The Living Bible (330 page)
Authors: Inc. Tyndale House Publishers
Tags: #BIBLES / Other Translations / Text
Then the entire Council took Jesus over to Pilate, the governor.
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They began at once accusing him: “This fellow has been leading our people to ruin by telling them not to pay their taxes to the Roman government and by claiming he is our Messiah—a King.”
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So Pilate asked him, “Are you their Messiah—their King?”
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“Yes,”
Jesus replied,
“it is as you say.”
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Then Pilate turned to the chief priests and to the mob and said, “So? That isn’t a crime!”
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Then they became desperate. “But he is causing riots against the government everywhere he goes, all over Judea, from Galilee to Jerusalem!”
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“Is he then a Galilean?” Pilate asked.
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When they told him yes, Pilate said to take him to King Herod, for Galilee was under Herod’s jurisdiction; and Herod happened to be in Jerusalem at the time.
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Herod was delighted at the opportunity to see Jesus, for he had heard a lot about him and had been hoping to see him perform a miracle.
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He asked Jesus question after question, but there was no reply.
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Meanwhile, the chief priests and the other religious leaders stood there shouting their accusations.
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Now Herod and his soldiers began mocking and ridiculing Jesus; and putting a kingly robe on him, they sent him back to Pilate.
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That day Herod and Pilate—enemies before—became fast friends.
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Then Pilate called together the chief priests and other Jewish leaders, along with the people,
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and announced his verdict:
“You brought this man to me, accusing him of leading a revolt against the Roman government.
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I have examined him thoroughly on this point and find him innocent.
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Herod came to the same conclusion and sent him back to us—nothing this man has done calls for the death penalty.
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I will therefore have him scourged with leaded thongs and release him.”
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But now a mighty roar rose from the crowd as with one voice they shouted. “Kill him, and release Barabbas to us!”
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(Barabbas was in prison for starting an insurrection in Jerusalem against the government, and for murder.)
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Pilate argued with them, for he wanted to release Jesus.
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But they shouted, “Crucify him! Crucify him!”
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Once more, for the third time, he demanded, “Why? What crime has he committed? I have found no reason to sentence him to death. I will therefore scourge him and let him go.”
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But they shouted louder and louder for Jesus’ death, and their voices prevailed.
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So Pilate sentenced Jesus to die as they demanded.
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And he released Barabbas, the man in prison for insurrection and murder, at their request. But he delivered Jesus over to them to do with as they would.
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As the crowd led Jesus away to his death, Simon of Cyrene, who was just coming into Jerusalem from the country, was forced to follow, carrying Jesus’ cross.
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Great crowds trailed along behind, and many grief-stricken women.
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But Jesus turned and said to them,
“Daughters of Jerusalem, don’t weep for me, but for yourselves and for your children.
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For the days are coming when the women who have no children will be counted fortunate indeed.
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Mankind will beg the mountains to fall on them and crush them, and the hills to bury them.
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For if such things as this are done to me, the Living Tree, what will they do to you?”
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Two others, criminals, were led out to be executed with him at a place called “The Skull.” There all three were crucified—Jesus on the center cross, and the two criminals on either side.
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“Father, forgive these people,”
Jesus said,
“for they don’t know what they are doing.”
And the soldiers gambled for his clothing, throwing dice for each piece.
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The crowd watched. And the Jewish leaders laughed and scoffed. “He was so good at helping others,” they said, “let’s see him save himself if he is really God’s Chosen One, the Messiah.”
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The soldiers mocked him, too, by offering him a drink—of sour wine.
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And they called to him, “If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself !”
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A signboard was nailed to the cross above him with these words: “This is the King of the Jews.”
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One of the criminals hanging beside him scoffed, “So you’re the Messiah, are you? Prove it by saving yourself—and us, too, while you’re at it!”
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But the other criminal protested. “Don’t you even fear God when you are dying? We deserve to die for our evil deeds, but this man hasn’t done one thing wrong.”
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Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your Kingdom.”
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And Jesus replied,
“Today you will be with me in Paradise. This is a solemn promise.”
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By now it was noon, and darkness fell across the whole land
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for three hours, until three o’clock.
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The light from the sun was gone—and suddenly
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the thick veil hanging in the Temple split apart.
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Then Jesus shouted,
“Father, I commit my spirit to you,”
and with those words he died.
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When the captain of the Roman military unit handling the executions saw what had happened, he was stricken with awe before God and said, “Surely this man was innocent.”
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And when the crowd that came to see the crucifixion saw that Jesus was dead, they went home in deep sorrow.
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Meanwhile, Jesus’ friends, including the women who had followed him down from Galilee, stood in the distance watching.
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Then a man named Joseph, a member of the Jewish Supreme Court, from the city of Arimathea in Judea, went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. He was a godly man who had been expecting the Messiah’s coming and had not agreed with the decision and actions of the other Jewish leaders.
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So he took down Jesus’ body and wrapped it in a long linen cloth and laid it in a new, unused tomb hewn into the rock at the side of a hill.
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This was done late on Friday afternoon, the day of preparation for the Sabbath.
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As the body was taken away, the women from Galilee followed and saw it carried into the tomb.
