Mark 15:1-15

Early in the morning the chief priests met hurriedly with the elders, the teachers of the Law, and the whole Council, and made their plans. They put Jesus in chains, led him away, and handed him over to Pilate. Pilate questioned him, “Are you the king of the Jews?” Jesus answered, “So you say.” The chief priests were accusing Jesus of many things, so Pilate questioned him again, “Aren't you going to answer? Listen to all their accusations!” Again Jesus refused to say a word, and Pilate was amazed. At every Passover Festival Pilate was in the habit of setting free any one prisoner the people asked for. At that time a man named Barabbas was in prison with the rebels who had committed murder in the riot. When the crowd gathered and began to ask Pilate for the usual favour, he asked them, “Do you want me to set free for you the king of the Jews?” He knew very well that the chief priests had handed Jesus over to him because they were jealous. But the chief priests stirred up the crowd to ask, instead, for Pilate to set Barabbas free for them. Pilate spoke again to the crowd, “What, then, do you want me to do with the one you call the king of the Jews?” They shouted back, “Crucify him!” “But what crime has he committed?” Pilate asked. They shouted all the louder, “Crucify him!” Pilate wanted to please the crowd, so he set Barabbas free for them. Then he had Jesus whipped and handed him over to be crucified.