Luke 23

Luke 23:1

Luke: The Man Christ Jesus Jesus Suffers Death and He Becomes Alive Again An EasyEnglish Bible Version and Commentary (2800 word vocabulary) on Luke 22:1 to 24:53

www.easyenglish.info Ian Mackervoy This commentary has been through Advanced Checking.

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Chapter 23 Jesus and Pilate – Luke 23:1-25 v1 The whole group rose up and they took Jesus in front of Pilate. v2 They began to accuse Jesus. They said, ‘We have found this man, who causes trouble among our people. He forbids them to pay taxes to the *emperor. And he says that he is the *Christ, a king.’

v3 Then Pilate asked Jesus, ‘Are you the king of the *Jews?’

Jesus answered him, ‘You say so.’

v4 Pilate said to the chief priests and the crowd, ‘I do not consider this man guilty of any crime.’

v5 But they insisted. ‘He causes trouble among the people. He has taught through the whole of Judea. He started in Galilee and now he has come here.’

v6 Pilate heard this. So, he asked whether Jesus was from Galilee. v7 Pilate realised that Jesus was, therefore, under Herod’s authority. So, Pilate sent Jesus to Herod. Herod was also in Jerusalem at this time.

v8 Herod was very glad to see Jesus. For a long time, he had wanted to see Jesus, because he had heard about him. And he hoped to see Jesus perform some kind of *miracle. v9 Herod asked Jesus many questions, but Jesus did not answer him. v10 The chief priests and the teachers of the law stood there. They were constantly accusing Jesus. v11 Herod and his soldiers made fun of Jesus and they insulted him. They dressed him in splendid clothing and Herod sent him back to Pilate. v12 That day Herod and Pilate became friends. Until this time, they had been enemies.

v13 Pilate called together the chief priests, the leaders, and the people. v14 He said to them, ‘You brought this man to me. You say that he turns the people against the law. I have examined him in front of you. I consider him not guilty of the crime of which you have accused him. v15 Neither did Herod find him guilty, because Herod sent him back to us. Look. This man has done nothing to deserve death. v16 Therefore, I will punish him and then I will free him.’

v18 But the whole crowd shouted together, ‘Take this man away. Free Barabbas for us.’ v19 (Barabbas was in prison because he had fought against the government in the city, and for murder.)

v20 Pilate wanted to free Jesus, so he spoke again to the crowd. v21 But they shouted, ‘*Crucify him, *crucify him.’

v22 Then Pilate spoke to them a third time. ‘This man has done nothing wrong. I find no reason why we should put him to death. Therefore, I will punish him and I will let him go free.’

v23 But with loud shouts, they insisted that Pilate should *crucify Jesus. By their shouts, they succeeded. v24 Pilate decided that he would carry out their request. v25 Pilate freed the man who had fought against the government. (Because of that, and because of a murder, this man had been in prison. The crowd had asked Pilate to free this man.) But Pilate handed Jesus over as the crowd had requested.

Verses 1-5 The members of the *Sanhedrin had decided that Jesus must die. They were the leaders of the people. However, they opposed Jesus for different reasons. Many *Pharisees opposed Jesus because they did not agree with his message. The chief priests, on the other hand, belonged to the group called Sadducees. They worried that Jesus might cause trouble with the *Romans. Then the *Romans would destroy the *temple and the nation of *Israel. For this reason Caiaphas said that this one man should die (John 11:45-53). But the real reason was that Jesus was the *Christ, the Son of God. This made Jesus equal with God. Both the chief priests and most of the *Pharisees would not believe this. Therefore, to them this was *blasphemy.

The whole group of the leaders took Jesus to Pilate. Usually they would have sent a team on their behalf. But they felt so strongly that they all came. The *Romans did not allow the *Jews to put people to death (John 18:31). So, the leaders had to persuade Pilate to order the death of Jesus.

Pilate was the *Roman ruler in Judea. Usually he would have been in the town called Caesarea. But he was in Jerusalem at this time because of the *Passover.

The crime of *blasphemy was of extreme importance to the *Jewish religion. But *blasphemy was of no interest to the *Romans. *Blasphemy was not a crime under *Roman law. The *Jewish leaders had to find a better reason for their request to Pilate. So, they said that Jesus was claiming to be a king. As a king, he must be an enemy of the *emperor. That would be a political crime. The punishment for such a crime would be death.

