One day, the leaders of the people worked together to get rid of Jesus. First they took Him to Pilate, shouting, “Crucify Him! Crucify Him!”

Pilate said, “Do it yourselves! I don’t think He has done anything wrong.” But the Jews told Pilate that Jesus had broken their law by saying that He was the Son of God.

So they took Jesus away. He carried his own cross to a place called the Place of the Skull. They nailed Him to a cross, between two others. Pilate put a sign over Jesus that said, “Jesus of Nazareth, king of the Jews” in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin.

Jesus’ mother, her sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, Mary Magdalene, and John were standing by the cross. When Jesus saw His mother and John there, He asked John to take care of His mother. From that day on, John did just that.

When Jesus knew that He had completed all that He needed to, He said, “It is finished!” He bowed His head and gave up His spirit.

Because the Jews didn’t want the men’s bodies to hang on the crosses during the Sabbath, they asked Pilate to have the crucified men’s legs broken. The soldiers broke the thieves’ legs first. When they came to Jesus, He was already dead, so they did not break His legs. Instead, one of the soldiers pierced Jesus in His side, and blood and water came out. That showed that He was no longer living.

1. What did the leaders tell Pilate to do so they could get rid of Jesus? Did Pilate want to do it? Why or why not?


2. What did Jesus do when Pilate asked Him more questions?


3. To where did Jesus carry His own cross? What happened there?


4. Even when He was hurting, Jesus was thinking about others. Who did He ask to take care of His mother? Did he do it?


5. What did the soldiers do to the thieves, but not to Jesus? Why didn’t they do it to Jesus?


6. Our Lord Jesus Christ loved the whole world very much to go through all of that for us! Pray and thank Him for His love.