Luke
Then the whole council got up and took him to Pilate.
They began to accuse him. “We discovered this man misleading our nation, forbidding them to pay taxes to Caesar, and claiming to be Messiah, a king,” they said.
So
Pilate asked him, “Are you the King of the Jews?” He answered, “As you
say.”
Pilate said to the chief priests and the crowds, “I do not find this man
guilty of anything.”
But they kept on insisting and said, “He stirs up the
people with his teaching all over Judea, starting from Galilee all the way
here.”
When he heard this, Pilate asked if Jesus was a Galilean.
When he realized that Jesus came under Herod’s jurisdiction, he sent him to Herod
who was also in Jerusalem at that time.
Herod was very happy when he saw Jesus, because he had been wanting
to see him for a long time. He had heard a lot about him and hoped to see him
perform a miracle.
So he questioned him for a long time, but Jesus did not
reply at all.
The chief priests and religious teachers stood there, accusing
him vigorously.
Herod and his soldiers humiliated and mocked Jesus,
dressed him in a royal robe, and then sent him back to Pilate.
That day
Herod and Pilate became friends with each other; before that they had been
enemies.
Pilate summoned the chief priests, the rulers, and the people,
and said
to them, “You brought this man before me, accusing him of inciting the
people to rebellion. I have examined him in your presence, and I do not find
him guilty of the charges you bring against him.
Herod did not find him
guilty either, because he sent him back to us. Indeed he has done nothing
worthy of the death penalty.
So I will have him flogged and let him go.”
[Now he was meant to release one prisoner to them at the feast.]
But the whole crowd shouted all together, “Away with this man, and
release Barabbas for us.”
He was a man who had been thrown into prison
for a rebellion in the city, and for murder.
Pilate, wanting to release Jesus,
spoke to them again,
but they went on shouting, “Crucify him! Crucify
him!”
For the third time Pilate asked them, “Why? What has he done
wrong? I do not find him worthy of the death sentence, so I will have him
flogged and release him.”
But they kept insisting, loudly demanding that he
be crucified, and their shouts won out.
Pilate pronounced sentence as they
demanded.
He released the man they were asking for, who had been
imprisoned for rebellion and murder, while he handed Jesus over to them, to
do what they wanted with him.
As they led him away, they seized a man, Simon from Cyrene, who was
coming in from the countryside, and placed the cross on him to carry it
behind Jesus.
A large crowd of people followed him, and women mourning
and lamenting him.
But Jesus turned to them and said, “Daughters of
Jerusalem, stop weeping for me, but weep for yourselves and your children,
because the time is coming when people will say, ‘Blessed are those who are childless, and those who never had babies, and those who never nursed
them.’
Then they will be saying to the mountains, ‘Fall on us!’ and to the hills, ‘Cover us up!’
For if they are doing these things when the tree is alive, what
will happen when it is withered?”
Two others, who were criminals, were also being led out to be put to
death with Jesus.
When they came to the place called the Skull they
crucified him there with the criminals, one on the right and the other on the
left.
Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, because they do not know what they
are doing.” They threw dice to divide up his clothes among them.
The
people stood there watching, while the leaders ridiculed him: “He saved other
people, so let him save himself if he really is the Messiah of God, His chosen
one.”
The soldiers also mocked him, coming up to him and offering him sour wine.
“If you are the King of the Jews, then save yourself!” they
jeered.
Above Jesus was a sign which read, “This is the King of the Jews.”
One of the criminals hanging there insulted Jesus: “Are you not the
Messiah? Then save yourself and us!”
But the other criminal reprimanded
him: “Do you not even fear God when you are condemned to die? And in our
case the sentence is correct because we are getting what we deserve for what
we did, but this man has done nothing wrong.”
And he said, “Jesus,
remember me when you come bringing in your Kingdom.”
Jesus said to
him, “Truly I tell you today, you will indeed be with me in paradise.”
It was then about noon, and it became dark over the whole land until
three o’clock.
The sun stopped shining, and the Temple veil was torn in
two.
Jesus cried out, “Father, into Your hands I commit my spirit,”
and
then he breathed his last.
When the centurion saw what happened he praised
God and said, “There is no doubt that this man was innocent.”
And all the
crowds who had gathered to watch, when they saw what happened went back
beating their chests with grief.
All who knew him, and the women who had
accompanied him from Galilee, watched from a distance.
There was a man named Joseph, a council member, a good and honest
man.
He had not agreed to the plan and actions of the council. He was from
the Jewish town of Arimathea, and he was waiting for the Kingdom of God.
He went to Pilate and asked for Jesus’ body.
He took it down and
wrapped it in a linen cloth. He laid Jesus in a tomb cut into the rock, which had not been used before.
It was preparation day, and the Sabbath day was
about to begin.
The women who had come with Jesus from Galilee
followed and saw the tomb and how his body was laid.
Then they went
home and prepared burial spices and perfumes. On the Sabbath
they rested
according to the commandment.
Luke