Luke Chapter 23 - The Passion Week Continues
“The whole assembly rose up and brought Jesus to Pilate…” (Ch. 23:1-12)
The Romans prided themselves in their justice system. It was important that evidence be brought and mercy was the rule. Their ruthlessness was almost always associated with treason or terrorism against the Empire. In such cases death was the penalty. The Jewish Sanhedrin had leveled charges of blasphemy against Jesus for claiming to be the Messiah. The religious leaders though, wanted Jesus dead, and knew that they had to go through the Roman governor to get a death sentence. Only the Romans could issue a death sentence and carry it out.
The problems that the religious leaders had was that Pilate was constantly sparring with them for power with the people and Pilate and the Roman Government would not involve themselves in Jewish religious issues. This was Pilate’s attitude toward the Pharisees’ request to have Jesus put to death. He found no guilt in Jesus. The Pharisees in their zeal to indict Jesus brought up the fact that Jesus is a Galilean. They brought this up because many of the revolutionaries were from Galillee. This gave Pilate the perfect out and he relinquished jurisdiction of the issue of what to do with this Galilean to Herod.
Herod, who had John the Baptist beheaded, thought of Jesus as a spectacle, a sort of magician. Herod quickly lost interest, especially when Jesus refused to perform any miracles or even to respond to Herod’s questions. Herod soon remanded Jesus back to Pilate after his soldiers beat Jesus and ridiculed Him.
“Pilate summoned the Chief Priests, the rulers and the people and brought them to him….” (Ch.23:13-25)
Pilate again tried to convince the Jews that Jesus had done nothing that was punishable under Roman law. In John, Chapter 19, Pilate was more or less blackmailed into seeing things their way. They shouted, “If you release this man, you are not Caeser’s friend”. There was always the threat that a delegation of prominent Jews might go to Rome to try to have a governor deposed. That had been done in the past. This compelled Pilate to sentence Jesus to death.
The crowd started shouting for Pilate to release Barabbas, a criminal in prison under him. It was the custom that each year on this special holiday, the governor would release one prisoner. The people wanted the criminal released and Jesus crucified.
“As they led Jesus away, they took Simon, a Cyrenian….” (Ch. 23:26-31)
There were about one quarter million people coming into Jerusalem for the Passover from all over the world. Among them was Simon of Cyrene. He had probably saved up for a long time to make the trip to Jerusalem for the Passover. Then, all of an instant, a soldier’s sword gently rested on his shoulder, meaning that he was being conscripted to help carry something. He was told to help carry the cross timber of a common criminal’s cross to his crucifixion.
It appears that Simon was being blessed by God on that day. In Mark’s gospel, Simon is described as the father of Alexander and Rufus. In Paul’s letter to the Romans, Rufus is described as “eminent in the Lord”. It appears that Simon and his family became believers.
At every crucifixion there were women who were devoutly Jewish and who followed the one being crucified. They wailed, not unlike a funeral, in an effort to raise God’s attention to this being. But Jesus gave one final warning to Jerusalem and speaking to the women, He warned of the coming destruction.
“Two others who were criminals were brought to be put to death with…” (Ch. 23:32-38)
Luke mercifully leaves the details of the crucifixion for others to write about. The short of it is that the two wooden beams were nailed together on the ground, then (usually) the prisoner was placed on the cross. He would have first been scourged, that is, beaten and whipped to near death. The idea was to make his resistance minimal. His arms would be stretched out on the cross beam and tied with rope to the beam at the wrists. Usually his feet were not nailed, as Jesus’ feet were. On the main beam there was often a block of wood for the prisoner to sit on.
Most prisoners who were hung on the cross lived for several days being burned by the sun and pecked at by vultures. The Romans, after having achieved this spectacle, would cut down the prisoner and throw the body down the hill to rot, hence, the name “Golgotha”, the mountain of skulls. In Jesus’ case, He was beaten and scourged to the point where death on the cross came relatively early.
Even at His earthly death Jesus was forgiving his executioners. Since His feet would have been only about two feet off the ground, the soldiers gambling for His cloak were very nearby. The execution assignment required a small contingent of four soldiers. On either side of Jesus two others, who were actually criminals, were executed. Above His head, on the main beam, there was a placard with the words “King of the Jews”.
