Readings for Lent and Easter

Jesus is Taken to Pilate^(A)

15 As soon as it was morning, the high priests convened a meeting with the elders and scribes and the whole Council.^[a] They bound Jesus with chains, led him away, and handed him over to Pilate. ² Pilate asked him, “Are you the king of the Jews?”

Jesus^[b] answered him, “You say so.”

³ The high priests kept accusing him of many things. ⁴ So Pilate asked him again, “Don’t you have any answer? Look how many accusations they’re bringing against you!” ⁵ But since Jesus no longer answered, Pilate was astonished.

Jesus is Sentenced to Death^(B)

⁶ At every festival,^[c] Pilate^[d] would release any one prisoner whom the people^[e] requested. ⁷ Now there was a man in prison named Barabbas. He had been with the insurgents who had committed murder during the rebellion. ⁸ So the crowd came and began to request that Pilate^[f] do for them what he always did.^{[g] 9} Pilate answered them, “Do you want me to release the king of the Jews for you?” ¹⁰ because he knew that the high priests had handed him over due to jealousy.

¹¹ But the high priests stirred up the crowd to get him to release Barabbas for them instead. ¹² So Pilate asked them again, “Then what should I do with the man you call^[h] ‘the King of the Jews’?”

¹³ “Crucify him!” they shouted back.

¹⁴ “Why?” Pilate asked them. “What has he done wrong?”

But they shouted even louder, “Crucify him!”