Jesus’ Passion:
The Story of Redemptive Suffering

Lesson 2 The Son of Man Before the Chief Priests
the Gospel According to Mark 14:53–65
the Gospel According to Matthew 27:3–7
the Gospel According to John 18:12–38
the Gospel According to Luke 23:1–12

Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (RSVCE)*
New American Bible Revised Edition (NABRE)*
Catechism of the Catholic Church
ex libris (in our library)
Lumen Gentium (Dogmatic Constitution on the Church)
Nostra Aetate (Declaration on the Relation of the Church to Non-Christian Religions)
Veritatis Splendor (Splendor of Truth)
next lesson: What Is Truth?

This material coordinates with Lesson 2 on pages 15–21 in Jesus’ Passion: The Story of Redemptive Suffering. Click on the title of the study to access Lessons 1 through 5.


“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”—the Gospel According to John 3:16 (RSVCE)**


welcome to our annual Lenten Bible study
We invite readers to become acquainted with Turning to God’s Word Catholic Bible studies through Jesus’ Passion: The Story of Redemptive Suffering, which was granted an imprimatur in 2014. In 2024, the free digital version of this popular Turning to God’s Word Catholic Bible study will be posted from Ash Wednesday, February 14, through Easter Sunday, March 31. If you have a question or comment about this or any other Turning to God’s Word Catholic Bible study, click on one of the “ask us your question” or “what do you think” buttons on any online study page.


open with prayer
It’s always wise to begin any Bible study with prayer, whether reading the Scriptures alone or meeting with others in a discussion group. You can pray using your own words or use one of the opening prayers on our website. We especially like the following:

Lord Jesus, you promised to send your Holy Spirit to teach us all things.
As we read and study your word today,
allow it to touch our hearts and change our lives. Amen.

to coordinate with the movie
Lesson 2 coordinates with roughly the second 25 minutes of the film The Passion of the Christ. (See “Movie Notes” on page 7 in the Introduction to Jesus’ Passion: The Story of Redemptive Suffering for instructions about where to start and stop watching for this lesson.)

trials, witnesses & testimony
In this section of Jesus’ Passion: The Story of Redemptive Suffering, there’s heavy emphasis on legal concerns. The Gospel According to John especially is all about trials and witnesses—beginning with the prologue (the first 18 verses of the first chapter). You can learn more about the prologue to the Fourth Gospel in Lesson 1 In the Beginning Was the Word in the Turning to God’s Word Catholic Bible study The Gospel According to John: An Encounter with Grace & Truth.

  • The Gospel According to John 1:6–7 opens with a man sent from God, who came for testimony, to bear witness to the light.
  • In the Gospel According to John 8:17–18, Jesus himself says to the Jewish religious leaders: “In your law it is written that the testimony of two men is true; I bear witness to myself, and the Father who sent me bears witness to me.”
  • In the Gospel According to John 10:36–38, Jesus addresses the charge that he’s blaspheming: “Do you say of him whom the Father consecrated and sent into the world, ‘You are blaspheming,’ because I said, ‘I am the Son of God’? If I am not doing the works of my Father, then do not believe me; but if I do them, even though you do not believe me, believe the works that you may know and understand that the Father is in me and I am in the Father.”

All this focus on witness and testimony is leading up to Jesus’ encounters with the Jewish leaders, Herod, and Pontius Pilate. In the Creed we profess to believe that Jesus will come again to judge the living and the dead, and that his kingdom will have no end. The irony of Jesus’ trial is that Jesus is the judge of the world, but the world is attempting to judge him.

how do we witness to Jesus?
In Greek, the word for witness is martyr. We use that word for Christians who give their lives for the faith. Martyrs are the ultimate witnesses. It’s interesting to note the way in which Jesus responds when Pilate asks what crime Jesus has committed.

Jesus doesn’t answer Pilate’s question. There’s quite a bit of that in the eighteenth chapter in the Gospel According to John. Jesus doesn’t admit to having done anything wrong. Instead, he admits to being a king, but he says: “My kingship is not of this world. For this I was born, for this I have come into the world, to bear witness to the truth.” Jesus is his own witness. He’s a martyr to the truth. This truth that Jesus is willing to die for is that Jesus really is God, just as he has said he is. The Turning to God’s Word Catholic Bible study The United Kingdom of Israel: Saul, David & Solomon Foreshadow Christ the King examines the Old Testament foundations of Jesus’ kingship.

Amazing as this can seem to born-and-bred Christians 2,000 years after the fact, especially the Christians likely to be involved with in-depth Bible study, most political and religious leaders who encountered Jesus when he walked on earth didn’t believe Jesus’ claim to divinity. No one in his or her right mind would persecute God if they knew that’s what they were doing. These guys aren’t morons. They’re simply misguided.

That’s my opinion. And speaking of opinions, polls show that increasing numbers of people don’t believe in the divinity of Jesus. A poll taken roughly 20 years ago found that only about 20 percent of Americans believe that Jesus is God. Since then, the number has increased to 25 percent. The number of Americans regularly attending Church services has declined as well.

Many people look at the Church as a club they need to belong to in order to achieve social standing and do business in their communities, and they see Jesus as some kind of nice, other-worldly buddy. Almost everybody thinks that Jesus is standing by to step in as their special spiritual pal when necessary, although many who believe this rarely do anything to foster this alleged friendship.

WHAT DO YOU THINK about how you witness to Jesus?
Not everybody really thinks Jesus is their God. We know this by the way that people act. We witness to our beliefs by our actions.

?  How do your actions show the world that you’re serious about your belief in the divinity of Jesus Christ?
?  How do your actions show others that you seriously value your friendship with Jesus?
?  What’s one thing that you can do today to improve your relationship with Jesus?

why do we still need witnesses?
The Gospel According to Matthew 26:65–66 records: “Then the high priest tore his robes, and said, ‘He has uttered blasphemy. Why do we still need witnesses? You have now heard his blasphemy. What is your judgment?’ They answered, ‘He deserves death.'” For the Jews, the high priest tearing his robes would be understood as a sign of mourning. Although Jesus is about to be condemned to death, it isn’t Jesus’ upcoming death that the high priest is mourning. He’s symbolically signaling drastic sorrow brought on by what he believes to be a case of blasphemy, an extremely serious sin against God.

religious law—you could look it up in our archives
For the people Jesus encounters, legal and religious issues are one and the same. How did legal words come to describe spiritual situations? In Lost in Translation, Turning to God’s Word author Matthew Phelps helps present-day readers connect with ideas expressed in the original languages of the Scriptures. Learn about religious law during the time of Jesus. New Lost in Translation entries are posted on Mondays, and past entries are archived on our website. Contact us if you’d like to receive Lost in Translation by email every week.

the Blessed Virgin Mary in the movie
Why don’t people recognize that Jesus is God when he performs all these miracles and signs? In the Gospel According to John he’s been doing fantastic stuff—healing, giving sight to the blind, raising Lazarus from the dead. The Gospels emphasize that he’s also been forgiving sins, but the possibility that Jesus is God seems remote to the established religious leaders. Who in Scripture does recognize that Jesus is God? The Blessed Virgin Mary, obviously. She’s the perfect example of obedience of faith. Lumen Gentium (the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church) teaches that the Blessed Virgin Mary is in complete union with her son from birth to death. Although she isn’t able to absolve Peter of his sins of denial, she can intercede for him. You can learn about the connection between Scripture and traditional Marian prayers in the Turning to God’s Word Catholic Bible study Scripture & the Rosary: New Testament Mysteries, Old Testament Parallels. No longer in print, free digital lessons from that study rotate throughout the liturgical year on our website.

read the Catechism—learn more about the Blessed Virgin Mary
Mary’s role throughout the Gospel According to John, and her role as described throughout all the sections of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, are reflected in the way she’s portrayed in The Passion of the Christ. She’s present at every key event, and she helps focus our attention on her Son. Watch how she does this in the rest of the film. The haunting scene in which the Blessed Virgin Mary walks right to the spot above where Jesus is being held isn’t scriptural, but it’s an extraordinarily moving way to visualize her union with her Son.

