Tuesday, August 18

¹¹Then Jesus stood before the governor, and the governor asked him, “Are you the king of the Jews?” Jesus said, “You say so.” ¹²But when he was accused by the chief priests and the elders, he did not respond. ¹³Then Pilate said to him, “Don’t you hear how many charges they are bringing against you?” ¹⁴But he did not answer even one accusation, so that the governor was quite amazed.

¹⁵During the feast the governor was accustomed to release one prisoner to the crowd, whomever they wanted. ¹⁶At that time they had in custody a notorious prisoner named Jesus Barabbas. ¹⁷So after they had assembled, Pilate said to them, “Whom do you want me to release for you, Jesus Barabbas or Jesus who is called the Christ?” ¹⁸(For he knew that they had handed him over because of envy.) ¹⁹As he was sitting on the judgment seat, his wife sent a message to him: “Have nothing to do with that innocent man; I have suffered greatly as a result of a dream about him today.” ²⁰But the chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowds to ask for Barabbas and to have Jesus killed. ²¹The governor asked them, “Which of the two do you want me to release for you?” And they said, “Barabbas!” ²²Pilate said to them, “Then what should I do with Jesus who is called the Christ?” They all said, “Crucify him!” ²³He asked, “Why? What wrong has he done?” But they shouted more insistently, “Crucify him!”

²⁴When Pilate saw that he could do nothing, but that instead a riot was starting, he took some water, washed his hands before the crowd and said, “I am innocent of this man’s blood. You take care of it yourselves!” ²⁵In reply all the people said, “Let his blood be on us and on our children!” ²⁶Then he released Barabbas for them. But after he had Jesus flogged, he handed him over to be crucified. ²⁷Then the governor’s soldiers took Jesus into the governor’s residence and gathered the whole cohort around him. ²⁸They stripped him and put a scarlet robe around him, ²⁹and after braiding a crown of thorns, they put it on his head. They put a staff in his right hand, and kneeling down before him, they mocked him: “Hail, king of the Jews!” ³⁰They spat on him and took the staff and struck him repeatedly on the head. ³¹When they had mocked him, they stripped him of the robe and put his own clothes back on him. Then they led him away to crucify him.

³²As they were going out, they found a man from Cyrene named Simon, whom they forced to carry his cross. ³³They came to a place called Golgotha (which means “Place of the Skull”) ³⁴and offered Jesus wine mixed with gall to drink. But after tasting it, he would not drink it. ³⁵When they had crucified him, they divided his clothes by throwing dice. ³⁶Then they sat down and kept guard over him there. ³⁷Above his head they put the charge against him, which read: “This is Jesus, the king of the Jews.” ³⁸Then two outlaws were crucified with him, one on his right and one on his left. ³⁹Those who passed by defamed him, shaking their heads ⁴⁰and saying, “You who can destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself! If you are God’s Son, come down from the cross!” ⁴¹In the same way even the chief priests—together with the experts in the law and elders—were mocking him: ⁴²“He saved others, but he cannot save himself! He is the king of Israel! If he comes down now from the cross, we will believe in him! ⁴³He trusts in God—let God, if he wants to, deliver him now because he said, ‘I am God’s Son’!” ⁴⁴The robbers who were crucified with him also spoke abusively to him.