Jesus stood before Pilate the governor, and Pilate asked him, “Are you the king of the Jews?”
Jesus answered, “Those are your words.”
When the leading priests and the elders accused Jesus, he said nothing.
So Pilate said to Jesus, “Don’t you hear them accusing you of all these things?”
But Jesus said nothing in answer to Pilate, and Pilate was very surprised at this.
Every year at the time of Passover the governor would free one prisoner whom the people chose. At that time there was a man in prison, named Barabbas, who was known to be very bad. When the people gathered at Pilate’s house, Pilate said, “Whom do you want me to set free: Barabbas or Jesus who is called the Christ?” Pilate knew that they turned Jesus in to him because they were jealous.
While Pilate was sitting there on the judge’s seat, his wife sent this message to him: “Don’t do anything to that man, because he is innocent. Today I had a dream about him, and it troubled me very much.”
But the leading priests and elders convinced the crowd to ask for Barabbas to be freed and for Jesus to be killed.
Pilate said, “I have Barabbas and Jesus. Which do you want me to set free for you?”
The people answered, “Barabbas.”
Pilate asked, “So what should I do with Jesus, the one called the Christ?”
They all answered, “Crucify him!”
Pilate asked, “Why? What wrong has he done?”
But they shouted louder, “Crucify him!”
When Pilate saw that he could do nothing about this and that a riot was starting, he took some water and washed his hands in front of the crowd. Then he said, “I am not guilty of this man’s death. You are the ones who are causing it!”
All the people answered, “We and our children will be responsible for his death.”
Then he set Barabbas free. But Jesus was beaten with whips and handed over to the soldiers to be crucified.
The governor’s soldiers took Jesus into the governor’s palace, and they all gathered around him. They took off his clothes and put a red robe on him. Using thorny branches, they made a crown, put it on his head, and put a stick in his right hand. Then the soldiers bowed before Jesus and made fun of him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” They spat on Jesus. Then they took his stick and began to beat him on the head. After they finished, the soldiers took off the robe and put his own clothes on him again. Then they led him away to be crucified.
As the soldiers were going out of the city with Jesus, they forced a man from Cyrene, named Simon, to carry the cross for Jesus. They all came to the place called Golgotha, which means the Place of the Skull. The soldiers gave Jesus wine mixed with gall to drink. He tasted the wine but refused to drink it. When the soldiers had crucified him, they threw lots to decide who would get his clothes. The soldiers sat there and continued watching him.
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