Reflections on Luke 23

Luke 23 (Contemporary English Version)

1. Everyone in the council got up and led Jesus off to Pilate.
   
2. They started accusing him and said, "We caught this man trying to get our people to riot and to stop paying taxes to the Emperor. He also claims that he is the Messiah, our king."
   
3. Pilate asked Jesus, "Are you the king of the Jews?" "Those are your words," Jesus answered.
   
4. Pilate told the chief priests and the crowd, "I don't find him guilty of anything."
   
5. But they all kept on saying, "He has been teaching and causing trouble all over Judea. He started in Galilee and has now come all the way here."
   
6. When Pilate heard this, he asked, "Is this man from Galilee?"
   
7. After Pilate learned that Jesus came from the region ruled by Herod, he sent him to Herod, who was in Jerusalem at that time.
   
8. For a long time Herod had wanted to see Jesus and was very happy because he finally had this chance. He had heard many things about Jesus and hoped to see him work a miracle.
   
9. Herod asked him a lot of questions, but Jesus did not answer.
   
10. Then the chief priests and the teachers of the Law of Moses stood up and accused him of all kinds of bad things.
    
11. Herod and his soldiers made fun of Jesus and insulted him. They put a fine robe on him and sent him back to Pilate.
    
12. That same day Herod and Pilate became friends, even though they had been enemies before this.
    
13. Pilate called together the chief priests, the leaders, and the people.
    
14. He told them, "You brought Jesus to me and said he was a troublemaker. But I have questioned him here in front of you, and I have not found him guilty of anything that you say he has done.
    
15. Herod didn't find him guilty either and sent him back. This man doesn't deserve to be put to death!
    
16. I will just have him beaten with a whip and set free."
    
17. (SEE 23:16)
    
18. But the whole crowd shouted, "Kill Jesus! Give us Barabbas!"
    
19. Now Barabbas was in jail because he had started a riot in the city and had murdered someone.
    
20. Pilate wanted to set Jesus free, so he spoke again to the crowds.
    
21. But they kept shouting, "Nail him to a cross! Nail him to a cross!"
    
22. Pilate spoke to them a third time, "But what crime has he done? I have not found him guilty of anything for which he should be put to death. I will have him beaten with a whip and set free."
    
23. The people kept on shouting as loud as they could for Jesus to be put to death.
    
24. Finally, Pilate gave in.
    
25. He freed the man who was in jail for rioting and murder, because he was the one the crowd wanted to be set free. Then Pilate handed Jesus over for them to do what they wanted with him.
    
26. As Jesus was being led away, some soldiers grabbed hold of a man from Cyrene named Simon. He was coming in from the fields, but they put the cross on him and made him carry it behind Jesus.
    
27. A large crowd was following Jesus, and in the crowd a lot of women were crying and weeping for him.
    
28. Jesus turned to the women and said: Women of Jerusalem, don't cry for me! Cry for yourselves and for your children.
    
29. Someday people will say, "Women who never had children are really fortunate!"
    
30. At that time everyone will say to the mountains, "Fall on us!" They will say to the hills, "Hide us!"
    
31. If this can happen when the wood is green, what do you think will happen when it is dry?
    
32. Two criminals were led out to be put to death with Jesus.
    
33. When the soldiers came to the place called "The Skull," they nailed Jesus to a cross. They also nailed the two criminals to crosses, one on each side of Jesus.
    
34. Jesus said, "Father, forgive these people! They don't know what they're doing." While the crowd stood there watching Jesus, the soldiers gambled for his clothes. The leaders insulted him by saying, "He saved others. Now he should save himself, if he really is God's chosen Messiah!"
    
35. (SEE 23:34)
    
36. The soldiers made fun of Jesus and brought him some wine.
    
37. They said, "If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself!"
    
38. Above him was a sign that said, "This is the King of the Jews."
    
39. One of the criminals hanging there also insulted Jesus by saying, "Aren't you the Messiah? Save yourself and save us!"
    
40. But the other criminal told the first one off, "Don't you fear God? Aren't you getting the same punishment as this man?
    
41. We got what was coming to us, but he didn't do anything wrong."
    
42. Then he said to Jesus, "Remember me when you come into power!"
    
43. Jesus replied, "I promise that today you will be with me in paradise."
    
44. Around noon the sky turned dark and stayed that way until the middle of the afternoon.
    
45. The sun stopped shining, and the curtain in the temple split down the middle.
    
46. Jesus shouted, "Father, I put myself in your hands!" Then he died.
    
47. When the Roman officer saw what had happened, he praised God and said, "Jesus must really have been a good man!"
    
48. A crowd had gathered to see the terrible sight. Then after they had seen it, they felt brokenhearted and went home.
    
49. All of Jesus' close friends and the women who had come with him from Galilee stood at a distance and watched.
    
50. There was a man named Joseph, who was from Arimathea in Judea. Joseph was a good and honest man, and he was eager for God's kingdom to come. He was also a member of the council, but he did not agree with what they had decided.
    
51. (SEE 23:50)
    
52. Joseph went to Pilate and asked for Jesus' body.
    
53. He took the body down from the cross and wrapped it in fine cloth. Then he put it in a tomb that had been cut out of solid rock and had never been used.
    
54. It was Friday, and the Sabbath was about to begin.
    
55. The women who had come with Jesus from Galilee followed Joseph and watched how Jesus' body was placed in the tomb.
    
56. Then they went to prepare some sweet-smelling spices for his burial. But on the Sabbath they rested, as the Law of Moses commands.
    

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    Events of Jesus' trials and crucifixtion described by Luke in this chapter seem rather surreal.  The vehemense with which the religious leaders insisted on Jesus' death seem totally disproportionate to anything Jesus did. By contrast the governmental leaders saw no guilt with Jesus in relation to the charges. The insistence on Barabbas' release in exchange for Jesus' death had no basis in reality adding to the surrealness. Furthermore, they preferred the death of Jesus who had done only good to the release of Barabbas who was a murderer.
    
    Then darkness came over the land for three hours during the period Jesus was on the cross, and at the time of Jesus' death the curtain in the temple separating the holy of holies from the rest of the temple was "split down the middle." Surely those who had precipitated these events had to wonder if there might be some truth to Jesus' claims. But the very forces that drove them to reject Jesus in the first place would keep them from accepting Him even then. Especially then when they had added the murder of Jesus to their accounts.
    
    We should understand clearly, however, that Jesus' life was not taken from Him but was willingly given by Him on our behalf. His death on the cross came sooner than was usual simply because He voluntarily "breathed His last." Following His death a description is given of events related to His burial which was necessary only if He had truly died. Some over the centuries have suggested that Jesus didn't really die but merely "swooned." Such efforts to explain away Jesus' death are made in order to avoid the resurrection. But these are only desperate efforts to reject Jesus, not unlike those of the religious leaders who insisted on His death in the first place.
    
    If only everyone could understand and accept Jesus and what He offers. Anything one tries to preserve by rejecting Jesus pales in comparison to what is gained by accepting Him.