The Life of Jesus

“Am I a Jew?” Pilate replied. “Your own people and chief priests handed You over to me. What have You done?”

Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world; if it were, My servants would fight to prevent My arrest by the Jews. But now My kingdom is not of this realm.”

“Then You are a king!” Pilate said. “You say that I am a king,” Jesus answered. “For this reason I was born and have come into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to My voice.”

“What is truth?” Pilate asked. And having said this, he went out again to the Jews and told them, “I find no basis for a charge against Him.

But it is your custom that I release to you one prisoner at the Passover. So then, do you want me to release to you the King of the Jews?”

“Not this man,” they shouted, “but Barabbas!” (Now Barabbas was an insurrectionist.)

Then Pilate took Jesus and had Him flogged.

The soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns, set it on His head, and dressed Him in a purple robe.

And they went up to Him again and again, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” and slapping Him in the face.

Once again Pilate came out and said to the Jews, “Look, I am bringing Him out to you to let you know that I find no basis for a charge against Him.”

When Jesus came out wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe, Pilate said to them, “Here is the man!”

As soon as the chief priests and officers saw Him, they shouted, “Crucify Him! Crucify Him!” “You take Him and crucify Him,” Pilate replied, “for I find no basis for a charge against Him.”

“We have a law,” answered the Jews, “and according to that law He must die, because He declared Himself to be the Son of God.”

When Pilate heard this statement, he was even more afraid,

and he went back into the Praetorium. “Where are You from?” he asked. But Jesus gave no answer.

So Pilate said to Him, “Do You refuse to speak to me? Do You not know that I have authority to release You and authority to crucify You?”

Jesus answered, “You would have no authority over Me if it were not given to you from above. Therefore the one who handed Me over to you is guilty of greater sin.”

From then on, Pilate tried to release Him, but the Jews kept shouting, “If you release this man, you are no friend of Caesar. Anyone who declares himself a king is defying Caesar.”

When Pilate heard these words, he brought Jesus out and sat on the judgment seat at a place called the Stone Pavement, which in Hebrew is Gabbatha.

It was the day of Preparation for the Passover, about the sixth hour. And Pilate said to the Jews, “Here is your King!”

At this, they shouted, “Away with Him! Away with Him! Crucify Him!” “Shall I crucify your King?” Pilate asked. “We have no king but Caesar,” replied the chief priests.

Then Pilate handed Jesus over to be crucified, and the soldiers took Him away.

Carrying His own cross, He went out to The Place of the Skull, which in Hebrew is called Golgotha.

There they crucified Him, and with Him two others, one on each side, with Jesus in the middle.

Pilate also had a notice posted on the cross. It read: JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS.