Mark 15:1-20

Early in the morning the chief priests immediately came to a decision with the leaders and the experts in Moses’ Teachings. The whole Jewish council decided to tie Jesus up, lead him away, and hand him over to Pilate. Pilate asked him, “Are you the king of the Jews?” “Yes, I am,” Jesus answered him. The chief priests were accusing him of many things. So Pilate asked him again, “Don’t you have any answer? Look how many accusations they’re bringing against you!” But Jesus no longer answered anything, so Pilate was surprised. At every Passover festival, Pilate would free one prisoner whom the people asked for. There was a man named Barabbas in prison. He was with some rebels who had committed murder during a riot. The crowd asked Pilate to do for them what he always did. Pilate answered them, “Do you want me to free the king of the Jews for you?” Pilate knew that the chief priests had handed Jesus over to him because they were jealous. The chief priests stirred up the crowd so that Pilate would free Barabbas for them instead. So Pilate again asked them, “Then what should I do with the king of the Jews?” “Crucify him!” they shouted back. Pilate said to them, “Why? What has he done wrong?” But they shouted even louder, “Crucify him!” Pilate wanted to satisfy the people, so he freed Barabbas for them. But he had Jesus whipped and handed over to be crucified. The soldiers led Jesus into the courtyard of the palace and called together the whole troop. They dressed him in purple, twisted some thorns into a crown, and placed it on his head. Then they began to greet him, “Long live the king of the Jews!” They kept hitting him on the head with a stick, spitting on him, and kneeling in front of him with false humility. After the soldiers finished making fun of Jesus, they took off the purple cape and put his own clothes back on him. Then they led him out to crucify him.