Matthew
27
- Early in the morning, all the chief priests
and the elders of the people came to the decision to put Jesus to death.
- They bound him, led him away and handed him
over to Pilate, the governor.
- When Judas, who had betrayed him, saw that
Jesus was condemned, he was seized with remorse and returned the thirty silver
coins to the chief priests and the elders.
- "I have sinned," he said, "for I have
betrayed innocent blood." "What is that to us?" they replied. "That's your
responsibility."
- So Judas threw the money into the temple
and left. Then he went away and hanged himself.
- The chief priests picked up the coins and
said, "It is against the law to put this into the treasury, since it is blood
money."
- So they decided to use the money to buy the
potter's field as a burial place for foreigners.
- That is why it has been called the Field of
Blood to this day.
- Then what was spoken by Jeremiah the
prophet was fulfilled: "They took the thirty silver coins, the price set on
him by the people of Israel,
- and they used them to buy the potter's
field, as the Lord commanded me."
- Meanwhile Jesus stood before the governor,
and the governor asked him, "Are you the king of the Jews?" "Yes, it is as you
say," Jesus replied.
- When he was accused by the chief priests
and the elders, he gave no answer.
- Then Pilate asked him, "Don't you hear the
testimony they are bringing against you?"
- But Jesus made no reply, not even to a
single charge--to the great amazement of the governor.
- Now it was the governor's custom at the
Feast to release a prisoner chosen by the crowd.
- At that time they had a notorious prisoner,
called Barabbas.
- So when the crowd had gathered, Pilate
asked them, "Which one do you want me to release to you: Barabbas, or Jesus who is called Christ?"
- For he knew it was out of envy that they
had handed Jesus over to him.
- While Pilate was sitting on the judge's
seat, his wife sent him this message: "Don't have anything to do with that
innocent man, for I have suffered a great deal today in a dream because of
him."
- But the chief priests and the elders
persuaded the crowd to ask for Barabbas
and to have Jesus executed.
- "Which of the two do you want me to release
to you?" asked the governor. "Barabbas," they answered.
- "What shall I do, then, with Jesus who is
called Christ?" Pilate asked. They all answered, "Crucify him ! "
- "Why? What crime has he committed?" asked
Pilate. But they shouted all the louder, "Crucify him ! "
- When Pilate saw that he was getting
nowhere, but that instead an uproar was starting, he took water and washed his
hands in front of the crowd. "I am innocent of this man's blood," he said. "It
is your responsibility ! "
- All the people answered, "Let his blood be
on us and on our children ! "
- Then he released Barabbas to them. But he had Jesus flogged, and handed him
over to be crucified.
- Then the governor's soldiers took Jesus
into the Praetorium and gathered the
whole company of soldiers around him.
- They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on
him,
- and then twisted together a crown of thorns
and set it on his head. They put a staff in his right hand and knelt in front
of him and mocked him. "Hail, king of the Jews!" they said.
- They spit on him, and took the staff and
struck him on the head again and again.
- After they had mocked him, they took off
the robe and put his own clothes on him. Then they led him away to crucify
him.
- As they were going out, they met a man from Cyrene, named Simon, and they forced
him to carry the cross.
- They came to a place called Golgotha (which
means The Place of the Skull).
- There they offered Jesus wine to drink,
mixed with gall; but after tasting it, he refused to drink it.
- When they had crucified him, they divided
up his clothes by casting lots.
- And sitting down, they kept watch over him
there.
- Above his head they placed the written
charge against him: THIS IS JESUS, THE KING OF THE JEWS.
- Two robbers were crucified with him, one on
his right and one on his left.
- Those who passed by hurled insults at him,
shaking their heads
- and saying, "You who are going to destroy
the temple and build it in three days, save yourself! Come down from the
cross, if you are the Son of God ! "
- In the same way the chief priests, the
teachers of the law and the elders mocked him.
- "He saved others," they said, "but he can't
save himself! He's the King of Israel! Let him come down now from the cross,
and we will believe in him.
- He trusts in God. Let God rescue him now if
he wants him, for he said, 'I am the Son of God.'"
- In the same way the robbers who were
crucified with him also heaped insults on him.
- From the sixth hour until the ninth hour
darkness came over all the land.
- About the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a
loud voice, "Eloi, Eloi, lama
sabachthani?"--which means, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"
- When some of those standing there heard
this, they said, "He's calling Elijah."
- Immediately one of them ran and got a
sponge. He filled it with wine vinegar, put it on a stick, and offered it to
Jesus to drink.
- The rest said, "Now leave him alone. Let's
see if Elijah comes to save him."
- And when Jesus had cried out again in a
loud voice, he gave up his spirit.
- At that moment the curtain of the temple
was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook and the rocks split.
- The tombs broke open and the bodies of many
holy people who had died were raised to life.
- They came out of the tombs, and after
Jesus' resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many people.
- When the centurion and those with him who
were guarding Jesus saw the earthquake and all that had happened, they were
terrified, and exclaimed, "Surely he was the Son of God ! "
- Many women were there, watching from a
distance. They had followed Jesus from Galilee to care for his needs.
- Among them were Mary Magdalene, Mary the
mother of James and Joses, and the
mother of Zebedee's sons.
- As evening approached, there came a rich
man from Arimathea, named Joseph,
who had himself become a disciple of Jesus.
- Going to Pilate, he asked for Jesus' body,
and Pilate ordered that it be given to him.
- Joseph took the body, wrapped it in a clean
linen cloth,
- and placed it in his own new tomb that he
had cut out of the rock. He rolled a big stone in front of the entrance to the
tomb and went away.
- Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were
sitting there opposite the tomb.
- The next day, the one after Preparation
Day, the chief priests and the Pharisees went to Pilate.
- "Sir," they said, "we remember that while
he was still alive that deceiver said, 'After three days I will rise again.'
- So give the order for the tomb to be made
secure until the third day. Otherwise, his disciples may come and steal the
body and tell the people that he has been raised from the dead. This last
deception will be worse than the first."
- "Take a guard," Pilate answered. "Go, make
the tomb as secure as you know how."
- So they went and made the tomb secure by
putting a seal on the stone and posting the guard.
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