Read the Modern Pastor’s Version

As soon as morning arrived, the chief priests with the elders and scribes, along with the entire council, held a meeting to discuss Jesus. They bound him, took him away, and handed him over to Pilate.

<span class="jesus-words">Pilate asked Jesus, "Are you the King of the Jews?" Jesus replied, "You say so."</span> The chief priests accused him of many things, but he gave no response. Pilate asked him again, saying, "You're not responding? Look at how many charges they've brought against you." Jesus remained silent, and Pilate was amazed.

At that time, it was a custom for Pilate to release one prisoner to the people during a festival. This year, he had a man named Barabbas in custody who had led an uprising against authority and committed murder. The crowd began to ask Pilate to do for them as he had always done at the feast, releasing one prisoner.

Pilate answered them, saying, "Will you have me release to you the King of the Jews?" But he knew that the chief priests had handed Jesus over because of envy. The chief priests moved the people to demand that Pilate release Barabbas instead. Pilate asked them again, "What shall I do with him whom you call the King of the Jews?" They cried out all the more, "Crucify him!"

Pilate wanted to satisfy the crowd, so he released Barabbas unto them and handed Jesus over to be crucified after scourging him. The soldiers took Jesus away into the Praetorium, where they gathered the entire cohort. They dressed him in purple, made a crown of thorns that they put on his head, and began to salute him, saying "Hail, King of the Jews!"

They struck him on the head with a reed, spat upon him, and bowed their knees in mock worship. When they had finished mocking him, they took off the purple robe and put back his own clothes. Then they led him out to be crucified.

As they were carrying Jesus' cross, they met a man named Simon from Cyrene who was passing by, along with his sons Alexander and Rufus. They compelled Simon to carry the cross for them. They brought Jesus to Golgotha, also known as the Place of a Skull. There, they offered him wine mixed with myrrh to drink, but he refused it.

They crucified Jesus at about the third hour, along with two other thieves, one on each side of him. Above his head was written the accusation: "The King of the Jews." The people who passed by jeered at him and shook their heads, saying, "If you're destroying the temple and rebuilding it in three days, save yourself! Save yourself, come down from the cross!"

The chief priests and scribes mocked Jesus among themselves, saying, "He saved others; himself he cannot save. Let Christ, the King of Israel, descend now from the cross." At the sixth hour, darkness fell over the entire land until the ninth hour.

At the ninth hour, Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, "Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?" which means, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" Some of those standing by thought he was calling for Elijah. One man ran and filled a sponge with vinegar, offering it to Jesus on a reed. They said, "Let's see if Elijah will come to take him down."

Jesus gave up his spirit, and the veil in the temple was torn from top to bottom. A centurion standing nearby saw what happened and exclaimed, "This man truly was God's Son." There were also several women watching from a distance, including Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James the younger and Joseph, and Salome.

As evening approached, since it was the day before the Sabbath, known as Preparation Day, a respected member of the council named Joseph of Arimathea came to Pilate. He asked for Jesus' body, which surprised Pilate because he thought Jesus might have been dead already. The centurion confirmed that Jesus had indeed died.

Pilate handed over Jesus' body to Joseph, who bought fine linen, wrapped the body in it, and placed Jesus in a tomb cut out of rock. Then he rolled a stone across the entrance to seal it. Mary Magdalene and Mary, the mother of Joses, saw where Jesus was laid.