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Jesus before Pilate
Luke 23.1-49
Good News Translation (GNT)
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1 The whole group rose up and took Jesus
before Pilate,
2 where they began to accuse him: "We caught
this man misleading our people, telling them
not to pay taxes to the Emperor and claiming
that he himself is the Messiah, a king."
3 Pilate asked him,
"Are you the king of the Jews?"
"So you say," answered Jesus.
4 Then Pilate said to the chief priests and
the crowds,
"I find no reason to condemn this man."
5 But they insisted even more strongly,
"With his teaching he is starting a riot among
the people all through Judea.
He began in Galilee and now has come here."
Jesus before Herod
6 When Pilate heard this, he asked,
"Is this man a Galilean?"
7 When he learned that Jesus was from the
region ruled by Herod, he sent him to Herod,
who was also in Jerusalem at that time.
8 Herod was very pleased when he saw Jesus,
because he had heard about him and had
been wanting to see him for a long time.
He was hoping to see Jesus perform some
miracle.
9 So Herod asked Jesus many questions, but
Jesus made no answer.
10 The chief priests and the teachers of the Law
stepped forward and made strong accusations
against Jesus.
11 Herod and his soldiers made fun of Jesus and
treated him with contempt; then they put a fine
robe on him and sent him back to Pilate.
12 On that very day Herod and Pilate became
friends; before this they had been enemies.
Jesus Is Sentenced to Death
13 Pilate called together the chief priests,
the leaders, and the people,
14 and said to them, "You brought this man to me
and said that he was misleading the people.
Now, I have examined him here in your
presence, and I have not found him guilty of
any of the crimes you accuse him of.
15 Nor did Herod find him guilty, for he sent him
back to us. There is nothing this man has
done to deserve death.
16 So I will have him whipped and let him go."
17 17 [a]
18 The whole crowd cried out,
"Kill him! Set Barabbas free for us!"
19 (Barabbas had been put in prison for a riot that
had taken place in the city, and for murder.)
20 Pilate wanted to set Jesus free, so he
appealed to the crowd again.
21 But they shouted back,
"Crucify him! Crucify him!"
22 Pilate said to them the third time, "But what
crime has he committed? I cannot find
anything he has done to deserve death!
I will have him whipped and set him free."
23 But they kept on shouting at the top of their
voices that Jesus should be crucified, and
finally their shouting succeeded.
24 So Pilate passed the sentence on Jesus that
they were asking for.
25 He set free the man they wanted, the one who
had been put in prison for riot and murder,
and he handed Jesus over for them to do
as they wished.
Jesus Is Crucified
26 The soldiers led Jesus away, and as they
were going, they met a man from Cyrene
named Simon who was coming into the city
from the country. They seized him, put the
cross on him, and made him carry it behind
Jesus.
27 A large crowd of people followed him; among
them were some women who were weeping
and wailing for him.
28 Jesus turned to them and said,
"Women of Jerusalem! Don't cry for me, but
for yourselves and your children.
29 For the days are coming when people will say,
'How lucky are the women who never had
children, who never bore babies, who never
nursed them!'
30 That will be the time when people will say to
the mountains, 'Fall on us!' and to the hills,
'Hide us!'
31 For if such things as these are done when the
wood is green, what will happen when it is
dry?"
32 Two other men, both of them criminals, were
also led out to be put to death with Jesus.
33 When they came to the place called
"The Skull," they crucified Jesus there,
and the two criminals, one on his right and
the other on his left.
34 Jesus said, "Forgive them, Father!
They don't know what they are doing." [b]
They divided his clothes among themselves
by throwing dice.
35 The people stood there watching while the
Jewish leaders made fun of him: "He saved
others; let him save himself if he is
the Messiah whom God has chosen!"
36 The soldiers also made fun of him: they came
up to him and offered him cheap wine,
37 and said, "Save yourself if you are
the king of the Jews!"
38 Above him were written these words:
"This is the King of the Jews."
39 One of the criminals hanging there hurled
insults at him: "Aren't you the Messiah?
Save yourself and us!"
40 The other one, however, rebuked him, saying,
"Don't you fear God? You received the same
sentence he did.
41 Ours, however, is only right, because we are
getting what we deserve for what we did; but
he has done no wrong."
42 And he said to Jesus, "Remember me, Jesus,
when you come as King!"
