True Love

God loved the people of this world so much that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who has faith in him will have eternal life and never really die. God did not send his Son into the world to condemn its people. He sent him to save them.           John 3:16-17 

This is how God showed his love to us: He sent his one and only Son into the world so that we could have life through him. This is what real love is: It is not our love for God; it is God's love for us. He sent his Son to die in our place to take away our sins.   

Dear friends, if God loved us that much we also should love each other.  

1 John 4:9-11

Pilate Questions Jesus

Jesus stood before Pilate the governor, and Pilate asked him, "Are you the king of the Jews?"   
Jesus answered, "Those are your words."


When the leading priests and the elders accused Jesus, he said nothing.
So Pilate said to Jesus, "Don't you hear them accusing you of all these things?"

But Jesus said nothing in answer to Pilate, and Pilate was very surprised at this.

Pilate Tries to Free Jesus

Every year at the time of Passover the governor would free one prisoner whom the people chose. At that time there was a man in prison, named Barabbas, who was known to be very bad.  When the people gathered at Pilate's house, Pilate said, "Whom do you want me to set free: Barabbas or Jesus who is called the Christ?" Pilate knew that they turned Jesus in to him because they were jealous.While Pilate was sitting there on the judge's seat, his wife sent this message to him: "Don't do anything to that man, because he is innocent. Today I had a dream about him, and it troubled me very much."
But the leading priests and elders convinced the crowd to ask for Barabbas to be freed and for Jesus to be killed.
Pilate said, "I have Barabbas and Jesus. Which do you want me to set free for you?"
The people answered, "Barabbas."
Pilate asked, "So what should I do with Jesus, the one called the Christ?"
They all answered, "Crucify him!"

Pilate asked, "Why? What wrong has he done?"

But they shouted louder, "Crucify him!"


When Pilate saw that he could do nothing about this and that a riot was starting, he took some water and washed his hands in front of the crowd. Then he said, "I am not guilty of this man's death. You are the ones who are causing it!"
All the people answered, "We and our children will be responsible for his death."
Then he set Barabbas free. But Jesus was beaten with whips and handed over to the soldiers to be crucified.
The governor's soldiers took Jesus into the governor's palace, and they all gathered around him. They took off his clothes and put a red robe on him. Using thorny branches, they made a crown, put it on his head, and put a stick in his right hand. Then the soldiers bowed before Jesus and made fun of him, saying, "Hail, King of the Jews!" They spat on Jesus. Then they took his stick and began to beat him on the head.  After they finished, the soldiers took off the robe and put his own clothes on him again. Then they led him away to be crucified.

Jesus Is Crucified

 As the soldiers were going out of the city with Jesus, they forced a man from Cyrene, named Simon, to carry the cross for Jesus. They all came to the place called Golgotha, which means the Place of the Skull. The soldiers gave Jesus wine mixed with gall to drink. He tasted the wine but refused to drink it.  When the soldiers had crucified him, they threw lots to decide who would get his clothes. The soldiers sat there and continued watching him. They put a sign above Jesus' head with a charge against him. It said: this is jesus, the king of the jews.  Two robbers were crucified beside Jesus, one on the right and the other on the left.  People walked by and insulted Jesus and shook their heads, saying, "You said you could destroy the Temple and build it again in three days. So save yourself! Come down from that cross if you are really the Son of

 God!"  The leading priests, the teachers of the law, and the Jewish elders were also making fun of Jesus.  They said, "He saved others, but he can't save himself! He says he is the king of Israel! If he is the king, let him come down now from the cross. Then we will believe in him. He trusts in God, so let God save him now, if God really wants him. He himself said, 'I am the Son of God.' " And in the same way, the robbers who were being crucified beside Jesus also insulted him.

Jesus Dies

 At noon the whole country became dark, and the darkness lasted for three hours.  About three o'clock Jesus cried out in a loud voice, "Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?" This means, "My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?"

 Some of the people standing there who heard this said, "He is calling Elijah."
Quickly one of them ran and got a sponge and filled it with vinegar and tied it to a stick and gave it to Jesus to drink. But the others said, "Don't bother him. We want to see if Elijah will come to save him."
But Jesus cried out again in a loud voice and died.
 Then the curtain in the Temple was torn into two pieces, from the top to the bottom. Also, the earth shook and rocks broke apart.  The graves opened, and many of God's people who had died were raised from the dead. They came out of the graves after Jesus was raised from the dead and went into the holy city, where they appeared to many people.

 When the army officer and the soldiers guarding Jesus saw this earthquake and everything else that happened, they were very frightened and said, "He really was the Son of God!"

 Many women who had followed Jesus from Galilee to help him were standing at a distance from the cross, watching. Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James and Joseph, and the mother of James and John were there.


Matthew 27