Pilate said to Jesus,

"Well, are you the King of the Jews?"

Jesus answered simply,

"You have said it."

Then the priests and rulers burst out with all kinds of evil stories about Jesus.

Pilate spoke to Jesus again, and said:

"Aren't you going to say anything? Listen to what they are saying about you!"

But Jesus did not speak. Pilate was astonished. He could see that the only reason the council had brought Jesus to him was that they were jealous of Jesus and hated him.

By now a large crowd had gathered to watch the trial. Many of the people in it had been Jesus' followers, but they followed him no longer. When they saw Jesus being tried like a criminal they decided that their priests and rulers had been right all along. They began to talk against Jesus, among themselves.

Pilate wondered how he could let Jesus go. Suddenly he remembered a Jewish custom: every Pa.s.sover a prisoner was set free.

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Pilate said: "Every year at this time I set a prisoner free. Now you can have your choice. You know we have a man named Barabbas in jail--he's the fellow that started a rebellion a little while ago. We were going to crucify him. And now here is Jesus. Which one shall I let go? Barabbas the murderer or Jesus who is called the Christ?"

A great shout went up,

"Barabbas!"

Pilate did not know what to do now. He spoke again to the crowd,

"Well, what shall I do to Jesus who is called the Christ?"

Again there was a great shout:

"Crucify him! Hang him up on a cross till he is dead!"

Everyone seemed to be against Jesus now. However, Pilate tried once more.

"But," he protested, "I can't find that he has been guilty of any crime!"

The Jewish rulers replied, "We have a law which says he ought to die because he pretends to be the Son of G.o.d."

Pilate was worried now. He spoke to Jesus again, and again Jesus did not answer.

"Aren't you going to speak to me?" Pilate asked. "Don't you know that I can crucify you or let you go?"

Jesus answered, "You wouldn't have any power over me unless G.o.d had given it to you."

Pilate, when he heard this, tried once more to save Jesus. But the crowd was bigger, and louder, and more bloodthirsty than ever.

Everyone was shouting:

"Crucify! Crucify!"

"Shall I crucify your king?" asked Pilate.

The chief priests of the Jews, who hated Caesar, answered,

"We have no king except Caesar!"

Pilate was too weak to hold out any longer. He was beginning to wonder what Caesar would say if he heard that Pilate refused to crucify a man who claimed to be king of the Jews.

"Take him," Pilate said. "Take him, and crucify him."

But before the crucifixion came the scourging. Jesus was bound and beaten with long leather thongs which had cruel pieces of gla.s.s and lead fastened to them so that they would hurt all the more. When that was over, and his back was covered with cuts and bruises, the Roman soldiers who had scourged him wanted some more sport. They dressed Jesus in a purple robe. They made a wreath, like the one that the Roman emperor wore--only this one was made of thorns, which stuck into Jesus' head so that the blood ran down his face. Some of the soldiers spat on him; others made fun of him, bowing down and saying,

"Hail, king of the Jews!"

Then the soldiers stripped the purple clothes off Jesus, and put his own clothes back on him, and led him outside the city to be crucified.

He was too worn out to carry his own cross, as those who were to be crucified usually did, so the soldiers forced a man of Cyrene named Simon to carry it for him.

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When they reached a hill called Calvary, they laid the cross down on the ground, and stripped Jesus of his clothes. They put Jesus on the cross, and stretched out his arms. They drove a nail through each hand, and one through his feet, fastening him to the cross. Then they stood the cross upright, and let Jesus hang there. On the top of it was written: "This is the King of the Jews." There was a cross on either side of him, with a thief hanging on each one.

Jesus said, "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do."

The soldiers took his clothes, and divided them up among themselves.

His coat was too good to tear up, so they threw dice to see which one of them would get it.

Jesus was offered a drink which would have made the pain easier to bear, but he would not take it. People pa.s.sed to and fro in front of the cross, shouting insults.

"He saved others, but he can't save himself." One of the thieves turned his head and called out to him angrily,

"If you are the Christ, save yourself and us too!"

But the other thief spoke out of his pain:

"Don't you fear G.o.d, seeing that we are all going to die? Aren't you afraid to talk that way? We deserve to die; but this man never did anything wrong."

Then, turning to Jesus, he said, "Lord, remember me when you come to your Kingdom."

Jesus said to him,

"I tell you, today you will be with me in heaven."

Near the cross stood Jesus' mother and other women who loved him. John the disciple was also there. Jesus called to his mother and John, and said:

"Mother, from now on John will be your son. John, this is your mother."

John took Jesus' mother to his own house.