﻿Mark.
Chapter 15.
Early in the morning, the chief priests held a consultation with the elders, the scribes, and the whole council. They bound Jesus, led him away, and handed him over to Pilate. 
Pilate asked him, “Are you the King of the Jews?” He answered him, “You say so.” 
The chief priests accused him of many things. 
Pilate questioned him again, “Have you no answer? See how many accusations they bring against you.” 
But Jesus gave no further answer, so Pilate was amazed. 
At the feast, Pilate used to release for them one prisoner whom they requested. 
A man called Barabbas was imprisoned with the rebels who had committed murder in the uprising. 
The crowd came up and began to ask him to do as he usually did for them. 
Pilate answered them, “Do you want me to release for you the King of the Jews?” 
For he knew that the chief priests had handed him over out of envy. 
But the chief priests stirred up the crowd to have him release Barabbas for them instead. 
Pilate said to them again, “Then what do you want me to do with the one you call the King of the Jews?” 
They shouted again, “Crucify him!” 
Pilate said to them, “Why? What evil has he done?” But they shouted all the more, “Crucify him!” 
Wanting to satisfy the crowd, Pilate released Barabbas for them. After having Jesus flogged, he handed him over to be crucified. 
The soldiers led him inside the courtyard, that is, the Praetorium, and called together the whole cohort. 
They dressed him in purple, wove a crown of thorns, and put it on him. 
They began to salute him: “Hail, King of the Jews!” 
They kept striking his head with a reed and spitting on him. They knelt and bowed before him. 
After mocking him, they took off the purple robe, put his own clothes on him, and led him out to crucify him. 
They compelled a passerby, Simon of Cyrene, who was coming in from the countryside, the father of Alexander and Rufus, to carry his cross. 
They brought him to the place called Golgotha, which means Place of a Skull. 
They offered him wine mixed with myrrh, but he did not take it. 
They crucified him and divided his clothes, casting lots for them to decide what each would take. 
It was about nine in the morning when they crucified him. 
The inscription of the charge against him read, “The King of the Jews.” 
With him they crucified two robbers, one at his right and one at his left. 
And the Scripture was fulfilled that says, “And he was numbered with the transgressors.” 
Those passing by reviled him, shaking their heads and saying, “Aha! You who destroy the temple and build it in three days, 
save yourself by coming down from the cross!” 
Likewise the chief priests, with the scribes, mocked him among themselves, saying, “He saved others; he cannot save himself. 
Let the Christ, the King of Israel, come down now from the cross, so that we may see and believe.” Those crucified with him also insulted him. 
Around noon, darkness came over the whole land until about three in the afternoon. 
At about three, Jesus cried out with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” 
When some of those standing nearby heard this, they said, “Look, he is calling Elijah.” 
Someone ran, filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on a reed, and gave him a drink, saying, “Wait; let us see whether Elijah comes to take him down.” 
But Jesus let out a loud cry and breathed his last. 
The curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. 
When the centurion standing opposite him saw how he breathed his last, he said, “Truly this man was God's Son!” 
There were also women watching from a distance. Among them were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James the younger and Joses, and Salome. 
They had followed him and served him when he was in Galilee. Many other women who had come up with him to Jerusalem were there as well. 
Evening had already come, and since it was Preparation Day, that is, the day before the Sabbath, 
Joseph of Arimathea, a respected member of the council who was himself waiting for the kingdom of God, came and boldly went in to Pilate and asked for Jesus' body. 
Pilate was surprised that he was already dead. He called the centurion and asked whether he had been dead for some time. 
After learning this from the centurion, he granted the corpse to Joseph. 
Joseph bought a linen cloth, took him down, wrapped him in the cloth, and laid him in a tomb cut out of rock. Then he rolled a stone against the entrance of the tomb. 
Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses were watching where he was laid. 
