Luk 23 | TNotes | STEP | 23:1 The council did not have the right to administer capital punishment (John 18:31 ), so they had to take Jesus before the Roman governor , who was in Jerusalem to maintain order during the potentially turbulent Passover festival.

23:1 ^a The council did not have the right to administer capital punishment (John 18:31 ^b), so they had to take Jesus before the Roman governor, who was in Jerusalem to maintain order during the potentially turbulent Passover festival.
23:2 ^c The religious charges against Jesus were now replaced by political ones in order to gain a Roman conviction. Pilate was only interested in what concerned Rome. The Jewish charge of blasphemy would not be sufficient, so the council had to show that Jesus was a danger to Rome. They accused Jesus of inciting insurrection against Roman taxation and claiming to be a king. All but the last charge were false.
23:3 ^d You have said it: This is the same vague answer that Jesus gave to the high council (22:70 ^e), emphasizing Jesus’ acceptance of the title “king of the Jews” but suggesting that Pilate’s understanding of the title was different from his own.
23:4 ^f I find nothing wrong with this man! To Pilate, Jesus did not seem to be a political threat.
23:5 ^g he is causing riots: This accusation was also false, but the religious leaders knew that Pilate feared civil unrest and revolt against Rome.
Summary for Luke 23:6-7: 23:6-7 ^h Realizing that Jesus was a Galilean and thus under the jurisdiction of Herod Antipas, Pilate saw an opportunity to get out of this sticky situation without condemning an innocent man or angering the religious leaders.
23:8 ⁱ Herod was delighted: He was curious about Jesus’ power as a miracle worker and religious teacher, just as he had been curious about John the Baptist (9:7 ^j, 9 ^k; Mark 6:20 ^l).
23:9 ^m Jesus refused to answer: See Isa 53:7 ⁿ.
23:12 ^o Herod and Pilate, who had been enemies before: There was a history of bad blood between Herod Antipas and Pilate. Herod and three of his brothers had previously brought charges against Pilate before Tiberius Caesar when Pilate set up idolatrous golden shields in Jerusalem, and Tiberius had ordered Pilate to remove the shields. Pilate was also governing Judea, which Antipas’s father, Herod the Great, had once ruled, and which Antipas hoped one day to claim as his own.
Summary for Luke 23:14-15: 23:14-15 ^p Pilate and Herod repeatedly declared Jesus innocent (23:4 ^q, 22 ^r)—Jesus was the righteous and innocent suffering servant of the Lord (see also 23:41 ^s, 47 ^t; Isa 53:11 ^u).
Summary for Luke 23:16-18: 23:16-18 ^v I will have him flogged (or I will teach him a lesson!): The Greek word can mean “instruct,” “punish,” or “discipline”; it refers to a relatively mild whipping given for lesser offenses. It was different from the severe flogging that Romans gave in preparation for crucifixion (see Matt 27:26 ^w; Mark 15:15 ^x).
23:19 ^y Palestine was a breeding ground for insurrection in the decades leading up to the Jewish revolt of AD 66–74. The Jewish historian Josephus describes a series of first-century revolutionaries, such as Judas of Galilee, who opposed Roman rule and taxation (see also Acts 5:36-37 ^z).
23:24 ^aa So Pilate sentenced Jesus to die: Pilate, always the ruthless pragmatist, felt that it was worth a miscarriage of justice to avoid antagonizing the religious leaders and crowds and jeopardizing his political career (see John 19:12 ^ab and corresponding study note).
23:26 ^ac Simon might have been a Jewish pilgrim visiting Jerusalem for Passover.

• put the cross on him: Prisoners bound for crucifixion were normally forced to carry the crossbeam to the place of execution. It was fastened to the upright beam at the crucifixion site.
23:28 ^ad Jesus warned of the horrors that would come to Jerusalem during its siege and destruction in AD 70.
23:29 ^ae Fortunate indeed are the women who are childless: Childlessness was normally a cause of great shame (see study note on 1:7), but during this catastrophe, those who didn’t have to see their children starve to death would be the fortunate ones.
23:30 ^af People will beg the mountains, ‘Fall on us’: Death would be better than the extended agony and suffering that Jerusalem would experience.
23:31 ^ag If the Romans crucified an innocent man when the tree was green (i.e., during a period of relative peace), what more horrible things would they do when it was dry (i.e., when the land had become a tinderbox of revolution)? During the siege of Jerusalem (AD 66–70), the Romans crucified thousands of Jews outside the city of Jerusalem.
23:33 ^ah The Skull: Greek kranion; the Aramaic term is Golgotha (Matt 27:33 ^ai; Mark 15:22 ^aj). The location is uncertain, but it has traditionally been associated with the present Church of the Holy Sepulchre. A less likely location is Gordon’s Calvary, a rock outcrop near the Garden Tomb.

