ARKCODEX
Matthew
Ch. 27–28
Jesus Is Taken to Pilate
1Early in the morning all the chief priests and the elders made their plans against Jesus to put him to death.
2They put him in chains, led him off, and handed him over to Pilate, the Roman governor.
The Death of Judas
3When Judas, the traitor, learned that Jesus had been condemned, he repented and took back the thirty silver coins to the chief priests and the elders.
4“I have sinned by betraying an innocent man to death!” he said. “What do we care about that?” they answered. “That is your business!”
5Judas threw the coins down in the Temple and left; then he went off and hanged himself.
6The chief priests picked up the coins and said, “This is blood money, and it is against our Law to put it in the Temple treasury.”
7After reaching an agreement about it, they used the money to buy Potter's Field, as a cemetery for foreigners.
8That is why that field is called “Field of Blood” to this very day.
9Then what the prophet Jeremiah had said came true: “They took the thirty silver coins, the amount the people of Israel had agreed to pay for him,
10and used the money to buy the potter's field, as the Lord had commanded me.”
Pilate Questions Jesus
11Jesus stood before the Roman governor, who questioned him. “Are you the king of the Jews?” he asked. “So you say,” answered Jesus.
12But he said nothing in response to the accusations of the chief priests and elders.
13So Pilate said to him, “Don't you hear all these things they accuse you of?”
14But Jesus refused to answer a single word, with the result that the Governor was greatly surprised.
Jesus Is Sentenced to Death
15At every Passover Festival the Roman governor was in the habit of setting free any one prisoner the crowd asked for.
16At that time there was a well-known prisoner named Jesus Barabbas.
17So when the crowd gathered, Pilate asked them, “Which one do you want me to set free for you? Jesus Barabbas or Jesus called the Messiah?”
18He knew very well that the Jewish authorities had handed Jesus over to him because they were jealous.
19While Pilate was sitting in the judgment hall, his wife sent him a message: “Have nothing to do with that innocent man, because in a dream last night I suffered much on account of him.”
20The chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowd to ask Pilate to set Barabbas free and have Jesus put to death.
21But Pilate asked the crowd, “Which one of these two do you want me to set free for you?” “Barabbas!” they answered.
22“What, then, shall I do with Jesus called the Messiah?” Pilate asked them. “Crucify him!” they all answered.
23But Pilate asked, “What crime has he committed?” Then they started shouting at the top of their voices: “Crucify him!”
24When Pilate saw that it was no use to go on, but that a riot might break out, he took some water, washed his hands in front of the crowd, and said, “I am not responsible for the death of this man! This is your doing!”
25The whole crowd answered, “Let the responsibility for his death fall on us and on our children!”
26Then Pilate set Barabbas free for them; and after he had Jesus whipped, he handed him over to be crucified.
The Soldiers Make Fun of Jesus
27Then Pilate's soldiers took Jesus into the governor's palace, and the whole company gathered around him.
28They stripped off his clothes and put a scarlet robe on him.
29Then they made a crown out of thorny branches and placed it on his head, and put a stick in his right hand; then they knelt before him and made fun of him. “Long live the King of the Jews!” they said.
30They spat on him, and took the stick and hit him over the head.
31When they had finished making fun of him, they took the robe off and put his own clothes back on him. Then they led him out to crucify him.
Jesus Is Crucified
32As they were going out, they met a man from Cyrene named Simon, and the soldiers forced him to carry Jesus' cross.
33They came to a place called Golgotha, which means, “The Place of the Skull.”
34There they offered Jesus wine mixed with a bitter substance; but after tasting it, he would not drink it.
35They crucified him and then divided his clothes among them by throwing dice.
36After that they sat there and watched him.
37Above his head they put the written notice of the accusation against him: “This is Jesus, the King of the Jews.”
38Then they crucified two bandits with Jesus, one on his right and the other on his left.
39People passing by shook their heads and hurled insults at Jesus:
40“You were going to tear down the Temple and build it back up in three days! Save yourself if you are God's Son! Come on down from the cross!”
41In the same way the chief priests and the teachers of the Law and the elders made fun of him:
42“He saved others, but he cannot save himself! Isn't he the king of Israel? If he will come down off the cross now, we will believe in him!
43He trusts in God and claims to be God's Son. Well, then, let us see if God wants to save him now!”
