Jesus Before Pilate
Luke 23Then the whole assembly rose up and brought him before Pilate. They began to accuse him, saying, “We found this man subverting our ethnic group, forbidding us to pay taxes to Caesar, and saying that he himself is Christ, a king.”
So Pilate asked him, “Are you the king of the Jews?”
He answered him, “So you say.”
Then Pilate said to the chief priests and the crowd, “I find no basis for a charge against this man.”
But they kept insisting, “He stirs up the people, teaching throughout all Judea, starting in Galilee all the way here.”
But when Pilate heard this, he asked if the man was a Galilean. When he found out that Jesus was under Herod’s jurisdiction, he sent him to Herod, who was also in Jerusalem at that time.
Jesus before Herod
Now when Herod was very pleased when he saw Jesus, because he had wanted to see him for a long time. He had been hearing about him, and he was hoping to see him perform a miracle. So he accosted him with many questions, but Jesus gave no response. The chief priests and the scribes were standing there, vehemently accusing him. Herod with his soldiers humiliated and mocked him, dressed him in a sumptuous robe, and sent him back to Pilate. That day Herod and Pilate became friends. Before this, they had been enemies.
Pilate called together the chief priests, the rulers, and the people, and said to them, “Y’all brought this man to me as someone who misleads the people. When I examined him before y’all, I found nothing in this man causative of what y’all accuse him. Neither has Herod, for he sent him back to us. As you can see, he has done nothing worthy of death. Therefore, I will punish him and then release him.”+23:16 Some manuscripts include verse 17 “Now he had to release one prisoner to them at the feast.” simliar to Matt. 27:15 and Mark 15:6.
But the entire crowd shouted, “Away with this man! Release to us Barabbas!” (He had been thrown into prison for an insurrection in the city, and for murder.)
Again, Pilate addressed them, wanting to release Jesus, but they kept shouting, “Crucify! Crucify him!”
A third time, he said to them, “Why? What wrong has this man done? I have found in him no grounds for the death penalty. Therefore, I will have him punished and then release him.” But they were insistent, demanding with loud voices that he might be crucified. And their voices prevailed. So Pilate decided to grant what they demanded. He released the man who had been thrown into prison for insurrection and murder, the one they begged for, and handed over Jesus to their will.
The Crucifixion
As they led him away, they seized Simon of Cyrene, who was coming in from the country, and they laid the cross on him to carry it behind Jesus. A large crowd of the people followed him, including women who were mourning and lamenting him. But Jesus turned toward them and said, “Daughters of Jerusalem, y’all must not weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for y’all’s children. Look, the days are coming when they will say, ‘Blessed are the barren women, the wombs that never bore and the breasts that never nursed.’ Then they will begin to tell the mountains, ‘Y’all fall on us!’ and tell the hills, ‘Y’all cover us.’+Hos 10:8 For if they do these things in the wood is wet, what will happen when it is dry?”
Two others, who were criminals, were also led to be executed with him. When they came to the place that is called “The Skull”, they crucified him there along with the criminals—one on the right and one on the left.
Then Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”
And they divided up his garments among them by casting lots. The people stood by, watching. But the rulers ridiculed him, saying, “He saved others. Let him save himself, if this is the Christ of God, ʜɪꜱ Chosen One!”
The soldiers also mocked him. They came to him and offered him wine vinegar, saying, “If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!”
There was also an inscription above him: “this is the king of the jews.”
One of the criminals who was hanging there began to vilify him, “Aren’t you the Christ? Save yourself and us!”
But the other answered, rebuking him, “Don’t you even fear God, seeing you are under the same judgment? Surely we are punished justly, getting what we deserve for our actions, but this man has done nothing wrong.” Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your empire.”
Jesus said to him, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise.”
It was now about noon, and darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon, because the sun’s light failed. And the veil of the temple was torn down the middle. Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!” Having said this, he breathed his last.
When the centurion saw what had happened, he glorified God, saying, “Certainly this was a righteous man.” When all the crowds who had gathered for the spectacle had seen what had happened, they returned home beating their chests. But all who knew him, including the women who followed with him from Galilee, stood at a distance, seeing these things.
The Burial
Now there was a man named Joseph, a member of the council, a good and righteous man who had not consented to their plan and action. He was from Arimathea, a city of the Jews, and he was waiting for the Empire of God. He went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. The he took it down and wrapped it in a linen cloth, and placed him in a tomb that was cut into stone, where no one had ever been laid. It was the day of the Preparation, and the Sabbath was about to begin.
The women who had come with him out of Galilee followed, and they saw the tomb and how his body was placed. They returned home and prepared spices and perfumes. And they rested on the Sabbath according to the commandment.