Matthew 27:1-31

Early in the morning all the chief priests and the elders made their plans against Jesus to put him to death. They put him in chains, led him off, and handed him over to Pilate, the Roman governor. When Judas, the traitor, learnt that Jesus had been condemned, he repented and took back the thirty silver coins to the chief priests and the elders. “I have sinned by betraying an innocent man to death!” he said. “What do we care about that?” they answered. “That is your business!” Judas threw the coins down in the Temple and left; then he went off and hanged himself. The chief priests picked up the coins and said, “This is blood money, and it is against our Law to put it in the temple treasury.” After reaching an agreement about it, they used the money to buy Potter's Field, as a cemetery for foreigners. That is why that field is called “Field of Blood” to this very day. Then what the prophet Jeremiah had said came true: “They took the thirty silver coins, the amount the people of Israel had agreed to pay for him, and used the money to buy the potter's field, as the Lord had commanded me.” Jesus stood before the Roman governor, who questioned him. “Are you the king of the Jews?” he asked. “So you say,” answered Jesus. But he said nothing in response to the accusations of the chief priests and elders. So Pilate said to him, “Don't you hear all these things they accuse you of?” But Jesus refused to answer a single word, with the result that the Governor was greatly surprised. At every Passover Festival the Roman governor was in the habit of setting free any one prisoner the crowd asked for. At that time there was a well-known prisoner named Jesus Barabbas. 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?” He knew very well that the Jewish authorities had handed Jesus over to him because they were jealous. While Pilate was sitting in the judgement hall, his wife sent him a message: “Have nothing to do with that innocent man, because in a dream last night I suffered much on account of him.” The chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowd to ask Pilate to set Barabbas free and have Jesus put to death. But Pilate asked the crowd, “Which one of these two do you want me to set free for you?” “Barabbas!” they answered. “What, then, shall I do with Jesus called the Messiah?” Pilate asked them. “Crucify him!” they all answered. But Pilate asked, “What crime has he committed?” Then they started shouting at the top of their voices: “Crucify him!” 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 our children!” Then Pilate set Barabbas free for them; and after he had Jesus whipped, he handed him over to be crucified. Then Pilate's soldiers took Jesus into the governor's palace, and the whole company gathered round him. They stripped off his clothes and put a scarlet robe on him. Then they made a crown out of thorny branches and placed it on his head, and put a stick in his right hand; then they knelt before him and mocked him. “Long live the King of the Jews!” they said. They spat on him, and took the stick and hit him over the head. When they had finished mocking him, they took the robe off and put his own clothes back on him. Then they led him out to crucify him.