Jesus has a clear understanding of his mission
One of the more incredible ideas to emerge from reading the Gospel accounts of Jesus’ life is his understanding that his purpose is to die. All four Gospels present Jesus’ entire ministry as part of his journey to his Crucifixion. “What Has Jesus Been Saying?” on page 21 in Lesson 2 in Jesus’ Passion: The Story of Redemptive Suffering examines one instance in which Jesus foretells the manner in which he’ll die. What other examples can you locate in the Gospels that indicate Jesus not only was aware of his coming Passion and death, but also understood why it was necessary? Can you find evidence in the Gospels that any of Jesus’ disciples shared his understanding?

ex libris—learn more about Jesus’ Passion, death & Resurrection
Jesus of Nazareth: Holy Week is one of three books in a series about Jesus in the Gospels. Written by Pope Benedict XVI, it looks at the decisive events that are the focus of Jesus’ last week on earth. The Scripture covered begins with Jesus’ entrance into Jerusalem and continues through the time of his Resurrection. Read excerpts and learn more about the Jesus of Nazareth trilogy and other works related to Bible study at ex libris—main bookshelf.

the best Catholic commentary about Scripture
To find out more about how Church teaching is supported by Scripture passages in Jesus’ Passion: The Story of Redemptive Suffering, check out the Index of Citations in the Catechism of the Catholic Church. Links (Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition [RSVCE*]) to the primary Scripture passages in the lesson and relevant paragraphs in the Catechism are provided here. Not every passage in the biblical text for this Catholic Bible study is referenced in a Catechism paragraph, however, including the passage in this lesson from the Gospel According to Matthew 27:3–7.

the Gospel According to Mark 14:57–58paragraph 585
the Gospel According to Mark 14:61paragraph 443
the Gospel According to Luke 23:2paragraph 596
the Gospel According to John 18:12paragraph 575
the Gospel According to John 18:20paragraph 586
the Gospel According to John 18:31paragraph 596
the Gospel According to John 18:36paragraphs 549, 600
the Gospel According to John 18:37paragraphs 217, 558, 2471

don’t forget about our indexes & extra online material
If you’re trying to locate information about a Scripture passage, you can look it up in the index at the back of the online version of this study. If you want to revisit a commentary, you can look it up by title in the topics index. If you want to learn more about another book of the Bible for which there’s a Turning to God’s Word study, you can read online commentaries and watch any accompanying videos by choosing a lesson from one of the study directories. (There are no lesson videos with Jesus’ Passion: The Story of Redemptive Suffering.) Finally, if you have a question or would like to make a comment about any of our studies, you can use the “ask us your question” or “what do you think” button to email our authors.

ex libris—Church documents & books about religious topics
You can find links to magisterial documents referred to in Turning to God’s Word Catholic Bible studies at ex libris—magisterial documents. This page includes a listing of significant recent encyclicals as well as a number of historical Church documents. Excerpts from recommended books related to Catholic Scripture study can be found at ex libris—main bookshelf.

wondering how to pronounce some of these words?
The following links are to readings from the New International Version (NIV) Bible. To listen, click on the audio icon above the printed text. Although not taken from the translations used in our study materials, the NIV readings provide an audio guide to pronunciation of words in this lesson’s primary biblical texts. A close online version of the translation of the Bible used in Catholic liturgy in the United States as well as an audio guide for daily Mass readings for the current month can be found on the website of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB).

the Gospel According to Mark 14:53–65 (NIV)
the Gospel According to Matthew 27:3–7 (NIV)
the Gospel According to John 18:12–38 (NIV)
the Gospel According to Luke 23:1–12 (NIV)

close with Bible-based prayer related to this lesson
round black doveMany groups conclude with a prayer based on Scripture, and some participants include Scripture-specific prayer in their individual study. If you’re uncomfortable composing your own Bible-based prayers, you can follow our four easy steps. If you prefer, you can use the following prayer based on the primary biblical texts that accompany this lesson in Jesus’ Passion: The Story of Redemptive Suffering.

O God, Blessed Father, you sent your Son 
into the world to bear witness to the truth.
Strengthen us with the courage of your Spirit to remain faithful
when faced with the temptation to deny Jesus before others.
We ask this in union with the Holy Spirit
and in the name of Jesus,
who is the way, the truth, and the life. Amen.

coming up in the next lesson
The online study page for Lesson 3 What Is Truth? in Jesus’ Passion: The Story of Redemptive Suffering contains additional commentary, questions, and links to related material. The lesson roughly corresponds to the third 25 minutes of the film The Passion of the Christ. Links to the free digital version of the study will remain posted through Lent this year, and all of the lessons will be available again during Lent in 2025.

