Of Passion and Pain
Luke 23:1-49
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Key Text: Luke 23:49
“But all his acquaintances, including the women who had followed him from Galilee, stood at a distance, watching these things.”
Some things are beyond our comprehension. It’s as simple as that. We cannot begin to imagine what it was like for Jesus to experience the pain and the shame of crucifixion. We cannot envision how he could have faced an excruciating death with forethought and some measure of serenity.
And yet he did, and at least once each year Holy Week rolls around with a challenge for us to remember, to contemplate, to watch, even from a distance.
From Pilate. . . (vv. 1-5)
We’re familiar with the story. After Jesus shared a final meal with his disciples, he led them to an olive grove on the lower slopes of the Mount of Olives, a few hundred yards from the nearest gate to Jerusalem (22:14-46). [DD]
As Jesus prayed late into the night, with no crowd of sympathizers to interfere, a party of priests, elders, and temple guards arrived – led by Judas – to take him into custody. After a brief struggle with the disciples, they escorted Jesus to the high priest’s house for the remainder of the night. Peter followed and remained outside the house as Jesus was mocked and beaten, but when confronted, famously denied any connection (22:47-65).
As soon as it was day, the members of the Sanhedrin gathered to accuse Jesus in a “trial” designed to convict him of heresy for having claimed to be the Son of God (22:66-71). [DD] That was punishable by death as far as the Sanhedrin was concerned, but the Romans did not grant them the right of capital punishment, and they were unlikely to support it for religious reasons in any case. To get Jesus out of the picture, his opponents had to accuse him of insurrection against Rome.
Thus, the assembly dragged Jesus before Pontius Pilate, who ruled Jerusalem as the Roman Procurator of Judea. They sought to convince Pilate that Jesus was an insurrectionist, charging him with “perverting our nation, forbidding us to pay taxes to the emperor, and saying that he himself is the Messiah, a king” (v. 2).
The first two charges were patently false: Jesus had steadfastly kept himself apart from nationalist politics, and he had even commended the paying of taxes to Caesar (Luke 20:20-26). The last accusation was an exaggeration. Luke records no explicit claim from Jesus that he was the Messiah, and Jesus certainly never portrayed himself as the kind of king that Pilate would be interested in executing.
Pilate attempted without success to get Jesus to incriminate himself, and he quickly dismissed the charges, saying “I find no basis for an accusation against this man.” Still, the chief priests continued to insist that Jesus had made trouble from Galilee to Jerusalem.
To Herod. . . (vv. 6-12)
Hearing the reference to Galilee, Pilate saw a way to get himself off the hook, for as a Galilean Jesus would be under the jurisdiction of Herod Antipas, who ruled that area from his capital city of Tiberias, on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee, but had apparently come to Jerusalem for the Passover. [DD] Perhaps Pilate knew that Herod had wanted to see Jesus (9:7-9) and saw the additional advantage of currying favor by sending Jesus to him (vv. 6-8). Luke is the only gospel that includes this part of the story.
Herod had killed John the Baptist (Matthew 14), but with mixed emotions. We learn from v. 8 that Herod’s main interest in Jesus was his desire to witness a miracle (v. 8). In this, he was sorely disappointed. Jesus refused to display any miraculous sign of divinity or to answer Herod’s lengthy questions, despite the taunting accusations of the chief priests and scribes (vv. 9-10).
Herod found no evidence of guilt, but perversely joined the Jewish leaders in mocking Jesus before sending him back to his new friend, Pilate (vv. 11-12). The royal robe he draped on Jesus’ shoulders was a sign of sarcasm and ridicule, not respect.
and back again. . . (vv. 13-25)
By the time Jesus was dragged back before Pilate, the ruler had tired of the legal charade and sought to end it. He recounted the accusers’ charges and reminded them that neither he nor Herod had found Jesus worthy of death (vv. 13-15). Since Jesus had apparently become something of a nuisance, however, Pilate ordered that he be flogged and released (v. 16).
Luke does not portray Pilate as negatively as the other gospel writers. His primary interest was to show how the two Roman rulers affirmed that Jesus had done nothing worthy of death. The word for “flogged” (paideusas) literally means “teach him a lesson.” It could indicate anything from a stern warning to a beating. Mark’s gospel says that Pilate had Jesus scourged with a whip (Mark 15:15).
