Luke 23

Jesus’ Trials Before Pilate and Herod; Jesus’ Crucifixion, Death, and Burial

In this section, Luke recorded his version of Jesus’ trials before Pilate and the only account of Jesus’ interrogation by Herod Antipas that led to His subsequent crucifixion, death, and burial.  Luke placed a great emphasis on Jesus’ innocence in this account, highlighting the multiple people who came to recognize that a righteous Man suffered alongside the guilty. 

Jesus Before Pilate (Matthew 27:1-2; Mark 15:1-5; John 18:28-38, 19:1-16)

In The Morning

Vs. 1-2 - Then their whole assembly rose up and brought him before Pilate. They began to accuse him.

Pilate, the governor of the area, usually lived in the provincial capital Caesarea, but he came to Jerusalem during Jewish festivals to help maintain order. His official residence and administration centre in Jerusalem was called the praetorium. The Jewish leaders, wanting to have Jesus dealt with and out of the way before the festival started, took him to Pilate early in the morning (Luke 23:1; John 18:28-29).

The Jews had charged Jesus with blasphemy for calling himself the Son of God, but when they took him to Pilate they twisted the charge. They emphasized not that he claimed to be God but that he claimed to be above Caesar. They suggested he was a political rebel trying to lead a messianic uprising that would overthrow Roman rule and set up an independent Jewish state (Luke 23:2). Pilate tried to dismiss the case, but the Jews would not drop their charges (John 18:30-32).             - Don Fleming

Their charge before Pilate was really threefold. They charged Jesus (a) with seditious agitation; (b) with encouraging men not to pay tribute to Caesar; (c) with assuming the title king. Every single item of the charge was a lie, and they knew it. They resorted to the most calculated and malicious lies in their well-nigh insane desire to eliminate Jesus.           - William Barclay

I Find No Fault

Vs. 4 - Pilate then told the chief priests and the crowds, “I find no grounds for charging this man.”

Matthew 27:13-14 - Then Pilate said to him, “Don’t you hear how much they are testifying against you?” But he didn’t answer him on even one charge, so that the governor was quite amazed.

It did not take long for Pilate to determine that Jesus was innocent of any crime worthy of death. Notwithstanding the record stresses how difficult it was for him to convict an innocent man.          - Thomas Constable

Jesus Before Herod

Herod Antipas

Vs. 6-7 - When Pilate heard this, he asked if the man was a Galilean. Finding that he was under Herod’s jurisdiction, he sent him to Herod, who was also in Jerusalem during those days.

When Pilate learnt that Jesus was from Galilee, which was not under his control, he tried to avoid the issue by sending Jesus to the Galilean governor Herod, who also was in Jerusalem for the festival (Luke 23:6-7). But Jesus refused to speak to Herod, and made no attempt to defend himself against the false accusations the Jewish leaders made against him.                  - Don Fleming

Luke alone recorded this aspect of Jesus’ Roman trial. He probably did so because Herod Antipas found no basis for condemning Jesus either. Thus Luke cited two official witnesses to Jesus’ innocence for his readers’ benefit.               - Thomas Constable

Treating Him with Contempt

Vs. 11 - Then Herod, with his soldiers, treated him with contempt, mocked him, dressed him in bright clothing, and sent him back to Pilate.

It is not entirely clear why Herod Antipas allowed Jesus to be mistreated in this way.  Perhaps he was still angry at John the Baptist, frustrated by Jesus’ refusal to engage him, or pressured to appease the Jewish leaders in some way. 

Isaiah 53:7 - He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth. Like a lamb led to the slaughter and like a sheep silent before her shearers, he did not open his mouth.

Neither Pilate nor Herod has found Jesus guilty of any crime, but a flogging will be administered, probably to warn him not to run afoul of the authorities again.          - Thomas Schreiner

Jesus Before Pilate Again (Matthew 27:15-25; Mark 15:6-15; John 18:38-40)

Pilate Again

Vs. 13-14 - Pilate called together the chief priests, the leaders, and the people, and said to them, “You have brought me this man as one who misleads the people. But in fact, after examining him in your presence, I have found no grounds to charge this man with those things you accuse him of.

