Jesus dies on the cross – Matthew 27:26-66

The government let the leaders and the people do what they wanted.
Jesus was to be killed.

Soldiers took him away to prison.
They made a crown out of sharp thorns.
They put the crown on Jesus’ head.

They teased him.
They said, “Hail King Jesus.”
They whipped him and hit him with sticks.

Then they took Jesus to a hill outside the city.
The hill was called Calvary.
They nailed him to a wooden cross.
They put the nails through his hands and his feet.

The soldiers took his clothes.
They put a sign on the cross.
‘This is Jesus the King of the Jews.’
The soldiers sat down and kept watch.

Two robbers were crucified that day.
One was on the left and one on the right.
Jesus was on the middle cross.

People walked past and they shouted things at Jesus.
“If you are really God’s son, come down off the cross.”
“You saved others, now save yourself.”

From noon until 3-o-clock, it became dark.
It was dark in the middle of the day.
Then Jesus called out,
“My God, my God, why have you left me alone?”

After he had called out again,
Jesus died on that cross.

One of the soldiers who watched Jesus die said,
“This really was the Son of God.”

Jesus’ friends took his body.
They put it in a tomb.
[The tomb was like a small cave.]
They rolled a big stone across the front of the tomb.

The leaders sealed up the tomb and put some soldiers there to guard it.