The growing crowd of accusers refused to let Pilate off so easily, shouting down his efforts to have Jesus released. Pilate made one last effort, offering to set one prisoner free as a goodwill token for Passover. Given a choice between Jesus and a noted insurrectionist named Barabbas, the angry crowd called for Barabbas to be released, and for Jesus to be crucified (vv. 17-25).
The entire scene was an obvious miscarriage of justice, as Barabbas (cf. Mark 15:7) was patently guilty of the very crime for which Jesus was accused. Luke has Pilate insist for the third time that Jesus was innocent (v. 22), before agreeing to allow his execution.
Evaluating the mob scene at his door, perhaps Pilate decided that this was the only way to preserve order, and he saw an opportunity to ingratiate himself to the influential Jewish leaders as well. Luke believed that Pilate had betrayed justice, but carefully laid the blame for Jesus’ death at the feet of his own people. [DD]
To Calvary. . . (vv. 26-31)
Jesus’ sleepless night, constant torment, and final scourging apparently left him too weak to bear his cross beam, as was the custom. A man named Simon of Cyrene, a native of northern Africa, was pressed into service to carry it for him (v. 26). [DD]
Jesus’ march to the cross was much like a funeral procession before the actual death. To the taunts and jeers of Christ’s opponents were added the loud wails and ululations of women (v. 27). Jesus, however, addressed them with shocking words. If they really understood what was happening, he said, they should be weeping for themselves and their children. Jerusalem had rejected Jesus, and he predicted that the city would be destroyed (vv. 28-30).
and the cross. . . (vv. 32-43)
Jesus prayed for his tormentors even as they nailed him to the cross and hung him up to die. The executioners gambled for his clothing (perhaps the new robe given by Herod), while the mob surrounding the cross taunted him as a would-be king receiving his proper comeuppance (vv. 32-38).
The scene was steeped in irony. Some shouted: “He saved others; let him save himself, if he is the Messiah of God, his chosen one!” (v. 35). They did not understand that, precisely because Jesus was the chosen one of God, he could not save others (including them) and save himself at the same time. Christ had to lose himself in order to save the world.
Do we understand this truth any better than the throng surrounding the cross? Are we willing to surrender ourselves (or even some of our time or treasure) for the sake of others? Have we caught Jesus’ lesson yet?
Jesus was crucified alongside two convicted thieves. Mark and Matthew say both of them joined in mocking Jesus (Mark 15:32b, Matt. 27:44), but Luke’s gospel suggests that one of them perceived the truth that Jesus was truly the Son of God. He confessed his guilt and asked Jesus to remember him “when you come into your kingdom.” Jesus promised to do so, saying “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise” (v. 43). [DD]
and death (vv. 44-49)
In the final account of Jesus’ death, Luke continued to focus on the truth that Jesus died as an innocent man, and even recorded a centurion’s testimony to that effect (v. 47). Supernatural signs heralded Jesus’ true divinity and the curtain separating the Holy of Holies in the temple was torn from top to bottom, suggesting both the Father’s grief and a new era of God’s availability to all people. Jesus died with a cry on his lips, publicly committing his spirit to the Father by quoting Ps. 31:5 – “Into your hands I commend my spirit.”
Luke concludes with a reminder that “all the crowds who had gathered there for this spectacle saw what had taken place” (v. 48), and also that Jesus’ followers, including the women from Galilee had helplessly watched the day’s events (v. 49). Though they could only bring themselves to watch from afar, there was no shortage of witnesses to the defining moment that was at once the most horrible and the most wonderful event in the history of humankind.
Today we stand at an even greater distance, not only in space but in time. Through the words of the gospels, however, we can still see. Will we watch, or turn away?
Adult Teaching Resources
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This PDF contains the Teaching Guide, Digging Deeper, and Hardest Question pages.
Read Scripture online: Luke 23:1-49
Youth Teaching Resources
Parent Prep
There are times when life is hard, and it can be even harder to watch what is going on. Can remember a situation that you were part of that you knew was going to be bad, but you knew you still had to go through with it? How did you make it through? What steps did you take? What did you do to recover from it? Life was never promised to be easy, but there are times when it can seem like too much. Sometimes you do even need to let go and fall into the arms of God. What you experience can be the same for your students. Be there when they let go to catch them, or to pick them back up off the ground. Your presence will mean more than you can ever imagine.
Additional Links/Resources
Read Scripture online: Luke 23:1-49
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