Jesus on Trial

After Jesus was arrested in the garden, the soldiers took Him to the house of the high priest, a religious leader named Caiaphas. All the important religious leaders were there. They wanted to find something bad Jesus had done so they could punish Him. But there was a problem—Jesus hadn't done anything wrong! They brought in people who told lies about Jesus, but the lies didn't match. Finally, the high priest asked Jesus directly: 'Are You the Christ, the Son of God?' Jesus answered, 'Yes, I am. And one day you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of God.' The high priest tore his clothes and shouted, 'He says He's God! He deserves to die!' Then they spit on Jesus and hit Him.

But these religious leaders couldn't execute anyone—only the Romans could do that. So they took Jesus to Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor. Pilate asked Jesus, 'Are You the King of the Jews?' Jesus said, 'You have said so.' Pilate could tell that the religious leaders were just jealous of Jesus. He knew Jesus hadn't done anything wrong. Every year at Passover, Pilate would release one prisoner that the people chose. There was a famous prisoner named Barabbas, who was a robber and had even killed people. Pilate asked the crowd, 'Which one do you want me to release—Barabbas, or Jesus?' The chief priests convinced the people to shout, 'Barabbas!' Pilate asked, 'Then what should I do with Jesus?' They all shouted, 'Crucify Him!' Pilate washed his hands and said, 'I am innocent of this man's blood.' Then he let Barabbas go free and ordered Jesus to be crucified. Just like Barabbas went free while Jesus was punished, we can go free because Jesus took the punishment for our sins.