He Is Risen

John 20 (NASB)

1Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came early to the tomb, while it was still dark, and saw the stone already taken away from the tomb.
2So she ran and came to Simon Peter and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, and said to them, "They have taken away the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid Him."
3So Peter and the other disciple went forth, and they were going to the tomb.
4The two were running together; and the other disciple ran ahead faster than Peter and came to the tomb first;
5and stooping and looking in, he saw the linen wrappings lying there; but he did not go in.
6And so Simon Peter also came, following him, and entered the tomb; and he saw the linen wrappings lying there,
7and the face-cloth which had been on His head, not lying with the linen wrappings, but rolled up in a place by itself.
8So the other disciple who had first come to the tomb then also entered, and he saw and believed.
9For as yet they did not understand the Scripture, that He must rise again from the dead.
10So the disciples went away again to their own homes.
11But Mary was standing outside the tomb weeping; and so, as she wept, she stooped and looked into the tomb;
12and she saw two angels in white sitting, one at the head and one at the feet, where the body of Jesus had been lying.

13And they said to her, "Woman, why are you weeping?" She said to them, "Because they have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid Him."
14When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, and did not know that it was Jesus.
15Jesus said to her, "Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?" Supposing Him to be the gardener, she said to Him, "Sir, if you have carried Him away, tell me where you have laid Him, and I will take Him away."
16Jesus said to her, "Mary!" She turned and said to Him in Hebrew, "Rabboni!" (which means, Teacher).
17Jesus said to her, "Stop clinging to Me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to My brethren and say to them, 'I ascend to My Father and your Father, and My God and your God.'"
18Mary Magdalene came, announcing to the disciples, "I have seen the Lord," and that He had said these things to her.
Jesus among His Disciples 19So when it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and when the doors were shut where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst and said to them, "Peace be with you."
20And when He had said this, He showed them both His hands and His side The disciples then rejoiced when they saw the Lord.

21So Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you; as the Father has sent Me, I also send you."
22And when He had said this, He breathed on them and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit.
23"If you forgive the sins of any, their sins have been forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they have been retained."
24But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came.
25So the other disciples were saying to him, "We have seen the Lord!" But he said to them, "Unless I see in His hands the imprint of the nails, and put my finger into the place of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe."
26After eight days His disciples were again inside, and Thomas with them. Jesus came, the doors having been shut, and stood in their midst and said, "Peace be with you."
27Then He said to Thomas, "Reach here with your finger, and see My hands; and reach here your hand and put it into My side; and do not be unbelieving, but believing."
28Thomas answered and said to Him, "My Lord and my God!"
29Jesus said to him, "Because you have seen Me, have you believed? Blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed."

30Therefore many other signs Jesus also performed in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book;
31but these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name.

Luke 24: 44-53 (NASB)

44Now He said to them, "These are My words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things which are written about Me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled."
45Then He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures,
46and He said to them, "Thus it is written, that the Christ would suffer and rise again from the dead the third day,
47and that repentance for forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in His name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem.
48"You are witnesses of these things.
49"And behold, I am sending forth the promise of My Father upon you; but you are to stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high."
The Ascension 50And He led them out as far as Bethany, and He lifted up His hands and blessed them.
51While He was blessing them, He parted from them and was carried up into heaven.
52And they, after worshiping Him, returned to Jerusalem with great joy,
53and were continually in the temple praising God.

Good Friday

Matthew, chapter 27:

