Study Desk

So he agreed and began looking for an opportunity to betray Jesus so they could arrest him when the crowds weren't around.

They went off to the city and found everything just as Jesus had said, and they prepared the Passover meal there.

Jesus told them, "In this world the kings and great men lord it over their people, yet they are called ‘friends of the people.'

Then Jesus asked them, "When I sent you out to preach the Good News and you did not have money, a traveler's bag, or an extra pair of sandals, did you need anything?" "No," they replied.

So they arrested him and led him to the high priest's home. And Peter followed at a distance.

They blindfolded him and said, "Prophesy to us! Who hit you that time?"

And they hurled all sorts of terrible insults at him.

and they said, "Tell us, are you the Messiah?" But he replied, "If I tell you, you won't believe me.

They all shouted, "So, are you claiming to be the Son of God?" And he replied, "You say that I am."

They began to state their case: "This man has been leading our people astray by telling them not to pay their taxes to the Roman government and by claiming he is the Messiah, a king."

When they said that he was, Pilate sent him to Herod Antipas, because Galilee was under Herod's jurisdiction, and Herod happened to be in Jerusalem at the time.

Then Herod and his soldiers began mocking and ridiculing Jesus. Finally, they put a royal robe on him and sent him back to Pilate.

Then a mighty roar rose from the crowd, and with one voice they shouted, "Kill him, and release Barabbas to us!"

As they had requested, he released Barabbas, the man in prison for insurrection and murder. But he turned Jesus over to them to do as they wished.

As they led Jesus away, a man named Simon, who was from Cyrene, happened to be coming in from the countryside. The soldiers seized him and put the cross on him and made him carry it behind Jesus.

For the days are coming when they will say, ‘Fortunate indeed are the women who are childless, the wombs that have not borne a child and the breasts that have never nursed.'

When they came to a place called The Skull, they nailed him to the cross. And the criminals were also crucified—one on his right and one on his left.

Jesus said, "Father, forgive them, for they don't know what they are doing." And the soldiers gambled for his clothes by throwing dice.

The crowd watched and the leaders scoffed. "He saved others," they said, "let him save himself if he is really God's Messiah, the Chosen One."

And when all the crowd that came to see the crucifixion saw what had happened, they went home in deep sorrow.