Luke 23:1–24

Pilate Questions Jesus—Matthew 27:11–14; Mark 15:1–5; John 18:28–38

¹Then the entire assembly stood up and took him to Pilate. 

²They began to accuse Jesus by saying, “We found that he stirs up trouble among our people: He keeps them from paying taxes to the emperor, and he says that he is Christ, a king.” 

³Pilate asked him, “Are you the king of the Jews?” 

“Yes, I am,” Jesus answered. 

⁴Pilate said to the chief priests and the crowd, “I can’t find this man guilty of any crime.” 

Pilate Sends Jesus to Herod

⁵The priests and the crowd became more forceful. They said, “He stirs up the people throughout Judea with his teachings. He started in Galilee and has come here.” 

⁶When Pilate heard that, he asked if the man was from Galilee. ⁷When Pilate found out that he was, he sent Jesus to Herod. Herod ruled Galilee and was in Jerusalem at that time. 

⁸Herod was very pleased to see Jesus. For a long time he had wanted to see him. He had heard about Jesus and hoped to see him perform some kind of miracle. ⁹Herod asked Jesus many questions, but Jesus wouldn’t answer him. ¹⁰Meanwhile, the chief priests and the experts in Moses’ Teachings stood there and shouted their accusations against Jesus. 

¹¹Herod and his soldiers treated Jesus with contempt and made fun of him. They put a colorful robe on him and sent him back to Pilate. ¹²So Herod and Pilate became friends that day. They had been enemies before this. 

¹³Then Pilate called together the chief priests, the rulers, and the people. ¹⁴He told them, “You brought me this man as someone who turns the people against the government. I’ve questioned him in front of you and haven’t found this man guilty of the crimes of which you accuse him. ¹⁵Neither could Herod. So he sent this man back to us. This man hasn’t done anything to deserve the death penalty. ¹⁶So I’m going to have him whipped and set free.”^a

The Crowd Rejects Jesus—Matthew 27:15–26; Mark 15:6–15; John 18:39–40

¹⁸The whole crowd then shouted, “Take him away! Free Barabbas for us.” ¹⁹(Barabbas had been thrown into prison for his involvement in a riot that had taken place in the city and for murder.) 

²⁰But because Pilate wanted to free Jesus, he spoke to the people again. 

²¹They began yelling, “Crucify him! Crucify him!” 

²²A third time Pilate spoke to them. He asked, “Why? What has he done wrong? I haven’t found this man deserving of the death penalty. So I’m going to have him whipped and set free.” 

²³But the crowd pressured Pilate. They shouted that Jesus had to be crucified, and they finally won. ²⁴Pilate decided to give in to their demand.