Life Project Blog

Luke 23:26-49

Any time you read a transcript something is lost, for a transcript reads without emotion or emphasis and a great deal of the communication that took place is lost. Most human communication is nonverbal whereas a transcript is only verbal, thus voice inflection, tonal quality, facial expressions and body language are all gone. As we read Luke’s words, our perception of what is going on tends to be rather stale; we have a conversation recorded between the three who are being crucified and it reads as though they are sitting by a warm fire with nice cups of coffee on the table in front of them, along with fine pastries… and nothing could be further from the truth for they were in the process of being tortured to death slowly, agonizingly…

Luke mentions that the Romans grabbed a guy named Simon on the street and forced him to carry Jesus’ cross through the streets, but he neglects to mention that Jesus was physically unable to carry it because of the beating He had receive by their hands. His back would have been torn open; He would have been a bloody mess; probably His body would be in shock. When He spoke to the “daughters of Jerusalem” (23:28-31) He would have had difficulty speaking and have been in unbelievable pain. Even having seen this scene would probably cause most of us to lose our breakfast in the street.

Yet Jesus is quoting Scripture…

The three condemned men are stripped naked and nailed to their crosses. When they are lifted up, no doubt they were immediately in a state of panic even through their unimaginable pain, for as soon as these crosses were upright, they would be unable to breathe, for they could only take a breath by pushing up on their feet which had a nail driven through them rubbing their bare backs against the rough wood of the cross; try to imagine what that would feel like for Jesus who had His back ripped open.

That is where Luke inserts his conversation.

With all of this in mind, take another look at what is said.

One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: “Aren’t you the Messiah? Save yourself and us!”

But the other criminal rebuked him. “Don’t you fear God,” he said, “since you are under the same sentence?  We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.”

Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”

Jesus answered him, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.”

Luke 23:39-43

Can you hear them struggling for breath, their crying out in pain, their emotion and sheer terror?

Sadly, many commentators like to get into the gruesome details of this scene to impart guilt on their readers, for after all, Jesus was bearing my sins and yours too on that cross. As for me, I don’t think that imparting guilt is a very useful strategy for teaching about this scene, for guilt is a negative emotion that impairs our relationship with our Lord, for it tends to defeat the very purpose for which He went willingly to the cross. His purpose was to take our guilt away. What we really have is quite different, for we have a picture of our human condition:

The first criminal is angry. Bystanders are hurling insults at Jesus, and he joins in and uses the occasion to demand that Jesus save him from the situation as though it was Jesus’ fault that he had committed a capital crime. How many people have you known who seek to blame God for their circumstances and turn away from Him?

The second criminal, realizing that he is responsible for his own situation rebukes the first man, instead asking Jesus to “remember” him in the Kingdom. Which of these two men, despite the horrific circumstances in which they met Jesus, was justified before God on that day?

Round about noon, the landscape became dark, perhaps a storm was moving in. The curtain in the temple is torn in two around three in the afternoon, and Jesus commends His spirit to His Father and breathes His last… The curtain that was now broken in two was what symbolically had been the separation between humanity and the presence of God. The commander of the Roman troops on the scene was moved by what he witnessed, the onlookers went on their way… and the Messianic mission of Jesus Messiah was now completed; darkness was upon the land.

John 18:28-40

Jesus was arrested while at prayer.  His response to their demand for Him of “I am he” proved to be enlightening to the soldiers and guards who had come to take Him in, but He went along quietly in order to accomplish God’s redemptive purpose.  He was taken before the Jewish leaders, roughed up and convicted of a phony charge in a joke of a trial.  Peter, as Jesus had predicted, denied knowing Jesus three times, and now, early the next morning He is taken before Pilate, the ranking Roman official, because only the Romans could impose capital punishment.

In vv. 28-32, the Jews approach Pilate with the request that he condemn Jesus to death.  Note that Pilate doesn’t seem interested in granting them their wish.  Note also the way they have approached him:  First, they cannot enter the palace because they would be “unclean” and ineligible to participate in the Passover meal, so Pilate must come out to them. 

One might wonder what their ceremonial condition was after the role they played in putting the Son of God to death! 

The upshot of the exchange so far is that they need the Romans to agree to an execution, and oh by the way, Jesus had predicted the manner of his death in 3:14. 

Pilate has Jesus brought to him for a few questions; one can’t help having a little sympathy for old Pilate here.  Jesus, like the Jews outside, isn’t all that respectful of Pilate’s predicament in His answer to Pilate’s first question about whether or not He was a king.  “Is that your own idea…?”  Pilate’s answer to Jesus’ question reveals that he wants nothing to do with any of this; “Am I a Jew?”  The rest of his question in v. 35 is basically ‘what have you done to tick these people off?’  The answer he receives in the next verse is the crucial point of the text:

 “My kingdom is not of this world.”  It is from “another place.”  The Jews were looking for the Messiah to bring a kingdom to the world, a worldly kingdom.  It would throw the Romans out, defeat their enemies and restore the former glory of Israel, and the Jewish leaders would have tremendous power in that earthly kingdom.  Jesus came with an entirely different kind of kingdom; a kingdom of faith and forgiveness.  Forgiveness was the last thing the Jewish leaders were concerned about.

Pilate jumps on the king aspect: “You are a king then?”  If Jesus were an aspiring king without the endorsement of the Roman government, then it could be asserted that He was plotting treason against Caesar.  Even now, however, Pilate is troubled by this whole thing; he isn’t buying the idea that Jesus is a threat to the government.  In His answer, Jesus admits to being a king, but again demonstrates that He is not an earthly king, for His reason for being born is to testify to the truth.  In all likelihood, Pilate would have a hard time putting truth and kings together as treason.  In fact, as we also know, kings, governments and truth are strange bedfellows.  Pilate’s response to Jesus’ truth assertion shows us all we need to know about him: “What is truth?” It reveals a high level of frustration as it is one of the great unanswered questions of worldly life.  Little did Pilate know, Jesus had answered this question earlier: “I am the way, the truth and the life” The answer to the great question about truth is that Jesus is the very embodiment of Truth.

Pilate goes back outside and tries again to end the standoff with the Jewish leaders, announcing that he finds no basis for any charge against Jesus.  In doing this, he of course speaks in terms of Roman law.  He reminds the people that the Romans offer an annual pardon to a Jewish prisoner at the Passover, sort of a goodwill gesture.  The Jews want Jesus dead and silent; they demand a man who deserves to die for the safety of the public.  Their hatred of Jesus and the truth that He has brought to them from God Himself; the truth that they should be rejoicing for, is so great that they will do anything to be rid of Him and by extension God.  It is really a shocking and reprehensible thing they are doing, one that they will pay dearly for in the future.  It is also an indication of how many will react to the truth of simple Christianity for centuries to come… as Jesus warned his disciples in the upper room.