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Then they went home and prepared spices and ointments to embalm him; but by the time they were finished it was the Sabbath, so they rested all that day as required by the Jewish law.
But very early on Sunday morning they took the ointments to the tomb—
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and found that the huge stone covering the entrance had been rolled aside.
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So they went in—but the Lord Jesus’ body was gone.
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They stood there puzzled, trying to think what could have happened to it. Suddenly two men appeared before them, clothed in shining robes so bright their eyes were dazzled.
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The women were terrified and bowed low before them.
Then the men asked, “Why are you looking in a tomb for someone who is alive?
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He isn’t here! He has come back to life again! Don’t you remember what he told you back in Galilee—that the Messiah
*
must be betrayed into the power of evil men and be crucified and that he would rise again the third day?”
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Then they remembered
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and rushed back to Jerusalem
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to tell his eleven disciples—and everyone else—what had happened.
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(The women who went to the tomb were Mary Magdalene and Joanna and Mary the mother of James, and several others.)
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But the story sounded like a fairy tale to the men—they didn’t believe it.
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However, Peter ran to the tomb to look. Stooping, he peered in and saw the empty linen wrappings; and then he went back home again, wondering what had happened.
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That same day, Sunday, two of Jesus’ followers were walking to the village of Emmaus, seven miles out of Jerusalem.
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As they walked along they were talking of Jesus’ death,
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when suddenly Jesus himself came along and joined them and began walking beside them.
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But they didn’t recognize him, for God kept them from it.
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“You seem to be in a deep discussion about something,”
he said.
“What are you so concerned about?”
They stopped short, sadness written across their faces.
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And one of them, Cleopas, replied, “You must be the only person in Jerusalem who hasn’t heard about the terrible things that happened there last week.”
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“What things?”
Jesus asked.
“The things that happened to Jesus, the Man from Nazareth,” they said. “He was a Prophet who did incredible miracles and was a mighty Teacher, highly regarded by both God and man.
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But the chief priests and our religious leaders arrested him and handed him over to the Roman government to be condemned to death, and they crucified him.
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We had thought he was the glorious Messiah and that he had come to rescue Israel.
“And now, besides all this—which happened three days ago—
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some women from our group of his followers were at his tomb early this morning and came back with an amazing report that his body was missing, and that they had seen some angels there who told them Jesus is alive!
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Some of our men ran out to see, and sure enough, Jesus’ body was gone, just as the women had said.”
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Then Jesus said to them,
“You are such foolish, foolish people! You find it so hard to believe all that the prophets wrote in the Scriptures!
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Wasn’t it clearly predicted by the prophets that the Messiah would have to suffer all these things before entering his time of glory?”
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Then Jesus quoted them passage after passage from the writings of the prophets, beginning with the book of Genesis and going right on through the Scriptures, explaining what the passages meant and what they said about himself.
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By this time they were nearing Emmaus and the end of their journey. Jesus would have gone on,
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but they begged him to stay the night with them, as it was getting late. So he went home with them.
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As they sat down to eat, he asked God’s blessing on the food and then took a small loaf of bread and broke it and was passing it over to them,
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when suddenly—it was as though their eyes were opened—they recognized him! And at that moment he disappeared!
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They began telling each other how their hearts had felt strangely warm as he talked with them and explained the Scriptures during the walk down the road.
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Within the hour they were on their way back to Jerusalem, where the eleven disciples and the other followers of Jesus greeted them with these words, “The Lord has really risen! He appeared to Peter!”
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Then the two from Emmaus told their story of how Jesus had appeared to them as they were walking along the road and how they had recognized him as he was breaking the bread.
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And just as they were telling about it, Jesus himself was suddenly standing there among them, and greeted them.
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But the whole group was terribly frightened, thinking they were seeing a ghost!
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“Why are you frightened?”
he asked.
“Why do you doubt that it is really I?
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Look at my hands! Look at my feet! You can see that it is I, myself! Touch me and make sure that I am not a ghost! For ghosts don’t have bodies, as you see that I do!”
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As he spoke, he held out his hands for them to see the marks of the nails,
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and showed them the wounds in
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his feet.
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Still they stood there undecided, filled with joy and doubt.
Then he asked them,
“Do you have anything here to eat?”
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They gave him a piece of broiled fish,
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and he ate it as they watched!
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Then he said,
“When I was with you before, don’t you remember my telling you that everything written about me by Moses and the prophets and in the Psalms must all come true?”
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Then he opened their minds to understand at last these many Scriptures!
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And he said,
“Yes, it was written long ago that the Messiah must suffer and die and rise again from the dead on the third day;
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and that this message of salvation should be taken from Jerusalem to all the nations:
There is forgiveness of sins for all who turn to me.
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You have seen these prophecies come true.
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“And now I will send the Holy Spirit
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upon you, just as my Father promised. Don’t begin telling others yet—stay here in the city until
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the Holy Spirit comes and fills you with power from heaven.”
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Then Jesus led them out along the road to Bethany,
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and lifting his hands to heaven, he blessed them,
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and then began rising into the sky, and went on to heaven.
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And they worshiped him, and returned to Jerusalem filled with mighty joy,
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and were continually in the Temple, praising God.
