This chapter records the narrative of Jesus' passion, including his trial before Pontius Pilate and then his crucifixion, death and entombment.

Jesus' trial before Pilate and his crucifixion, death, and burial are also recorded in Matthew 27, Luke 23, and John 18:28–19:42.

[4] "As soon as it was morning",[5] the council or Sanhedrin reaches a decision, and agrees to hand Jesus over to Pontius Pilate.

[8] The Greek Textus Receptus/Majority Text reads: Cross references: Matthew 27:11; Luke 23:3; John 18:37 An interpretation is that Pilate is asking Jesus if he is the messiah, just as the high priest before in Mark 14:61, but with an explicit emphasis on the Messiah's political role, that of Jewish King.

The chief priests remain in attendance before Pilate and make several further, unspecified, allegations, "heaping accusations on Him".

[14] Nicoll surmises that the single accusation, that Jesus had declared himself king, was not sufficient to convince Pilate of any wrongdoing.

Some theologians suggest that Pilate did this once or a few times [10] or that the Gospels accurately record this tradition even though other sources fail to mention.

[19] According to Matthew, Pilate received a message from his wife that she believed Jesus was innocent because of a disturbing dream she had just had.

Mark says he was in prison chained "with" insurrectionists who had committed murder during a recent στασισ (stasis, a riot), probably "one of ... numerous insurrections against the Roman power".

[22] Crucifixion was a particularly shameful or unmentionable form of death,[23] with a stigma put onto even the condemned's family.

[24] Roman magistrates had wide discretion in executing their tasks, and some question whether Pilate would have been so captive to the demands of the crowd.

The English Standard Version suggests that "the whole company" would have consisted of around 600 men, one tenth of a Roman legion.

Theologian Christopher Tuckett notes that "for Mark, what is said here in mocking jest is in fact profound truth.

On the way to their final destination the soldiers force a man passing by, Simon of Cyrene, to carry Jesus' cross for him, though Mark does not say why.

A burial cave in the Kidron Valley discovered in 1941 by E. L. Sukenik, belonging to Cyrenian Jews and dating before AD 70, was found to have an ossuary inscribed twice in Greek "Alexander son of Simon".

Two robbers were also crucified, one on each side of him, and according to Mark, both of them mocked Jesus, even when they were in their processes of death.

People come by and insult Jesus and mock him for claiming he would destroy and then rebuild Herod's Temple in three days, which Jesus has not said so far in Mark but was falsely accused of claiming to destroy the "man-made" Temple and rebuilt it in three days in Mark 14:57–58.

Mark relates these two mockings to perhaps highlight the question of why, if Jesus is indeed the messiah, can he not save himself from being put to death.

Matthew adds that at the moment of Jesus' death tombs in Jerusalem were opened and many bodies of "the saints" were raised from the dead.

[37] Given the imagery of the temple veil (there were cherubim woven into it, like the cherub set as guard over the entrance to Eden after Adam and Eve were cast out) as a symbol of the barrier between the Holy God and sinful men, the rending of the veil indicates a propitiation of God's wrath.

[40] John says the soldiers were told to take down the bodies for the Sabbath and broke the other two men's legs but stabbed Jesus with a spear to make sure he was dead.

For the subject in art, see Entombment of Christ Evening is approaching and Joseph of Arimathea, a member of the sanhedrin, who was also waiting for the "Kingdom of God," goes to Pilate and asks for Jesus' body.

Joseph wraps it in linen and puts it in a sepulchre, rolls a stone over the entrance, and leaves.