This depiction of the last 12 hours in the life of Jesus opens with his betrayal by Judas, his condemnation by the Pharisees and his appearance before Pontius Pilate. Pilate defers to King Herod, but Herod returns Jesus. Pilate then asks the crowd to choose between Jesus and Barrabas. The crowd chooses Barrabas. Pilate washes his hands of the matter, and Jesus is forced to carry the cross through the streets to Golgotha where Roman soldiers crucify him. Although Jesus briefly fears in his dazed suffering that God, his Father, has abandoned him, he overcomes his fear and with his last breath entrusts God "Into Thy hands I command my spirit." At the moment of his death, nature itself over-turns.
