Mark 15:6-15; Mark 15:25-26; Mark 15:33-39

Mark 15:6-15

6 Now it was the governor’s custom each year during the Passover celebration to release one prisoner—anyone the people requested.

7 One of the prisoners at that time was Barabbas, a revolutionary who had committed murder in an uprising.

8 The crowd went to Pilate and asked him to release a prisoner as usual.

9 “Would you like me to release to you this ‘King of the Jews’?” Pilate asked.

10 (For he realized by now that the leading priests had arrested Jesus out of envy.)

11 But at this point the leading priests stirred up the crowd to demand the release of Barabbas instead of Jesus.

12 Pilate asked them, “Then what should I do with this man you call the king of the Jews?”

13 They shouted back, “Crucify him!”

14 “Why?” Pilate demanded. “What crime has he committed?” But the mob roared even louder, “Crucify him!”

15 So to pacify the crowd, Pilate released Barabbas to them. He ordered Jesus flogged with a lead-tipped whip, then turned him over to the Roman soldiers to be crucified.

Mark 15:25-26

25 It was nine o’clock in the morning when they crucified him.

26 A sign announced the charge against him. It read, “The King of the Jews.”

Mark 15:33-39

33 At noon, darkness fell across the whole land until three o’clock.

34 Then at three o’clock Jesus called out with a loud voice, which means “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?”

35 Some of the bystanders misunderstood and thought he was calling for the prophet Elijah.

36 One of them ran and filled a sponge with sour wine, holding it up to him on a reed stick so he could drink. “Wait!” he said. “Let’s see whether Elijah comes to take him down!”

37 Then Jesus uttered another loud cry and breathed his last.

38 And the curtain in the sanctuary of the Temple was torn in two, from top to bottom.

39 When the Roman officer who stood facing him saw how he had died, he exclaimed, “This man truly was the Son of God!”