Jesus Before Pilate
Mark 15Early in the morning the chief priests, along with the elders, scribes, and the whole council, held a consultation. They bound Jesus, carried him away, and delivered him up to Pilate. Pilate asked him, “Are you the King of the Jews?”
He answered, “So you say.”
The chief priests accused him of many things. Pilate again asked him, “Have you no answer? See how many things they testify against you!”
But Jesus made no further answer, so that Pilate marveled.
Now, at the feast, he would release one prisoner to them, whomever they requested. A man called Barabbas was imprisoned with his fellow insurrectionists, who had committed murder in the insurrection. The crowd came up and began to ask him to do as he always did for them. Pilate answered them, saying, “Do y’all want me to release the King of the Jews for y’all?” For he knew that the chief priests had handed him over because of envy. But the chief priests stirred up the crowd to have him release Barabbas to them instead. Pilate again asked them, “Then what do y’all want me to do to the one y’all call the King of the Jews?”
They shouted back, “Crucify him!”
Pilate said to them, “Why, what evil has he done?”
But yelled even louder, “Crucify him!”
Pilate, wishing to please the multitude, released Barabbas to them. Then after having Jesus flogged him, he handed him over to be crucified.
Jesus Mocked by the Soldiers
The soldiers led him away within the court (that is, the Praetorium), and they called together the whole cohort. They clothed him with purple, then weaved a crown of thorns and put it on him. They began to salute him, “Hail, King of the Jews!” They struck his head with a reed and spat on him. Then they fell on their knees and paid homage to him. When they had mocked him, they took the purple cloak off him and put his own garments on him. Then they led him out to crucify him.
The Crucifixion
They forced someone who was passing by, coming from the country, Simon of Cyrene (the father of Alexander and Rufus) to go with them that he might carry the cross. They brought him to the place called Golgotha, which is translated, “The place of a skull.” They offered him wine mixed with myrrh, but he didn’t take it.
And they crucified him. They divided up his garments among them, casting lots for what each would take. It was the third hour when they crucified him. The inscription of the charge against him read: “THE KING OF THE JEWS.” They crucified two robbers with him, one on his right hand, and one on his left. +15:27 Some manuscripts include verse 28, similar to Luke 22:37: The scripture was fulfilled which says, “And he was numbered with transgressors.”
Those who passed by insulted him, shaking their heads and saying, “Ha! You who destroy the temple and build it in three days, save yourself, and come down from the cross!”
Likewise, the chief priests with the scribes mocked him among themselves saying, “He saved others. He can’t save himself. Let this Christ, the King of Israel, now come down from the cross, so that we may see and believe.” Those who were crucified with him also insulted him.
Jesus Cries Out to the Father and Dies
Now when it was noon, darkness came over the whole land for three hours. At three in the afternoon, Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?” (which is translated, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”) +Psa 22:1
When some of those who stood by heard it, they said, “Look, he is calling for Elijah.”
Someone ran and filled a sponge with vinegar, put it on a reed, and gave it to him to drink, saying, “Y’all leave him be. Let’s see whether Elijah comes to take him down.”
But Jesus cried out with a loud voice and breathed his last. The temple veil was torn in two from top to bottom. When the centurion, who stood by opposite him, saw that he cried out like this and breathed his last, he said, “Truly this man was the Son of God!”
There were also women watching from afar. Among them were Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James the less and of Joses, and Salome. When he was in Galilee, they followed him and served him. And many other women who came up with him to Jerusalem were there.
The Burial of Jesus
When evening had come, because it was the Preparation Day (that is, the day before the Sabbath), Joseph of Arimathaea, a prominent council member who also himself was looking for the Empire of God, went boldly to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Pilate was marveled to hear that he was already dead. Summoning the centurion, he asked him whether he had been dead long. When he was informed by the centurion, he granted the body to Joseph. He bought a linen cloth, took him down, wrapped him in the linen cloth, and laid him in a tomb cut out of a rock. Then he rolled a stone against the door of the tomb. Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses saw where he was laid.