Luke
23
- Then the whole assembly rose and led him
off to Pilate.
- And they began to accuse him, saying, "We
have found this man subverting our nation. He opposes payment of taxes to
Caesar and claims to be Christ, a king."
- So Pilate asked Jesus, "Are you the
king of the Jews?" "Yes, it is as you say," Jesus replied.
- Then Pilate announced to the chief priests
and the crowd, "I find no basis for a charge against this man."
- But they insisted, "He stirs up the
people all over Judea by his teaching. He started in Galilee and has come
all the way here."
- On hearing this, Pilate asked if the man
was a Galilean.
- When he learned that Jesus was under Herod's
jurisdiction, he sent him to Herod, who was also in Jerusalem at that time.
- When Herod saw Jesus, he was greatly pleased,
because for a long time he had been wanting to see him. From what he had heard
about him, he hoped to see him perform some miracle.
- He plied him with many questions, but Jesus
gave him no answer.
- The chief priests and the teachers of the
law were standing there, vehemently accusing him.
- Then Herod and his soldiers ridiculed and
mocked him. Dressing him in an elegant robe, they sent him back to Pilate.
- That day Herod and Pilate became friends--before
this they had been enemies.
- Pilate called together the chief priests,
the rulers and the people,
- and said to them, "You brought me this
man as one who was inciting the people to rebellion. I have examined him in
your presence and have found no basis for your charges against him.
- Neither has Herod, for he sent him back to
us; as you can see, he has done nothing to deserve death.
- Therefore, I will punish him and then release
him."
- [Now he was obliged to release one man to
them at the Feast.]
- With one voice they cried out, "Away
with this man! Release Barabbas to us!"
- (Barabbas had been thrown into prison for
an insurrection in the city, and for murder.)
- Wanting to release Jesus, Pilate appealed
to them again.
- But they kept shouting, "Crucify him!
Crucify him!"
- For the third time he spoke to them: "Why?
What crime has this man committed? I have found in him no grounds for the
death penalty. Therefore I will have him punished and then release him."
- But with loud shouts they insistently demanded
that he be crucified, and their shouts prevailed.
- So Pilate decided to grant their demand.
- He released the man who had been thrown into
prison for insurrection and murder, the one they asked for, and surrendered
Jesus to their will.
- As they led him away, they seized Simon from
Cyrene, who was on his way in from the country, and put the cross on him and
made him carry it behind Jesus.
- A large number of people followed him, including
women who mourned and wailed for him.
- Jesus turned and said to them, "Daughters
of Jerusalem, do not weep for me; weep for yourselves and for your children.
- For the time will come when you will say,
'Blessed are the barren women, the wombs that never bore and the breasts that
never nursed!'
- Then "'they will say to the mountains,
"Fall on us!" and to the hills, "Cover us!" '
- For if men do these things when the tree
is green, what will happen when it is dry?"
- Two other men, both criminals, were also
led out with him to be executed.
- When they came to the place called the Skull,
there they crucified him, along with the criminals--one on his right, the
other on his left.
- Jesus said, "Father, forgive them, for
they do not know what they are doing." And they divided up his clothes
by casting lots.
- The people stood watching, and the rulers
even sneered at him. They said, "He saved others; let him save himself
if he is the Christ of God, the Chosen One."
- The soldiers also came up and mocked him.
They offered him wine vinegar
- and said, "If you are the king of the
Jews, save yourself."
- There was a written notice above him, which
read: THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS.
- One of the criminals who hung there hurled
insults at him: "Aren't you the Christ? Save yourself and us!"
- But the other criminal rebuked him. "Don't
you fear God," he said, "since you are under the same sentence?
- We are punished justly, for we are getting
what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong."
- Then he said, "Jesus, remember me when
you come into your kingdom."
- Jesus answered him, "I tell you the
truth, today you will be with me in paradise."
- It was now about the sixth hour, and darkness
came over the whole land until the ninth hour,
- for the sun stopped shining. And the curtain
of the temple was torn in two.
- Jesus called out with a loud voice, "Father,
into your hands I commit my spirit." When he had said this, he breathed
his last.
- The centurion, seeing what had happened,
praised God and said, "Surely this was a righteous man."
- When all the people who had gathered to witness
this sight saw what took place, they beat their breasts and went away.
- But all those who knew him, including the
women who had followed him from Galilee, stood at a distance, watching these
things.
- Now there was a man named Joseph, a member
of the Council, a good and upright man,
- who had not consented to their decision and
action. He came from the Judean town of Arimathea and he was waiting for the
kingdom of God.
- Going to Pilate, he asked for Jesus' body.
- Then he took it down, wrapped it in linen
cloth and placed it in a tomb cut in the rock, one in which no one had yet
been laid.
- It was Preparation Day, and the Sabbath was
about to begin.
- The women who had come with Jesus from Galilee
followed Joseph and saw the tomb and how his body was laid in it.
- Then they went home and prepared spices and
perfumes. But they rested on the Sabbath in obedience to the commandment.
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