We adore you, O Christ, and we praise you,
because by your Holy Cross you have redeemed the world.

One of the most startling things about the Gospel according to St John is its attention to small details.  John gives by far the most accurate descriptions of time and place in any of the four canonical accounts of the life and death of Jesus.  Much of our speculative chronology for his life is derived from John’s obsession with recording the passing of the Jewish fasts and festivals, and Jesus’ strict observance of them.  And he frequently includes in his narrative those close observations which the other three Evangelists are unaware of, or choose to omit.