John recorded the majority of Pilate’s examination of Jesus. We are not told how he became aware of the detailed interrogation, but through it, we can see a conflicted governor, convinced of Jesus’ innocence but constrained by his circumstances. 

Luke noted again that Pilate wanted to release Jesus, but his appeal for reason only led to increased demands for Jesus’ punishment (cf. Matthew 27:22; Mark 15:13). The Jews now called for Jesus’ crucifixion, the worst of all possible punishments.            - Thomas Constable

Pilate made five several attempts to release our Lord; as we may learn from Luke 23:4, 15, 20, 22; John 19:4, 12, 13.      - Clarke

Release Barabbas

Vs. 18-19 - Then they all cried out together, “Take this man away! Release Barabbas to us!” (He had been thrown into prison for a rebellion that had taken place in the city, and for murder.)

Matthew and John (18:39) noted that an annual custom had formed of releasing a prisoner during the festival week. 

Matthew 27:15-16 - At the festival, the governor’s custom was to release to the crowd a prisoner they wanted. At that time they had a notorious prisoner called Barabbas.

People have always felt it a mystery that less than a week after the crowd were shouting a welcome when Jesus rode into Jerusalem, they were now shrieking for his crucifixion. There is no real mystery. The reason is quite simply that this was a different crowd.

It may well be that this was a crowd which had assembled with the deliberate intention of demanding the release of Barabbas. They were in fact a mob of Barabbas' supporters. When they saw the possibility that Jesus might be released and not Barabbas they went mad. To the chief priests this was a heaven-sent opportunity.           - William Barclay

All we know about Barabbas is that he was a “notorious” criminal (Matthew 27:16).  Mark and Luke report that he had participated in some kind of insurrection in Jerusalem and had committed murder (Mark 15:7; Luke 23:18–19). John just refers to him as “a robber” (John 18:40).

It appears that Pilate thought he could frustrate the Jewish leaders’ desire for Jesus’s death through Rome’s annual act of grace at the Jewish Passover: freeing a condemned prisoner. Pilate wanted that prisoner to be Jesus. Therefore, if he wanted to give the crowd a choice, he wouldn’t make Jesus compete against a popular hero. He’d want to offer the crowd an alternative to Jesus they would find morally offensive, whose clear guilt would starkly contrast with Jesus’s clear innocence. Surely the crowd wouldn’t choose Barabbas. Pilate was wrong.     

It may do our souls good to take a longer than normal look at Barabbas, the guilty man who went free — not as a bit player in history’s most momentous drama, but as a mirror of ourselves, as a reminder that we, though guilty of terrible evil, are able to receive life-giving pardon because the Son of Man was condemned in our place.            - Jon Bloom

If anyone was able to say, “Jesus died for me,” it was Barabbas. He knew what it was to have Jesus die on his behalf, the innocent in the place of the guilty.             - David Guzik

His Blood Be on Us

Matthew 27:24 - When Pilate saw that he was getting nowhere, but that a riot was starting instead, he took some water, washed his hands in front of the crowd, and said, “I am innocent of this man’s blood. See to it yourselves!”

Pilate showed this pitiful figure to the crowd, apparently hoping it might make them feel ashamed and change their minds; but it only increased their hatred (John 19:4-6). Pilate became more uneasy when he heard that Jesus claimed to be the Son of God. Maybe, thought Pilate, this man was one of the gods. He became even more anxious to set Jesus free when Jesus told him that God would hold him responsible for the way he used his authority.       - Don Fleming

After learning of his wife’s dream and Jesus’ own claims of deity, Pilate was “more afraid than ever”. He made multiple attempts to release Jesus. But John said he was finally persuaded to give Jesus over to be crucified when the religious leaders insisted He was a political threat (John 19:6-16). 