1Now when morning came, all the chief priests and the elders of the people conferred together against Jesus to put Him to death;
2and they bound Him, and led Him away and delivered Him to Pilate the governor.
3Then when Judas, who had betrayed Him, saw that He had been condemned, he felt remorse and returned the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders,
4saying, "I have sinned by betraying innocent blood." But they said, "What is that to us? See to that yourself!"
5And he threw the pieces of silver into the temple sanctuary and departed; and he went away and hanged himself.
6The chief priests took the pieces of silver and said, "It is not lawful to put them into the temple treasury, since it is the price of blood."
7And they conferred together and with the money bought the Potter's Field as a burial place for strangers.
8For this reason that field has been called the Field of Blood to this day.
9Then that which was spoken through Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled: "AND THEY TOOK THE THIRTY PIECES OF SILVER, THE PRICE OF THE ONE WHOSE PRICE HAD BEEN SET by the sons of Israel;
10AND THEY GAVE THEM FOR THE POTTER'S FIELD, AS THE LORD DIRECTED ME."
Jesus before Pilate 11Now Jesus stood before the governor, and the governor questioned Him, saying, "Are You the King of the Jews?" And Jesus said to him, "It is as you say."
12And while He was being accused by the chief priests and elders, He did not answer.
13Then Pilate said to Him, "Do You not hear how many things they testify against You?"
14And He did not answer him with regard to even a single charge, so the governor was quite amazed.
15Now at the feast the governor was accustomed to release for the people any one prisoner whom they wanted.
16At that time they were holding a notorious prisoner, called Barabbas.
17So when the people gathered together, Pilate said to them, "Whom do you want me to release for you? Barabbas, or Jesus who is called Christ?"
18For he knew that because of envy they had handed Him over.
19While he was sitting on the judgment seat, his wife sent him a message, saying, "Have nothing to do with that righteous Man; for last night I suffered greatly in a dream because of Him."
20But the chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowds to ask for Barabbas and to put Jesus to death.
21But the governor said to them, "Which of the two do you want me to release for you?" And they said, "Barabbas."
22Pilate said to them, "Then what shall I do with Jesus who is called Christ?" They all said, "Crucify Him!"
23And he said, "Why, what evil has He done?" But they kept shouting all the more, saying, "Crucify Him!"
24When Pilate saw that he was accomplishing nothing, but rather that a riot was starting, he took water and washed his hands in front of the crowd, saying, "I am innocent of this Man's blood; see to that yourselves."
25And all the people said, "His blood shall be on us and on our children!"
26Then he released Barabbas for them; but after having Jesus scourged, he handed Him over to be crucified.
Jesus Is Mocked 27Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the Praetorium and gathered the whole Roman cohort around Him.
28They stripped Him and put a scarlet robe on Him.
29And after twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on His head, and a reed in His right hand; and they knelt down before Him and mocked Him, saying, "Hail, King of the Jews!"
30They spat on Him, and took the reed and began to beat Him on the head.
31After they had mocked Him, they took the scarlet robe off Him and put His own garments back on Him, and led Him away to crucify Him.
32As they were coming out, they found a man of Cyrene named Simon, whom they pressed into service to bear His cross.
The Crucifixion 33And when they came to a place called Golgotha, which means Place of a Skull,
34they gave Him wine to drink mixed with gall; and after tasting it, He was unwilling to drink.
35And when they had crucified Him, they divided up His garments among themselves by casting lots.
36And sitting down, they began to keep watch over Him there.
37And above His head they put up the charge against Him which read, "THIS IS JESUS THE KING OF THE JEWS."
38At that time two robbers were crucified with Him, one on the right and one on the left.
39And those passing by were hurling abuse at Him, wagging their heads
40and saying, "You who are going to destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save Yourself! If You are the Son of God, come down from the cross."
41In the same way the chief priests also, along with the scribes and elders, were mocking Him and saying,
42"He saved others; He cannot save Himself He is the King of Israel; let Him now come down from the cross, and we will believe in Him.
43"HE TRUSTS IN GOD; LET GOD RESCUE Him now, IF HE DELIGHTS IN HIM; for He said, 'I am the Son of God.'"
44The robbers who had been crucified with Him were also insulting Him with the same words.
45Now from the sixth hour darkness fell upon all the land until the ninth hour.
46About the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, "ELI, ELI, LAMA SABACHTHANI?" that is, "MY GOD, MY GOD, WHY HAVE YOU FORSAKEN ME?"
47And some of those who were standing there, when they heard it, began saying, "This man is calling for Elijah."
48Immediately one of them ran, and taking a sponge, he filled it with sour wine and put it on a reed, and gave Him a drink.
49But the rest of them said, "Let us see whether Elijah will come to save Him."
50And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, and yielded up His spirit.
51And behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth shook and the rocks were split.
52The tombs were opened, and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised;
53and coming out of the tombs after His resurrection they entered the holy city and appeared to many.
54Now the centurion, and those who were with him keeping guard over Jesus, when they saw the earthquake and the things that were happening, became very frightened and said, "Truly this was the Son of God!"
55Many women were there looking on from a distance, who had followed Jesus from Galilee while ministering to Him.
56Among them was Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James and Joseph, and the mother of the sons of Zebedee.
Jesus Is Buried 57When it was evening, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who himself had also become a disciple of Jesus.
58This man went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Then Pilate ordered it to be given to him.
59And Joseph took the body and wrapped it in a clean linen cloth,
60and laid it in his own new tomb, which he had hewn out in the rock; and he rolled a large stone against the entrance of the tomb and went away.
61And Mary Magdalene was there, and the other Mary, sitting opposite the grave.
62Now on the next day, the day after the preparation, the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered together with Pilate,
63and said, "Sir, we remember that when He was still alive that deceiver said, 'After three days I am to rise again.'
64"Therefore, give orders for the grave to be made secure until the third day, otherwise His disciples may come and steal Him away and say to the people, 'He has risen from the dead,' and the last deception will be worse than the first."
65Pilate said to them, "You have a guard; go, make it as secure as you know how."
66And they went and made the grave secure, and along with the guard they set a seal on the stone.

Maundy Thursday

From Wikipedia:

In the Christian calendar, Holy Thursday - also called Maundy Thursday and, in the Eastern and Oriental Orthodox Churches, Great Thursday[1] - is the feast or holy day on the Thursday before Easter that commemorates the Last Supper of Jesus Christ with the Apostles. It is followed by Good Friday.

On this day four events are commemorated: the washing of the Disciples' feet by Jesus Christ, the institution of the Mystery of the Holy Eucharist at the Last Supper, the agony of Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane, and the betrayal of Christ by Judas Iscariot.

The evening celebration of these events marks the beginning of what is called the Easter Triduum or Sacred Triduum. The Latin word triduum means a three-day period, and the triduum in question is that of the three days from the death to the resurrection of Jesus. In the time of Jesus, and still today in some cultures, such as the Jewish,[2] the (24-hour) day was reckoned not from midnight, but from sunset. The Last Supper was held at what present-day Western civilization considers to be the evening of Holy Thursday but what was then considered to be the first hours of Friday. Its annual commemoration thus begins the three-day period or triduum of Good Friday, Holy Saturday and Easter Sunday, days of special devotion that celebrate as a single action the death and resurrection of Christ, the central events of Christianity.

To my Christian readers who will be celebrating this evening God bless you and have a good time.