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April 2, 2017

Life's Essential Question

April 2, 2017 • Dr. Stan Welch

Mark 15:1-15 (NTE)

As soon as morning came, the chief priests held a council meeting with the elders, the legal experts, and the whole Sanhedrin. They bound Jesus, took him off to Pilate, and handed him over.

2 ‘Are you the king of the Jews?’ asked Pilate.

‘You have said it,’ replied Jesus.

3 The chief priests laid many accusations against him.

4 Pilate again interrogated him: ‘Aren’t you going to make any reply? Look how many things they’re accusing you of!’

5 But Jesus gave no reply at all, which astonished Pilate.

6 The custom was that at festival time he used to release for them a single prisoner, whoever they would ask for. 7 There was a man in prison named Barabbas, one of the revolutionaries who had committed murder during the uprising. 8 So the crowd came up and began to ask Pilate to do what he normally did.

9 ‘Do you want me’, answered Pilate, ‘to release for you “the king of the Jews”?’

10 He said this because he knew that the chief priests had handed him over out of envy. 11 The chief priests stirred up the crowd to ask for Barabbas instead to be released to them. So Pilate once again asked them, 12 ‘What then do you want me to do with the one you call “the king of the Jews”?’

13 ‘Crucify him!’ they shouted again.

14 ‘Why?’ asked Pilate. ‘What has he done wrong?’

‘Crucify him!’ they shouted all the louder.

15 Pilate wanted to satisfy the crowd; so he released Barabbas for them. He had Jesus flogged, and handed him over to be crucified.