¹Then Pilate had Jesus taken away and whipped. ²The soldiers twisted some thorny branches into a crown, placed it on his head, and put a purple cape on him. ³They went up to him, said, “Long live the king of the Jews!” and slapped his face.

The People Want Jesus Crucified

⁴Pilate went outside again and told the Jews, “I’m bringing him out to you to let you know that I don’t find this man guilty of anything.” ⁵Jesus went outside. He was wearing the crown of thorns and the purple cape. Pilate said to the Jews, “Look, here’s the man!”

⁶When the chief priests and the guards saw Jesus, they shouted, “Crucify him! Crucify him!”

Pilate told them, “You take him and crucify him. I don’t find this man guilty of anything.”

⁷The Jews answered Pilate, “We have a law, and by that law he must die because he claimed to be the Son of God.”

⁸When Pilate heard them say that, he became more afraid than ever. ⁹He went into the palace again and asked Jesus, “Where are you from?” But Jesus didn’t answer him.

¹⁰So Pilate said to Jesus, “Aren’t you going to answer me? Don’t you know that I have the authority to free you or to crucify you?”

¹¹Jesus answered Pilate, “You wouldn’t have any authority over me if it hadn’t been given to you from above. That’s why the man who handed me over to you is guilty of a greater sin.”

¹²When Pilate heard what Jesus said, he wanted to free him. But the Jews shouted, “If you free this man, you’re not a friend of the emperor. Anyone who claims to be a king is defying the emperor.”

¹³When Pilate heard what they said, he took Jesus outside and sat on the judge’s seat in a place called Stone Pavement. (In Hebrew it is called Gabbatha.) ¹⁴The time was about noon on the Friday of the Passover festival.

Pilate said to the Jews, “Look, here’s your king!”

¹⁵Then the Jews shouted, “Kill him! Kill him! Crucify him!”

Pilate asked them, “Should I crucify your king?”

The chief priests responded, “The emperor is the only king we have!”

¹⁶Then Pilate handed Jesus over to them to be crucified.

The Crucifixion—Matthew 27:31–44; Mark 15:20–32; Luke 23:26–38

So the soldiers took Jesus. ¹⁷He carried his own cross and went out ⸤of the city⸥ to a location called The Skull. (In Hebrew this place is called Golgotha.) ¹⁸The soldiers crucified Jesus and two other men there. Jesus was in the middle.

¹⁹Pilate wrote a notice and put it on the cross. The notice read, “Jesus from Nazareth, the king of the Jews.” ²⁰Many Jews read this notice, because the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city. The notice was written in Hebrew, Latin, and Greek.

²¹The chief priests of the Jewish people told Pilate, “Don’t write, ‘The king of the Jews!’ Instead, write, ‘He said that he is the king of the Jews.’ ”

²²Pilate replied, “I have written what I’ve written.”

²³When the soldiers had crucified Jesus, they took his clothes and divided them four ways so that each soldier could have a share. His robe was left over. It didn’t have a seam because it had been woven in one piece from top to bottom. ²⁴The soldiers said to each other, “Let’s not rip it apart. Let’s throw dice to see who will get it.” In this way the Scripture came true: “They divided my clothes among themselves. They threw dice for my clothing.” So that’s what the soldiers did.

²⁵Jesus’ mother, her sister, Mary (the wife of Clopas), and Mary from Magdala were standing beside Jesus’ cross. ²⁶Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing there. He said to his mother, “Look, here’s your son!” ²⁷Then he said to the disciple, “Look, here’s your mother!”

From that time on she lived with that disciple in his home.

Jesus Dies on the Cross—Matthew 27:45–56; Mark 15:33–41; Luke 23:44–49

²⁸After this, when Jesus knew that everything had now been finished, he said, “I’m thirsty.” He said this so that Scripture could finally be concluded.

²⁹A jar filled with vinegar was there. So the soldiers put a sponge soaked in the vinegar on a hyssop stick and held it to his mouth.

³⁰After Jesus had taken the vinegar, he said, “It is finished!”

Then he bowed his head and died.

³¹Since it was Friday and the next day was an especially important day of rest—a holy day, the Jews didn’t want the bodies to stay on the crosses. So they asked Pilate to have the men’s legs broken and their bodies removed. ³²The soldiers broke the legs of the first man and then of the other man who had been crucified with Jesus.

³³When the soldiers came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they didn’t break his legs. ³⁴However, one of the soldiers stabbed Jesus’ side with his spear, and blood and water immediately came out. ³⁵The one who saw this is an eyewitness. What he says is true, and he knows that he is telling the truth so that you, too, will believe.