• they nailed him to the cross: Victims were often tied to the cross or nailed through the wrists and ankles to hasten death—here, the bodies had to be buried before sunset due to the approaching Sabbath.
23:34 ^ak by throwing dice (see John 19:23-24 ^al): The prisoner’s possessions were treated as spoils of war and divided among the soldiers.
23:35 ^am The crowd watched and the leaders scoffed (see Ps 22:7-8 ^an): Psalm 22 ^ao speaks of David, a righteous sufferer, crying out to God for protection. Jesus, David’s descendant, was the ultimate righteous sufferer who fulfilled Ps 22 ^ap.
23:36 ^aq Sour wine (cp. Ps 69:21 ^ar) was a popular drink of the lower classes, especially among soldiers.
23:38 ^as The sign confirmed that Jesus was crucified on the charge of claiming to be the King of the Jews (cp. John 19:19-22 ^at).
23:42 ^au remember me when you come into your Kingdom: The criminal was perhaps thinking of the resurrection at the end of time, when Jesus would be raised up and vindicated by God.
23:43 ^av Jesus corrected the man by assuring him that today he would be vindicated in God’s presence (see also 2:11 ^aw; 4:21 ^ax; 5:26 ^ay; 19:9 ^az).

• The word translated paradise comes from a Persian word that means “garden”; it was used in Jewish literature for the Garden of Eden and also for heaven, the place of eternal bliss for God’s people (see 2 Cor 12:4 ^ba; Rev 2:7 ^bb; cp. Luke 16:22-23 ^bc; 2 Cor 5:8 ^bd).
23:44 ^be Darkness symbolizes sorrow as well as God’s judgment (Ps 23:4 ^bf; Isa 8:22 ^bg; 9:1-2 ^bh).
23:45 ^bi the curtain in the sanctuary of the Temple: One curtain separated the Temple courtyard from the Holy Place, and another separated the Holy Place from the Most Holy Place. Luke does not say which was torn down the middle, but it was probably the latter—Jesus’ death put an end to the sacrificial system of the Temple and opened a new and permanent way into the presence of God (see Heb 10:19-20 ^bj).
23:46 ^bk Father, I entrust my spirit into your hands! See Ps 31:5 ^bl; Ps 31 ^bm is another psalm about a righteous sufferer (see study note on Luke 23:35).
23:47 ^bn innocent (or righteous; cp. Mark 15:39 ^bo): Cp. Luke 23:14-15 ^bp. The innocent and righteous servant of the Lord died as a sacrifice for the sins of his people (Isa 53:11 ^bq).
23:48 ^br went home in deep sorrow (literally went home beating their breasts): Beating the breast was a sign of sorrow and mourning.
Summary for Luke 23:50-51: 23:50-51 ^bs Not all the religious leaders opposed Jesus—Joseph had opposed the actions of the council.

• The location of Arimathea in Judea is uncertain; it might be Ramathaim (= Ramah), twenty miles (thirty-two kilometers) northwest of Jerusalem.
23:52 ^bt He went to Pilate and asked for Jesus’ body: The Romans used crucifixion as a public warning against revolt, so they did not generally allow a victim to be buried. Instead, they left the body exposed or rotting on the cross. An exception was made in this case, probably because Pilate knew that Jesus was innocent and because of Joseph’s position of prestige on the Jewish high council.
23:53 ^bu The new tomb had probably been purchased by Joseph as a family tomb.
23:54 ^bv This was done late on Friday afternoon, the day of preparation: The Greek text does not explicitly refer to Friday, but simply to the day of preparation for the Sabbath of Passover week; the Sabbath began Friday evening.

• as the Sabbath was about to begin: The body had to be buried quickly, because the Jews could not work during the Sabbath, which began at sunset.
Summary for Luke 23:55-56: 23:55-56 ^bw The women took special note of the tomb’s location because they would return with spices and ointments to anoint his body. The spices were to mask the stench of a rotting corpse. A body would be placed on a stone bench in the side of the tomb until the flesh decomposed. The bones would then be collected and placed in a small ossuary, or bone box, and placed on a shelf in the tomb. In this way, a tomb could be used for many family members over an extended period of time.