Jesus stands before Pilate
1Early the next morning the chief_priests came together with the Jewish_Council. The family leaders and teachers_of_the_Laws were also there. They tied Jesus' hands and they took Him away to Pilate. They asked Pilate to punish Jesus. 2Pilate asked Jesus: ‘Are You the King_of_the_Jews?’ Jesus answered him: ‘Yes, it is as you say.’
3The chief_priests accused Jesus of many things. 4Pilate asked Jesus again: ‘Why don't You say something? They accuse You of so many things.’ 5Pilate was surprised because Jesus did not say anything more.
6Every year on the Passover, Pilate took one prisoner from jail and he let him go free. The people could choose which prisoner they wanted to let go free. 7One of the men in jail was Barabbas. He was in jail with other men because they had killed a man when they rebelled_against the Romans. 8Many people went to Pilate and asked him to let someone go free from jail as he did every year. 9Pilate asked them: ‘Do you want me to let the King_of_the_Jews go free?’
10Pilate knew that the chief_priests had brought Jesus to him because they were jealous. 11The chief_priests told the crowd of people to ask Pilate to let Barabbas go free, not Jesus. 12Then Pilate asked them: ‘What do you want me to do with this Man who you say is the King_of_the_Jews?’ 13The people shouted: ‘You must crucify Him.’
14Pilate asked them: ‘What has He done wrong?’ But the people shouted_more_loudly: ‘You must crucify Him.’
15Pilate decided to do what the crowd of people wanted. He let Barabbas go free from jail. He told the soldiers to beat Jesus with a whip and crucify Him.
The soldiers mock Jesus
16The soldiers took Jesus to a place in front of the Roman governor's house. They called all the other soldiers to come. 17They put a purple_robe on Jesus and they made a crown of thorn branches and put it on his head. 18The soldiers laughed at Jesus and said: ‘We greet You, King_of_the_Jews.’
19They continued to beat Jesus on his head with a thick stick. They kept on spitting on Him and they knelt before Him as people kneel before a king. 20After they had mocked Jesus, they took off the purple_robe and they put on his own clothes.
The soldiers crucify Jesus
The soldiers took Jesus away to crucify Him. 21A man walked past them. His name was Simon and he was from the town of Cyrene. He was the father of Alexander and Rufus. He came from outside the city. The soldiers told Simon to carry the cross of Jesus. 22They took Jesus to Golgotha. The name Golgotha means: ‘Place of the Skull’. 23They tried to give Jesus wine and myrrh but He did not drink it. 24Then they crucified Jesus and they took his clothes for themselves. They drew_lots to see what piece of the clothes each one would get.
25It was about the 3rd hour (9 o'clock in the morning) when they crucified Jesus. 26Above his head they wrote why they had crucified Him. They wrote: ‘The King_of_the_Jews’.
27-28They also crucified 2 thieves with Jesus, one on his right hand side and the other on his left hand side. 29The people who walked past the cross wanted to humiliate Jesus. They showed that they were pleased about what had happened to Him and they said: ‘You said You would break down the temple and build it again in 3 days. 30Save Yourself and come down from the cross.’
31The chief_priests and the teachers_of_the_Laws also mocked Jesus. They said to each other: ‘He saved other people but He can not save Himself. 32If He is the Messiah, the King_of_Israel, let Him come down from the cross. If we see that, we will believe in Him.’
The 2 thieves on the crosses next to Jesus also said bad things to Him.
Jesus dies
33About the 6th hour (12 o'clock) it became dark in the whole land and it was dark for 3 hours. 34Then Jesus shouted with a loud voice: ‘Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?’ It means: ‘My God, my God, why have You left Me?’
35Some of the people who were standing there heard what Jesus said and they said: ‘He is calling for Elijah.’
36One of the soldiers ran and took a sponge. He put it in vinegar wine and he put it on a stick and tried to give it to Jesus. He said: ‘We must wait and see if Elijah will come and take Him down from the cross.’
37Jesus shouted_loudly and then He died. 38The curtain in the temple tore from the top down to the bottom and there were 2 pieces.
39The Roman officer was standing in front of Jesus. When he saw how Jesus died, he said: ‘This Man was really the Son of God.’
40There were a few women who stood a little further away and looked at Jesus. They were Mary Magdalene and Mary, the mother of little James, Joses and Salome. 41When Jesus was in the province of Galilee, these women had always followed Him and helped Him. There were also a lot of other women who followed Him to Jerusalem.
Jesus is buried
42It was late on the Friday afternoon on the day that the Jews prepared everything for the Sabbath day. 43Joseph from the town of Arimathea was an important man in the Jewish_Council. He also waited for the time when God would be King over everyone. Joseph went to Pilate. He was brave to ask if he could take the body of Jesus. 44Pilate was surprised when they told him that Jesus was already dead. He called the captain of the Roman soldiers and asked him if Jesus was dead. 45The captain said: ‘Yes, He has died.’
Then Pilate gave the body to Joseph. 46Joseph bought a linen cloth and he took Christ's body down from the cross. He put the body in the cloth and he put it into a tomb that was cut into a big rock. Then he rolled a big stone in front of the door to the tomb. 47Mary Magdalene and Mary, Joses' mother, saw where Joseph buried Jesus.