Community Bible Study -- LUKE

Text of Luke 23:26-24:12 Presentation, Lesson 23

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Jesus' Crucifixion . . . and Resurrection

As we have seen in our study of Luke, Jesus threatened the positions of the Jewish religious leaders because he proclaimed himself Messiah and accused them of being unfaithful to God; they wanted him dead (cf 19:47, 20:19). At the end of last week's lesson, the Roman Governor, Pontius Pilate, gave in to the demands of the Jewish leaders and sent Jesus to be crucified - even though he proclaimed him innocent of any crime. Pilate proposed Jesus be brutally beaten and released, but this wasn't satisfactory for the Jewish leaders. Nevertheless, Pilate had Jesus beaten anyway . . . lashed with leather thongs containing imbedded metal and glass - leaving the back raw and bleeding - and without the Jewish limit of 39 lashes. I've heard it said such cruel beatings were often administered before a crucifixion as an act of mercy because it put the victim in so much pain that nails driven into his wrists and feet weren't felt as badly; I've also heard that such beatings were rare before crucifixion . . . so go figure.

It was the Roman custom to have a crucifixion victim carry his cross to the place of execution, as an additional humiliation and object lesson for onlookers. But Jesus was beaten nearly to death by Roman soldiers, he was under so much stress in the Garden of Gethsemane that he literally sweat blood, he spent the night without sleep in the dungeon beneath the high priest's home (where he was beaten by temple guards), and he was been force-marched across the city of Jerusalem three times (totaling about 2 miles). He is physically unable to carry his cross the scant 1/4 mile from the Fortress Antonio to Calvary with any dispatch . . . so the Romans conscript a passer-by, Simon of Cyrene, and make him carry the cross. Simon is a Jew from North Africa, who came to Jerusalem for Passover; there are scriptural clues that Simon of Cyrene may have become a follower of Jesus as a result of this experience (cf Mk 15:21, Rom 16:13).

Luke paints a vivid word picture of the death march from the Fortress Antonio to Calvary - called Golgotha, the place of the skull (Matt 27:33). First comes Jesus . . . no doubt flanked by Roman Soldiers; next comes Simon of Cyrene, carrying Jesus' cross (23:26). Then come two criminals - being executed in the same detail with Jesus - carrying their crosses and surrounded by more Roman soldiers (23:32). Jesus attracts the most attention in this procession; he is "followed" by "a large number of people, . . . including women who mourned and wailed for him" (23:27). What happened to Jesus' supporters when the crowd was shouting "Crucify him! Crucify him!" (23:21)? . . . the people who hailed Jesus as Messiah only 5 days before? The best explanation I have heard is that they turned on him, believing he must not be the Messiah if he let himself be captured and beaten - so they are shouting to crucify a man they think is a false Messiah. Nevertheless, Jesus has supporters "who mourned and wailed for him" . . . but most of this crowd want to see Jesus executed, as we infer from the profound prophesy he utters as he "turns and" addresses them. He tells them "Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me; weep for yourselves and for your children" (23:28). Why? Because of the horrible destruction coming upon Jerusalem in 40 years at the hands of Roman army. It would better not to be born than to endure it . . . in fact, things will get so bad that people will wish for a quick merciful death under an avalanche. Jesus quotes to them from Hosea, prophesy about punishment for "the sin of Israel" (cf 23:29-30, Hos 10:8). Hence it's possible Jesus is referring not just to the destruction of Jerusalem, but also to the judgment which will come upon all those who don't believe Jesus . . . an idea reinforced by Jesus' final comment:

For if men do these things when the tree is green, what will happen when it is dry? (23:31)

If the Jews reject the Messiah when he has been among them . . . after they see his profound, God-like miracles and hear his words from his own lips . . . when they know first hand about Jesus' empty tomb and probable resurrection . . . what will it be like much later, when Jesus' miracles and resurrection are only a distant memory.

The procession reaches Calvary, and the grim crucifixion detail is carried out: Jesus in the center, flanked by the two criminals. Jesus utters something truly remarkable after he is nailed to the cross, and his cross is lowered into the ground with a thud - usually dislocating the victim's shoulders. Jesus says:

Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing (23:34).

This makes Jesus his own best illustration of his earlier advice:

If you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins. (Matt 6:14-15).

Who is Jesus forgiving? Surely the soldiers, who really don't know what they are doing. But this statement may also reflect the blanket forgiveness Jesus offers to all who believe.

Victims were crucified naked - as an additional indignity, especially for Jews - and the execution detail had the right to claim their clothes. The soldiers cast lots to see who would receive Jesus' clothes - another fulfillment of prophesy (cf Ps 22:18).

Criminals being crucified had the charge against them posted above the cross. In Jesus' case, Pilate tweaks the Jewish leaders (cf John 19:21) by posting above Jesus the same charge they lodged against him: "THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS" (23:38), written in Aramaic, Latin, and Greek (John 19:20), so no literate person could fail to understand.

