Mark 15

Trial before Pilate, the crucifixion, the death of Jesus.

Jesus is delivered to Pilate, who recognizes envy as the leaders' motive but yields to the crowd's demand to crucify Him and release Barabbas. The soldiers mock Jesus with a purple robe and crown of thorns. Simon of Cyrene is compelled to carry the cross. At Golgotha ("Place of a Skull"), Jesus is crucified between two thieves at the third hour. Darkness covers the land from the sixth to the ninth hour. Jesus cries out, "My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?" and dies. The veil of the temple is torn from top to bottom. A Roman centurion confesses, "Truly this Man was the Son of God!" Joseph of Arimathea, a member of the council, asks Pilate for Jesus' body and lays it in a tomb hewn out of rock, rolling a stone against the entrance.