Into Thy Hands

Into Thy Hands

Luke Chapter 23

Jesus before Pilate

A continuing theme of Luke is the nature of the day-to-day life of Jesus. There are many examples. Luke, of course, gives us what we have of the family history of Jesus: the more elaborate of the two birth narratives, the story of the birth of John, and Jesus as a child in the temple. But there are also contrasts between Luke and the other Gospels which show Luke’s emphasis on the human experience of Jesus. For example, the other Gospels portray the final return to Jerusalem as an event. Matthew (20:17-19) and Mark (10:32-34) say that Jesus explained to his disciples exactly what would happen to him there. John (11:1-16) makes it clear that they did not understand him. But for Luke, the return is not an event, but a journey during which Jesus is constantly teaching, healing and gathering a following.

There is a similar contrast in Luke’s account of Jesus before Pilate (vv. 1-25). In Matthew (27:11-26) Pilate is in his judge’s seat, removed from Jesus, and is warned by his wife to have nothing to do with him. Pilate’s chief purpose seems to be to deliver the line “I am innocent of this man’s blood” so the Jews can reply “Let his blood be on us and our children.” In Mark (15:1-15) we have only the bare essentials of the exchange. In the extended exchange in John (18:28-19:16) Pilate is a complex, almost tragic figure, who asks “What is truth?” when he has the Truth standing right in front of him.

In Luke, there is no special theological emphasis, no attention to fulfillment of scripture. Instead, as so often in Luke, there is a picture. In this picture, there is Jesus, who had just come just triumphantly into Jerusalem with crowds of hosannas and is now alone and defenseless. It is supposed to be his trial, but all the action happens around him. The King of Kings is nothing but a pawn.

“Do not weep for me”

In vv. 26-31, we are first told of Simon, a man from Cyrene, was pressed into service carrying the cross for Jesus. The law was that any inhabitant of the occupied territories could be pressed into service by a Roman soldier at any time, and the summons was a tap on the shoulder with the flat of the sword. It seems as though Simon was not one of the crowd, either the disciples of Jesus or those who had come for the spectacle, but someone who was just on his way, perhaps coming to the city for the time of the feast. What must he have thought of this man, Jesus, whose indignity he shared?

The passage goes on to say that Jesus speaks to the women who were already mourning him. He tells them not to weep for him, but for themselves. He uses a strange expression: “If they do this when the wood is green, what will they do when the wood is dry?” We think of green wood as not being ready, but we know from scripture that Jesus was ready. But green wood does not burn. There had been every opportunity for riot, for Jesus to involve his followers in an uproar, but he forbade them to behave that way. Jesus is the one person in history who could every say “I am right, and I know I am right, and everyone else is wrong, and I will stand on principle.” He did do that, but not the way it is generally done.

Father, forgive them

Verses 32-34 continue with detail that is unique to Luke. Jesus’ prayer “Father, forgive them; for they no not what they do” is only found in Luke, and it should be noted that it is not found in some early manuscripts. Did they know what they were doing? Luke tells us that they had been seeking to kill Jesus for some time. They had plotted with Judas, paying him money. They had willfully lied about the charges against him. They knew they wanted to kill an innocent man.

We might ask another question. Jesus had taught his disciples (Matthew 6:6) to pray in private. Why was he praying aloud? Jesus prayed aloud in order to teach. He taught us so, in a prayer (John 11:41-42). What was it Jesus wished to teach us in this prayer? In the model prayer (Luke 11:2-4) we are taught to “forgive everyone who sins against us.” It is difficult, however, when we are sure that someone (sometimes it seems everyone) has acted so deliberately against us.

Jesus knew that among those who nailed him to the cross, those who hurled insults at him, those who deserted him, none of them knew who he really was or what was really going on. However personal an attack may feel, there is only one who truly knows us, the rest have their own agenda and we are merely in the way. If Jesus can say “this is not about me,” then so must we.

With me in paradise

Luke continues to provide unique details in vv. 35-43. Matthew (27:44) and Mark (15:27, 32) say that the robbers crucified with Jesus hurled insults at him along with the crowd. Perhaps they both did at first, but Luke tells us that one of the criminals recognized Jesus as a blameless man. From his request, “Remember me when you come into your kingdom,” or, as some manuscripts say “come with your kingly power,” it is not clear what he expected. May be he was still looking for an earthly Messiah.

Did he really believe? If he had faith, where were his works? Why did Jesus say “paradise” and not “heaven”? The man had certainly not gone down the “Roman Road” we teach for the conversion of sinners, not had he said any shibboleth we recognize today. May be his faith was not great, but just asks only for the faith of the grain of a mustard seed. And any place where we will be with Jesus will be paradise. Our Lord is in the business or redemption. His ways are not our ways.

Into thy hands

In vv. 44-46, Luke tells us of the actual death of Jesus. In the Luke account, two supernatural events are mentioned: the sun stops shining for several hours, and the curtain before the Holy of Holies was torn into. Matthew (27:50-53) adds that there was an earthquake, and that graves were opened and many who had been dead were raised and appeared to those in the city. Matthew and Mark say that Jesus gave a loud shout before he died. John (19:30) tells us that he said “It is finished” (in the Greek, it is the one word “finished”) and gave up his spirit. Perhaps word “finished” was the loud cry, and Luke tells us how he gave up his spirit.

Whatever the actual order of the sayings of Jesus on the cross, Luke chose to include this prayer because it continues to paint his picture. It shows us Jesus so completely abandoned at the moment of his death that he must pray for himself. It shows us that Jesus was so close to the Father that he was never alone. It shows us that, at the very end, Jesus had complete confidence in his fate.

Luke must also have been in awe of the picture this prayer presents. We do not know what form we will have in heaven. Jesus says we will be spirit. We do not know what heaven will be like. There are passages that describe the splendor of the place, the awesomeness of being in the presence of God. As long as man has existed there has been mixed curiosity and terror over what it would be like to see God, to be in his presence. What form does he have? What will our encounter with him be like? Jesus says that, though our earthly bodies will be gone, he will care for us with his loving hands.

Strangers

Chapter 23 closes in vv. 47-55 with strangers showing respect to Jesus. First, there was the centurion. Like the criminal on the cross, his conversion was unorthodox. How did he know anything of God? Was it enough that he said Jesus was a “righteous man.” We do not know what happened to the centurion, but we have to remember that it is our Lord who redeems, and it is not for us to say.

Then there is Joseph, the member of the Council. Hid did not consent to their actions. Did he show active descent? We do not know. Often it took a person several days to die on a cross, and the Romans left the bodies for the birds and the vermin. Joseph was bold in going to Pilate, and deliberately broke Jewish law in handling the body.

We must note that this account agrees with Matthew and Mark, but seems to differ somewhat with John (19:31-42).

Because the Sabbath was about to begin, they left the body there to finish tending to it on the first day of the week. This is irony, that the left the body of God because of their understanding of scripture. We, too, are sometimes distracted by our own agenda. We expect to return and find God where we left him. His ways are not our ways.