43 Jesus said to him, "I promise you that today
you will be in Paradise with me."
The Death of Jesus
44-45 It was about twelve o'clock when the sun
stopped shining and darkness covered
the whole country until three o'clock; and the
curtain hanging in the Temple was torn in two.
46 Jesus cried out in a loud voice,
"Father! In your hands I place my spirit!"
He said this and died.
47 The army officer saw what had happened, and
he praised God, saying, "Certainly he was
a good man!"
49 When the people who had gathered there
to watch the spectacle saw what happened,
they all went back home, beating their
breasts in sorrow.
49 All those who knew Jesus personally,
including the women who had followed him
from Galilee, stood at a distance to watch.
Footnotes
Luke 23:17 Some manuscripts add verse 17:
At every Passover Festival Pilate had to
set free one prisoner for them (see Mk 15.6)
Luke 23:34 Some manuscripts do not have
Jesus said, "Forgive them, Father! They don't
know what they are doing."
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Commentary taken from
'The Applied New Testament Commentary'
(Kingsway)
Jesus before Pilate
Luke 23.1-49
Very early in the morning the Jewish leaders reached a decision.
During the night they had condemned Jesus to death for blaspheming God (Mark 14:64).
But they themselves had no authority to carry out the death penalty.
Israel was a colony of the Roman Empire, and only the Roman governor Pontius Pilate -
(Pontius Pilate was governor of the province of Judea from 26-36 A.D.
Usually he resided at Caesarea, but during Passover each year he came to Jerusalem to ensure that there was no rioting among the Jews, because during Passover week Jewish nationalistic feelings ran high.)
could execute criminals.
However, the charge of blasphemy against God meant nothing to the Romans.
That was purely a Jewish religious matter. Pilate would not agree to execute a man for that reason.
Therefore, the Jewish leaders had to bring a charge against Jesus that in Pilate's eyes would justify the death penalty.
The Sanhedrin reached a decision to charge Jesus with making Himself the "king of the Jews."
The Jewish leaders would say that Jesus was trying to set up an independent kingdom.
To the Romans this would be treason; surely, Pilate would agree to execute Jesus on that charge.
The Jewish leaders also falsely charged Jesus with opposing the payment of taxes to Caesar (see Luke 23:1-2).
Therefore, when Pilate had heard the charge against Jesus, he asked Him,
"Are you the king of the Jews?" Jesus answered, "Yes, it is as you say."
In place of the words, Yes, it is as you say, some versions of the Bible say,
"You have said so," which is a literal translation of the Greek text.
The expression, "You have said so," is a Jewish idiom meaning "Yes".
But Jesus was not the kind of king Pilate imagined.
Jesus' kingdom was not of this world
(John 18:36).
Pilate, the Roman governor, found no basis for a charge against Jesus. He considered the charge of the Jewish leaders to be only a local Jewish matter.
Furthermore, Roman officials like Pilate did not judge in religious disputes that arose among the people of their provinces (see Acts 18:12-16).
But the Jewish leaders persisted. They had cleverly decided not to accuse Jesus of blasphemy, which Pilate would surely have considered a religious matter.
Instead, they said, "He stirs up the people" (verse 5).
In other words, they accused Jesus of inciting a rebellion against the Roman emperor, Caesar.
They said that Jesus was trying to make Himself a king.
Such a charge, they figured, would be sure to alarm Pilate, and force him to take some severe action against Jesus.
Jesus Before Herod (23:6-16)
When Pilate heard that Jesus had begun His preaching in Galilee, he asked if Jesus was a Galilean.
When he found out that He was, Pilate at once sent Jesus to the puppet ruler, King Herod,who had jurisdiction over the province of Galilee.
Herod had heard much about the great works that Jesus had performed. He hoped to be able to see Jesus perform a miracle.
But Herod wasn't interested in finding out who Jesus really was. He only wanted to be entertained.
But Jesus would do nothing for Herod.
He would not even speak to him.
For the poorest and lowest of men Jesus did miracles, but not for proud and unbelieving kings.
The Jewish leaders had also gone with Jesus to Herod so that they could further accuse him.
They hoped that Herod would agree to passing the death sentence on Jesus.
Herod became angry when Jesus refused to speak to him.
So he and his soldiers mocked Jesus.
Because of Jesus' silence, Herod was unable to render a verdict, and so he sent Jesus back to Pilate.
