Thursday
Read Matthew 27:11-54
11 Jesus
stood before the Roman governor, who questioned him. “Are you the king of the
Jews?” he asked.
“So
you say,” answered Jesus. 12But he said nothing in response to the
accusations of the chief priests and elders.
13 So
Pilate said to him, “Don’t you hear all these things they accuse you of?”
14 But
Jesus refused to answer a single word, with the result that the Governor was
greatly surprised.
(Mark
15:6–15; Luke 23:13–25; John 18:39–19:16)
15 At
every Passover Festival the Roman governor was in the habit of setting free any
one prisoner the crowd asked for. 16At that time there was a
well-known prisoner named Jesus Barabbas. 17So when the crowd
gathered, Pilate asked them, “Which one do you want me to set free for you?
Jesus Barabbas or Jesus called the Messiah?” 18He knew very well
that the Jewish authorities had handed Jesus over to him because they were
jealous.
19 While
Pilate was sitting in the judgement hall, his wife sent him a message: “Have
nothing to do with that innocent man, because in a dream last night I suffered
much on account of him.”
20 The
chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowd to ask Pilate to set Barabbas
free and have Jesus put to death. 21But Pilate asked the crowd,
“Which one of these two do you want me to set free for you?”
“Barabbas!”
they answered.
22 “What,
then, shall I do with Jesus called the Messiah?” Pilate asked them.
“Crucify
him!” they all answered.
23 But
Pilate asked, “What crime has he committed?”
Then
they started shouting at the top of their voices: “Crucify him!”
24 When
Pilate saw that it was no use to go on, but that a riot might break out, he
took some water, washed his hands in front of the crowd, and said, “I am not
responsible for the death of this man! This is your doing!”
25 The
whole crowd answered, “Let the responsibility for his death fall on us and our
children!”
26 Then
Pilate set Barabbas free for them; and after he had Jesus whipped, he handed
him over to be crucified.
(Mark
15:16–20; John 19:2, 3)
27 Then
Pilate’s soldiers took Jesus into the governor’s palace, and the whole company
gathered round him. 28They stripped off his clothes and put a
scarlet robe on him. 29Then they made a crown out of thorny branches
and placed it on his head, and put a stick in his right hand; then they knelt
before him and mocked him. “Long live the King of the Jews!” they said. 30They
spat on him, and took the stick and hit him over the head. 31When
they had finished mocking him, they took the robe off and put his own clothes
back on him. Then they led him out to crucify him.
(Mark
15:21–32; Luke 23:26–43; John 19:17–27)
32 As
they were going out, they met a man from Cyrene named Simon, and the soldiers
forced him to carry Jesus’ cross. 33They came to a place called
Golgotha, which means, “The Place of the Skull”. 34There they
offered Jesus wine mixed with a bitter substance; but after tasting it, he
would not drink it.
35 They
crucified him and then divided his clothes among them by throwing dice. 36After
that they sat there and watched him. 37Above his head they put the
written notice of the accusation against him: “This is Jesus, the King of the
Jews.” 38Then they crucified two bandits with Jesus, one on his
right and the other on his left.
39 People
passing by shook their heads and hurled insults at Jesus: 40“You
were going to tear down the Temple and build it up again in three days! Save
yourself if you are God’s Son! Come on down from the cross!”
41 In
the same way the chief priests and the teachers of the Law and the elders
jeered at him: 42“He saved others, but he cannot save himself! Isn’t
he the king of Israel? If he comes down off the cross now, we will believe in
him! 43He trusts in God and claims to be God’s Son. Well, then, let
us see if God wants to save him now!”
44 Even
the bandits who had been crucified with him insulted him in the same way.
(Mark
15:33–41; Luke 23:44–49; John 19:28–30)
45 At
noon the whole country was covered with darkness, which lasted for three hours.
46At about three o’clock Jesus cried out with a loud shout, “Eli,
Eli, lema sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why did you abandon me?”
47 Some
of the people standing there heard him and said, “He is calling for Elijah!” 48One
of them ran up at once, took a sponge, soaked it in cheap wine, put it on the
end of a stick, and tried to make him drink it.
49 But
the others said, “Wait, let us see if Elijah is coming to save him!”
50 Jesus
again gave a loud cry and breathed his last.
51 Then
the curtain hanging in the Temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth
shook, the rocks split apart, 52the graves broke open, and many of
God’s people who had died were raised to life. 53They left the
graves, and after Jesus rose from death, they went into the Holy City, where
many people saw them.
54 When
the army officer and the soldiers with him who were watching Jesus saw the
earthquake and everything else that happened, they were terrified and said, “He
really was the Son of God!”
Think
The crucifixion of Jesus invites us to work out what we
think of him. God's word to us - through
Jesus, is a proposal... will you accept his invitation to believe in and follow
him?
Pray
Give me faith to follow you.
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