The *Jewish leaders accused Jesus of three serious crimes. He tried to cause the people to act against the *Romans. Then he told the people not to pay taxes to the *emperor. And he said that he was *Christ the king. The first two of these were clearly false. And Jesus did not say to the leaders that he was a king.

Pilate and Jesus went into the hall of judgement. The *Jews would not go in because the place was to them unclean. That is, it was unclean for the purposes of their religion. Of course, the hall was not dirty. An unclean person, place or object was something that made people unable to carry out public acts of religion. So, if the *Jews went into the hall, it would make them unclean. Then they would not be able to take part in the *Passover ceremony (John 18:28).

Pilate asked Jesus about all the things of which the *Jewish leaders had accused him. The most serious matter was whether Jesus was a king. Pilate asked Jesus if he was a king. Jesus did not deny that he was a king. He was a king but his *kingdom did not belong to this world (John 18:33-38). But Pilate could see that he was not a danger to the *emperor. He was not a king in the way that the *Jewish leaders had meant. Pilate was a judge with much experience. It did not take him long to see that Jesus was innocent. He decided that Jesus was not guilty of any crime. He came out of the hall of judgement. And he told the *Jewish leaders and the crowd what his decision was.

The crowd would not agree with Pilate’s decision. They insisted more urgently that Jesus was guilty. They accused him of many things. They said that he caused trouble among the people. What he taught spread from Galilee through the whole nation.

The crowd would not agree with a ‘not guilty’ decision because the chief priests persuaded them (Matthew 27:20; Mark 15:11).

Verses 6-12 Jesus had become a difficult problem for Pilate. He wanted to free Jesus because Jesus was innocent. But he did not want to offend the *Jewish leaders. They insisted that Jesus should die. If Pilate freed Jesus, there would be trouble. They had mentioned Galilee. Jesus was from Galilee. In fact, Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea but he lived in Galilee. Pilate thought that he could pass the problem to Herod Antipas. Herod was the ruler of Galilee and he was in Jerusalem because of the *Passover. So, Pilate sent Jesus to Herod.

In *Roman law, the problem would come to the judge in the region where the crime had happened. It was right that Pilate should be the judge. But as Jesus was from Galilee, he could pass the problem to Herod. This would please Herod. It would appear to him that Pilate respected him.

Herod had heard about Jesus. He had heard of the *miracles that Jesus had done. For a long time he had wanted to meet Jesus (9:9). Maybe Jesus would do a *miracle for him. So, he was glad when Pilate sent Jesus to him.

The chief priests and teachers of the law continued to accuse Jesus. Probably they accused Jesus of *blasphemy as well as political crimes. Herod had more experience of *Jewish politics and their religion than Pilate. Herod asked Jesus about all of these things. He may have asked Jesus about what he had taught. He wanted to see a *miracle as well. But Jesus did not answer him. Jesus had nothing to say to Herod. By his silence, Jesus showed that he was in control of the situation. Herod was the weaker person. It would have disappointed him very much that he got no answers from Jesus.

The *Jewish leaders wanted Herod to agree that Jesus should die. Also, Pilate wanted Herod to take that responsibility. But Herod did not satisfy either the *Jewish leaders or Pilate. With his soldiers, he made fun of Jesus. They dressed Jesus in fine clothes and they insulted him. Herod had no further interest in Jesus. He sent him back to Pilate. And Pilate had no choice. He had to take the responsibility.

It seems that Pilate and Herod had been enemies for some time. This incident caused them to become friends.

Verses 13-16 Pilate called together the *Jewish leaders and the people with them. He declared to them that he had examined Jesus. He had looked at all those things about which they had accused Jesus. Also, Herod had tried to find fault with Jesus in these matters. Neither Pilate nor Herod could find anything about which Jesus was guilty. Pilate as the judge must free the innocent man. He said that he would punish Jesus. Then he would free him. He hoped that this would satisfy the *Jewish leaders.

Verse 17 Some Bibles add, ‘Now he (Pilate) had to free someone for them at the *feast.’

