October 11, 2025 • 19 mins
A courtroom that won’t hold truth, a crowd that won’t sit still, and a king who refuses to save himself—Luke 23 brings history’s darkest hour into sharp focus. We walk scene by scene through the trial before Pilate and Herod, the crowd’s shocking choice of Barabbas, and the road to Golgotha, where Rome’s power meets a deeper plan. Along the way, we unpack why substitution sits at the heart of the gospel, how ancient Leviticus patterns echo through Passover, and what it means that two criminals heard the same words and only one found paradise.
I share the human details that make this chapter throb with reality: the strain of a flogged body under a crossbeam, the way nails were driven to hold bone and breath, and why crucifixion was designed to humiliate as much as to kill. Then we zoom out to the theology in motion—the sign above his head, the taunts that accidentally preach, and the thief who prays the simplest, boldest prayer, “remember me,” and receives the most immediate promise, “today.” When darkness falls at noon and the temple veil tears from top to bottom, access to God ceases to be a guarded corridor and becomes an open door. The centurion’s confession, the crowd’s silence, and Joseph of Arimathea’s quiet courage lead us to a new tomb and a Sabbath of waiting, charged with hope.
If you’re hungry to understand why the cross was chosen and how Luke’s eyewitness structure magnifies both justice and mercy, this walkthrough will steady your heart and sharpen your faith. Subscribe for more daily chapter breakdowns, share this episode with a friend who’s exploring the Gospels, and leave a review to help others find the Bible Breakdown Podcast.
We’d love to hear from you. (For questions, use the links above.)
Contact us-
Ask a Question
Send Encouragement
Take a Next Step-
SOAP Bible Study Method.
Bible Reading Plan.
Free Weekly Newsletter.
Socials-
Facebook.
Instagram.
X.
YouTube.
The More We Dig. The More We Find.
Scripture quotations taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation (NLT).
Copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation.
Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_00 (00:00):
Welcome to the Bible Breakdown Podcast.
Every day, we take one chapterof the Bible, dig deeper, and
discover that the more we dig,the more we find.
You can find out more at theBibleBreakdown.com.
Now let's grow in God's wordtogether.
Well, hello everybody, andwelcome back to the Bible
Breakdown with your host, PastorBrandon, today, Luke chapter 23.
(00:23):
And I'm gonna tell yousomething, man.
This is the one, this is thechapter that we have been
waiting on.
Before we get started, if youwould like for me to send our
daily Bible reading to you, textRLC Bible to 94,000 and we will
get these to you.
Also, you can go tobrandoncannon.com and you can
get my weekly newsletter wherewe break down more of this stuff
together.
And then last but not least, ifyou are watching this on
YouTube, make sure to like thevideo, subscribe to my channel.
(00:46):
Also, if you are listening tothis as a podcast, we now have a
podcast.
Make sure that you subscribe toit and then rate and review so
we can get more information outthere because I just have this
dream now.
This is slowly becoming a dreamof mine.
What would it look like if wecould develop just a community
of people that were justenjoying and reading God's word
together?
Wouldn't that be what an amazingreason to rally around one
(01:08):
another, right?
Okay, let's jump into Lukechapter 23 because this is it.
This is the moment thateverything comes to a head.
Remember that Luke was a trainedphysician, but he has now become
an investigative journalist, andhe's getting to everything has
been leading to this point.
Because what we're going to readin Luke chapter 23, the first
(01:30):
several verses, first 25 verses,talks about the trial before
Pilate.
And then verse 26 through 43 istalking about the crucifixion of
Jesus.
44 through 49 is about the deathof Jesus, and then 50 is about
the burial of Jesus.
And I don't know who, I in myimagination, I wonder who Luke
(01:51):
was talking to.
Did he have a personal interviewwith Pilate?
I mean, he was sent byTheopolis, a possible
high-ranking governmentofficial, and Pilate didn't last
much longer in this uh provincebefore he was sent elsewhere.
But did he get an audience withPilate because of the influence
of Theopolis?
I mean, what who was he talkingto here?
(02:11):
I don't know.
What we do know is that the HolySpirit inspired this so that we
could know what happened in thismoment.
So I want to read through this.
I'm going to read the entirenarrative of the trial before
Pilate, and I want to break downfor you some things that just
excite me when I read God'sword.