Again Pilate said to the Jews that Jesus had done nothing worthy of death (verses 14-15).
But in order to mollify the Jews, Pilate agreed to punish Jesus by scourging Him.
By doing this, Pilate hoped that the Jews would drop their demands for Jesus' death
Each year at the Passover festival the Roman governor used to release a Jewish prisoner.
This was done as a gesture to please the Jews.
The Jews could choose whichever person they wanted to be freed.
This year the crowd asked Pilate to do for them what he usually did, that is, to release a prisoner.
Pilate, having found no guilt in Jesus, wanted to release Him.
Pilate knew that it was because of envy at Jesus' popularity that the Jewish leaders wanted Him to be killed.
However, Pilate thought the crowd of ordinary Jews would be pleased to have Jesus released.
He thought that by letting the common people choose which prisoner should be released he could keep them happy and at the same time avoid condemning an innocent man to death.
Thus Pilate would be able to satisfy the people and keep a clear conscience as well.
But, to Pilate's surprise, the people didn't choose Jesus.
Only a few days before, they had been shouting "Hosanna" as Jesus entered Jerusalem.
Now they turned against Jesus.
Why? Because the chief priests stirred up the crowd to have Pilate release Barabbas instead.
Barabbas was a convicted murderer and insurrectionist.
How deeply the people were under the influence of their chief priests!
How fickle the people were!
One moment they had considered Jesus to be the Messiah; the next moment they considered Him worse than a murderer.
According to Matthew 27:19-21, on that same day Pilate's wife had a dream about Jesus and sent Pilate a message saying, "Don't have anything to do with that innocent man."
By this means, God sent Pilate a special warning.
God in His mercy is always sending men warnings to keep them from sinning; and it is man's responsibility to heed such warnings.
But Pilate didn't heed the warning.
He gave in to the wishes of the people.
He was more interested in pleasing men than in pleasing God.
Pilate was in a dilemma.
He did not want to release Barabbas, because he was an insurrectionist and a murderer.
And he didn't want to condemn Jesus to death, because He had committed no crime worthy of death.
According to Luke 23:22, three times Pilate appealed to the people to reconsider and allow him to release Jesus.
To appease them, Pilate offered to have him punished and then release Him.
But they shouted all the louder, "Crucify him!".
According to Matthew 27:24-25, Pilate saw that he was getting nowhere.
An uproar was starting.
If he released Jesus, surely a greater uproar would occur.
And if such an uproar came to the attention of the emperor in Rome, Pilate would lose.
The Crucifixion (23:26-43)
Four women were standing watching while Jesus was crucified.
One was Jesus' mother Mary.
Think of Mary's sorrow to see her son dying on the cross.
The prophecy of Simeon had indeed come true:
And a sword will pierce your own soul too (Luke 2:35).
The second woman at the cross was the sister of Jesus' mother.
Some Bible scholars believe that this sister was Salome (Mark 15:40), who was the mother of James and John,122 the sons of Zebedee (Matthew 27:56).
If this is so, then John was related to Jesus.
The third woman at the cross was another Mary, the wife of Clopas. Some think that this Clopas is the same as the Cleopas mentioned in Luke 24:18.
The fourth woman at the cross was Mary of Magdala, called Mary Magdalene by the other Gospel writers.
Even as He was dying, Jesus thought of His mother.
She was standing there with the disciple whom he loved - that is, John.
So He told His mother,
"Dear woman, here is your son; that is, from now on John is going to be like your own son and care for you."
From this, we can surmise that Jesus' father Joseph had died sometime before; otherwise, he would have been the one responsible for Jesus' mother.
Jesus didn't place His mother in the care of His own brothers (Mary's other sons), because they were not yet believers (John 7:5).
Only after Jesus' resurrection and ascension did His brothers come to believe in Him (Acts 1:14).
Then Jesus said to John, "Here is your mother."
In this way Jesus placed His mother in John's care.
And from then on John took responsibility for her, as if he were her own son.
A darkness came over the whole land from 12 noon to 3 P.M.
This was not an ordinary solar eclipse, because the Passover festival always fell during the full moon.
According to Luke, the sun stopped shining (Luke 23:45).
Some great and special event occurred in the heavens during the last three hours of Jesus' life on earth.
The darkness was a sign of God's curse upon sinful mankind; it was a sign that God had withdrawn His presence from men.
