e to have it changed from "The King of the
Jews" to "He said, I am King of the Jews." But Pilate would not change
it. He said:

"What I have written, I have written."

And the people who passed by on the road, as they looked at Jesus on the
cross, mocked at him. Some called out to him:

"You that would destroy the Temple and build it in three days, save
yourself. If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross!"

And the priests and scribes said:

"He saved others, but he cannot save himself. Come down from the cross,
and we will believe in you!"

And one of the robbers, who was on his own cross beside that of Jesus,
joined in the cry, and said: "If you are the Christ, save yourself and
save us!"

But the other robber said to him: "Have you no fear of God, to speak
thus, while you are suffering the same fate with this man? And we
deserve to die, but this man has done nothing wrong."

Then this man said to Jesus: "Lord, remember me when thou comest into
thy kingdom!"

And Jesus answered him, as they were both hanging on their crosses:
"To-day you shall be with me in heaven."

Before the cross of Jesus his mother was standing, filled with sorrow
for her son, and beside her was one of his disciples, John, the disciple
whom he loved best. Other women besides his mother were there--his
mother's sister, Mary the wife of Cleophas, and a woman named Mary
Magdalene, out of whom a year before Jesus had sent an evil spirit.
Jesus wished to give his mother, now that he was leaving her, into the
care of John, and he said to her, as he looked from her to John: "Woman,
see your son."

And then to John he said: "Son, see your mother."

And on that day John took the mother of Jesus home to his own house, and
cared for her as his own mother.

At about noon, a sudden darkness came over the land, and lasted for
three hours. And in the middle of the afternoon, when Jesus had been on
the cross six hours of terrible pain, he cried out aloud words which
meant:

"My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me!" words which are the
beginning of the twenty-second psalm, a psalm which long before had
spoken of many of Christ's sufferings.

After this he spoke again, saying, "I thirst!"

And some one dipped a sponge in a cup of vinegar, and put it upon a
reed, and gave him a drink of it. Then Jesus spoke his last words upon
the cross:

"It is finished! Father, into thy hands I give my spirit!"

And then Jesus died. And at th