Luke 23:26-49 – The Crucifixion of Jesus

BIBLE TEXT

Luke 23:26-49

Summary

When the Romans execute Jesus, he goes to his death comforting others and continuing to be a source of salvation. He dies after reciting part of Psalm 31, expressing his faith in God’s good care. 

Analysis

Luke’s description of Jesus’ crucifixion is distinctive among the four biblical Gospels. While the narrative does not try to hide the horrors of crucifixion, it nevertheless presents Jesus dying in as dignified a way as he might, continuing to offer salvation to others and to trust God to the end.

In the final scene of Jesus’ trial before Pontius Pilate (Luke 23:13-25), a nondescript group referred to as “the people” joins with the Jerusalem priestly aristocracy to urge Pilate to crucify Jesus. Once Jesus is on his way to crucifixion, however, Luke is more specific about distinguishing between the leaders and the general public (“the people”) in Jerusalem. For one thing, many women who watch Jesus process to his death express notable grief, but Jesus takes care to comfort and warn them. He says, in effect, that things will get worse. If this is how he is treated, imagine what may happen to others.

Jesus also asks God to forgive his executioners, although it is uncertain whether verse 34 was an original part of Luke’s Gospel or added by someone else at a later date, perhaps to make a connection between Jesus’ death and Stephen’s death in the Acts of the Apostles (see Acts 7:60). In any case, as Jesus dies, “the people” watch while “the leaders” mock him. Even one of the men crucified next to him derides him until the second man with him asks Jesus to remember him. Jesus’ reply, “Today you will be with me in paradise” extends a promise of salvation to him.

Multiple signs accompany Jesus’ death without Luke providing any comments on their causes or significance. The curtain in the Jerusalem temple, presumably the one that separated the Holy of Holies—the innermost part of the temple from the places where the priests conducted sacrifices—becomes torn open. The sun goes dark for a time. At last Jesus recites Psalm 31:5, “Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.” As his life ends, he expresses confidence in God’s care. Something about the way Jesus dies prompts a Roman centurion on the scene to praise God and declare that Jesus was “innocent” (“just” or “righteous” are also possible translations). This is probably not a statement about the injustice of Jesus’ rigged trial as much as it is a statement about Jesus’ obvious virtue, demonstrated when he dies in such a noble way, from a Roman point of view. Something about his faithful, honorable manner of death makes the centurion see things in a whole new light.

Jesus’ death unleashes lament among the crowd who watch him die, for they leave there “beating their breasts” in agony. The implication is that everyone has just witnessed something horrible. Of course any crucifixion is horrible, but the death of the Messiah leaves those who observe it in despair.