, who was on his way in from the country,
READER 2	and put the cross on him and made him carry it behind Jesus.
READER 1	Jesus in front
READER 2	Followed by Simon
READER 3	Carrying Jesus' cross.
READER 1	A large number of people followed him, including women who mourned and wailed for him.
READER 2	Weeping
READER 3	Mourning
READER 2	Wailing
READER 3	Crying
READER 1	Jesus turned and said to them, "Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me; weep for yourselves and for your children.
READER 2	Weep for yourselves
READER 3	And for your children
READER 1	For the time will come when you will say, 'Blessed are the barren women, the wombs that never bore and the breasts that never nursed!'
READER 2	Blessed are the childless
READER 3	For their children will not suffer the horror that is to come.
READER 1	Then " 'they will say to the mountains, "Fall on us!"
READER 2	And to the hills, "Cover us!" '
READER 1	For if men do these things when the tree is green,
READER 3	what will happen when it is dry?"
READER 1	Green wood has a tough time burning
READER 2	But dry wood supports a blazing fire
READER 1	If such a horror is visited upon innocent Jesus in the streets of Jerusalem
READER 3	How great a horror will be visited upon guilty Jerusalem?
READER 1	Two other men, both criminals, were also led out with him to be executed.
READER 2	Two other men
READER 3	Both criminals
READER 2	Thieves
READER 3	Robbers
READER 1	Followed in the procession to the killing place.
READER 2	Golgotha
READER 3	Called "the place of the Skull"
READER 1	When they came to the place called the Skull, there they crucified him, along with the criminals--one on his right, the other on his left.
READER 2	They nailed his hands
READER 3	They nailed his feet
READER 1	And stretched him out upon a cross,
READER 2	Suspended between sky and earth
READER 3	To die a tortured death
READER 2	To die
READER 3	A tortured death
READER 1	Jesus said, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing."
READER 2	Father
READER 3	Father
READER 2	Forgive them
READER 3	Forgive them
READER 2	For they do not know what they are doing.
READER 1	And they divided up his clothes by casting lots.
READER 2	They gambled for his bloody garments that remained.
READER 3	To the victor go the paltry spoils.
READER 1	The people stood watching,
READER 2	And the rulers even sneered at him.
READER 1	They said, "He saved others;
READER 2	let him save himself if he is the Christ of God, the Chosen One."
READER 1	The soldiers also came up and mocked him.
READER 2	They offered him wine vinegar
READER 1	and said, "If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself."
READER 2	"If you are the king of the Jews,
READER 3	save yourself."
READER 1	There was a written notice above him, which read:
READER 2	this is the king of the Jews.
READER 1	This is the King
READER 2	This is the King of the Jews
READER 3	This is the King ...
ALL	Of us all.