The Bible says:
“Very early the next morning, the leaders of the priests, the important Jews, the teachers of the Law and the Sanhedrin met together with Caiaphas. They all decided together what to do with Jesus. They tied Jesus’ hands and feet with ropes. Then they led him away and gave him to Pilate.
‘Are you the king of the Jews?’ Pilate asked Jesus. Jesus replied, ‘Yes, I am the king of the Jews. What you say is true’.
The leaders of the priests again said bad things about Jesus. Pilate asked him again, ‘Do you not have an answer to give to these men? They are saying many bad things about what you have done’.
Still Jesus did not answer him. Pilate was very surprised about this.
When it was the time for the Passover meal, Pilate could let one person go out of the prison. The people could decide who that person would be. A man called Barabbas was also in prison at that time. He had been fighting, with other people in Jerusalem , against the government. They had killed some people in the city. A crowd of people came together outside Pilate’s house. They said to Pilate, ‘Do for us what you always do at this time of the year’.
Pilate said to the people, ‘Do you want me to let the king of the Jews out of prison?’ He knew why the leaders of the priests and the important Jews had given Jesus to him. The people liked Jesus more than they liked them. But the leaders of the priests and the important Jews talked to the people. They said, ‘You must ask for Barabbas to come out of the prison instead of Jesus’.
Pilate said to the people, ‘What then will I do with Jesus, the one you say is the king of the Jews?’
The people all shouted, ‘You should crucify him’.
Pilate said, ‘Why should I crucify him? What bad things has he done?’ But the people made a very loud shout. They shouted, ‘You should crucify him!’
Pilate wanted to make the crowd happy. He let Barabbas come out of the prison. Pilate said to the soldiers, ‘Hit this man with rope many times, then crucify him’.
Then Pilate’s soldiers took Jesus into Pilate’s house. The name of Pilate's house was the Praetorium. All the soldiers were there. They took off Jesus’ clothes, and put a dark red coat on him. They made a crown out of plants with sharp branches, and put it on his head.
The soldiers began to call out to Jesus. They said, ‘King of the Jews, we wish you a long life’. The soldiers took a stick and hit Jesus on the head with it again and again. They spat on him, and went down on their knees in front of him. They told him how great he was. But they did not mean what they said. When they had laughed at him, they took off the red coat. They put Jesus’ own clothes back on him. Then they took him to the place where they crucified him.
A man called Simon was walking past Jesus and the soldiers. Simon came from the city of Cyrene . He had two sons, named Alexander and Rufus. He had come into the city from the fields outside. The Roman soldiers said to Simon, ‘Carry this cross!’ Then they pushed him to it. The soldiers led Jesus to the place called Golgotha . ( Golgotha means the place of a skull.)
Someone gave Jesus some wine to drink. They had put something that had a bitter (bad) taste into the wine. Jesus did not drink the wine.
Then the soldiers put Jesus on the cross and took his clothes. After that, they decided by chance who would have which part of his clothes.
It was 3 hours after sunrise when the soldiers put Jesus on the cross. Above his head, they put a notice to say why they had crucified him. The notice said. ‘This is Jesus, the king of the Jews’. Then the soldiers crucified two thieves with Jesus. One thief was at his right side, and one thief was at his left side. The thieves said, ‘You said that you could destroy the House of God. You said that you could build it again in 3 days. You must save yourself from death. Come down from the cross’.
The leaders of the priests and the teachers of the Law all laughed about him. They said, ‘This man saved other people from death, but he can not save himself. He says that he is the special person from God. He says that he is the king of the Jews. If he came down from the cross now, then we would see it. Then we would believe him’.The two thieves that the soldiers had crucified with Jesus said the same things.
It was now about 6 hours after sunrise, the middle of the day. The whole land was in the dark for three hours. About 9 hours after sunrise, Jesus made a loud shout. He said, ‘Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?’ That means, ‘My God, my God, why have you left me alone?’
Some people were standing near Jesus. They heard what Jesus said, and said to each other, ‘This man is calling Elijah’.
One of these people ran quickly and brought a sponge (something soft that holds water inside of it). He poured cheap wine on it, and put it on the end of a stick. Then he lifted it up to Jesus so that he could drink the wine. He said, ‘Now, let us wait a moment and watch. We will see if Elijah comes. He will take him down from the cross’.
Then Jesus made another loud shout. After that, he died.”
Mark 15:1-37
To find out more, click: The Good News about the Kingdom of God as Mark told it