Chapter Nine - The Crucifixion

CHAPTER NINE

The Crucifixion

JESUS IS ARRESTED in the middle of the night.

The disciples scatter.
Peter follows at a distance, then denies knowing him three times.

The trial is a farce.

False witnesses contradict each other.
Jesus stays mostly silent.

The high priest finally asks:

“Are you the Messiah?”

Jesus replies:

“I am. And you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of Power.”

That’s enough.

They tear their robes.
They call it blasphemy.
And they send him to Pilate, the Roman governor.

Pilate finds no fault in Jesus.
He tries to release him.
He offers to free one prisoner. Either Jesus, or a known criminal named Barabbas.

The crowd chooses Barabbas.

“Crucify him!” they shout about Jesus.

Pilate washes his hands.
But hands him over anyway.

Jesus is stripped, mocked, beaten, and crowned with thorns.

Soldiers dress him in a purple robe and kneel in fake worship:

“Hail, King of the Jews!”

They spit on him.
They strike him.
Then they march him through the streets, carrying the instrument of his own execution.

They lead him to a place called Golgotha, “the Place of the Skull.”

He’s nailed to a cross between two criminals.
One mocks him.
The other says:

“Remember me when you come into your kingdom.”

Jesus replies:

“Today you will be with me in paradise.”

Below, soldiers gamble for his clothes.

Onlookers jeer:

“If you’re the Son of God, come down!”

He speaks multiple final sayings across the four Gospels.

“Father, forgive them. They know not what they do.”
“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
“I thirst.”
“It is finished.”
“Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.”

At noon, darkness covers the land.
At 3 PM, he breathes his last.

“And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, and gave up his spirit.”

The earth shakes.
Rocks split.
Tombs open.
The Temple curtain, separating people from the Holy of Holies, is torn in two.

A Roman centurion watching says:

“Truly this was the Son of God.”

A rich man named Joseph of Arimathea asks for the body.
He wraps Jesus in linen.
He places him in a new tomb.
And he it with a massive stone.

The women, Mary Magdalene and others, watch nearby.

That’s where most stories would end.

Dead messiah.
Buried savior.
Dream shattered.

But this one doesn’t end here.

Because three days later…