Read the Gospels in 40 Days

Pilate Attempts to Release Jesus

19 So then Pilate took Jesus and had him flogged.^{[a] 2} And the soldiers wove a crown of thorns and placed it^[b] on his head, and put a purple robe on him, ³ and were coming up to him and saying, “Hail, king of the Jews!” and were giving him slaps in the face.

⁴ And Pilate came outside again and said to them, “Behold, I am bringing him outside to you, so that you will know that I find no basis for an accusation against him.” ⁵ Then Jesus came outside wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe, and he said to them, “Behold the man!” ⁶ So when they saw him, the chief priests and the officers shouted, saying, “Crucify! Crucify!” Pilate said to them, “You take him and crucify him!^[c] For I do not find a basis for an accusation against him.” ⁷ The Jews replied to him, “We have a law, and according to the law he ought to die, because he made himself out to be the Son of God!”

⁸ So when Pilate heard this statement, he was even more afraid, ⁹ and he entered into the governor’s residence again and said to Jesus, “Where are you from?” But Jesus did not give him an answer. ¹⁰ So Pilate said to him, “Will you not speak to me? Do you not know that I have authority to release you, and I have authority to crucify you?” ¹¹ Jesus replied to him, “You would not have any authority over me unless it was given to you from above. For this reason the one who handed me over to you has greater sin.”

¹² From this point on Pilate was seeking to release him, but the Jews shouted, saying, “If you release this man, you are not a friend of Caesar! Everyone who makes himself out to be a king opposes Caesar!” ¹³ So Pilate, when he^[d] heard these words, brought Jesus outside and sat down on the judgment seat, in the place called The Stone Pavement (but Gabbatha in Aramaic). ¹⁴ (Now it was the day of preparation of the Passover; it was about the sixth hour.) And he said to the Jews, “Behold your king!”

¹⁵ Then those shouted, “Away with him! Away with him! Crucify him!” Pilate said to them, “Shall I crucify your king?” The chief priests replied, “We do not have a king except Caesar!” ¹⁶ So then he handed him over to them in order that he could be crucified.

Jesus Is Crucified

So they took Jesus, ¹⁷ and carrying for himself the cross, he went out to the place called The Place of a Skull (which is called Golgotha in Aramaic), ¹⁸ where they crucified him, and with him two others, one on each side,^[e] and Jesus in the middle. ¹⁹ And Pilate also wrote a notice and placed it^[f] on the cross, and it was written: “Jesus the Nazarene, the king of the Jews.” ²⁰ So many of the Jews read this notice, because the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city. And it was written in Aramaic, in Latin, and in Greek. ²¹ Then the chief priests of the Jews said to Pilate, “Do not write ‘The king of the Jews,’ but, ‘He said, I am king of the Jews.’” ²² Pilate replied, “What I have written, I have written.”

²³ Then the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took his clothing and made four shares—for each soldier a share—and the tunic. (Now the tunic was seamless, woven from the top in a single piece.)^{[g] 24} So they said to one another, “Let us not tear it apart, but cast lots for it, to see whose it will be,” so that the scripture would be fulfilled that says,

Thus the soldiers did these things.

²⁵ Now his mother and the sister of his mother, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene were standing near the cross of Jesus. ²⁶ So Jesus, seeing his^[i] mother and the disciple whom he loved standing there, said to his^[j] mother, “Woman, behold your son!” ²⁷ Then he said to the disciple, “Behold your mother!” And from that hour the disciple took her into his own home.

Jesus Dies on the Cross

²⁸ After this, Jesus, knowing that now at last everything was completed, in order that the scripture would be fulfilled, said, “I am thirsty.” ²⁹ A jar full of sour wine was standing there, so they put a sponge full of the sour wine on a branch of hyssop and^[k] brought it^[l] to his mouth. ³⁰ Then when he had received the sour wine, Jesus said, “It is completed,”^[m] and bowing his^[n] head, he gave up his^[o] spirit.

