Then Pilate went into his court-room, and sent for Jesus; and when he looked at Jesus, he said, "Are you the King of the Jews? Your own people have brought you to me. What have you done?"
JESUS BROUGHT BEFORE PILATE
Jesus said to him, "My kingdom is not of this world. If it were of this world, then those who serve me would fight to save me from my enemies. But now my kingdom is not here."
Pilate said, "Are you a king, then?"
Jesus answered him, "You have spoken it. I am a king. For this was I born, and for this I came into the world, that I might speak the truth of God to men."
"Truth," said Pilate, "What is truth?"
Then, without waiting for an answer, Pilate went out to the rulers and the crowd, and said, "I find no evil in this man."
Pilate thought that Jesus was a harmless man, but perhaps one whose mind was weak, and he could see no reason why the rulers and the people should be so bitter against him. But they cried out all the more, saying, "He stirs up the people everywhere, from Galilee even to this place."
When Pilate heard the word "Galilee," he asked if this man had come from that land. They told him that he had; and then Pilate said, "Galilee and its people are under the rule of Herod. He has come up to Jerusalem, and I will send this man to him."
So, from Pilate's court-room, Jesus was sent, still bound, to Herod's palace. This was the Herod who had put John the Baptist in prison, and had given his head to a dancing-girl, as we read in Story Eighteen of the Part. Herod was very glad to see Jesus, for he had heard many things about him; and he hoped to see him do some wonderful thing. But Jesus would not work wonders as a show, to be looked at; and when Herod asked him many questions, Jesus would not speak a word. Herod would not judge Jesus, for he knew that Jesus had done nothing wrong; so he and his soldiers mocked Jesus, and dressed him in a gay robe, as though he were a make-believe king, and sent him back to Pilate.
So Pilate, much against his will, was compelled to decide either for Jesus or against him. And just as Jesus was standing bound before him a message came to Pilate from his wife, saying, "Do nothing against that good man; for in this night I have suffered many things in a dream on account of him."
Pilate said to the Jews, "You have brought this man to me as one who is leading the people to evil; and I have seen that there is no evil in him, nor has Herod; now I will order that he be beaten with rods, and then set free. For you know that it is the custom to set a prisoner free at the time of the feast."
They set some prisoner free, as a sign of the joy at the feast. And at that time there was in the prison a man named Barabbas, who was a robber and a murderer. Pilate said to the people, "Shall I set free Jesus, who is called the King of the Jews?"
But the rulers went among the people and urged them to ask for Barabbas to be set free.
And the crowd cried out, "Not this man, but Barabbas!"
Then Pilate said, "What, then, shall I do with Jesus?"
And they all cried out, "Crucify him! Let him die on the cross!"
Pilate wished greatly to spare the life of Jesus. To show how he felt, he sent for water, and he washed his hands before all the people, saying, "My hands are clean from the blood of this good man!"
And they cried out, "Let his blood be on us, and on our children after us! Crucify him! Send him to the cross!"
Then Pilate, to please the people, gave them what they asked. He set free Barabbas, the man of their choice, though he was a robber and a murderer; but before giving way to the cry that he should send Jesus to the cross, he tried once more to save his life. He caused Jesus to be beaten until the blood came upon him, hoping that this might satisfy the people. As Jesus was spoken of as a king, the soldiers who beat Jesus made a crown of thorns, and put it on his head, and they put on him a purple robe, such as was worn by kings, and bowing down before him they called out to him, "Hail, King of the Jews!"
Then, hoping to awaken some pity for Jesus, Pilate brought him out to the people, with the crown of thorns and the purple robe upon him, and Pilate said, "Look on this man!"
But again the cry arose, "Crucify him! Send him to the cross!"
And at last Pilate yielded to the voice of the people. He sat down on the judgment-seat, and gave commands that Jesus, whom he knew to be a good man, one who had done nothing evil, should be put to death upon the cross.
\LOOK ON THIS MAN."
The Darkest Day of All the World
Matthew xxvii: 31 to 66; Mark xv: 20 to 47; Luke xxiii: 26 to 56; John xix: 16 to 42.
And so Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor, gave order that Jesus should die by the cross. The Roman soldiers then took Jesus and beat him again most cruelly; and then led him out of the city to the place of death. This was a place called "Golgotha" in the Jewish language, "Calvary" in that of the Romans; both words meaning "The Skull Place."
JESUS LED AWAY TO THE CROSS
With the soldiers went out of the city a great crowd of people, some of them enemies of Jesus, glad to see him suffer; others of them friends of Jesus, and the women who had helped him, now weeping as they saw him, all covered with his blood, and going out to die. But Jesus turned to them, and said:
"Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves, and for your children. For the days are coming when they shall count those happy who have no little ones to be slain; when they shall wish that the mountains might fall on them, and the hills might cover them, and hide them from their enemies!"
They had tried to make Jesus bear his own cross, but soon found that he was too weak from his sufferings, and could not carry it. They seized a man who was coming out of the country into the city, a man named Simon; and they made him carry the cross to its place at Calvary.
It was a custom among the Jews, to give to men about to die by the cross some medicine to deaden their feelings, so that they would not suffer so greatly. They offered this to Jesus, but when he had tasted it, and found what it was, he would not take it. He knew that he would die, but he wished to have his mind clear, and to understand what was done and what was said, even though his sufferings might be greater.
At the place Calvary they laid the cross down, and stretched Jesus upon it, and drove nails through his hands and feet to fasten him to the cross; and then they stood it upright with Jesus upon it. While the soldiers were doing this dreadful work, Jesus prayed for them to God, saying, "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they are doing."
The soldiers also took the clothes that Jesus had worn, giving to each one a garment. But when they came to his undergarment, they found that it was woven, and had no seams; so they said, "Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it, to see who shall have it." So at the foot of the cross the soldiers threw lots for the garment of Christ. Two men who had been robbers and had been sentenced to die by the cross, were led out to die at the same time with Jesus. One was placed on a cross at his right side, and the other at his left; and to make Jesus appear as the worst, his cross stood in the middle. Over the head of Jesus on his cross, they placed, by Pilate's order, a sign on which was written:
"THIS IS JESUS OF NAZARETH,
THE KING OF THE JEWS."
This was written in three languages: in Hebrew, which was the language of the Jews; in Latin, the language of the Romans, and in Greek. Many of the people read this writing; but the chief priests were not pleased with it. They urged Pilate to have it changed from "The King of the Jews" to "He said, "I am King of the Jews."
But Pilate would not change it. He said, "What I have written, I have written."
And the people who passed by on the road, as they looked at Jesus on the cross, mocked at him. Some called out to him, "You that would destroy the Temple, and build it in three days, save yourself. If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross!"