Mar 15 | Mont | STEP | As soon as it was down, after the high priests had conferred with the elders and the whole Sanhedrin, they bound Jesus, and took him away, and handed him over to Pilate.

‏ Mark 15

1 As soon as it was down, after the high priests had conferred with the elders and the whole Sanhedrin, they bound Jesus, and took him away, and handed him over to Pilate. 2 Pilate questioned him, "Are you the King of the Jews?" In reply Jesus said, "It is as you say." 3 When the chief priests continued making many accusations against him, Pilate repeatedly questioned him. 4 "Do you make no answer?" he said, 5 "See, how many accusations they are making." But Jesus no longer made any answer, at which Pilate wondered. 6 Now at the time of the feast it was customary to release to them a prisoner, whatever one they asked for. 7 A man named Barabbas was there in prison, with some rioters who had committed murder during an uprising. 8 So when the crowd went up and began asking Pilate to follow his usual custom, 9 he asked them, "Do you wish me to release the King of the Jews?" 10 For he recognized that it was through spite that the high priests had handed him over. 11 But the chief priests incited the crowds to have Barabbas released to them, instead. 12 So Pilate spoke to them once more, "What them shall I do to him you call ‘King of the Jews’?" 13 Then they shouted again, "Crucify him!" 14 "Why, what wrong has he done?" Pilate kept saying. But they shouted furiously, "Crucify him!"

15 So Pilate, who wished to make himself strong with the crowd, released Barabbas to them, and gave Jesus over for crucifixion, after he had scourged him. 16 The soldiers then led him away into the courtyard (Praetorium), and called together the whole battalion. 17 They clothed Jesus in purple, and plaited a crown of thorns, and placed it on his head. 18 Then they began to salute him. "Hail, King of the Jews," they said. 19 They kept striking him on the head with a rod, and spitting upon him; and on bended knee they did him homage. 20 And after their sport with him, they stripped off the purple robe, and put on his own clothes, and led him out to crucify him. 21 Simon a Cyrenian, a passer-by, who was coming from the country (the father of Alexander and Rufus), they commandeered to carry the cross of Jesus.

22 So they led him to the place called Golgotha - a name which means "the place of a skull." 23 There they attempted to give him wine mingled with myrrh; but he refused it. Then they crucified him, and divided his garments among them, casting lots upon them to see what each should take. 25 It was nine o’clock in the morning when they crucified him. 26 Over his head there was written the words of the charge against him. "The King of the Jews" 27 Now with him they crucified two robbers, one on his right hand and one on his left. 29 And the passers-by kept jeering at him, wagging their heads and saying. "Ah! you who were to ‘destroy the sanctuary and rebuild it in three days,’ save yourself! 30 Come down from the cross! 31 In the same way the high priests also, as well as the Scribes, kept on mocking him to themselves. "He saved others," they said, "but himself he cannot save. 32 The Christ! The King of Israel! Let him now come down from the cross, that we may see and believe." They also who had been crucified with Jesus kept reviling him.

33 At noon a darkness came over the whole country, lasting until three in the afternoon. 34 At three o’clock Jesus cried in a loud voice, "Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?" which means, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" 35 When they heard this, some of the bystanders said, "Listen, he is calling for Elijah." 36 Then a man ran and filled a sponge full of sour wine, and put it on a stick, and offered it to him to drink, saying, "Wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to take him down!" 37 But Jesus uttered a loud cry and expired. 38 And the curtain of the Sanctuary was torn in two from top to bottom. 39 Then the army captain, who was standing facing Jesus when he thus died, said, "in truth this man was a Son of God." 40 There were some women also watching from a distance. Among them were both Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of Jamesthe younger and of Joses, and Salome, 41 women who used to follow him when he was in Galilee, and minister to him; and many other women who had come up to Jerusalem with him.

42 Toward sunset, as it was the preparation (that is the day preceding the Sabbath), 43 there came Joseph of Arimathea, a Councilor, honorable in rank, who was himself also looking for the kingdom of God. He boldly went in to Pilate to ask for the body of Jesus. 44 But Pilate wondered whether he were already dead. So he summoned the army captain, and inquired if he had been any time dead; 45 and when he learned the fact from the army captain he gave the body to Joseph. 46 So Joseph bought him a sheet, and took Jesus down, wound him in the sheet, and laid him in a tomb which had been hewn out of a rock, and then rolled a stone against the opening of the tomb; 47 and Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses were watching to see where he was laid.