Verses 18-25 It was a custom that Pilate freed a prisoner at the *Passover time. The people could choose which prisoner they wanted him to free (Matthew 27:15; Mark 15:6). The whole crowd shouted for him to free Barabbas. Barabbas had opposed the *Roman government and he was guilty of murder. John 18:40 calls him a ‘thief’. Probably, the *Jewish leaders had persuaded the crowd to choose Barabbas.

It could not have been a very large crowd. There was not enough room in that place. But the crowd was large enough to worry Pilate. It could not have been typical of the ordinary people. The people were not against Jesus. They believed that he was a *prophet. Maybe friends of Barabbas were in that crowd. They would want their friend to be free.

Pilate wanted them to ask for Jesus. So, he gave to them the chance to choose Jesus. He asked them if he could give to them the king of the *Jews. But they shouted even more for Barabbas (John 18:39-40).

Pilate again said that Jesus was innocent. He said that he would punish Jesus. And then he would free him. But this did not please the crowd. Then Pilate asked what he should do with Jesus. The crowd shouted their answer. They cried, ‘*Crucify him, *crucify him.’ Pilate asked them what evil deeds Jesus had done. They did not answer that question. Instead, they shouted even more loudly, ‘*Crucify him.’

In the end, Pilate gave in to them. He agreed to *crucify Jesus. He freed Barabbas. Pilate washed his hands as if to say it was not his fault (Matthew 27:24).

The *Roman soldiers took Jesus into their hall. They whipped him across his back many times until blood covered his back. They put purple clothes on him. (Kings wore purple clothes. However, the soldiers chose purple clothes for Jesus as an insult. They were laughing at the fact that people had described him as ‘king of the *Jews’.) Also, the soldiers put a crown of *thorns on his head. They hit Jesus with a stick and they made fun of him.

Then Pilate brought Jesus out to the crowd. He said, ‘Here is the man’ (John 19:5). Jesus on the cross – Luke 23:26-49 v26 As the soldiers led Jesus away, they seized a man called Simon. He was from the city called Cyrene. He was coming into Jerusalem. They forced him to carry the cross of wood behind Jesus. v27 A large crowd of people followed Jesus. In the crowd, many women cried and they wept because of him. v28 Jesus turned to the women. He said to them, ‘Women from Jerusalem, do not weep on my behalf.

Weep on behalf of yourselves and on behalf of your children. v29 A terrible time will come. Then people will say, “Happy are the women who could not have children. Happy are those women who never gave birth. Happy are those women whose breasts never fed babies.” v30 Then people will say to the mountains, “Fall on us.” And they will say to the hills, “Cover us.” v31 People are doing these things when their lives are as pleasant as a green tree. Then they will do worse things when their circumstances become as bad as a dry tree.’

v32 The soldiers led two other men that they would kill with Jesus. Those other men were criminals. v33 When they came to the place called the *Skull, they *crucified Jesus. And they *crucified the two criminals. One criminal was on the right side of Jesus and the other criminal was on his left. v34 Then Jesus said, ‘Father, forgive them. They do not know what they are doing.’ The soldiers divided his clothes among themselves. They played a game of chance to decide which of the clothes each would take.

v35 The people stood there and they watched. But the rulers insulted Jesus. They said, ‘He saved other people. Let him save himself. The *Christ whom God has chosen could do it.’

v36 The soldiers also made fun of Jesus. They came up to him and they offered to him sour wine. v37 They said to him, ‘If you are the king of the *Jews, save yourself.’

v38 Above Jesus, there was a sign. It said, ‘This is the king of the *Jews.’

v39 One of the criminals who hung there insulted Jesus. He said, ‘You pretend to be the *Christ. If you are, then save yourself and us.’

v40 But the other criminal protested at this. He said, ‘You ought to be afraid of God. You are suffering the same punishment as he does. v41 Our punishment is fair. We are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has not done anything wrong.’

v42 Then he said, ‘Jesus, remember me when you come into your *kingdom.’

v43 Jesus said to him, ‘I tell you the truth. Today you will be with me in *paradise.’

v44 It was about the 6th hour. And darkness came over the whole country until the 9th hour. v45 It was dark because the sun did not shine. And the curtain in the *temple split down the middle. v46 Jesus cried out with a loud voice, ‘Father, into your hands I place my spirit.’ When he had said this, he took his last breath.

v47 The army officer saw what had happened. He praised God. And he said, ‘Certainly, this man was a good man.’ v48 The crowds had gathered to see this sight. They all saw what happened. They struck themselves because they were so sad. And they went away. v49 But all those people who knew Jesus stood at a distance. This included the women who had come with him from Galilee. They watched all that happened.

