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Jesus Was Flogged and Humiliated

Pilate took Jesus away for flogging. The Roman soldiers wove a crown of thorns and placed it on his head. They put a purple robe on him and struck him with their hands, saying, "Hail, King of the Jews!" Pilate went out again and said to them, "Behold, I bring him out to you." Jesus came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe.

The chief priests and officers saw him and cried out, "Crucify him!" Pilate said to them, "Take him yourselves and crucify him, for I find no fault in him." The Jews answered, "We have a law and by our law he ought to die, because he made himself the Son of God." When Pilate heard that saying, he was even more afraid.

Pilate asked Jesus, "Where are you from?" But Jesus gave him no answer. Pilate then said, "Don't you know that I have power both to crucify you and to release you?" Jesus answered, "You could have no power against me unless it was given to you from above; therefore, he who delivered me to you has greater sin." Pilate sought to release him, but the Jews cried out, saying, "If you let this man go, you are not Caesar's friend: whoever makes himself a king speaks against Caesar."

When Pilate heard that saying, he brought Jesus forth and sat down in judgment on the pavement called Gabbatha. It was the preparation of the Passover, about the sixth hour. He said to the Jews, "Behold your King!" But they cried out, "Away with him! Crucify him!" Pilate asked them, "Shall I crucify your King?" The chief priests replied, "We have no king but Caesar." Then he handed him over to them to be crucified.

They took Jesus away and led him outside the city gates. He went out, bearing his cross, into a place called Golgotha, which is also known as the Place of a Skull. There they crucified him, along with two others, one on either side of Jesus. Pilate wrote a title and placed it on the cross, saying "Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews." This was written in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin for everyone to see.

Many of the Jews read this inscription, because the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city. The chief priests told Pilate, "Do not write 'King of the Jews,' but that he said, 'I am King of the Jews.'" But Pilate answered, "What I have written, I have written."

The soldiers took Jesus' garments and divided them into four parts, with each soldier receiving a portion. They also took his seamless tunic. They said among themselves, "Let us not tear it, but cast lots to see whose it will be." Now there stood by the cross of Jesus his mother, along with her sister Mary, wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene.

When Jesus saw his mother standing by him, whom he loved, he said to her, "Woman, behold your son!" Then he said to the disciple beside her, "Behold your mother." From that hour on, the disciple took her into his own home. Jesus knew that all things were now accomplished and said, "I thirst." A vessel of vinegar was brought, and they filled a sponge with it, which they put on a stalk of hyssop and pressed to his mouth.

When Jesus had received the vinegar, he said, "It is finished," and with that, he bowed his head and gave up his life. The Jews asked Pilate that their legs might be broken, so the bodies wouldn't remain on the crosses during the Sabbath day. So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first crucified man and the other who was crucified with him.

When they came to Jesus, they saw that he was already dead, so they did not break his legs. One of the soldiers pierced Jesus' side with a spear, and immediately blood and water flowed out. The one who witnessed it has given testimony, and his testimony is true; he knows that what he says is true.

For these things were done that the Scripture might be fulfilled, which says, "They will look on him whom they pierced." Another scripture also says, "And with his wounds we are healed." Joseph of Arimathaea, a secret disciple of Jesus for fear of the Jews, asked Pilate to let him take away Jesus' body. Pilate granted his request.

Joseph came and took down the body of Jesus. Nicodemus, who had come to Jesus by night earlier, also brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes weighing about one hundred pounds. They wrapped Jesus in linen cloths with spices, following the traditional Jewish burial customs. They laid Jesus in a new tomb in a garden near the cross because it was already the preparation day for the Sabbath.

Since the tomb was nearby, they placed Jesus there, and then rolled the stone in front of the entrance to secure it.