³¹ Then the Jews, because it was the day of preparation, so that the bodies would not remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was an important day), asked Pilate that their legs could be broken and they could be taken away. ³² So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first and of the other who had been crucified with him. ³³ But when they^[p] came to Jesus, after they saw he was already dead, they did not break his legs. ³⁴ But one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and blood and water came out immediately. ³⁵ And the one who has seen it^[q] has testified, and his testimony is true, and that person knows that he is telling the truth, so that you also may believe. ³⁶ For these things happened in order that the scripture would be fulfilled: “Not a bone of his will be broken.”^{[r] 37} And again another scripture says, “They will look on the one whom they have pierced.”^[s]

Jesus Is Buried

³⁸ And after these things, Joseph who was from Arimathea, who was a disciple of Jesus (but a secret one for fear of the Jews), asked Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus. And Pilate allowed it,^[t] so he came and took away his body. ³⁹ And Nicodemus—the one who had come to him formerly at night—also came, bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes weighing about a hundred pounds.^{[u] 40} So they took the body of Jesus and wrapped it in strips of linen cloth with the fragrant spices, as is the Jews’ custom to prepare for burial. ⁴¹ Now there was a garden at the place where he was crucified, and in the garden a new tomb in which no one was yet buried. ⁴² So there, on account of the day of preparation of the Jews, because the tomb was close by, they buried Jesus.

Jesus Is Raised

20 Now on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early, while it^[v] was still dark, and saw the stone had been taken away from the tomb. ² So she ran and came to Simon Peter and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved and said to them, “They have taken away the Lord from the tomb and we do not know where they have put him!” ³ Then Peter and the other disciple went out and were going to the tomb. ⁴ And the two were running together, and the other disciple ran ahead, faster than Peter, and came to the tomb first. ⁵ And bending over to look, he saw the strips of linen cloth lying there, though he did not go in. ⁶ Then Simon Peter also came following him, and he went into the tomb and saw the strips of linen cloth lying there, ⁷ and the facecloth that was on his head—not lying with the strips of linen cloth, but folded up separately in one place. ⁸ So then the other disciple who had come to the tomb first also went in, and he saw and believed. ⁹ (For they did not yet know the scripture that it was necessary for him to rise from the dead.)

Jesus Appears to Mary Magdalene

¹⁰ Then the disciples went away again to their own homes.^{[w] 11} But Mary stood outside at the tomb, weeping. Then, while she was weeping, she bent over to look into the tomb, ¹² and she saw two angels in white, seated one at the head and one at the feet where the body of Jesus had been lying. ¹³ And they said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have put him!” ¹⁴ When she^[x] had said these things, she turned around^[y] and saw Jesus standing there, and she did not know that it was Jesus.

¹⁵ Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Who are you looking for?” She thought that it was the gardener, and^[z] said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will take him.” ¹⁶ Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned around and^[aa] said to him in Aramaic, “Rabboni” (which means “Teacher”). ¹⁷ Jesus said to her, “Do not touch me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, and my God and your God.’” ¹⁸ Mary Magdalene came and^[ab] announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord,” and he had said these things to her.

Jesus Appears to the Disciples

¹⁹ Now when it^[ac] was evening on that day—the first day of the week—and the doors had been shut where the disciples were because of fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst and said to them, “Peace to you.” ²⁰ And when he^[ad] had said this, he showed his^[ae] hands and his^[af] side to them. Then the disciples rejoiced when they^[ag] saw the Lord. ²¹ So Jesus said to them again, “Peace to you. As the Father has sent me, I also send you.” ²² And when he^[ah] had said this, he breathed on them^[ai] and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. ²³ If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them. If you retain the sins^[aj] of any, they are retained.”

Thomas Doubts But Later Believes

²⁴ Now Thomas, one of the twelve, who was called Didymus,^[ak] was not with them when Jesus came. ²⁵ So the other disciples said to him, “We have seen the Lord!” But he said to them, “Unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails, and put my finger into the mark of the nails, and put my hand into his side, I will never believe!”

²⁶ And after eight days his disciples were again inside, and Thomas with them. Although^[al] the doors had been shut, Jesus came and stood in their midst and said, “Peace to you.” ²⁷ Then he said to Thomas, “Place your finger here and see my hands, and place your hand and put it^[am] into my side. And do not be unbelieving, but believing!” ²⁸ Thomas answered and said to him, “My Lord and my God!” ²⁹ Jesus said to him, “Because you have seen me, have you believed? Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed.”

Why This Book Was Written

³⁰ Now Jesus also performed many other signs in the presence of the disciples^[an] which are not recorded in this book, ³¹ but these things are recorded in order that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by^[ao] believing you may have life in his name.