Verses 26 The soldiers led Jesus away to *crucify him. The place where they *crucified was outside the city walls. This place was called Golgotha. Golgotha means ‘the place of a *skull’.

The criminal had to carry his cross or at least the bar that crossed the centre. It was very heavy. The soldiers had punished Jesus so much that he was now weak. He could not carry his cross the whole way. The soldiers stopped a man called Simon and they forced him to carry Jesus’ cross.

This man, Simon, came from Cyrene. Cyrene was a city in the North African country called Libya. Probably he became a Christian because of this experience. He was the father of Alexander and Rufus (Mark 15:21). These two sons became Christians.

Verses 27-30 There was a large crowd of people on the streets as Jesus went by. The crowd followed him along the way. These people were not against Jesus. These were ordinary people. Many of them admired Jesus. The situation probably made them sad and angry. But they could do nothing. Many of the women wept aloud as they saw him.

Although he was so weak, Jesus managed to speak to the crowd. Even in this situation, Jesus did not think about himself, but about the people. He knew about the terrible events that would soon happen in Jerusalem. He said to the women, ‘Do not weep on my behalf. Weep on behalf of yourselves and on behalf of your children.’ When the *disaster happened, it would be terrible for the children. Then the people would say that it was better for those women without children. *Jewish women often felt a sense of shame if they were unable to have children. But then it would be terrible for mothers to watch how their children would suffer. That time would be so awful that people would want to die.

Verse 31 There have been several ideas as to what Jesus meant. He was comparing that present time with the future *disaster. He was innocent of any crime. The *Romans knew that he was innocent. Yet, they still *crucified him. It would be so much worse for the *Jews when the *Romans considered the nation guilty.

Fire spreads much more quickly through a forest when the trees are dry. So, Jesus warned them that the future events would be much worse than the present situation.

Verses 32-33 The soldiers led two other men with Jesus. These men were thieves. They came to the place called Golgotha, that is, the *Skull. The *Skull was probably a hill outside Jerusalem. One particular hill outside the old city walls of Jerusalem has the appearance of a *skull. There is a tradition that the *Romans *crucified Jesus and the criminals on this hill. But it is more likely that it was at the base of the hill. It was near the road because people passed by. As they passed by, the people made fun of Jesus (Matthew 27:39-40; Mark 15:29-30).

There the *Roman soldiers *crucified Jesus and the two criminals. Jesus was between the criminals. It was about 9 o’clock in the morning (Mark 15:25).

In *crucifixion, the person hung on a cross. We do not know for certain the shape of the cross. It was probably a central beam that had a bar across it. They fixed Jesus to the cross with nails through his hands and feet (John 20:25-27; Luke 24:39). This was an awful, slow and painful death. But the Bible does not say much about the physical pain that Jesus suffered. It concentrates more on the importance of Jesus’ death. In it, he took the punishment for all our *sins (1 Corinthians 15:3). We must confess our *sins to God and we must invite him into our lives, for God to forgive us. Also, by Jesus’ death, he defeated the devil (Hebrews 2:14). So, he frees his people from the devil’s power.

Verse 34 Jesus prayed on behalf of those people who were guilty of his death. He asked God his Father to forgive them. They did not understand what they had done. They knew that he was innocent of any crime. But they did not believe that he was the *Christ. And they did not understand that he was the Son of God. If they had understood it, they would not have *crucified the *Lord of *glory (1 Corinthians 2:8). However, this did not excuse them. They were guilty of this murder.

Jesus prayed on behalf of his enemies. He taught us that we should do the same (Luke 6:27-28; Matthew 5:44).

It was the custom for the soldiers to take the clothes after they had *crucified a person. They divided Jesus’ clothes into 4 parts. But they would not cut up his long coat. So, they played a game of chance to see which one of them would take the coat. In that game, they threw stones to decide who was the winner. The Book of Psalms says that this would happen (Psalms 22:18; John 19:23-25).