“One of the criminals who were hanged kept hurling insults at Jesus….” (Ch. 23:39-43)
The other of the two criminals executed with Jesus seemed to have some knowledge as to who Jesus is. He rebuked the first one who was insulting Jesus and asked to be remembered when Jesus came into His kingdom. Jesus’ response was that “today, you will be with me in paradise”.
“Paradise” was a Jewish concept that Jesus confirmed with these words. It is the place where one goes after death for rest and refreshment prior to one’s new life in the resurrection.
“By this time it was about midday and there was darkness over the whole land…..” (Ch.23:44-49)
Theophilous was promised by Luke a factual account of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, the Christ (Gr.), the Messiah (Hebrew, Aramaic). In the execution of Jesus he went out of his way to factualize the account. The women observed from a distance and the Roman Centurion who praised God and declared that “surely, this was a righteous man” were witnesses and Luke had no lack of witness testimony regarding the events which followed on that day and the fifty days following the execution.
At about noon, a “darkness came over the whole land” for about three hours, the sun stopped shining. The curtain in the Temple was torn, symbolizing the revealing of God to the world. He was no longer a god who could only be reached through the Temple Priest once a year.
Matthew’s account of the execution of the Christ includes “the earth shook and the rocks split”, some of “the tombs of holy people were opened” and some of them “appeared to many people”. Matthew also quotes the Roman Centurion and the four other soldiers as exclaiming “Surely He was the Son of God”.
“There was a man named Joseph, a good and a just man…….” (Ch.23:50-56)
Matthew also described Joseph of Arimathea as a rich man who had become a disciple of Jesus. Luke gives the detailed facts, as usual. These facts are offered as proof, so that nobody could reasonably deny them. The man was a member of the Sanhedrin who did not agree with the Council’s determination. He had the nerve to go to Pilate with his request. He used linen cloth, and placed it on one of the ledges in the tomb. The tomb had not yet been used. This was Josephs family tomb. By then it was very late on Friday and the Sabbath would begin at sundown.
The women witnessed all this, and could do nothing more, so they returned home to observe the Sabbath. They would wait until Sunday morning to put the spices on the body.
The Romans prided themselves in their justice system. It was important that evidence be brought and mercy was the rule. Their ruthlessness was almost always associated with treason or terrorism against the Empire. In such cases death was the penalty. The Jewish Sanhedrin had leveled charges of blasphemy against Jesus for claiming to be the Messiah. The religious leaders though, wanted Jesus dead, and knew that they had to go through the Roman governor to get a death sentence. Only the Romans could issue a death sentence and carry it out.
The problems that the religious leaders had was that Pilate was constantly sparring with them for power with the people and Pilate and the Roman Government would not involve themselves in Jewish religious issues. This was Pilate’s attitude toward the Pharisees’ request to have Jesus put to death. He found no guilt in Jesus. The Pharisees in their zeal to indict Jesus brought up the fact that Jesus is a Galilean. They brought this up because many of the revolutionaries were from Galillee. This gave Pilate the perfect out and he relinquished jurisdiction of the issue of what to do with this Galilean to Herod.
Herod, who had John the Baptist beheaded, thought of Jesus as a spectacle, a sort of magician. Herod quickly lost interest, especially when Jesus refused to perform any miracles or even to respond to Herod’s questions. Herod soon remanded Jesus back to Pilate after his soldiers beat Jesus and ridiculed Him.
“Pilate summoned the Chief Priests, the rulers and the people and brought them to him….” (Ch.23:13-25)
Pilate again tried to convince the Jews that Jesus had done nothing that was punishable under Roman law. In John, Chapter 19, Pilate was more or less blackmailed into seeing things their way. They shouted, “If you release this man, you are not Caeser’s friend”. There was always the threat that a delegation of prominent Jews might go to Rome to try to have a governor deposed. That had been done in the past. This compelled Pilate to sentence Jesus to death.
The crowd started shouting for Pilate to release Barabbas, a criminal in prison under him. It was the custom that each year on this special holiday, the governor would release one prisoner. The people wanted the criminal released and Jesus crucified.
