Study Desk

So when the crowd gathered, Pilate asked them, "Which one do you want me to set free for you? Jesus Barabbas or Jesus called the Messiah?"

But Pilate asked the crowd, "Which one of these two do you want me to set free for you?" "Barabbas!" they answered.

When Pilate saw that it was no use to go on, but that a riot might break out, he took some water, washed his hands in front of the crowd, and said, "I am not responsible for the death of this man! This is your doing!"

The whole crowd answered, "Let the responsibility for his death fall on us and on our children!"

Then Pilate set Barabbas free for them; and after he had Jesus whipped, he handed him over to be crucified.

At noon the whole country was covered with darkness, which lasted for three hours.

Some of the people standing there heard him and said, "He is calling for Elijah!"

He went into the presence of Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Pilate gave orders for the body to be given to Joseph.

Give orders, then, for his tomb to be carefully guarded until the third day, so that his disciples will not be able to go and steal the body, and then tell the people that he was raised from death. This last lie would be even worse than the first one."

The angel spoke to the women. "You must not be afraid," he said. "I know you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified.

It began as the prophet Isaiah had written: "God said, ‘I will send my messenger ahead of you to open the way for you.'

Someone is shouting in the desert, ‘Get the road ready for the Lord; make a straight path for him to travel!'"

The people who heard him were amazed at the way he taught, for he wasn't like the teachers of the Law; instead, he taught with authority.

But Simon and his companions went out searching for him,

and when they found him, they said, "Everyone is looking for you."

A man suffering from a dreaded skin disease came to Jesus, knelt down, and begged him for help. "If you want to," he said, "you can make me clean."

So the Pharisees said to Jesus, "Look, it is against our Law for your disciples to do that on the Sabbath!"

And Jesus concluded, "The Sabbath was made for the good of human beings; they were not made for the Sabbath.

Jesus was angry as he looked around at them, but at the same time he felt sorry for them, because they were so stubborn and wrong. Then he said to the man, "Stretch out your hand." He stretched it out, and it became well again.

The crowd was so large that Jesus told his disciples to get a boat ready for him, so that the people would not crush him.