It is clear why Pilate acted as he did. The Jews blackmailed him into crucifying Jesus. They said: "If you let this man go, you are not Caesar's friend." This was, in effect: "Your record is not too good; you were reported once before; if you do not give us our way, we will report you again to the Emperor, and you will be dismissed." On that day in Jerusalem, Pilate's past rose up and haunted him. He was blackmailed into assenting to the death of Christ, because his previous mistakes had made it impossible for him both to defy the Jews and to keep his post. Somehow one cannot help being sorry for Pilate. He wanted to do the right thing; but he had not the courage to defy the Jews and do it. He crucified Jesus in order to keep his job.       - William Barclay

Matthew 27:25 - All the people answered, “His blood be on us and on our children!”  

If supporters of Jesus were in the crowd, they were a minority. Finally, they succeeded in having Barabbas released and Jesus condemned to be crucified. They accepted responsibility for this decision and called down God’s judgment upon them and their children if they were wrong (a judgment that possibly fell on them with the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70).              - Don Fleming

The Crucifixion of Jesus (Matthew 27:27-44; Mark 15:16-32; John 19:16-27)

Luke’s account of the crucifixion includes a prophecy of the fate of Jerusalem (Luke 23:29-31), more emphasis on the men who experienced crucifixion with Jesus (Luke 23:39-43), and less stress on the crowd that mocked Jesus. It climaxes with Jesus’ final prayer of trust in His Father (Luke 23:46) and the reactions of various people to His death (Luke 23:47-49).                  - Thomas Constable

It is significant to remember that Jesus did not suffer as the victim of circumstances. He was in control. Jesus said of His life in John 10:18, no one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. It is terrible to be forced to endure such torture, but to freely choose it out of love is remarkable. Can we ever rightly doubt God’s love for us again? Has He not gone to the most extreme length to demonstrate that love?    - David Guzik

Simon, a Cyrenian

Vs. 26 - As they led him away, they seized Simon, a Cyrenian, who was coming in from the country, and laid the cross on him to carry behind Jesus.

All four accounts of Jesus’ crucifixion include the detail that a bystander named Simon was coerced into carrying Jesus’ cross. 

When a criminal was condemned to be crucified, he was taken from the judgment hall and set in the middle of a hollow square of four Roman soldiers. His own cross was then laid upon his shoulders. And he was marched to the place of crucifixion by the longest possible route, while before him marched another soldier bearing a placard with his crime inscribed upon it, so that he might be a terrible warning to anyone else who was contemplating such a crime. That is what they did with Jesus.

He began by carrying his own Cross ( John 19:17); but under its weight his strength gave out and he could carry it no farther.              - William Barclay

Daughters of Jerusalem

Vs. 27-28 - A large crowd of people followed him, including women who were mourning and lamenting him. But turning to them, Jesus said, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves and your children.

Some women who are present begin to weep for Jesus.  Jesus warns that their tears should be reserved for their own fate.  The judgment on Jerusalem will be so horrible that the unhappy state of barrenness will be preferred.  People will call to the mountains and hills to shield them from the impending judgment.  Verse 31 is probably saying that if the judgment is severe on the innocent Jesus, then it will be incredibly harsh for the guilty Jerusalem.              - Thomas Schreiner

Crucified on Golgatha

Vs. 33 - When they arrived at the place called The Skull, they crucified him there.

Golgotha, the place of Jesus’ crucifixion, was a hill beside a main road just outside Jerusalem.          - Don Fleming

Crucifixion was an important method of capital punishment particularly among the Persians, Seleucids, Carthaginians, and Romans from about the 6th century BCE to the 4th century CE. It was most frequently used to punish political or religious agitators, pirates, slaves, or those who had no civil rights. Constantine the Great, the first Christian emperor, abolished it in the Roman Empire in the early 4th century CE out of veneration for Jesus Christ, the most famous victim of crucifixion.

There were various methods of performing the execution. Usually, the condemned man, after being whipped, or “scourged,” dragged the crossbeam of his cross to the place of punishment, where the upright shaft was already fixed in the ground. Stripped of his clothing either then or earlier at his scourging, he was bound fast with outstretched arms to the crossbeam or nailed firmly to it through the wrists.

