Luke 23
23:1 Pilate The governor of the Roman province of Judaea from AD 26–36. He was responsible for maintaining order in the region, including resolving civil and criminal cases. See note on Matt 27:2.
23:1. The visit to Pilate would be early in the morning, because Roman officials met the public only from sunrise to noon.
23:1 the whole company of them. The “assembly” (Sanhedrin) of 22:66. before Pilate. See 3:1. Normally the seat of the Roman government in Judea was Caesarea, not Jerusalem. Pilate was in Jerusalem at Passover to prevent rebellious activities. Pilate had certainly witnessed disturbances in Jerusalem, some of his own making, and he ultimately lost his position by mishandling a disturbance in Samaria. Pilate’s willingness to execute Jesus is credited in the Gospels to his desire to maintain public calm rather than to follow the dictates of justice. Jewish sources considered Pilate’s reign (A.D. 26–36) to have been quite harsh, charging him with greed and cruelty (cf. 13:1). As examples of his disregard for Jewish religion, Josephus mentions Pilate bringing pagan Roman legionary standards into Jerusalem and appropriating temple funds to build an aqueduct (Jewish Antiquities 18.55–62; see also Philo, Embassy to Gaius 299–306). An inscription found at Caesarea indicates that Pilate dedicated a structure there to the imperial cult of Tiberius (see note on Acts 8:40).
23:2. “King Messiah” became a standard title of the Messiah; “Messiah” meant simply “anointed one,” but in popular parlance it was most often used for the king from David’s line who would be associated with the restoration of the kingdom to Israel.
Despite 20:22–25, the leaders interpret Jesus’ messianic claim the only way they know how: according to the category of prophetic revolutionaries. Such revolutionaries had become common in their day and would climax in Bar Kochba, the purported messianic warrior who would lead his people to a bloody defeat in A.D. 132–135. Such political messiahs threatened the religious authorities’ power and security and were especially troublesome to Rome.
23:3–4. Pilate apparently understands Jesus’ claim in a religious rather than a political sense and therefore does not feel that it comes under Roman civil jurisdiction. Further, Pilate’s relationship with the priestly aristocracy is known to have been strained. On Luke’s theme of Roman authorities exonerating Christians, see the discussion of Luke’s legal purpose in the introduction to Acts.
23:3 Ignoring the first two charges (the first was too ambiguous and the second false), Pilate focuses on the third and asks, Are you the King of the Jews? Jesus’ answer, You have said so, is affirmative and repeats his earlier reply (see note on 22:70).
23:5. A Galilean had led the tax revolt of A.D. 6; Judeans also tended to view Galileans as inferior to themselves, although much of Galilee was urban and in touch with the larger Mediterranean culture, as Jerusalem was.
23:6–7. Herod Antipas would be in Jerusalem for the feast and was probably staying at the old Hasmonean (Maccabean) palace. Pilate had the authority to try Jesus if he had committed a crime in Pilate’s area of jurisdiction; but sometimes the right of extradition was allowed, and Antipas might thus be free to try Jesus for a crime committed in Galilee. By refusing jurisdiction, Pilate could take the matter off his own hands.
23:9 Jesus made no answer. Jesus’ silence fulfills Isa. 53:7 and places the responsibility for his death squarely on his accusers (cf. note on Mark 14:61–62).
The “bright” or “elegant” (NIV, NRSV) robe may be a white one, characteristic of Jewish kings. This apparel would be an appropriate mockery from Antipas’s bodyguard.
23:12. Herod and Pilate had had plenty of opportunities to become alienated; for instance, Antipas had intervened in a matter concerning votive shields (reported in Philo); on another occasion Pilate had pilfered the temple treasury for funds for an aqueduct; even the event of Luke 13:1 could have been the provocation. Giving the ambitious Herod Antipas a sign of influence in Jerusalem would certainly create a “friendship,” which in upper classes often meant a political alliance.
23:13 and the people The people now join the religious leaders in the dispute with Pilate over Jesus’ fate
23:18–25. As a clearly violent revolutionary, Barabbas appeared to Pilate to be a greater danger than Jesus. Romans were known for their emphasis on justice, but Romans were also politicians concerned with crowd control: the emperor himself pacified the masses with shows in the arena and free grain, and public outcry had previously forced Pilate to withdraw the Roman standards from Jerusalem. Efficiency in ruling provinces and keeping peace took precedence over individual justice; for instance, a Roman soldier who had burned a law scroll was executed to pacify Jewish antagonism, not because the Romans cared about burning a religious book.
