Study Desk

Keep watch and pray, so that you will not give in to temptation. For the spirit is willing, but the body is weak."

Inside, the leading priests and the entire high council were trying to find evidence against Jesus, so they could put him to death. But they couldn't find any.

So to pacify the crowd, Pilate released Barabbas to them. He ordered Jesus flogged with a lead-tipped whip, then turned him over to the Roman soldiers to be crucified.

Let this Messiah, this King of Israel, come down from the cross so we can see it and believe him!" Even the men who were crucified with Jesus ridiculed him.

One of them ran and filled a sponge with sour wine, holding it up to him on a reed stick so he could drink. "Wait!" he said. "Let's see whether Elijah comes to take him down!"

Pilate couldn't believe that Jesus was already dead, so he called for the Roman officer and asked if he had died yet.

The officer confirmed that Jesus was dead, so Pilate told Joseph he could have the body.

Saturday evening, when the Sabbath ended, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome went out and purchased burial spices so they could anoint Jesus' body.

so you can be certain of the truth of everything you were taught.

Meanwhile, the people were waiting for Zechariah to come out of the sanctuary, wondering why he was taking so long.

The angel replied, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the baby to be born will be holy, and he will be called the Son of God.

Why am I so honored, that the mother of my Lord should visit me?

So they used gestures to ask the baby's father what he wanted to name him.

We have been rescued from our enemies so we can serve God without fear,

Then it was time for their purification offering, as required by the law of Moses after the birth of a child; so his parents took him to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord.

So they offered the sacrifice required in the law of the Lord—"either a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons."

That day the Spirit led him to the Temple. So when Mary and Joseph came to present the baby Jesus to the Lord as the law required,

John answered their questions by saying, "I baptize you with water; but someone is coming soon who is greater than I am—so much greater that I'm not even worthy to be his slave and untie the straps of his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.

So Herod put John in prison, adding this sin to his many others.

And they will hold you up with their hands so you won't even hurt your foot on a stone.'"