Death ultimately occurred through a combination of constrained blood circulation, organ failure, and asphyxiation as the body strained under its own weight. It could be hastened by shattering the legs (crurifragium) with an iron club, which prevented them from supporting the body’s weight and made inhalation more difficult, accelerating both asphyxiation and shock.           - Encyclopedia Britannica

Sometimes prisoners hung for as long as a week, slowly dying of hunger and of thirst, suffering sometimes to the point of actual madness.         - William Barclay

Jesus Said

The Seven Last Words are the sayings uttered by Jesus as he hung on the cross on Good Friday. Gathered from the four Gospels, we hear Jesus speaking to God, to his mother, his disciples, to a penitent thief—and to us, today—of forgiveness, redemption and complete surrender to the will of God. The Seven Last Words also demonstrate Jesus’ fulfillment of the messianic prophecies.

Even until his final breath, Jesus provided instruction and inspiration for his followers.    - Sister Celeste Marie Nuttman

"Father, forgive them." - Luke 23:34

“Today you shall be with me in paradise." - Luke 23:43

"Woman, behold your son," and "Behold, your mother." - John 19:26-27

"My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" - Matthew 27:46, Mark 15:34

"I thirst." - John 19:28

"It is finished." - John 19:30

"Father, into your hands I commend my spirit." - Matthew 27:50, Luke 23:46

The King of The Jews

Vs. 36-38 - The soldiers also mocked him. They came offering him sour wine and said, “If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself!”  An inscription was above him: This Is the King of the Jews.

From all accounts, we know that, in addition to Roman soldiers, the religious leaders, some of the onlookers, and one of the crucified criminals joined in the mockery of Jesus during His crucifixion.  The primary taunt was apparently the sarcastic repetition of the charge that He claimed to be “The King of the Jews” who saved others but could not save himself. 

In John 19:21, we read that the religious leaders among the Jews objected to this title. They felt it was false, because they did not believe that Jesus was the King of the Jews. They also believed it was demeaning, because it showed Rome’s power to humiliate and torture even the “King of the Jews.” Yet Pilate would not alter this, and when asked to take down the inscription he answered, What I have written, I have written (John 19:22).               - David Guzik

Two Other Criminals

Vs. 32 - Two others—criminals—were also led away to be executed with him.

Isaiah 53:12 - he willingly submitted to death, and was counted among the rebels;

Vs. 39 - 40 - Then one of the criminals hanging there began to yell insults at him: “Aren’t you the Messiah? Save yourself and us!”  But the other answered, rebuking him: “Don’t you even fear God, since you are undergoing the same punishment?

Only Luke recorded the details of Jesus’ conversation with the criminals crucified with Him.  

Both Matthew (Matthew 27:44) and Mark (Mark 15:32) indicate that both criminals mocked Jesus. Though at first they both mocked Jesus, in the hours spent on the cross, one of the criminals came to see things differently.             - David Guzik

Vs. 43 - And he said to him, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.”

This is a puzzling statement.  Where was paradise?  And how would this man find himself there with Jesus on that day?  

Paradise (paradeisos), a Persian word meaning ‘garden, park,’ was used in the Septuagint for the Garden of Eden (Genesis 2:8). It then became a type of the future bliss for God’s people in Isaiah 51:3…In the present passage it represents the state of bliss which Jesus promised to the criminal directly after death.    - Pate

The Death of Jesus (Matthew 27:45-55; Mark 15:33-41; John 19:28-37)

The Darkness And The Curtain

Vs. 44-45 - It was now about noon, and darkness came over the whole land until three, because the sun’s light failed. The curtain of the sanctuary was split down the middle.

Darkness obscuring the sun represented judgment obscuring the beneficent light of God’s countenance (cf. Isaiah 5:30; Isaiah 60:2; Joel 2:30-31; Amos 5:18; Amos 5:20; Zephaniah 1:14-18; Luke 22:53; Acts 2:20; 2 Peter 2:17; Revelation 6:12-17). Evidently this was a local rather than a universal phenomenon. 

