Luke 23:32-49

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Dean, School of Christian Studies, University of Mobile

HE OFFERS SALVATION: BELIEVE

Luke 23:32−49

The Crucifixion (32−38)
The Romans led away two robbers to execute with Jesus. Apocryphal Gospels named them variously — Zoathan and Cain, Dismas and Gestas, Titus and Dumachus — but Scripture leaves them anonymous.

At “the place” called “The Skull” (in Aramaic, “Golgotha”) the execution squad hung Jesus on a cross between the two criminals. No evidence shows Golgotha was a hill. Indeed, Romans usually put crosses beside well-traveled roads so passersby could see the fate of anyone who challenged the empire and be deterred. Usually victims hung close to the ground, not five or six feet up in the air.

The Persians originated crucifixion, just impaling their victims on a sharp stake. The Romans refined it so victims would suffer. Some victims were tied to their crosses; Jesus was nailed to His. A bone box found near Jerusalem contained the skeleton of a crucified man. Nails through the forearms near the wrists ran between the ulna and radius. His feet had been nailed sideways to the cross with a single spike through a wooden cleat, then through the right side of his right ankle and the right side of his left ankle (creating a twist of about 90 degrees at the waist). Executioners had shattered his lower legs with a single blow that crushed the right leg and cracked the left leg against the edge of the upright.

Victims of crucifixion died from any number of causes: exposure; dehydration; fever from the wounds of the whips and the nails; drastic drop in blood pressure that led to congestive heart failure. But most victims suffocated. Suspension by the arms leaves the ribs expanded so the victim must lift himself on his spikes/ropes to breathe out so long as he has strength. When the crucified had no strength left to push himself up for a breath, he suffocated. Sometimes the soldiers even built fires at the foot of a cross so the heat and smoke made it harder to breathe. To hasten death, the soldiers broke the legs of the men crucified with Jesus. But Jesus was already dead when they came to check. His executioners gambled for Jesus’ garments. Crucifixion was in the nude to add to the shame and because the condemned had no further use for clothing. Bystanders watched but the Jewish rulers and soldiers mocked. Pilate ordered an inscription placed over the head of Jesus telling the reason for His execution: “This is the King of the Jews.”

If Jesus was God’s Messiah, one robber argued, He ought to save Himself and two crucified with Him. The other disagreed: “You should fear God and not speak. We are getting what we deserve (justice demanded the death penalty) but Jesus is innocent.” Then he turned to Jesus. “Remember me when you come in your kingdom.” It is not clear what the robber thought would be the nature of Jesus’ kingdom or when it might come. But for him it was enough that Jesus was its king and promised they would be together in the future he was about to enter. The blessing would come not in the far distant future but on that very day.

His Death (39−46)
From noon (“the sixth hour”) till three (“the ninth hour”) darkness shrouded the land. It could not be due to a solar eclipse because the crucifixion took place at Passover when the moon is full. The “veil of the temple,” 60 feet by 30 feet and 5 inches thick, that separated the Holy of Holies from the Holy Place, was ripped in two, probably to show that through Christ’s death God had opened the way into the divine presence for all (see Heb. 6:19, 9:3, 10:20). At last Jesus drew a breath and cried out, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” This was the going-to-bed prayer every Jewish boy learned at his mother’s knee, on the order of “Now I lay me down to sleep.” And He breathed His last.

Its Effect (47−49)
The centurion had heard the mockery but concluded truth was on the side of Jesus, not the scorners. He “praised God” and publicly confessed that Jesus was “a righteous man.”

The spectators mourned and beat their breasts in guilt over this gross miscarriage of justice.