36Then Jesus went with them to the olive grove called Gethsemane, and he said,
“Sit here while I go over there to pray.”
37He took Peter and Zebedee’s two sons, James and John, and he became anguished and distressed.38He told them,
“My soul is crushed with grief to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.”
39He went on a little farther and bowed with his face to the ground, praying,
“My Father! If it is possible, let this cup of suffering be taken away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine.”
40 Then he returned to the disciples and found them asleep. He said to Peter,
“Couldn’t you watch with me even one hour?41Keep watch and pray, so that you will not give in to temptation. For the spirit is willing, but the body is weak!”
42Then Jesus left them a second time and prayed,
“My Father! If this cup cannot be taken away unless I drink it, your will be done.”
43When he returned to them again, he found them sleeping, for they couldn’t keep their eyes open.
44So he went to pray a third time, saying the same things again.45Then he came to the disciples and said,
“Go ahead and sleep. Have your rest. But look—the time has come. The Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. 46 Up, let’s be going. Look, my betrayer is here!”
47 And even as Jesus said this, Judas, one of the twelve disciples, arrived with a crowd of men armed with swords and clubs. They had been sent by the leading priests and elders of the people.
48 The traitor, Judas, had given them a prearranged signal:
“You will know which one to arrest when I greet him with a kiss.”
49 So Judas came straight to Jesus.
“Greetings, Rabbi!” he exclaimed and gave him the kiss.
50 Jesus said,
“Judas, would you betray the Son of Man with a kiss?” ...“My friend, go ahead and do what you have come for.”
So they arrested him and led him to the high priest’s home. And Peter followed at a distance.55The guards lit a fire in the middle of the courtyard and sat around it, and Peter joined them there.
56A servant girl noticed him in the firelight and began staring at him. Finally she said,
“This man was one of Jesus’ followers!”
57But Peter denied it.
“Woman,” he said,
“I don’t even know him!”
58After a while someone else looked at him and said,
“You must be one of them!”
“No, man, I’m not!” Peter retorted.
59About an hour later someone else insisted,
“This must be one of them, because he is a Galilean, too.”
60But Peter said,
“Man, I don’t know what you are talking about.”
And immediately, while he was still speaking, the rooster crowed.
61At that moment the Lord turned and looked at Peter. Suddenly, the Lord’s words flashed through Peter’s mind:
“Before the rooster crows tomorrow morning, you will deny three times that you even know me.”
62 And Peter left the courtyard, weeping bitterly.
66 At daybreak all the elders of the people assembled, including the leading priests and the teachers of religious law. Jesus was led before this high council,
and they said,
“Tell us, are you the Messiah?”
But he replied,
“If I tell you, you won’t believe me. 68And if I ask you a question, you won’t answer.69But from now on the Son of Man will be seated in the place of power at God’s right hand.”
70They all shouted,
“So, are you claiming to be the Son of God?”
And he replied,
“You say that I am.”
71“Why do we need other witnesses?” they said.
“We ourselves heard him say it.”
27 Some of the governor’s soldiers took Jesus into their headquarters and called out the entire regiment. 28 They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him. 29 They wove thorn branches into a crown and put it on his head, and they placed a reed stick in his right hand as a scepter.
Then they knelt before him in mockery and taunted,
“Hail! King of the Jews!”
30 And they spit on him and grabbed the stick and struck him on the head with it. 31 When they were finally tired of mocking him, they took off the robe and put his own clothes on him again. Then they led him away to be crucified.
4Pilate went outside again and said to the people, “I am going to bring him out to you now, but understand clearly that I find him not guilty.”5Then Jesus came out wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. And Pilate said, “Look, here is the man!”
6When they saw him, the leading priests and Temple guards began shouting, “Crucify him! Crucify him!”
“Take him yourselves and crucify him,” Pilate said. “I find him not guilty.”
7The Jewish leaders replied, “By our law he ought to die because he called himself the Son of God.”
8When Pilate heard this, he was more frightened than ever.9He took Jesus back into the headquarters again and asked him, “Where are you from?” But Jesus gave no answer. 10 “Why don’t you talk to me?” Pilate demanded. “Don’t you realize that I have the power to release you or crucify you?”
11Then Jesus said, “You would have no power over me at all unless it were given to you from above. So the one who handed me over to you has the greater sin.”
12Then Pilate tried to release him, but the Jewish leaders shouted, “If you release this man, you are no ‘friend of Caesar.’Anyone who declares himself a king is a rebel against Caesar.”
And Pilate said to the people, “Look, here is your king!”
15“Away with him,” they yelled. “Away with him! Crucify him!”
“What? Crucify your king?” Pilate asked.
“We have no king but Caesar,” the leading priests shouted back.
16Then Pilate turned Jesus over to them to be crucified.
26As they led Jesus away, a man named Simon, who was from Cyrene, happened to be coming in from the countryside. The soldiers seized him and put the cross on him and made him carry it behind Jesus.27 A large crowd trailed behind, including many grief-stricken women.
28 But Jesus turned and said to them,
“Daughters of Jerusalem, don’t weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children. 29 For the days are coming when they will say, ‘Fortunate indeed are the women who are childless, the wombs that have not borne a child and the breasts that have never nursed.’ 30 People will beg the mountains, ‘Fall on us,’ and plead with the hills, ‘Bury us.’31 For if these things are done when the tree is green, what will happen when it is dry?”
32Two others, both criminals, were led out to be executed with him.
Two others, both criminals, were led out to be executed with him.
33When they came to a place called The Skull, they nailed him to the cross. And the criminals were also crucified—one on his right and one on his left.
34Jesus said,
“Father, forgive them, for they don’t know what they are doing.”And the soldiers gambled for his clothes by throwing dice.
35The crowd watched and the leaders scoffed.
“He saved others,” they said,
“let him save himself if he is really God’s Messiah, the Chosen One.”
36The soldiers mocked him, too, by offering him a drink of sour wine. 37They called out to him,
“If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!”
38A sign was fastened to the cross above him with these words: “This is the King of the Jews.”
39 One of the criminals hanging beside him scoffed,
“So you’re the Messiah, are you? Prove it by saving yourself—and us, too, while you’re at it!”
40 But the other criminal protested,
“Don’t you fear God even when you have been sentenced to die? 41 We deserve to die for our crimes, but this man hasn’t done anything wrong.”
42 Then he said,
“Jesus, remember me when you come into your Kingdom.”
43 And Jesus replied,
“I assure you, today you will be with me in paradise.”
44 By this time it was noon, and darkness fell across the whole land until three o’clock. 45 The light from the sun was gone. And suddenly, the curtain in the sanctuary of the Temple was torn down the middle.
46 Then Jesus shouted,
“Father, I entrust my spirit into your hands!”
And with those words he breathed his last.
47 When the Roman officer overseeing the execution saw what had happened, he worshiped God and said,
“Surely this man was innocent.”
48 And when all the crowd that came to see the crucifixion saw what had happened, they went home in deep sorrow.49 But Jesus’ friends, including the women who had followed him from Galilee, stood at a distance watching.