M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

Resurrection plus the name of Jesus equals trouble

4 As they were speaking to the people, along came the priests, the chief of the Temple police, and the Sadducees. ² They were thoroughly annoyed that they were teaching the people and proclaiming that “the resurrection of the dead” had begun to happen in Jesus. ³ They seized them and put them under guard until the next day, since it was already evening. ⁴ But a large number of the people who had heard the message believed it, and the number of men grew to five thousand.

⁵ On the next day their rulers, the elders and the scribes gathered in Jerusalem, ⁶ along with Annas the high priest, Caiaphas, John, Alexander and all the members of the high-priestly family. ⁷ They stood them in the midst.

“How did you do this?” they asked them. “What power did you use? What name did you invoke?”

⁸ Peter was filled with the holy spirit. “Rulers of the people and elders,” he said, ⁹ “if the question we’re being asked today is about a good deed done for a sick man, and whose power it was that rescued him, ¹⁰ let it be known to all of you, and to all the people of Israel, that this man stands before you fit and well because of the name of the Messiah, Jesus of Nazareth, whom you crucified, but whom God raised from the dead. ¹¹ He is the stone which you builders rejected, but which has become the head cornerstone. ¹² Rescue won’t come from anybody else! There is no other name given under heaven and among humans by which we must be rescued.”

The clash of loyalties

¹³ When they saw how boldly Peter and John were speaking, and realized that they were untrained, ordinary men, they were astonished, and they recognized them as people who had been with Jesus. ¹⁴ And when they saw the man who had been healed standing with them, they had nothing to say in reply. ¹⁵ They ordered them to be put out of the assembly while they conferred among themselves.

¹⁶ “What can we do to these men?” they said. “This is a spectacular sign that has happened through them. All Jerusalem knows it, and we can’t deny it! ¹⁷ But we certainly don’t want it to spread any further among the people. So let’s threaten them with awful consequences if they speak any more in this name to anybody.”

¹⁸ So they called them in and gave them orders not to speak at all, or to teach, in the name of Jesus.

¹⁹ But Peter and John gave them this reply.

“You judge,” they said, “whether it’s right before God to listen to you rather than to God! ²⁰ As far as we’re concerned, we can’t stop speaking about what we have seen and heard.”

²¹ Then they threatened them some more, and let them go. They couldn’t find any way to punish them because of the people, since everyone was glorifying God for what had happened. ²² After all, the man to whom this sign of healing had happened was over forty years old.

Look upon their threats

²³ When they had been released, they went back to their own people, and told them everything that the chief priests and the elders had said. ²⁴ When they heard it, they all together lifted up their voices to God.

“Sovereign Master,” they said, “you made heaven and earth, and the sea, and everything in them. ²⁵ And you said through the holy spirit, by the mouth of our ancestor David, your servant,

²⁷ “It’s true: Herod and Pontius Pilate, together with the nations and the peoples of Israel, gathered themselves together in this very city against your holy child Jesus, the one you anointed, ²⁸ to do whatever your hand and your plan had foreordained to take place. ²⁹ So now, Master, look on their threats; and grant that we, your servants, may speak your word with all boldness, ³⁰ while you stretch out your hand for healing, so that signs and wonders may come about through the name of your holy child Jesus.”

³¹ When they had prayed, the place where they were gathered was shaken. They were all filled with the holy spirit, and they boldly spoke the word of God.

Signs of the new covenant

³² The company of those who believed had one heart and soul. Nobody said that they owned their property; instead, they had everything in common. ³³ The apostles gave their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus with great power, and great grace was upon all of them. ³⁴ For there was no needy person among them, since any who possessed lands or houses sold them, brought the money from the sale, ³⁵ and placed it at the feet of the apostles, who then gave to each according to their need.

³⁶ Joseph, a Levite from Cyprus, to whom the apostles gave the surname “Barnabas” (which means “son of encouragement”), ³⁷ sold some land which belonged to him, brought the money, and laid it at the apostles’ feet.

The death of Judas

27 When dawn broke, all the chief priests and elders of the people held a council meeting about Jesus, in order to have him put to death. ² They tied him up, took him off, and handed him over to Pilate, the governor.

³ Meanwhile Judas, who had betrayed him, saw that he had been condemned, and was filled with remorse. He took the thirty pieces of silver back to the high priests and elders.

⁴ “I’ve sinned!” he said. “I betrayed an innocent man, and now I’ve got his blood on my hands!”

“See if we care!” they replied. “Deal with it yourself.”

⁵ And he threw down the money in the Temple, and left, and went and hanged himself.

⁶ “Well now,” said the chief priests, picking up the money. “According to the law, we can’t put it into the Temple treasury. It’s the price of someone’s blood.”

⁷ So they had a discussion, and used it to buy the Potter’s Field, as a burial place for foreigners. ⁸ (That’s why that field is called Blood Field, to this day.) ⁹ Then the word that was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet came true:

Jesus and Barabbas before Pilate

¹¹ So Jesus stood in front of the governor.

“Are you the King of the Jews?” the governor asked him.

“If you say so,” replied Jesus.

¹² The chief priests and elders poured out their accusations against him, but he made no answer.

¹³ Then Pilate said to him, “Don’t you hear all this evidence they’re bringing against you?”

¹⁴ He gave him no answer, not even a word, which quite astonished the governor.

¹⁵ Now the governor had a custom. At festival time he used to release one prisoner for the crowd, whoever they chose. ¹⁶ Just then they had a famous prisoner, called Jesus Barabbas. ¹⁷ So when the people were all gathered there, Pilate said to them, “Who do you want me to release for you? Jesus Barabbas, or Jesus the so-called Messiah?” ¹⁸ (He knew that they’d handed him over out of sheer envy.)

