Jesus Gives His Life for Us
A sacrifice to save us from sin and death
After Pilate decided that Jesus should be crucified, he told his soldiers to take Jesus away. They whipped Him, spit on Him, put a crown of thorns on His head, and made fun of Him.
The soldiers made Jesus carry a heavy wooden cross. They took Him to a place just outside Jerusalem called Golgotha.
The soldiers nailed Jesus’s hands and feet to the cross. Jesus asked His Heavenly Father to forgive the soldiers, because they didn’t know they were crucifying the Son of God.
Luke 23:33–34; see also the Joseph Smith Translation in footnote 34c
Two criminals were crucified with Jesus that day. One of them said to Him, “If thou be the Christ, save thyself and us.”
The other criminal said they deserved their punishment, but Jesus had done nothing wrong. He asked Jesus to remember him in His kingdom. Jesus told him that soon they would be together in the spirit world.
Many women who followed Jesus Christ had come to the cross to be with Him. One of the women was Jesus’s mother, Mary. Jesus saw her and told John, one of His Apostles, to take care of her.
John 19:25–27; see also Luke 8:1–3; Mark 15:40–41
For three hours, darkness covered the land. Jesus felt very lonely. He felt like His Father in Heaven had left Him.
Finally, Jesus knew that He had completed His suffering. He said, “Father, it is finished, thy will is done.” Then Jesus bowed His head and gave up His life. To see if He was really dead, a soldier pierced Him in the side with a spear.
Joseph Smith Translation, Matthew 27:54 (in Matthew 27:50, footnote a); John 19:28–30, 34
When Jesus died, the earth shook. Rocks broke into pieces. The veil of the temple, the curtain covering the holiest place in the temple, tore in half.
The soldiers were afraid. “Truly this was the Son of God,” they said.
Jesus’s disciples wrapped His body in cloth and put Him in a tomb in a garden. Later, they rolled a large stone in front of the door of the tomb.