Day 6 — The Starting Point: Who Jesus Is, and What He Has Done
Today’s Passage: Luke 23:32-49
It is Friday morning in Jerusalem during the week of Passover. Jesus has been awake all night. The Temple leadership arrested Him after dark, interrogated Him, and sent Him to Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor who held the authority to execute. Pilate sent Him to Herod, then took Him back. Three times, Pilate stated he found no guilt in the man. He handed Him over to the executioners anyway. Now a Roman work detail marches Jesus out of the city to kill Him. Luke states at the beginning of his gospel that he interviewed the eyewitnesses and wrote an orderly account. The text reads exactly like eyewitness testimony. Luke records a governor, officials, a military squad, a crowd, and two condemned men. You are reading about specific people carrying out a specific execution in a particular week. While these men were killing Him, Jesus forgave them, and He opened His kingdom to a dying criminal.
Context What a cross was
Rome designed crucifixion for slaves, rebels, and conquered populations. Roman citizens were exempt. The method maximized public viewing. Soldiers stripped the condemned, nailed them to wood beside a main road outside the city wall, and left them. The victims died over hours or days from exhaustion and suffocation. The soldiers on duty kept the victims’ clothing as a fringe benefit, gambling for the garments right at the foot of the cross while the men hung alive above them. Luke’s first readers already knew these details. Most of them had walked past a cross on their way out of town.
Luke 23:32-34 (BSB)
³² Two others, who were criminals, were also led away to be executed with Jesus. ³³ When they came to the place called The Skull, they crucified Him there, along with the criminals, one on His right and the other on His left. ³⁴ Then Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” And they divided up His garments by casting lots.
Jesus speaks His first words as a prayer for the men executing Him. He speaks while the hammer is in a soldier’s hand. He asks His Father to forgive the people carrying out the execution, offering their ignorance as the reason. In the exact same sentence, Luke reports the soldiers casting lots for His clothing. The prayer for forgiveness and the roll of the dice sit side by side in the historical record. Luke records both facts and moves to the next event.
Luke 23:35-38 (BSB)
³⁵ The people stood watching, and the rulers sneered at Him, saying, “He saved others; let Him save Himself if He is the Christ of God, the Chosen One.” ³⁶ The soldiers also mocked Him and came up to offer Him sour wine. ³⁷ “If You are the King of the Jews,” they said, “save Yourself!” ³⁸ Above Him was posted an inscription: THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS.
Three different groups make the exact same demand: save Yourself. The religious officials say it. The Roman soldiers say it. The sign above His head implies it. Pilate ordered that sign. Roman law required posting the criminal charge above a condemned man so passersby knew the offense. Pilate used this official placard as a joke at the expense of the province he governed.
The religious leaders sneer, He saved others. They concede the miracles. They use His past rescues as evidence against Him. Everyone agrees He possesses power. He stays on the cross anyway.
Luke 23:39-43 (BSB)
³⁹ One of the criminals who hung there heaped abuse on Him. “Are You not the Christ?” he said. “Save Yourself and us!” ⁴⁰ But the other one rebuked him, saying, “Do you not even fear God, since you are under the same judgment? ⁴¹ We are punished justly, for we are receiving what our actions deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.” ⁴² Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when You come into Your kingdom!” ⁴³ And Jesus said to him, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with Me in Paradise.”
Two men hang in identical agony, hours from identical deaths. One hurls insults. The other changes his mind.
The second criminal states three harsh facts. He fears God. He admits his own guilt in front of a crowd, stating they are getting exactly what their crimes deserve. He declares the man between them has done absolutely nothing wrong. Then he asks a favor. He asks a bleeding man to remember him later, when that man comes into a kingdom. The criminal has zero evidence in front of his eyes that a kingdom exists.
Count the assets this dying man holds. He has zero hours left to live a better life. He possesses no ability to pay back his victims. He has no time to join a movement, get baptized, or prove his sincerity. He brings empty hands.
Jesus answers him with a specific date. Today you will be with Me in Paradise. The criminal asked for future remembrance. Jesus promises immediate presence. The man brought nothing, turned from his past, and asked. Jesus accepted him on the spot.
Word study "Paradise", paradeisos (Luke 23:43)
Greek: παράδεισος (paradeisos), pronounced pah-RAH-day-sos. Strong’s G3857. The Greek language borrowed this word from Persian. In Persia, the word described a walled royal garden. It was the private, enclosed park of a king. The king walked there, and he brought his favored guests inside with him. Jesus tells a convicted, dying criminal that the King is taking him inside the gates today.
Luke 23:44-46 (BSB)
⁴⁴ It was now about the sixth hour, and darkness came over all the land until the ninth hour. ⁴⁵ The sun was darkened, and the veil of the temple was torn down the middle. ⁴⁶ Then Jesus called out in a loud voice, “Father, into Your hands I commit My Spirit.” And when He had said this, He breathed His last.
Total darkness covered the region from noon until three in the afternoon.
Inside the Temple, a heavy curtain closed off the innermost room. The presence of God rested behind that curtain. One designated priest entered that room exactly one day a year. While Jesus hung dying outside the city, that heavy veil tore from top to bottom. Luke reports the tearing in eight words and moves to the next event.
Jesus began His time on the cross talking to His Father, and He ends it talking to His Father. He speaks in a loud voice. A victim dying of asphyxiation lacks the lung capacity for volume. Jesus shouts, and then He stops breathing. He finishes His work deliberately.
Luke 23:47-49 (BSB)
⁴⁷ When the centurion saw what had happened, he gave glory to God, saying, “Surely this was a righteous man.” ⁴⁸ And when all the people who had gathered for this spectacle saw what had happened, they returned home beating their breasts. ⁴⁹ But all those who knew Jesus, including the women who had followed Him from Galilee, stood at a distance watching these things.
The Roman officer in charge of the execution detail speaks the first true verdict at the cross.
A centurion commanded eighty battle-hardened men. He had overseen executions before. He held no prior belief in the teachings of Jesus. He watched this specific execution, examined the evidence of how this man died, and reached a conclusion. He praised God and declared the victim a righteous man. The Roman military evaluated the facts and arrived at the truth first.
The local crowd walks home beating their chests, the cultural expression of deep grief. The friends of Jesus stand at a distance. The women who followed Him stay and watch.
Study notes Seven hundred years early
The prophet Isaiah recorded a description of a suffering servant seven centuries before the Roman Empire existed. That ancient text ends with two specific actions.
"Therefore I will allot Him a portion with the great, and He will divide the spoils with the strong, because He has poured out His life unto death, and He was numbered with the transgressors. Yet He bore the sin of many and made intercession for the transgressors." Isaiah 53:12 (BSB)
Numbered with the transgressors: the soldiers hung one criminal on His right and the other on His left. Made intercession for the transgressors: Jesus asked His Father to forgive the men driving the nails. Luke recorded the statements of the eyewitnesses. You must weigh whether those exact matches are the result of coincidence or design.
Read Luke 23:32-49 again. Read the words out loud. Weigh the evidence of a man who forgives His executioners and promises a kingdom to a dying thief. Then speak one honest sentence to God about what you read. Speak in your own words, even if your honest sentence is that you remain unsure if anyone is listening.