Mark 15:1–21

Pilate Questions Jesus—Matthew 27:11–14; Luke 23:1–4; John 18:28–38

¹Early in the morning the chief priests immediately came to a decision with the leaders and the experts in Moses’ Teachings. The whole Jewish council decided to tie Jesus up, lead him away, and hand him over to Pilate. 

²Pilate asked him, “Are you the king of the Jews?” 

“Yes, I am,” Jesus answered him. 

³The chief priests were accusing him of many things. 

⁴So Pilate asked him again, “Don’t you have any answer? Look how many accusations they’re bringing against you!” 

⁵But Jesus no longer answered anything, so Pilate was surprised. 

The Crowd Rejects Jesus—Matthew 27:15–26; Luke 23:18–25; John 18:39–40

⁶At every Passover festival, Pilate would free one prisoner whom the people asked for. ⁷There was a man named Barabbas in prison. He was with some rebels who had committed murder during a riot. ⁸The crowd asked Pilate to do for them what he always did. ⁹Pilate answered them, “Do you want me to free the king of the Jews for you?” ¹⁰Pilate knew that the chief priests had handed Jesus over to him because they were jealous. 

¹¹The chief priests stirred up the crowd so that Pilate would free Barabbas for them instead. 

¹²So Pilate again asked them, “Then what should I do with the king of the Jews?” 

¹³“Crucify him!” they shouted back. 

¹⁴Pilate said to them, “Why? What has he done wrong?” 

But they shouted even louder, “Crucify him!” 

¹⁵Pilate wanted to satisfy the people, so he freed Barabbas for them. But he had Jesus whipped and handed over to be crucified. 

The Soldiers Make Fun of Jesus—Matthew 27:27–30; John 19:1–3

¹⁶The soldiers led Jesus into the courtyard of the palace and called together the whole troop. ¹⁷They dressed him in purple, twisted some thorns into a crown, and placed it on his head. ¹⁸Then they began to greet him, “Long live the king of the Jews!” ¹⁹They kept hitting him on the head with a stick, spitting on him, and kneeling in front of him with false humility. 

The Crucifixion—Matthew 27:31–44; Luke 23:33–38; John 19:16b–24

²⁰After the soldiers finished making fun of Jesus, they took off the purple cape and put his own clothes back on him. Then they led him out to crucify him. ²¹A man named Simon from the city of Cyrene was coming ⸤into Jerusalem⸥ from his home in the country. He was the father of Alexander and Rufus. As he was about to pass by, the soldiers forced him to carry Jesus’ cross.