Editing Passion of Jesus (section)

== Narrative according to the Gospel of Peter ==
[[File:Veronicas Svetteduk av Domenico Fetti.jpg|thumb|The ''[[Veil of Veronica]]'', painting by [[Domenico Fetti]] (c. 1620).]]
Further claims concerning the Passion are made in some non-canonical early writings. Another passion narrative is found in the fragmentary ''[[Gospel of Peter]]'', long known to scholars through references, and of which a fragment was discovered in Cairo in 1884.

The narrative begins with Pilate washing his hands, as in Matthew, but the Jews and Herod refuse this. [[Joseph of Arimathea]], before Jesus has been crucified, asks for his body, and Herod says he is going to take it down to comply with the Jewish custom of not leaving a dead body hung on a tree overnight. Herod then turns Jesus over to the people who drag him, give him a purple robe, crown him with thorns, and beat and flog him.

There are also two criminals, crucified on either side of him and, as in Luke, one begs Jesus for forgiveness. The writer says Jesus is silent as they crucify him, "...as if in no pain."<ref>{{harvnb|Miller|1994|p=403}}. This is the passage that was condemned as possibly leading to [[Docetism]].</ref> Jesus is labeled the [[Jesus, King of the Jews|King of Israel]] on his cross and his clothes are divided and gambled over.

As in the canonical Gospels, darkness covers the land. Jesus is also given vinegar to drink. Peter has "My Power, My Power, why have you forsaken me?" as the last words of Jesus, rather than "My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?" as quoted in Mark. He is then "taken up", possibly a [[euphemism]] for death or maybe an allusion to [[heaven]].<ref name="Miller 403">{{harvnb|Miller|1994|p=403}}</ref> Peter then has a resurrection, similar to the other books.

[[Serapion of Antioch]] urged the exclusion of the Gospel of Peter from the Church because [[Docetism|Docetists]] were using it to bolster their [[Theology|theological]] claims, which Serapion rejected.<ref>{{harvnb|Brown|1997|p=11}}</ref> Many modern scholars also reject this conclusion, as the statement about Jesus being silent "as if in no pain" seems to be based on Isaiah's description of the suffering servant, "as a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth." ({{bibleverse||Isaiah|53:7|HE}}).<ref name="Miller 403"/>