“As they led Jesus away, they took Simon, a Cyrenian….” (Ch. 23:26-31)
There were about one quarter million people coming into Jerusalem for the Passover from all over the world. Among them was Simon of Cyrene. He had probably saved up for a long time to make the trip to Jerusalem for the Passover. Then, all of an instant, a soldier’s sword gently rested on his shoulder, meaning that he was being conscripted to help carry something. He was told to help carry the cross timber of a common criminal’s cross to his crucifixion.
It appears that Simon was being blessed by God on that day. In Mark’s gospel, Simon is described as the father of Alexander and Rufus. In Paul’s letter to the Romans, Rufus is described as “eminent in the Lord”. It appears that Simon and his family became believers.
At every crucifixion there were women who were devoutly Jewish and who followed the one being crucified. They wailed, not unlike a funeral, in an effort to raise God’s attention to this being. But Jesus gave one final warning to Jerusalem and speaking to the women, He warned of the coming destruction.
“Two others who were criminals were brought to be put to death with…” (Ch. 23:32-38)
Luke mercifully leaves the details of the crucifixion for others to write about. The short of it is that the two wooden beams were nailed together on the ground, then (usually) the prisoner was placed on the cross. He would have first been scourged, that is, beaten and whipped to near death. The idea was to make his resistance minimal. His arms would be stretched out on the cross beam and tied with rope to the beam at the wrists. Usually his feet were not nailed, as Jesus’ feet were. On the main beam there was often a block of wood for the prisoner to sit on.
Most prisoners who were hung on the cross lived for several days being burned by the sun and pecked at by vultures. The Romans, after having achieved this spectacle, would cut down the prisoner and throw the body down the hill to rot, hence, the name “Golgotha”, the mountain of skulls. In Jesus’ case, He was beaten and scourged to the point where death on the cross came relatively early.
Even at His earthly death Jesus was forgiving his executioners. Since His feet would have been only about two feet off the ground, the soldiers gambling for His cloak were very nearby. The execution assignment required a small contingent of four soldiers. On either side of Jesus two others, who were actually criminals, were executed. Above His head, on the main beam, there was a placard with the words “King of the Jews”.
“One of the criminals who were hanged kept hurling insults at Jesus….” (Ch. 23:39-43)
The other of the two criminals executed with Jesus seemed to have some knowledge as to who Jesus is. He rebuked the first one who was insulting Jesus and asked to be remembered when Jesus came into His kingdom. Jesus’ response was that “today, you will be with me in paradise”.
“Paradise” was a Jewish concept that Jesus confirmed with these words. It is the place where one goes after death for rest and refreshment prior to one’s new life in the resurrection.
“By this time it was about midday and there was darkness over the whole land…..” (Ch.23:44-49)
Theophilous was promised by Luke a factual account of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, the Christ (Gr.), the Messiah (Hebrew, Aramaic). In the execution of Jesus he went out of his way to factualize the account. The women observed from a distance and the Roman Centurion who praised God and declared that “surely, this was a righteous man” were witnesses and Luke had no lack of witness testimony regarding the events which followed on that day and the fifty days following the execution.
At about noon, a “darkness came over the whole land” for about three hours, the sun stopped shining. The curtain in the Temple was torn, symbolizing the revealing of God to the world. He was no longer a god who could only be reached through the Temple Priest once a year.
Matthew’s account of the execution of the Christ includes “the earth shook and the rocks split”, some of “the tombs of holy people were opened” and some of them “appeared to many people”. Matthew also quotes the Roman Centurion and the four other soldiers as exclaiming “Surely He was the Son of God”.
“There was a man named Joseph, a good and a just man…….” (Ch.23:50-56)
Matthew also described Joseph of Arimathea as a rich man who had become a disciple of Jesus. Luke gives the detailed facts, as usual. These facts are offered as proof, so that nobody could reasonably deny them. The man was a member of the Sanhedrin who did not agree with the Council’s determination. He had the nerve to go to Pilate with his request. He used linen cloth, and placed it on one of the ledges in the tomb. The tomb had not yet been used. This was Josephs family tomb. By then it was very late on Friday and the Sabbath would begin at sundown.
The women witnessed all this, and could do nothing more, so they returned home to observe the Sabbath. They would wait until Sunday morning to put the spices on the body.
