Jesus Before Pilate
The entire council stood up and brought Jesus to Pilate. There they started making accusations against him. "We caught this man undermining our nation," they said. "He tells people not to pay taxes to Caesar, and he claims to be the Messiah, a king." Pilate looked at Jesus and asked him directly, "Are you the King of the Jews?" Jesus answered, "You have said so." After hearing this, Pilate turned to the chief priests and the crowds gathered there. "I don't find any reason to charge this man with a crime," he announced. But they wouldn't give up. They kept pressing their case, saying, "He causes trouble among the people everywhere he goes in Judea with his teaching. He started this in Galilee and now he's brought it all the way here."
Jesus Before Herod
When Pilate heard this, he asked whether the man was from Galilee. After learning that Jesus fell under Herod's authority, Pilate sent him to Herod, who happened to be in Jerusalem at that time. When Herod saw Jesus, he was delighted. He had been wanting to see him for a long time because he had heard so much about him, and he was hoping to watch him perform some kind of miracle. Herod asked Jesus many questions, but Jesus gave him no answer at all. The chief priests and religious teachers stood nearby, loudly accusing Jesus of various crimes. Herod and his soldiers also began to treat Jesus with contempt, mocking him and making fun of him. They dressed him up in an elegant robe as if he were royalty, then sent him back to Pilate. That very day, Herod and Pilate became friends with each other. Before this, they had been enemies.
Pilate Delivers Jesus to Be Crucified
Pilate gathered together the chief priests, the rulers, and the people. He spoke to them directly: "You brought this man to me, claiming he was stirring up the people against Rome. I have questioned him thoroughly right here in front of you, and I find him innocent of every charge you've made against him. King Herod agrees with me—that's why he sent Jesus back to us. This man has done absolutely nothing that deserves death. So I will have him flogged and then set him free." But the entire crowd erupted in angry shouts: "Take him away! Give us Barabbas instead!" Barabbas was a man sitting in prison for leading a violent uprising in the city and for committing murder. Pilate still wanted to release Jesus, so he tried speaking to the crowd again. But they wouldn't stop screaming: "Crucify him! Crucify him!" For the third time, Pilate attempted to reason with them: "What crime has this man actually committed? I cannot find anything he has done that deserves death. I will punish him with a beating and then let him go." But the crowd became even more demanding, their voices growing louder and more insistent as they called for Jesus to be crucified. Their shouting overwhelmed everything else. Finally, Pilate gave in to what they wanted. He ordered that their demand be carried out. He released the man they asked for—the one who had been imprisoned for rebellion and murder—and he handed Jesus over to them to do with as they wished.
The Way to the Cross
As the soldiers led Jesus away to his execution, they grabbed a man named Simon who was coming into the city from the countryside. Simon was from Cyrene, and the soldiers forced him to carry the cross behind Jesus. A large crowd of people followed them, including many women who were crying loudly and beating their chests in grief for Jesus. When Jesus heard their weeping, he turned around to face them and spoke directly to the women. "Daughters of Jerusalem," he said, "don't cry for me. Instead, cry for yourselves and for your children. The time is coming when people will say, 'How fortunate are the women who never had children—the wombs that never gave birth and the breasts that never nursed babies!' In those terrible days, people will be so desperate they will beg the mountains to fall down and crush them, and they will plead with the hills to bury them alive. If these terrible things are happening to me now, when I am like a green tree full of life, what do you think will happen to you when you become like a dead, dry tree?" Two other men, both criminals, were also being taken away to be executed alongside Jesus.
The Crucifixion
When they arrived at the place called The Skull, they nailed Jesus to a cross there. They also crucified two criminals, placing one on his right side and one on his left. Jesus then spoke these words: "Father, forgive them, because they don't understand what they're doing." The soldiers threw dice to divide up his clothes among themselves. The crowd stood there watching everything unfold. The religious leaders made fun of Jesus, saying with contempt, "He claimed to save other people—let him save himself now, if he really is God's chosen Messiah." The Roman soldiers joined in mocking him too. They walked up to him and held out some cheap, sour wine, taunting him by saying, "If you're truly the King of the Jews, then save yourself!" Above Jesus's head, they had nailed up a sign that read: THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS. One of the criminals hanging beside Jesus began hurling insults at him, saying, "Aren't you supposed to be the Messiah? Then save yourself—and save us too!" But the other criminal spoke up sharply against him: "Don't you have any fear of God at all? You're about to die the same death he is. We deserve what we're getting—we're being punished for the crimes we actually committed. But this man has done absolutely nothing wrong." Then this same criminal turned to Jesus and said, "Jesus, please remember me when you enter your kingdom." Jesus looked at him and replied, "I promise you this: today you will be with me in Paradise."
The Death of Jesus
It was now around noon, and darkness spread across the entire land until three o'clock in the afternoon. The sun grew dark, and the great curtain hanging in the temple was torn in half from top to bottom. Then Jesus cried out with a loud voice, "Father, I place my spirit into your hands." After he spoke these words, he took his final breath and died. The Roman officer who witnessed everything that happened gave praise to God and declared, "This man was truly innocent." All the crowds of people who had come to watch this execution saw what took place, and they walked back to their homes, striking their chests in grief and sorrow. Meanwhile, all those who knew Jesus personally—including the women who had followed him from Galilee—stood far away, watching all these events unfold.
The Burial of Jesus
There was a man named Joseph who served on the Jewish council. He was a good and honest man who had not agreed with the council's decision to condemn Jesus or with what they had done. Joseph came from a town in Judea called Arimathea, and he was one of those who eagerly waited for God's kingdom to come. This man went to Pilate and asked for permission to take Jesus' body. After receiving permission, Joseph carefully took the body down from the cross and wrapped it in a clean linen cloth. He then carried it to a tomb that had been carved out of rock—a tomb where no one had ever been buried before. This all happened on the day of Preparation, just as the Sabbath was about to begin at sunset. The women who had traveled with Jesus from Galilee followed Joseph and watched closely. They saw exactly where the tomb was located and observed how Jesus' body was laid inside. After seeing everything, the women returned to where they were staying and began preparing burial spices and sweet-smelling oils to properly anoint Jesus' body. But then they stopped their work and rested completely on the Sabbath day, just as God's law commanded them to do.