23:18 release for us Barabbas After Pilate announces his intention to punish Jesus and then set Him free, the religious leaders and the people demand that Barabbas be released instead. An insurrectionist and murderer (Luke 23:19), Barabbas was truly guilty of inciting people against Rome—the very thing that Jesus was falsely accused of doing (vv. 2, 5)
23:23 their cries prevailed Luke goes out of his way to emphasize that Pilate would have released Jesus had it not been for the uproar among the Jews. Four times, Pilate states that he finds no valid reason to execute Jesus (Luke 23:4, 14, 15, 22); twice, Pilate resolves to set Him free (vv. 16, 22). Ultimately, Pilate’s own will succumbs to the will of the mob (vv. 24–25).
23:25 Luke emphasizes that choosing Barabbas involved releasing one guilty of insurrection and murder and condemning Jesus, whom Luke will later call “the Holy and Righteous One” (Acts 3:14), who “went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil” (Acts 10:38). he delivered Jesus over to their will. Cf. Luke 9:44; 18:32; 24:7. Pilate acquiesced to the wishes of the bloodthirsty crowd and condemned Jesus to crucifixion, the Roman means of executing criminals convicted of high treason. Though Luke and John do not mention it, prior to crucifixion the prisoner was first “scourged” (see Mark 15:15; also notes on Matt. 27:26 and John 19:1). Luke (23:16) and John (19:1) do call attention to the lighter flogging Jesus received after being detained and questioned by Pilate, but omit his scourging, a punishment which in and of itself could cause death.
23:26 Simon, a certain man of Cyrene Likely a Jewish pilgrim visiting Jerusalem for Passover. Jews had lived in the city of Cyrene (located in modern-day Libya) since the third century BC.
23:27. Crowds generally went to view an execution. The pious women of Jerusalem often went to mourn the executed, providing a narcotic drink to dull the victim’s pain. (After condemned persons died, it was not legal to mourn them publicly; but nationalistic Jews would sympathize with fellow Jews executed by the Romans for being revolutionaries.) In antiquity women usually expressed mourning more dramatically than men.
23:28. “Daughters of Jerusalem” designates Jerusalemite women but could also recall some judgment oracles (Is 3:16). The admonition to “mourn for yourselves” was also a prophetic cry of judgment (Is 32:9–14).
23:29. Jesus’ statement is the sort of lament mothers would offer when their children died (2 Baruch 10:13–15). Josephus reports that some mothers were reduced to eating their children during the famine in Rome’s siege against Jerusalem, A.D. 66–70 (cf. Lev 26:29; Deut 28:53; 2 Kings 6:29).
23:31. Unlike a green one, a dry tree would easily catch fire. The point may be that Jesus is “green” wood, not really a revolutionary; how much greater would be the Roman judgment against the dry wood, the real revolutionaries? Or that if they murdered the innocent, how much more would they destroy themselves (the Jewish leaders fought one another as well as the Romans in 66–70)? Or the saying may simply mean that Jerusalem is becoming more ripe for judgment. Jesus may also allude back to the trees and Jerusalem’s fall in 21:24, 29–30, though this option is less likely.
23:32 two other criminals Luke does not specify their crimes. Matthew and Mark describe them as robbers or rebels. See note on Mark 15:27.
23:32 Two others … criminals fulfills the prophecy of Isa. 53:12 (cf. Luke 22:37) that Jesus in his death would be “numbered with the transgressors.”
23:33–34. Despite the precedent of Old Testament prayers for vengeance (e.g., 2 Chron 24:22; Ps 137:7–9; Jer 15:15; 17:18; 18:23; 20:12), Jesus prays that God will forgive his persecutors. Those who were executed were supposed to say, “May my death atone for all my sins”; but Jesus confesses instead the sin of those who falsely convicted him, who under Old Testament law were liable for his penalty before God. Ancient biographers often paralleled different figures, and Luke parallels with Jesus the first martyr of his second volume, Stephen (Acts 7:60). Roman custom awarded the soldiers the victim’s clothes.
23:35. Ridicule was one of the sufferings inflicted on the naked man hanging on a cross. Ancient writers liked irony; the double irony here is that Jesus does save others, and that the leaders utter lines like Satan’s (4:3, 6–7, 9).
23:36. One might view the soldiers’ offer of “sour wine” or “wine vinegar” (NIV) as an act of mercy, because sour wine could act as a painkiller and was also often used as a remedy for thirst; but Luke declares that it is done only as part of their ridicule.
23:37. The soldiers’ taunt may include a touch of Roman cynicism toward Judaism, which was widespread despite (or partly because of) Roman conversions to Judaism.
23:38. The condemned person often carried the charge (Latin titulus) to the site of execution.
23:43. Jewish literature typically contrasted “paradise” with “Gehenna,” or hell. Although Jewish texts disputed the location of paradise (e.g., in the third heaven; or on the perimeters of the circle of the earth—like a Greek view of the Elysian Fields), they often mentioned it as the abode of the righteous after death or after the resurrection. Thus both Jesus and this condemned man would proceed directly to the abode of the righteous after death.