Because, of all the terrible acts of men throughout history, the most terrible of all was the crucifying of Jesus, the Son of God.
In the entire history of the world, there has been no time as dark and evil as those three hours.
Then, just before He died, Jesus called out, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"
This is a quotation from Psalm 22:1.
Why did Jesus say that?
Because the darkness that fell on the whole land fell on Jesus also.
He also, in full measure, experienced separation from God.
He experienced God's full wrath, God's full curse upon sinful men.
He knew that cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree, that is, on a cross.
During the time Jesus hung on the cross, God indeed did forsake Him.
Our sin was laid on Jesus; He was made to be sin for us (2 Corinthians 5:21).
But God cannot look upon sin; therefore, God withdrew His face from Jesus.
In the garden of Gethsemane, an angel had come to strengthen Jesus (Luke 22:43).
But on the cross, there was no one to comfort and strengthen Him.
This was the price that Jesus paid to redeem us, to deliver us from God's wrath.
This is what it meant for Him to give his life as a ransom for many.
The people standing nearby heard Jesus say, "Eloi, Eloi," and mistakenly thought He was calling the prophet Elijah.
According to John 19:28-30, Jesus said He was thirsty, so He was given a drink.
When He had received the drink from the soldier, he said, "It is finished."
His work was finished.
He had accomplished what His Father had sent Him into the world to do.
At this time, according to Luke 23:46, Jesus also said,
"Father, into your hands I commit my spirit."
And after saying this, Jesus gave a loud cry and breathed his last.
At this time, according to Luke 23:46, Jesus also said, "Father, into your hands I commit my spirit."
And after saying this, Jesus gave a loud cry and breathed his last.
The curtain of the temple mentioned in this verse was the curtain at the entrance to the innermost room of the Jewish temple, the "Most Holy Place," where only the high priest was allowed to enter.
The Jews considered that God's presence dwelled in that room.
Once a year the high priest entered the Most Holy Place to offer a sacrifice for his own sins and for the sins of the people.
At the moment of Jesus' death, this curtain at the entrance of the Most Holy Place was torn in two from top to bottom, that is, it was destroyed.
This meant that no longer would the high priest have to enter the Most Holy Place to offer sacrifices for the sins of the people.
Jesus was the final sacrifice for sin; no other sacrifice would ever be necessary.
Because of Jesus' sacrifice, God has now forgiven the sins of believers and has declared them righteous.
Not only that, because believers have been declared righteous by God, they can now enter directly into His presence.
No longer is there a curtain keeping us from drawing near to God.
Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and
living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body... let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith.
Many of the Jewish priests learned about the tearing of the curtain.
Perhaps it is for this reason that later a large number of priests became obedient to the faith (Acts 6:7).
According to Matthew 27:51-53, there was also an earthquake at the time of Jesus' death.
Tombs broke open, and the bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life.
And after Jesus' resurrection they came into Jerusalem and appeared to many people.
This was a sign of the resurrection of all believers that will occur at the end of the world.
This was like an "advance" of what will happen to us when Jesus comes again.
Jesus was the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.
He was the firstborn from among the dead.
Thus at the time of Jesus' death and resurrection, some of the Old Testament saints also rose.
Then, when Jesus comes again, the rest of us shall rise also.
From this we can see that the faithful saints of the Old Testament who never knew Christ will in the end be brought to life.
Christ, through His death, conquered death indeed!
And by His death He destroyed him who holds the power of death-that is, the devil.
The centurion and the soldiers who crucified Jesus (Matthew 27:54) were amazed as they watched Him die.
Only a short time before they had been mocking Jesus.
They had driven the nails through Jesus' hands as they placed Him on the cross.
But then they saw the earth darken. They felt the earthquake.
They heard the words of Jesus from the cross.
They heard His final cry. Jesus did not die like other men they had seen.
The centurion said, "Surely this was a righteous man" (Luke 23:47).
"Surely this man was the Son of God."
The women who had come with Jesus from Galilee were more faithful and devoted than Jesus' disciples were.
They witnessed Jesus' death, and they later reported to the disciples what they had seen and heard.
Mary Magdalene had been healed by Jesus of seven demons (Luke 8:2).
Salome was the wife of Zebedee and the mother of the disciples James and John (Matthew 27:56).
Some Bible scholars believe that the second Mary mentioned here was Mary the mother of Jesus, but this is not certain.
Other versions are available here
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