15
THEY TOOK JESUS TO THE BOSS NAMED PILATE (15:1-5)
1 After it became light the leaders and teachers and old men and the rest of the bosses gathered together in the Big Committee. They were talking among themselves. “Let us take Jesus to the Roman boss.” After that they tied up Jesus, they took him to the big Roman boss, his name was Pilate. He was from the country of the Romans, the Roman King made Pilate boss for the Jews. 2 Pilate asked Jesus, “How about it? Are you the Jews' king?” Jesus replied, “You said that.” 3 The leaders were falsely accusing Jesus, “He has been disregarding our law.” 4 Then Pilate again said to him, “Hear them, they have been accusing you. Will you reply?” 5 Jesus was remaining silent, he did not answer him. Pilate was puzzled about him.
THEY WERE TELLING PILATE TO KILL JESUS (15:6-15)
6 Before at Springtime after Springtime when the Jews were eating sheep and flat bread, Pilate would release a prisoner for them, he used to send out one for them. Whoever the Jews were wanting they would ask him for that one. That is the one Pilate would send out for them. 8 After that many Jews now gathered to ask Pilate, “Release one prisoner for us.” 9-10 Pilate knew about them, the leaders looked at Jesus with jealousy, that is why they brought him to him. After that Pilate asked them, “Shall I send out for you Jesus, the King of the Jews?” 11 The leaders were already talking to the Jewish people, they persuaded them to ask Pilate, “Release for us that other man named Barabbas.” 7 That Barabbas was in prison, and some others like him also. Earlier they fought the Roman soldiers, they killed a few Romans. 12 For this Barabbas they were asking, in reply Jesus asked them, “I might release that Barabbas, then what will I do to this other one, the man you name 'King of the Jews'?” 13 They replied by calling out, “Nail him on a tree. By doing that kill him.” 14 Again Pilate asked them, “Why? What did he do wrong?” They were calling out very loudly, “Nail him on a tree.” 15 Pilate wanted to please the Jews. After that he released Barabbas for them, he gave Jesus to the soldiers, he told them to hit him with a whip and to nail him to a tree.
THE SOLDIERS WERE MOCKING JESUS (15:16-20)
16 The soldiers took Jesus to their camp, they entered a very big house, they took him into the middle of the yard. They called the other soldiers, “Come here.” Then they removed his clothes, at Pilate's word they whipped Jesus with a whip. After that they were really mocking him. 17 They got a red blanket, a really good one, they put it on him. From a tree they got thorny parts, they made a what's-it, like a head-ring, they put it on Jesus' head. 18 After that they were mocking him, they were saying to him, “You are truly the King for the Jews.” 19 With a stick they were hitting his head, they were spitting on him, after kneeling at his feet they were bowing down to him. They were doing that sort of thing to mock him, as if he was important for them. 20 After they finished mocking him they removed the good blanket from him, they put on his own clothes on him. After that they put a big piece of wood on his shoulder for him to carry, they made him walk out to Golgotha, to nail him on the wood to kill him there.
THEY TOOK JESUS, THEY NAILED HIM ON WOOD (15:21-27)
21 After going partway the soldiers grabbed a man, a stranger. He was from the country Cyrene, his name was Simon. He was the father of Alexander and Rufus. He was coming towards Jerusalem. The Roman soldiers grabbed him, they roughly forced him to carry that big piece of wood, that wood for Jesus. 22 They arrived at Golgotha. (That name Golgotha in the Jews' language they call Skull.) 23 There they tried in vain to give Jesus wine with medicine to drink. That medicine was for avoiding pain. Jesus did not drink it. 24-26 The soldiers nailed him on the wood, they nailed his hands, his feet also. On a paper they wrote this word, “This is the King of the Jews”, they put it at the top of the wood near him. In the morning the sun was going upwards, early, they nailed Jesus on the wood. Then they played for his clothes, who would get them. 27 They nailed two thieves on two other pieces of wood near him, on the right side and on the left.
OTHERS ALSO WERE MOCKING HIM (15:29-32)
29 People as they were going backwards and forwards were watching close by, they were mocking him. They were saying thus to him, “You said you would break God's Temple, in three days you would fix it. 30 Come down from the wood, after releasing yourself save yourself. 31 In that way those lawmen also were talking, they were mocking Jesus. They were saying to each other, “He saved other people, He cannot save himself. 32 Before he was saying, 'God sent me. I am the King of the Jews.' When he comes down from the wood, right then we will believe in him.” The two thieves that were on the wood also were mocking Jesus.
JESUS DIED (15:33-41)
33-34 Partway through the day the sky became dark. It was dark like that right up to late afternoon. After that Jesus spoke loudly, with words from long ago he asked God, “Eloi, Eloi, lama, sabachthani?” That word says, “God, you are my own father, why did you abandon me?” 35 Some who were standing there when they heard that word said, “Listen, he is calling that man from long ago, God's speaker, Elijah.” 36 One came running, he soaked a cloth in wine, he put it on the end of a stick, he lifted it to Jesus' mouth, he put it to his lips (?) for Jesus to suck. He said to them, “Wait! Let us look! Perhaps Elijah will come to take him down from the wood.” 37 After that Jesus really called out, he breathed once, he died. 38 Inside God's Temple in Jerusalem at the end that was God's only. Only the Big Leader from time to time will enter there, not other people. In front of that place of God's a big blanket was hanging. That used to block people from entering. As soon as Jesus died that blanket really tore without stopping, from above right down to the ground. 39 At Golgotha that Roman boss soldier was standing near Jesus in front of him, he was watching him. After that having seen Jesus die in this way he said, “Truly this man was child of the One Above. 40-41 Many women were standing there, they were watching from far off. Earlier when Jesus was going around Galilee those women were following him, They used to cook food for him and things like that. Now they were watching from a long way off. Among them was Mary Magdalene and Salome and another Mary. (She was the mother of those two, James the Younger and Judas.)
THEY PUT JESUS' BODY IN A CAVE (15:42-47)
42-43 In that area was a man named Joseph. He was from the town Arimathea. He was a boss, an old man, a Big Committee man. Everyone used to speak well about him. For a long time he was waiting, he used say, “Soon God will send an important man, after he comes he will look after us well forever.” That same Joseph went bravely to that boss Pilate, he asked him, “Can I take the body of Jesus, can I put him in the grave?” It was already evening. Soon the sun would set. Then it would be Saturday, the Jews' day for God. According to their law they should not work. To avoid that they wanted to put the dead body of Jesus in the grave that evening. 44 Wondering Pilate asked him, “Has he died already?” He called the boss soldier, he asked him, “Has Jesus been dead for a long time?” 45 That boss soldier told him, “Yes, he is already dead. Then Pilate told Joseph, “Yes, you can take his dead body.” 46 Joseph went to the store, he bought a long white cloth, a very good one. He took down the body of Jesus from the wood, with the cloth he tied it up, he covered the whole body. Then he took it to a cave. They had already cut that cave in soft rock for a grave. Inside there he put the body of Jesus. Then he pushed a big stone to the cave, truly he completely covered the doorway. 47 Two women were watching, those two, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary. They were watching Joseph take and put Jesus in the cave, they saw him there.