A high priest like him truly meets our needs. He’s holy, blameless, and pure, and he has been lifted up high above the heavens. He’s different from people who sin.
but then the people realized he was a Jew. So they all started shouting together, “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!” This went on for about two hours.
As soon as the chief priests and officials saw him, they shouted, “Crucify him! Crucify him!” But Pilate answered, “You take him and crucify him. I haven’t found any basis for a charge against him myself.”
“What is truth?” Pilate retorted. Then he went out again to the Jews who were gathered there. He said, “I don’t find any basis for a charge against him.
When the Roman commander and those who were guarding Jesus saw the earthquake and everything that had happened, they were terrified and exclaimed, “He had to be the Son of God!”
Pilate also wanted to release Jesus because he’d gotten a message from his wife while he was judging the case. The message said, “Don’t do anything to that man. He’s innocent. I had a terrible nightmare about him last night.”
Pilate wanted to satisfy the crowd, so he let Barabbas go free. But he ordered Jesus to be whipped, and then he handed him over to be nailed to a cross.