Verses 35-38 Many of the people would come to see a *crucifixion. So on this occasion people stood there and they watched Jesus. Most of the ordinary people did not insult Jesus. But some who were passing by did make bad remarks to Jesus (Matthew 27:39-40; Mark 15:29-30). It was the rulers who insulted him. These included the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the leaders of the people.

By their insults, they emphasised that they did not believe in him. If Jesus could save other people then he could save himself. If Jesus were the *Christ, he could come down from the cross. If God had chosen him, then God could save him. All of this was true. Jesus could have saved himself.

But the rulers did not understand that Jesus came to die on our behalf. It was God’s plan that Jesus should die because of the *sins of all people.

It was the custom for the criminal to carry a board. That board had on it a note of his crime. And the soldiers would put that notice on the cross above the criminal’s head. Above the head of Jesus, the notice was: ‘This is the king of the *Jews.’ This was the reason for the death of Jesus, as Pilate understood it. The notice was in three languages: *Hebrew, *Greek and *Latin. *Hebrew was the language of the *Jews. *Greek was the language of many people who had come to Jerusalem for the *Passover. *Latin was the language of government and it was the official language of the *Romans.

The soldiers also made fun of Jesus. They said, ‘Let the king of the *Jews save himself.’ But they offered him sour wine to drink.

Verses 39-43 At first, the two criminals began to insult Jesus (Matthew 27:44; Mark 15:32). One of them continued to insult Jesus. But the other one of them realised who Jesus was. He protested to the other criminal. Soon that man would have to come in front of God as his judge. That should cause him to be afraid of God. All three of them were suffering the same punishment. The two criminals deserved it. But the criminal who spoke considered Jesus innocent of any crime.

It must have been difficult for them to speak. They suffered so much pain. And there was so much noise round about them. But the one criminal spoke to Jesus. He believed that Jesus was a king. He did not ask Jesus to rescue him from his cross or from death. He realised that death would not be the end. So, he asked Jesus to remember him when he came into his *kingdom.

The answer of Jesus was more than that criminal could have expected. Yes, he (the criminal) would be in that *kingdom. He would die that day and he would go to be with Jesus in *paradise.

The word *paradise came from the Persian language where it meant a garden. It was a place of beauty and delight. A person could relax as he enjoyed that beautiful place. Later, people chose that word to refer to the place where God’s people live with him after death. That was the meaning that Jesus gave to the word ‘*paradise’ here.

Verses 44-45 The *Jewish day consisted of 12 hours. The start of the day was sunrise. The end of the day was at sunset. So, the length of an hour varied at different times during the year.

In those days, they had no clocks or watches. As a result, the writers of the *New Testament estimated the times. Luke estimated that this darkness came at about the 6th hour (in other words, noon). It continued until about the 9th hour (3 o’clock). It was dark for three hours from about noon to about 3 o’clock in the afternoon.

John says that Pilate brought Jesus out to the *Jews at about the 6th hour. Probably John used a different measurement of time that people commonly used in Asia. To them, the day started after midnight. So, that 6th hour would have been 6 o’clock in the morning (John 19:14).

This afternoon it was dark because the sun did not shine. The light from the sun could not come through the darkness. It could not have been an eclipse (the rare event when the moon is in front of the sun). That cannot happen when the moon is full. At *Passover, there was a full moon.

At the end of the period of darkness, Jesus died. And the large curtain in the *temple split from top to bottom. This curtain was between the most holy place and the rest of the *temple. The chief priest went into the most holy place once a year to meet with God. Nobody else could go behind the curtain. Now the curtain to the most holy place was open. It was as if anybody could now go beyond the curtain. Now the people could approach God for themselves because of Jesus’ death.

So, the meaning is that the death of Jesus has made the way for us to approach God. His body is like the curtain by which we have a doorway to God (Hebrews 10:19-25).

Verse 46 Jesus did not die because of the things that people did to him. He had said that he had authority to lay down his life. And he had power to take it again. Nobody could take his life from him. He would lay it down of his own decision (John 10:17-18). Jesus had done all that he had come to do. He cried out, ‘It is finished’ (John 19:30). Then he gave his own life to God his Father. He cried out with a loud voice that the people could hear. He said, ‘Father, into your hands I place my spirit.’ His life, his spirit, went to be with God. He took his last breath and his body died.

