Then Pilate began to question Jesus in front of the bishops, but Jesus would not answer.
Pilate said to him, “Don’t you see how they are condemning you, why do you not explain yourself?”
But Jesus continued to be silent and did not say another word, and as a result, Pilate was amazed.
Pilate remembered that Galilee was under the power of King Herod and asked, “Is he from Galilee?”
They said to him, “Yes.”
Then he said, “If he is from Galilee, then he is under Herod’s jurisdiction. I will send the man to him.”
Herod was in Jerusalem at that time, so Pilate, in order to extricate himself from these people, sent Jesus to Herod. Herod was very happy to see Jesus when he was led in. He had heard much about him and wanted to find out what sort of man he was.
Herod called him in and began to question him about everything that he wanted to know; Jesus did not answer him anything. And the bishops and teachers, just as they had done with Pilate, accused Jesus harshly before Herod and said that he was an insurgent. And Herod considered Jesus to be a foolish man, so, in order to ridicule him, he commanded that Jesus be dressed in a red garment and then sent him back again to Pilate.
Herod felt satisfied that Pilate respected him, having sent Jesus to him for judgment, and because of this the two made peace, whereas previously they had been in a dispute. And after Jesus had been brought back to Pilate, Pilate called the bishops and Jewish leaders in again.
And he said to them, “You already brought this man to me because he incites the people to rebellion, and I questioned him in front of all of you and saw no sign of him being an insurgent. I sent him with you to Herod, and now, as you can see, they did not find anything dangerous about him there either. So, in my opinion, there is no reason to sentence him to death, but it would be better to punish him and let him go.”
And when the bishops heard this, they all shouted, “No, execute him, execute him in the Roman style, stretch him out on a cross.”
Pilate listened to this and said to the bishops, “Well, all right, but consider your tradition of forgiving one criminal every year for the Passover holiday. Here, in my prison sits Barabbas, the murderer and insurgent. So, one of these two must be acquitted: should it be Jesus or Barabbas?”
Pilate wanted to help Jesus, but the bishops had influenced the people so that they all shouted, “Barabbas! Barabbas!”
And Pilate said, “So what should I do with Jesus?”
Again, they shouted, “Hang him on a cross as the Romans do, hang him on a cross!”
And Pilate began to try to persuade them. He said, “For what reason are you so opposed to him? He has done nothing that would warrant sentencing to death. He has done no evil toward you. I will release him because I see no guilt in him.”
The bishops and their servants shouted, “Crucify, crucify him!”
And Pilate said to them, “If that is how it must be, then take him yourself and crucify him, but I see no guilt in him.”
And the bishops answered, “We demand what the law requires. According to the law, he must be executed because he has made himself the son of God.”
When Pilate heard these words, he became confused because he did not know what these words, the son of God, meant.
And, returning into his chambers, Pilate again called Jesus to him and asked him, “Who are you and where do you come from?”
But Jesus did not answer him.
Then Pilate said, “Why are you not answering me? Don’t you see that you are here in my power and that I can either crucify you or release you?”
Jesus answered him, “You do not have any power. Power comes only from above.”
Nevertheless, Pilate still wanted to release Jesus, and said, “How is it that you want to crucify your king?”
But the Jews said, “If you release Jesus, then you are demonstrating by doing so that you are a disloyal servant to Caesar, because this man who calls himself a king is an enemy to Caesar. Our king is Caesar! Crucify him.”
And when Pilate had heard these words, he understood that it had already become impossible for him to avoid executing Jesus.
So Pilate went to the Jews and took some water, washed his hands and said, “I am not to blame for the blood of this righteous man.”
And the whole crowd shouted, “Let his blood be on our hands and our children’s.”
And this is how the bishops overwhelmed him.
Then Pilate sat down in his sitting place, and commanded that Jesus be flogged first.
When they had flogged him, the soldiers who had done the flogging placed a wreath on his head and put a stick in his hand and threw a red cloak on his back and began to ridicule him: they bowed, laughing, at his feet and said, “Rejoice, it is the Jewish king!”
But then they beat him on his cheeks and on his head and spat in his face.
The bishops shouted, “Crucify him! Our king is Caesar. Crucify him.”
Then Pilate commanded that he be crucified.
They then took the red garments off of Jesus, put his own garments back on him and commanded him to carry the cross to the place called Golgotha, so that they could crucify him there. And he carried his cross to the place called Golgotha.
And there they stretched (crucified) Jesus on a cross, and two other men as well; the two on either side and Jesus in the middle.
When they had crucified Jesus, he said, “Father! absolve them: they do not know what they are doing.”
And once Jesus had been hung on the cross, the people surrounded him and swore at him.
They approached, shook their heads at him and said, “Now then, you wanted to destroy the temple of Jerusalem and rebuild it again in three days. So now, free yourself: get down from the cross.”
And the bishops and pastors stood there and made fun of him, saying, “He saved others, but he cannot save himself. Now show us that you are the Christ, come down from the cross and then we will believe in you. He said that he is the son of God and said that God would not abandon him. Well, what now? God seems to have abandoned him.”
And the people, along with the bishops and soldiers, swore at him and even one of those being crucified alongside him cursed him as well.
One of the thieves, cursing, said to him, “If you are the Christ, why not save yourself and us.”
But the other thief heard this and said, “You have no respect for God: you are hanging on a cross yourself and you are still cursing at an innocent man. We are being executed for something we have done, but this man did not do anything wrong.”
And turning to Jesus, this thief said to him, “Lord! Remember me in your kingdom.”
And Jesus said to him, “And now you will be blessed along with me.”
In the ninth hour, Jesus, entirely exhausted, spoke out loudly, “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthami?” That means: My God, my God, to what have you abandoned me?
And when they had heard this in the crowd, they started to laugh and said, “He is calling Elijah the prophet; let us see whether or not Elijah appears.”
Then Jesus said, “Drink.”
And one man took a sponge, doused it in vinegar (a bottle of it was standing nearby), stuck it on the end of a reed and offered it to Jesus.
Jesus sucked on the sponge and said in a loud voice, “It is done! Father, I offer my spirit into your hands.”
And bowing his head, he surrendered his spirit.
Conclusion THE FIRST EPISTLE OF JOHN THE EVANGELIST
Jesus Christ’s proclamation on goodness is a proclamation concerning the knowledge of life, under which knowledge people may have communion with the father of life and consequently have eternal life. This is a proclamation on true goodness.
The knowledge of life consists of knowing that God is life and goodness and that in life and goodness there is no death or evil. If we had said that we were united with God, but we live in evil and death, then we are either beguiling ourselves or are blatantly lying.