With Jesus safely on the cross, the religious leaders decide to taunt him: "He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Messiah of God, the Chosen One" (23:35), they say. In the modern vernacular, we'd call this "damage control." Essentially since the beginning of Jesus' ministry 3 years earlier, there has been a struggle between Jesus and the Jewish religious leaders: Jesus does miracles like the prophets predicted only the Messiah would be able to do . . . but Jesus' preaching is often contrary to the oral law of the Pharisees. Does that mean Jesus is the Messiah and the Pharasees wrong?" Jesus' followers answered that question "Yes!" But the Jewish religious leaders proclaimed "(Jesus) is driving out demons (through the power of Satan)" (11:15) . . . that Jesus was empowered by Satan to appear to be the Messiah. On Palm Sunday the people proclaimed Jesus as Messiah, and later in the week Jesus established his authority over Judaism as he defeated the Jewish leaders in debates about their religion. But now, with Jesus hanging on the cross in agony, he seems to lack Messianic power. And the Jewish leaders want to spin this as their victory over a false Messiah: if Jesus really is the Messiah, surely he will come down from the cross. They are a really classy group!

Taunting by the Jewish religious leaders leads to mocking by the Roman soldiers. Like the 21st century American military, they think they are invincible. They offer the "king of the Jews" (23:36) a toast of wine vinegar and taunt him: "You were going to roll over us, but you can't even save yourself!" (cf 23:36).

Even the criminals executed with Jesus get into the act . . . and the dialog about being "saved" is extremely symbolic. The first criminal adopts the line of the Jewish religious leaders: "Aren't you the Christ? Save yourself and us!" (23:39). But incredibly, the other criminal already seems to understand what the Messianic kingdom is about - and understand it long before Jesus' closest followers do. "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom," he says (23:42); and Jesus responds: "Today you will be with me in paradise" (23:43). One criminal "wants to save his life," not realizing he would "lose it, but" the other is willing to "lose his life," yet he "will save it" (9:24); the irony is: that's exactly what Jesus warned his apostles at Caesarea Philippi.

Jesus' first trials before the Sanhedrin occurred just after dawn, and his other trials, his flogging, and his crucifixion all took place before 9:00 AM (cf Mk 15:25). The Sanhedrin were in a rush to get Jesus on the cross, and they succeeded! . . . but now God is going to show who really is in charge, and send a message to the Jewish religious leaders:

(At about noon), darkness came over the whole land until (three o'clock), for the sun stopped shining. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two (23:44-45).

Three hours of darkness is a dramatic sign . . . but hardly unprededented; it could merely be a solar eclipse. But tearing the "curtain of the temple" in two is dramatic, unprecedented, and extremely symbolic. The "curtain of the temple" is a tapestry reported to be about 12" thick which separated the Holy Place of the temple (where priests went daily) from the Most Holy Place (where the very presence of God was believed to dwell, and only the high priest entered and only one day each year: Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement). Jesus dies as the curtain of the temple is torn (23:46), surely illustrating that God had done away with the old form of worship through priests and animal sacrifice, and replaced them with the one time only sacrifice of Jesus the Messiah, and direct access of mankind to God through him (cf Hebr 9).

Victims often hung on a cross for days, enduring an excruciating death from asphyxiation and cardiac arrest. But, mercifully, Jesus is there a scant six hours. Perhaps it was his weakened condition . . . or knowledge that this was his finest hour and the finest hour for mankind, when Jesus would die for our sins, and his mission would be accomplished (cf Jn 19:30), and he wanted to bring this about as soon as possible.

The Roman centurion overseeing the crucifixions appears to make the connection between the darkness and Jesus' death with dignity. This pagan "praised God and said, 'Surely this was a righteous man'" (23:47). It seems even Jesus' detractors in the crowd are overcome by the way Jesus dies; Luke reports they "beat their breasts" in anguish as they departed (23:48). "But all those who knew him, including the women who had followed him from Galilee, stood at a distance, watching these things" (23:49) . . . perhaps making mental notes recorded here by Luke and in the three other gospels.

When Jesus dies, his followers are confronted with a problem. Jesus has been an observant Jew all his life - as have his followers. It's 3:00 on Friday afternoon, and at sundown the Sabbath begins, when no Jew is allowed to do any work, including walking further than a synagogue; so by sundown, everyone must be where he or she intends to spend the Sabbath. In the hot Middle East, bodies were usually buried promptly - and Jesus' followers surely can't leave his body laying out in the hot sun the next day.

