New Testament in a Year
26 A signboard was fastened to the cross above his head, announcing his crime. It read, “The King of the Jews.”
27 Two robbers were also crucified that morning, their crosses on either side of his. 28 [a]And so the Scripture was fulfilled that said, “He was counted among evil men.”
29-30 The people jeered at him as they walked by, and wagged their heads in mockery.
“Ha! Look at you now!” they yelled at him. “Sure, you can destroy the Temple and rebuild it in three days! If you’re so wonderful, save yourself and come down from the cross.”
31 The chief priests and religious leaders were also standing around joking about Jesus.
“He’s quite clever at ‘saving’ others,” they said, “but he can’t save himself!”
32 “Hey there, Messiah!” they yelled at him. “You ‘King of Israel’! Come on down from the cross and we’ll believe you!”
And even the two robbers dying with him cursed him.
33 About noon, darkness fell across the entire land,[b] lasting until three o’clock that afternoon.
34 Then Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?”[c] (“My God, my God, why have you deserted me?”)
35 Some of the people standing there thought he was calling for the prophet Elijah. 36 So one man ran and got a sponge and filled it with sour wine and held it up to him on a stick.
“Let’s see if Elijah will come and take him down!” he said.
37 Then Jesus uttered another loud cry and dismissed his spirit.
38 And the curtain[d] in the Temple was split apart from top to bottom.
39 When the Roman officer standing beside his cross saw how he dismissed his spirit, he exclaimed, “Truly, this was the Son of God!”
40 Some women were there watching from a distance—Mary Magdalene, Mary (the mother of James the Younger and of Joses), Salome, and others. 41 They and many other Galilean women who were his followers had ministered to him when he was up in Galilee, and had come with him to Jerusalem.
42-43 This all happened the day before the Sabbath. Late that afternoon Joseph from Arimathea, an honored member of the Jewish Supreme Court (who personally was eagerly expecting the arrival of God’s Kingdom), gathered his courage and went to Pilate and asked for Jesus’ body.
44 Pilate couldn’t believe that Jesus was already dead so he called for the Roman officer in charge and asked him. 45 The officer confirmed the fact, and Pilate told Joseph he could have the body.
46 Joseph bought a long sheet of linen cloth and, taking Jesus’ body down from the cross, wound it in the cloth and laid it in a rock-hewn tomb, and rolled a stone in front of the entrance.
47 (Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses were watching as Jesus was laid away.)
The Living Bible copyright © 1971 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.