44Even the bandits who had been crucified with him insulted him in the same way.
The Death of Jesus
45At noon the whole country was covered with darkness, which lasted for three hours.
46At about three o'clock Jesus cried out with a loud shout, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why did you abandon me?”
47Some of the people standing there heard him and said, “He is calling for Elijah!”
48One of them ran up at once, took a sponge, soaked it in cheap wine, put it on the end of a stick, and tried to make him drink it.
49But the others said, “Wait, let us see if Elijah is coming to save him!”
50Jesus again gave a loud cry and breathed his last.
51Then the curtain hanging in the Temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook, the rocks split apart,
52the graves broke open, and many of God's people who had died were raised to life.
53They left the graves, and after Jesus rose from death, they went into the Holy City, where many people saw them.
54When the army officer and the soldiers with him who were watching Jesus saw the earthquake and everything else that happened, they were terrified and said, “He really was the Son of God!”
55There were many women there, looking on from a distance, who had followed Jesus from Galilee and helped him.
56Among them were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Joseph, and the wife of Zebedee.
The Burial of Jesus
57When it was evening, a rich man from Arimathea arrived; his name was Joseph, and he also was a disciple of Jesus.
58He went into the presence of Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Pilate gave orders for the body to be given to Joseph.
59So Joseph took it, wrapped it in a new linen sheet,
60and placed it in his own tomb, which he had just recently dug out of solid rock. Then he rolled a large stone across the entrance to the tomb and went away.
61Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were sitting there, facing the tomb.
The Guard at the Tomb
62The next day, which was a Sabbath, the chief priests and the Pharisees met with Pilate
63and said, “Sir, we remember that while that liar was still alive he said, ‘I will be raised to life three days later.’
64Give orders, then, for his tomb to be carefully guarded until the third day, so that his disciples will not be able to go and steal the body, and then tell the people that he was raised from death. This last lie would be even worse than the first one.”
65“Take a guard,” Pilate told them; “go and make the tomb as secure as you can.”
66So they left and made the tomb secure by putting a seal on the stone and leaving the guard on watch.
Matthew 28
The Resurrection
1After the Sabbath, as Sunday morning was dawning, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb.
2Suddenly there was a violent earthquake; an angel of the Lord came down from heaven, rolled the stone away, and sat on it.
3His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow.
4The guards were so afraid that they trembled and became like dead men.
5The angel spoke to the women. “You must not be afraid,” he said. “I know you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified.
6He is not here; he has been raised, just as he said. Come here and see the place where he was lying.
7Go quickly now, and tell his disciples, ‘He has been raised from death, and now he is going to Galilee ahead of you; there you will see him!’ Remember what I have told you.”
8So they left the tomb in a hurry, afraid and yet filled with joy, and ran to tell his disciples.
9Suddenly Jesus met them and said, “Peace be with you.” They came up to him, took hold of his feet, and worshiped him.
10“Do not be afraid,” Jesus said to them. “Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see me.”
The Report of the Guard
11While the women went on their way, some of the soldiers guarding the tomb went back to the city and told the chief priests everything that had happened.
12The chief priests met with the elders and made their plan; they gave a large sum of money to the soldiers
13and said, “You are to say that his disciples came during the night and stole his body while you were asleep.
14And if the Governor should hear of this, we will convince him that you are innocent, and you will have nothing to worry about.”
15The guards took the money and did what they were told to do. And so that is the report spread around by the Jews to this very day.
Jesus Appears to His Disciples
16The eleven disciples went to the hill in Galilee where Jesus had told them to go.
17When they saw him, they worshiped him, even though some of them doubted.
18Jesus drew near and said to them, “I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth.
19Go, then, to all peoples everywhere and make them my disciples: baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit,
20and teach them to obey everything I have commanded you. And I will be with you always, to the end of the age.”
Proverbs
Ch. 19
25Arrogance should be punished, so that people who don't know any better can learn a lesson. If you are wise, you will learn when you are corrected.
26Only a shameful, disgraceful person would mistreat his father or turn his mother away from his home.
27My child, when you stop learning, you will soon neglect what you already know.
28There is no justice where a witness is determined to hurt someone. Wicked people love the taste of evil.
29A conceited fool is sure to get a beating.