³⁶This happened so that the Scripture would come true: “None of his bones will be broken.” ³⁷Another Scripture passage says, “They will look at the person whom they have stabbed.”

Jesus Is Placed in a Tomb—Matthew 27:57–61; Mark 15:42–47; Luke 23:50–56

³⁸Later Joseph from the city of Arimathea asked Pilate to let him remove Jesus’ body. (Joseph was a disciple of Jesus but secretly because he was afraid of the Jews). Pilate gave him permission to remove Jesus’ body. So Joseph removed it. ³⁹Nicodemus, the one who had first come to Jesus at night, went with Joseph and brought 75 pounds of a myrrh and aloe mixture.

⁴⁰These two men took the body of Jesus and bound it with strips of linen. They laced the strips with spices. This was the Jewish custom for burial.

⁴¹A garden was located in the place where Jesus was crucified. In that garden was a new tomb in which no one had yet been placed. ⁴²Joseph and Nicodemus put Jesus in that tomb, since that day was the Jewish day of preparation and since the tomb was nearby.

20TH CHAPTER

Jesus Comes Back to Life—Matthew 28:1–10; Mark 16:1–8; Luke 24:1–12

¹Early on Sunday morning, while it was still dark, Mary from Magdala went to the tomb. She saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb’s entrance. ²So she ran to Simon Peter and the other disciple, whom Jesus loved. She told them, “They have removed the Lord from the tomb, and we don’t know where they’ve put him.”

³So Peter and the other disciple headed for the tomb. ⁴The two were running side by side, but the other disciple ran faster than Peter and came to the tomb first. ⁵He bent over and looked inside the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there but didn’t go inside.

⁶Simon Peter arrived after him and went into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there. ⁷He also saw the cloth that had been on Jesus’ head. It wasn’t lying with the strips of linen but was rolled up separately. ⁸Then the other disciple, who arrived at the tomb first, went inside. He saw and believed. ⁹They didn’t know yet what Scripture meant when it said that Jesus had to come back to life. ¹⁰So the disciples went back home.

Jesus Appears to Mary from Magdala

¹¹Mary, however, stood there and cried as she looked at the tomb. As she cried, she bent over and looked inside. ¹²She saw two angels in white clothes. They were sitting where the body of Jesus had been lying. One angel was where Jesus’ head had been, and the other was where his feet had been. ¹³The angels asked her why she was crying.

Mary told them, “They have removed my Lord, and I don’t know where they’ve put him.”

¹⁴After she said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there. However, she didn’t know that it was Jesus. ¹⁵Jesus asked her, “Why are you crying? Who are you looking for?”

Mary thought it was the gardener speaking to her. So she said to him, “Sir, if you carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I’ll remove him.”

¹⁶Jesus said to her, “Mary!”

Mary turned around and said to him in Hebrew, “Rabboni!” (This word means “teacher.”)

¹⁷Jesus told her, “Don’t hold on to me. I have not yet gone to the Father. But go to my brothers and sisters and tell them, ‘I am going to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’ ”

¹⁸Mary from Magdala went to the disciples and told them, “I have seen the Lord.” She also told them what he had said to her.

Jesus Appears to the Disciples—Luke 24:36–48

¹⁹That Sunday evening, the disciples were together behind locked doors because they were afraid of the Jews. Jesus stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you!” ²⁰When he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. The disciples were glad to see the Lord.

²¹Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, so I am sending you.” ²²After he had said this, he breathed on the disciples and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. ²³Whenever you forgive sins, they are forgiven. Whenever you don’t forgive them, they are not forgiven.”

Jesus Appears to Thomas

²⁴Thomas, one of the twelve apostles, who was called Didymus, wasn’t with them when Jesus came. ²⁵The other disciples told him, “We’ve seen the Lord.”

Thomas told them, “I refuse to believe this unless I see the nail marks in his hands, put my fingers into them, and put my hand into his side.”

²⁶A week later Jesus’ disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. Even though the doors were locked, Jesus stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” ²⁷Then Jesus said to Thomas, “Put your finger here, and look at my hands. Take your hand, and put it into my side. Stop doubting, and believe.”

²⁸Thomas responded to Jesus, “My Lord and my God!”

²⁹Jesus said to Thomas, “You believe because you’ve seen me. Blessed are those who haven’t seen me but believe.”

³⁰Jesus performed many other miracles that his disciples saw. Those miracles are not written in this book. ³¹But these miracles have been written so that you will believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and so that you will have life by believing in him.

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