Luke moved the tearing of the temple veil up in his narrative whereas Matthew and Mark placed it after Jesus’ death as a consequence of that event. It symbolizes the opening of the way into God’s presence that Jesus’ death effected in those Gospels.              - Thomas Constable

Acts 6:7 says that in the days of the early church, a great many of the priests were obedient to the faith. Perhaps this torn veil demonstrated to them the greatness of the work of Jesus. It is also probably how the torn veil became common knowledge.             - David Guzik

Into Your Hands

Vs. 46 - And Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Father, into your hands I entrust my spirit.” Saying this, he breathed his last.

Jesus died with a prayer on his lips. "Father, into your hands I commit my spirit." That is Psalms 31:5 with one word added--Father. That verse was the prayer every Jewish mother taught her child to say last thing at night. Just as we were taught, maybe, to say, "This night I lay me down to sleep," so the Jewish mother taught her child to say, before the threatening dark came down, "Into thy hands I commit my spirit." Jesus made it even more lovely for he began it with the word Father. Even on a cross Jesus died like a child falling asleep in his father's arms.               - William Barclay

The Centurion 

Vs. 47 - When the centurion saw what happened, he began to glorify God, saying, “This man really was righteous!”

Both Matthew and Luke noted the response of a Roman centurion who witnessed Jesus’ final moments.  In contrast to the lack of feeling shown by most of the soldiers, the centurion in charge of the execution was filled with wonder at what he saw. He was convinced that Jesus was all he claimed to be.       - Don Fleming

The Burial of Jesus (Matthew 27:57-61; Mark 15:42-47; John 19:38-42)

Joseph And Nicodemus

Vs. 50-51 - There was a good and righteous man named Joseph, a member of the Sanhedrin, who had not agreed with their plan and action.

Two members of the Sanhedrin did not agree with the decision to crucify Jesus. They were Nicodemus (cf. John 3:1-12; John 7:45-52) and Joseph, the latter being a man from the Judean town of Arimathea.      - Don Fleming

Barclay wonders if the details of Jesus’ trial before the Sanhedrin came from Joseph, Nicodemus, or other religious leaders who eventually came to accept Jesus as the Messiah.  Many commentators do not believe that these men were present at the illegal, early-morning meeting, but we don’t know for sure.  Either way, they would have been privy to the details. 

Somehow, despite being surrounded by the jealousy and unbelief of their contemporaries, these men came to believe that Jesus was sent from God.  They must have been conflicted but also convinced, just as the centurion who witnessed His death, that this Teacher was righteous. 

John 19:39-40 - Nicodemus (who had previously come to him at night) also came, bringing a mixture of about seventy-five pounds of myrrh and aloes. They took Jesus’s body and wrapped it in linen cloths with the fragrant spices, according to the burial custom of the Jews.

Joseph, like many rich people, had built a fine tomb to be used one day for himself, but he sacrificed it so that Jesus could have an honourable burial. The two men took the body down from the cross late on the Friday afternoon, and prepared it for burial by wrapping it in cloth with spices.      - Don Fleming

The Sabbath And The Women

Vs. 54 - It was the preparation day, and the Sabbath was about to begin.

Vs. 55-56 - The women who had come with him from Galilee followed along and observed the tomb and how his body was placed. Then they returned and prepared spices and perfumes.

The women “from Galilee” were likely those mentioned earlier (23:49) who had witnessed Jesus’ crucifixion from a distance.  Most notably, they included Jesus’ mother and Mary of Magdala in Galilee who was known as Mary Magdalene (John 19:25). 

The women do not have time to anoint Jesus in the proper manner before the Sabbath, so they note where the tomb is and prepare the spices before the Sabbath begins, waiting for the Sabbath to end before returning to the tomb.            - Thomas Schreiner

This reference to the women prepares for the account of Jesus’ resurrection. When they went to the tomb on Sunday morning, they did not go to the wrong one. They had previously been there and had seen Jesus’ corpse in it. They prepared spices for their return visit on Sunday to honor Jesus further.       - Thomas Constable

The Guards (Matthew 27:62-66)

Matthew recorded that, at the request of the Jewish religious leaders, guards were placed at the entrance of Jesus’ tomb to prevent anyone from tampering with or stealing His body. 

By their excessive care and diligence, instead of preventing Christ’s resurrection, as they intended, they have confirmed the truth and belief of it to all the world.     - Poole