¹⁹ While he was presiding in the court, his wife sent a message to him.

“Don’t have anything to do with that man,” she said. “He’s innocent! I’ve had a really bad time today in a dream, all because of him.”

²⁰ The high priests and the elders persuaded the crowds to ask for Barabbas, and to have Jesus killed. ²¹ So when the governor came back to them again, and asked, “Which of the two do you want me to release for you?” they said, “Barabbas!”

²² “So what shall I do with Jesus the so-called Messiah?” asked Pilate.

“Let him be crucified!” they all said.

²³ “Why?” asked Pilate. “What’s he done wrong?”

But they shouted all the louder, “Let him be crucified!”

²⁴ Pilate saw that it was no good. In fact, there was a riot brewing. So he took some water and washed his hands in front of the crowd.

“I’m not guilty of this man’s blood,” he said. “It’s your problem.”

²⁵ “Let his blood be on us!” answered all the people. “And on our children!”

²⁶ Then Pilate released Barabbas for them. He had Jesus flogged, and handed him over to be crucified.

Jesus mocked and crucified

²⁷ Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the barracks, and gathered the whole regiment together. ²⁸ They took off his clothes and dressed him up in a scarlet military cloak. ²⁹ They wove a crown out of thorns and stuck it on his head, and put a reed in his right hand. Then they knelt down in front of him.

“Greetings, King of the Jews!” they said, making fun of him.

³⁰ They spat on him. Then they took the reed and beat him about the head. ³¹ When they had finished mocking him, they took off the cloak, dressed him in his own clothes again, and led him off to crucify him.

³² As they were going out they found a man from Cyrene, called Simon. They forced him to carry his cross.

³³ When they came to the place called Golgotha, which means Skull Place, ³⁴ they gave him a drink of wine mixed with bitter herbs. When he tasted it, he refused to drink it.

³⁵ So then they crucified him. They divided up his clothes by casting lots, ³⁶ and they sat down and kept watch over him there. ³⁷ And they placed the written charge above his head: “This is Jesus, the King of the Jews.”

³⁸ Then they crucified two brigands alongside him, one on his right and one on his left.

Jesus mocked on the cross

³⁹ The people who were going by shouted blasphemies at Jesus. They shook their heads at him.

⁴⁰ “So!” they said. “You were going to destroy the Temple and build it in three days, were you? Save yourself, if you’re God’s son! Come down from the cross!”

⁴¹ The chief priests, too, and the scribes and the elders, mocked him.

⁴² “He rescued others,” they said, “but he can’t rescue himself! All right, so he’s the King of Israel!—well, let him come down from the cross right now, and then we’ll really believe that he is! ⁴³ He trusted in God; let God deliver him now, if he’s so keen on him—after all, he did say he was God’s son!”

⁴⁴ The brigands who were crucified alongside him heaped insults on him as well.

The death of God’s son

⁴⁵ From noon until mid-afternoon there was darkness over the whole land. ⁴⁶ About the middle of the afternoon Jesus shouted out in a loud voice, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani!”—which means, “My God, my God, why did you abandon me?”

⁴⁷ Some of the people who were standing there heard it and said, “This fellow’s calling Elijah!”

⁴⁸ One of them ran at once and got a sponge. He filled it with vinegar, put it on a reed, and gave him a drink.

⁴⁹ The others said, “Wait a bit. Let’s see if Elijah is going to come and rescue him!”

⁵⁰ But Jesus shouted out loudly one more time, and then breathed his last gasp.

⁵¹ At that instant the Temple curtain was torn in two, from top to bottom. The earth shook, the rocks were split, ⁵² and the tombs burst open. Many bodies of the sleeping holy ones were raised. ⁵³ They came out of the tombs after Jesus’ resurrection, and went into the holy city, where they appeared to many people.

⁵⁴ When the centurion and the others with him, keeping watch over Jesus, saw the earthquake and the things that happened, they were scared out of their wits.

“He really was God’s son!” they said.

⁵⁵ There were several women there, watching from a distance. They had followed Jesus from Galilee, helping to look after his needs. ⁵⁶ They included Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Joseph, and the mother of Zebedee’s sons.

The burial of Jesus

⁵⁷ When evening came, a rich man from Arimathea arrived. He was called Joseph, and he, too, was a disciple of Jesus. ⁵⁸ He went to Pilate and requested the body of Jesus. Pilate gave the order that it should be given to him.

⁵⁹ So Joseph took the body and wrapped it in a clean linen cloth. ⁶⁰ He laid it in his own new tomb, which he had carved out of the rock. Then he rolled a large stone across the doorway of the tomb, and went away.

⁶¹ Mary Magdalene was there, and so was the other Mary. They were sitting opposite the tomb.

⁶² On the next day (that is, the day after Preparation Day), the chief priests and the Pharisees went as a group to Pilate.

⁶³ “Sir,” they said, “when that deceiver was still alive, we recall that he said, ‘After three days, I’ll rise again.’ ⁶⁴ So please give the order for the tomb to be made secure until the third day. Otherwise his disciples might come and steal him away, and then tell the people, ‘He’s been raised from the dead!’ and so the last deception would be worse than the first.”

⁶⁵ “You can have a guard,” said Pilate; “go and make it as secure as you know how.” ⁶⁶ So they went and made the tomb secure, sealing the stone and putting a guard on watch.