Although the Sanhedrin is dominated by Jesus' enemies, he does have supporters there; One of them, Joseph of Arimathea, goes to Pilate and requests the right to claim and bury Jesus' body (23:50-52). This shows Jesus still has wealthy and powerful and intellectual supporters, as he has throughout his ministry (8:2-3). This point is usually overlooked in discussing the story of Jesus, but it may be a factor in his great success, illustrated that his death is considered important enough to be mentioned by secular writers - even if only as a footnote. Joseph and Nicodemus, another Sanhedrin member, perform a quickie burial of Jesus: putting a large quantity of "myrrh and aloes" on his body and placing it in a tomb before they must leave for the Sabbath; the plan was that women who knew proper burial techniques would come back and complete the job after the Sabbath (23:53-56; cf John 19:38-42). Significantly, Jesus is laid in a new tomb near Calvary, "in which no one had yet been laid" (23:53). It's a tomb of the style we call a "rolling stone tomb" today, with a heavy wheel-like stone on a grooved track, so the tomb can be opened and closed by rolling the stone back and forth: requiring effort, but not the heavy lifting required for a stone slab tomb cover.

The rest of the story is familiar. A large group of women - including Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and others (24:10) - are chosen to return to the tomb and complete Jesus' burial by anointing his body with "spices and perfumes" (23:56). Who are these women? Essentially they represent two groups: the women who followed Jesus and helped finance his ministry (cf 8:3), and mothers of Jesus' apostles. Mary Magdalene is a woman "from whom (Jesus had cast out) seven demons" (8:2) - she's not the prostitute who washed Jesus feet with her hair (7:37-38) or the woman caught in adultery (Jn 8:4-11), as some legends claim. Joanna is the wealthy and influential "wife of . . . the manager of Herod's household" (8:3). Mary is the mother of one of Jesus' apostles: "James son of Alphaeus." Salome, wife of Zebedee, and mother of Jesus' apostles John and James, is also in the group (Mk 15:40, 16:1; Matt 27:56).

The women can't come to the tomb until after the Sabbath ends at sundown Saturday, and there is enough daylight Sunday morning. But they go "very early in the morning" (24:1) . . . perhaps anxious to get on with the job in the cool of the morning, because it's been 36 hours since Jesus was laid in the tomb, and the Sabbath day may have been quite hot. On the way to the tomb, the women's greatest concern is who they can get to roll the stone away (cf Mk 16:3). But when they arrive, they find this isn't an issue, because the stone has already been rolled away (24:2) . . . but the guard is gone (Matt 27:66, 28:4), and Jesus' body is missing! This is quite a mystery to them: who would take Jesus' body and why? "While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them. In their fright the women bowed down, . . . but the men said to them, 'Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; he has risen!'" (24:4-6).

We treat this line sort of "ho-hum" today, but imagine how it would sound to the women. They aren't theologians . . . they only know they have come to complete the burial of a beloved friend. They are told he's not dead?! . . . but they watched him die on the cross and saw his tomb before they hurried home to prepare "spices and perfumes (before) the Sabbath" (23:56). What must they be thinking? . . . that this is all a dream?!

Then the two men - who are actually angels (Matt 28:5) - clarify what they mean:

Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: "The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, be crucified and on the third day be raised again" (24:6-7)

One point Luke has emphasized over and over in his gospel is not just that Jesus is the Messiah - the Son of God with the power of God - but that everything he did was fulfillment of prophesy . . . and further that Jesus understood this, and told his disciples. As we might say today, Jesus "connected the dots" between Old Testament prophesy and himself . . . including interpreting some facets of Messianic prophesy that Jewish scholars had missed (cf 20:41-44). And that's what the angels are saying to the women.

I just love the way Luke expresses what happens next: "Then they remembered his words" (24:8). That's a theme of Jesus' initial post-resurrection appearances. Jesus had "called his shots": he told his followers exactly what was going to happen. But it was all just too incredible at the time; they just couldn't understand, and they put it out of their minds. But when it happened . . . "then they remembered"!

Matthew reports that the angels also told the women: "Go quickly and tell his disciples" (Matt 28:7). "So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell his disciples" (Matt 28:8).

And how do the disciples react? "They did not believe the women, because their words seemed to them like nonsense" (24:11). "Like nonsense"?! The disciples had heard the same words from Jesus that the women heard . . . probably in more detail and more often. How come the women figure it out but the disciples don't? Was it the reality of the empty tome and the words of the angels . . . or are the women more spiritually discerning? We won't go there . . . but among the disciples, only Peter (24:12) and John (cf Jn 20:3) seem curious enough to check it out. And despite what Luke says about their disbelief, they must have had at least a glimmer of hope that it's true, because they "ran to the tomb," and found it was just like the women said (24:12). But without angels to explain things - and otherwise with only the words of uneducated women - Peter still isn't able to connect the dots: "he went away, wondering to himself what had happened" (24:12).

Next week - in our final session - everything will be revealed. First we'll discuss that beautiful story of the resurrected Jesus' appearance to two disciples on the road to Emmaus - emphasizing again that the Messiah is fulfillment of prophesy. Then Jesus appears to his apostles and reiterates the point once more. Finally, in the last scene in the gospel of Luke, Jesus ascends to heaven.