The Roman trial
Jesus was sent to the Roman governor, Pontius Pilate, to be tried and sentenced.
The Jews wanted him sentenced to death but they were under the rule of the Romans so Pilate had to make the final decision.
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It was early in the morning after the evening of the Jewish trial. The chief priests and the Sanhedrin (Jewish judges) met again and decided they would hand Jesus over to Pilate to be executed.
Pilate couldn’t find any reason to execute Jesus so he had him taken away and whipped instead. But the crowd shouted for him to be crucified so he gave in to the crowd.
Jesus or Barabbas?
It was customary to release one of the prisoners during the Passover so Pilate appealed to the crowd, hoping they would choose Jesus. But they shouted for Barabbas to be released, a prisoner charged with murder.
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While Pilate was sitting on the judge’s seat, his wife sent him this message: ‘Don’t have anything to do with that innocent man, for I have suffered a great deal today in a dream because of him.’ But the chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowd to ask for Barabbas and to have Jesus executed.
Pilate wanted to please the crowd so he handed Jesus over to be crucified.
The Bible says
Mark 15:1-15
Very early in the morning, the chief priests, with the elders, the teachers of the law and the whole Sanhedrin, reached a decision. They bound Jesus, led him away and handed him over to Pilate.
‘Are you the king of the Jews?’ asked Pilate.
‘Yes, it is as you say,’ Jesus replied.
The chief priests accused him of many things. So again Pilate asked him, ‘Aren’t you going to answer? See how many things they are accusing you of.’
But Jesus still made no reply, and Pilate was amazed.
Now it was the custom at the Feast to release a prisoner whom the people requested. A man called Barabbas was in prison with the insurrectionists who had committed murder in the uprising. The crowd came up and asked Pilate to do for them what he usually did.
‘Do you want me to release to you the king of the Jews?’ asked Pilate, knowing it was out of envy that the chief priests had handed Jesus over to him. But the chief priests stirred up the crowd to have Pilate release Barabbas instead.
‘What shall I do, then, with the one you call the king of the Jews?’ Pilate asked them.
‘Crucify him!’ they shouted.
‘Why? What crime has he committed?’ asked Pilate.
But they shouted all the louder, ‘Crucify him!’
Wanting to satisfy the crowd, Pilate released Barabbas to them. He had Jesus flogged, and handed him over to be crucified.