Lesson 3 What Is Truth?—the Gospel According to John 18:33—19:16 and the Gospel According to Matthew 27:15–31
Lesson 1 Agony in the Garden—the Gospel According to Matthew 26:36–54 and the Gospel According to John 18:1–14

you also may like our two-part study of the prophets
Thus Says the LORD: God Speaks Through His Servants the Prophets—Volume I: A Kingdom Divided examines the prophets in their historical context using the First and Second Books of the Kings and other Old Testament passages written before the Babylonian Exile in 586 B.C. Volume II: Restoration & Redemption looks at the post-exilic prophets. This 51-lesson Catholic Bible study builds on The United Kingdom of Israel: Saul, David & Solomon Foreshadow Christ the King. Click on the books’ covers to view a sample lesson from each volume.


start a Turning to God’s Word Bible study
Thank you for your interest in Jesus’ Passion: The Story of Redemptive Suffering, our annual free Lenten Bible study. Lessons can be downloaded from our website through Easter. Information about beginning a group study can be found at start a Bible study. Tami, Matthew, and I are available to answer questions about the Turning to God’s Word method of Catholic Bible study. You may use this email to contact us directly if you’re interested in starting another Turning to God study or in having your study schedule listed with other TtGW study groups on our website. —Jennifer


*There are seven deuterocanonical books in the Old Testament—the Books of Tobit, Judith, Wisdom, Sirach, Baruch, and First and Second Maccabees, as well as some passages in the Books of Esther and Daniel. Protestants usually refer to these works as “apocryphal,” a word that means “outside the (Protestant) canon” because they’re excluded from most Protestant Bibles. The word “deuterocanonical” means “second canon”; Catholics use that word to refer to any section of the Catholic Old Testament for which there are no extant, or existing, Hebrew manuscripts. All of the deuterocanonical books appear in the Septuagint, the earliest remaining versions of which date to the 1st century B.C. This Greek translation of the Old Testament was in common use by Jews at the time of Jesus—but the same books aren’t found in existing Hebrew manuscripts, which aren’t as old as the oldest version of the Septuagint. Learn more by reading How Do Catholic & Protestant Bibles Differ?

Turning to God’s Word printed Bible studies use the 2006 Revised Standard Version Second Catholic Edition (RSV2CE) translation for all Scripture references except those to the Psalms, which are taken from The Abbey Psalms and Canticles, prepared by the Benedictine monks of Conception Abbey and published in 2020 by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB). All Scripture links for the digital version of Jesus’ Passion: The Story of Redemptive Suffering are to the 1966 Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (RSVCE) translation. The New International Version (NIV) audio recordings follow the same chapter and verse numbering as the RSV Catholic translations, but the NIV translation doesn’t include the deuterocanonical books and passages.

The 1966 RSVCE uses archaic pronouns and verb forms such as “thee,” “thou,” “didst” in the Psalms and in direct quotations attributed to God. The 2006 RSV2CE replaces those with more accessible English. The few significant translation changes in the RSV2CE include rendering almah as “virgin” in the Book of Isaiah 7:14 and restoring the term “begotten” in the Gospel According to John 3:16.

Numbering varies for some passages in this Bible study. Turning to God’s Word studies follow the numbering in the Revised Standard Version Catholic translations (RSV2CE and RSVCE). Discrepancies in the New American Bible Revised Edition (NABRE) are noted in the Index of Scripture Citations.

You can learn more about the Psalms by viewing a sample lesson from the Turning to God’s Word Catholic Bible study Sing a New Psalm: Communicating with God Through the Prayers of the Church—Volume I: Lauds & Vespers. The second part of that study, Sing a New Psalm: Communicating with God Through the Prayers of the Church—Volume II: Vigils, Day Prayer & Compline, is scheduled for publication in 2025. Some verse numbers may vary in different translations of the Psalms.

**The Gospel According to John 3:16 (RSV2CE) reads: “For God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”