23:44–45 about the sixth hour … until the ninth hour. Noon until 3:00 P.M. (cf. Matt. 27:45; Mark 15:33; see note on Matt. 27:45). Often a sign of an eschatological event taking place, darkness represents lament (Amos 8:9–10) and divine judgment (Ex. 10:21–23). Here it is both literal (the sun’s light failed) and figurative (cf. Acts 2:20), probably signifying that Jesus was bearing God’s wrath for his people (cf. Joel 2:2; Amos 5:18, 20; Zeph. 1:15), and also expressive of God’s displeasure and judgment upon humanity for crucifying his Son. The darkness was not caused by a solar eclipse (see note on Matt. 27:45).
23:45. The “veil” (KJV, NASB) or “curtain” (NIV, TEV, NRSV) is probably the one between the holy of holies—inhabited only by God, and where no mortal could enter except the high priest once each year—and the sanctuary where the priests ministered (Ex 26:33). Although the point of the veil’s rending may be that God provides access for all people into his presence, it is more likely that it indicates instead the departure of God from the temple, as in Ezekiel 10–11
23:46 I commit my spirit! Jesus’ own human spirit returned to the presence of God the Father (see v. 43 and note on John 19:30; also Ps. 31:5; Eccles. 12:7; Acts 7:59; 1 Pet. 4:19). having said this he breathed his last. Even in death, Jesus is still in control of things (see note on John 10:17).
23:47 A centurion is a Roman officer in charge of a hundred men. What he saw includes: Jesus’ behavior toward his enemies (v. 34), the words spoken to the repentant criminal (v. 43), the supernatural darkness (v. 44), Jesus’ prayer to God (v. 46), and his giving up his life (v. 46). Certainly this man was innocent. Although this is not as theologically profound as Matt. 27:54 and Mark 15:39 (see notes there), for Luke this confession is important and serves as the culminating expression of Jesus’ innocence (see Luke 23:41).
23:48. Beating breasts was a characteristic sign of mourning (cf. 18:13); Jewish women bystanders would offer this as the only public mourning these criminals could get, because none was permitted after the disposal of their bodies.
23:49. Family and friends would usually be present at an execution; only the male disciples would be in danger as potential revolutionaries. No one stood too close to the cross, because that could obstruct the view; most crosses were lower to the ground than many modern pictures depict. To Palestinian Jews, the fact that these women accompanied Jesus’ group of disciples could have been scandalous.
23:49 all his acquaintances. Jesus’ relatives, friends, and disciples. The women (cf. 8:1–3) are singled out because of their role in the resurrection account (23:55–56; 24:1–12; cf. John 19:25–27 and note on John 19:25).
23:50–51 a man named Joseph. See note on Matt. 27:57–60. He is unknown except for this incident, recorded in all four Gospels. The location of Arimathea has not been conclusively determined, though Eusebius in his fourth-century list of place-names believed it was identical to Ramah (or Ramathaim-Zophim; cf. 1 Sam. 1:19). From the Jewish town implies that Luke’s readers were Gentiles (see Luke 1:26; 4:31). a member of the council. The Sanhedrin. A good and righteous man (cf. 1:6; 2:25; Acts 10:22) and looking for the kingdom of God imply that Joseph was a believer (Matt. 27:57 calls him “a disciple of Jesus”).
23:50–51. Luke, whose readers are not clashing with Palestinian Jewish leaders (as are Matthew’s), is more apt to distinguish different elements within that leadership than Matthew. In Jesus’ day, Judaism was quite diverse, because no one group could lay claim to all the power; but after A.D. 70, when much of the competition had been eliminated by the destruction of the temple (the Sadducees’ power base) and the scattering of other groups, some of the Palestinian leaders sought to consolidate their religious power.
23:52 went to Pilate and asked. As a member of the Sanhedrin, Joseph had greater access to the governor and would raise less suspicion and hostility than Jesus’ family or the disciples (see note on Mark 15:46).
23:53 Then he took it down. Joseph supervised Jesus’ body being taken down. a tomb cut in stone. Joseph’s own tomb (Matt. 27:60; see note on Mark 15:46; and illustration). Thus Jesus is buried in a rich man’s tomb (remarkably fulfilling Isa. 53:9). where no one had … been laid. Cf. John 19:41; see Luke 19:30.
23:54–56. Because bodies decomposed rapidly, mourners were allowed to anoint, wash and wrap the body in its shrouds even on the sabbath. More elaborate arrangements that these loyal women disciples wish to bestow on Jesus, however, might wait until the sabbath (sundown Friday evening to sundown Saturday evening) has passed.
23:56 Because they thought the body was inadequately prepared, the women (whom Mark 16:1 identifies as “Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James and Salome”) prepared spices and ointments. On the Sabbath they rested according to the commandment. Like Zechariah and Elizabeth, they walked “blamelessly in all the commandments” (Luke 1:6).