Verses 47-49 The officer in charge of the *crucifixion saw all that happened. He must have seen other *crucifixions but never one like this. He felt the darkness and he saw the *earthquake (Matthew 27:51). And he saw how Jesus had died in an unusual way. These things caused him to be afraid and he praised God. Now he knew that Jesus was innocent of any crime. Jesus’ death convinced him that Jesus was someone special. In Luke 23:47, he called Jesus a righteous man. The word ‘righteous’ means someone who is truly good. In Matthew 27:54, he called Jesus ‘the Son of God’.

The crowd of ordinary people who had come to see the *crucifixions went away sad. What they expected to be an entertainment brought no satisfaction. They too knew that Jesus was not guilty of any crime. Jesus was a good man. And the people thought that he was a *prophet. Now their leaders had murdered an innocent man. What the people had seen deeply affected them. It bothered them and it upset them.

Many of Jesus’ friends had come. But they stood some way from the cross. Among these friends were the women who had been such a help to Jesus during the last three years. The grave of Jesus – Luke 23:50-56 v50 There was a man called Joseph. He was a good and sincere man. And he was a member of the committee that ruled the country. v51 But he had not agreed with the committee’s decision to act against Jesus. He was from the *Jewish town called Arimathea. He was waiting for and he was expecting God’s *kingdom to come. v52 Joseph went to Pilate and he asked for the body of Jesus. v53 He took the body of Jesus down from the cross of wood. And he wrapped the body in a cloth. Then he placed Jesus’ body in a grave. Workmen had cut the grave into the rock, and nobody had buried anyone there yet. v54 It was the day when the *Jews prepared for the *Sabbath day. This *Sabbath had almost come.

v55 The women who had come with Jesus from Galilee followed Joseph. They saw the grave and how Joseph laid the body in it. v56 The women left there and they prepared *spices and oils for the body. But they rested on the *Sabbath day as the law ordered.

Verses 50-54 Joseph came from the *Jewish town called Arimathea. We do not know where Arimathea was. Joseph was a member of the *Sanhedrin of the *Jews. He could not have been there when the *Sanhedrin called for Jesus’ death. All of the *Sanhedrin that were there had agreed with the decision. But Joseph had not agreed with their decision. He was a sincere man who respected God. He expected the *Christ to come and he looked for the *kingdom of God. He was a *disciple of Jesus. But he kept quiet about it because he was afraid of the *Jews (Matthew 27:57; John 19:38).

Evening approached and at sunset the *Sabbath day would begin. That *Sabbath was a special day because it was the *Passover. So, it was important to bury Jesus’ body quickly, before sunset. Joseph was not afraid any longer. With much courage, he went to Pilate and he asked for Jesus’ body. Pilate was surprised that Jesus was dead already. He called the officer. And the officer told him that Jesus was dead. Then Pilate gave to Joseph authority to take and to bury the body.

Joseph took Jesus’ body down from the cross. He would have needed help to do this. Then they wrapped Jesus in a cloth. And they put him in a new grave. Then they rolled a large stone across the entrance to the grave. The grave was in a garden that was near to Golgotha. Joseph had prepared that grave for himself. His workmen had dug the grave into the rock. These graves were like rooms in the rock. They were large enough for a person to walk in.

Nicodemus brought some *spices. Joseph and Nicodemus put *spices on the body to preserve it (John 19:39). Then they wrapped the body in strips of cloth.

Nicodemus was another member of the *Sanhedrin. He too was a secret *disciple of Jesus.

Verses 55-56 The *Jewish custom was to wrap a mixture of *spices and oils with the body. There was not time to prepare *spices in a proper way. The women followed Joseph to see where the grave was. Then they went away to prepare the necessary *spices. They did not come to the grave on the *Sabbath day. They needed to buy some *spices, which they could not do on the *Sabbath day (Mark 16:1). They intended to come after the *Sabbath to wrap the body in a proper manner. However, before the *Sabbath began, Nicodemus and Joseph had already begun to wrap the body with *spices.

© 2013, Wycliffe Associates (UK)

This publication is in EasyEnglish Level B (2800 words).

December 2013

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