So here we go.
If you got your NLT Bible ready,you got your coffee ready, let's
(02:32):
dive into this.
Verse 1 of chapter 23.
Then the entire council tookJesus to Pilate, the Roman
governor.
They began to state their case.
This man has been leading ourpeople astray by telling them
not to pay taxes to the Romangovernment and by claiming he is
the Messiah, a king.
So Pilate asked him, Are you theking of the Jews?
(02:55):
Jesus replied, You have said it.
Pilate turned to the leadingpriest and the crowd and said, I
find nothing wrong with thisman.
Then they became insistent.
But he is causing riots by histeaching wherever he goes, all
over Judea, from Galilee toJerusalem.
Oh, he's a Galilean, Pilateasked.
(03:16):
Well then, uh, when they saidthat he was he was, Pilate sent
him to Herod Antipos becauseGalilee was under Herod's
jurisdiction, and Herod happenedto be in Jerusalem at the time.
But Herod was delighted at theopportunity to see Jesus,
because he had heard about himand had been hoping for a long
time to see him perform amiracle.
(03:37):
And he asked Jesus the questionafter question, but Jesus
refused to answer.
Meanwhile, the leading priestsand teachers of religious law
stood there shouting theiraccusations.
Then Herod and his soldiersbegan mocking and ridiculing
Jesus.
Finally they put a royal robe onhim and sent him back to Pilate.
And then there's like thisprincess.
By the way, Herod and Pilate,who had been enemies before,
(04:00):
became friends that day.
Pause real fast just to say,isn't it amazing?
That even enemies, when theyshare Jesus with one another,
become friends.
I think that's amazing.
All right, verse 13.
Then Pilate called together theleading priests and other
religious leaders along with thepeople, and he announced his
verdict.
You brought this man to me,accusing him of leading a
revolt.
(04:21):
I have examined him thoroughlyon this point in your presence
and find him innocent.
Herod came to the sameconclusion and sent him back to
us.
Nothing this man has done callsfor the death penalty.
So I will have him flogged, andthen I will release him.
But then a mighty roar rose fromthe crowd, and with one voice
(04:41):
they shouted, Kill him andrelease Barabbas to us.
Barabbas was in prison fortaking part in an insurrection
in Jerusalem against thegovernment for and for murder.
But Pilate argued with thembecause he wanted to release
Jesus.
But they kept shouting, Crucifyhim, crucify him.
And for the third time hedemanded, Why?
What crime has he committed?
(05:02):
I have found no reason tosentence him to death.
So I will have him flogged, andthen I will release him.
But the mob shouted louder andlouder, demanding Jesus to be
crucified, and their voicesprevailed.
So Pilate sentenced Jesus to dieas they demanded.
And has as he as they hadrequested, he released Barabbas
and the man who's in prison forinsurrection and murder, but
(05:26):
they turned Jesus, but he turnedJesus over to them to do as they
wished.
I was getting kind of distractedbecause there's so much in this
text that we don't even have anopportunity to cover all of it.
But first, who is Pilate?
So Pilate was sent in by theRoman government kind of as a
magistrate, the one who kind ofkept order in the area.
They he represented Rome to allof the people and he kept
(05:49):
everything under Roman control.
But he also gave like socialpower to the Pharisees and
Sadducees because they knew heknew that the Pharisees and
Sadducees would keep the Jewishpeople in line for their own
benefit.
So there was this uneasy sortof, you scratch my back, I'll
scratch yours, sort of alliancebetween the Jewish leaders and
(06:11):
Pilate.
Pilate ultimately spoke for theRoman Empire, but he knew things
would go better because theJewish people were just very
rambunctious and very willing toget into a fight if necessary.
And so he knew that if I letthem have a certain level of
autonomy, it'll go better forme.
And so there was this uneasypeace that was constantly
happening, and that's why he hecouldn't just say, well, this is
(06:34):
what we're going to do, becausehe knew that everything came at
a cost, right?
Well, on the other side of that,he wanted to let Jesus go.
He realized that Jesus wasn'tguilty of anything.
He realized they were justjealous of Jesus.
So what they had was is everyyear as a custom, because the
feast of Passover, which is whatwas going on at the time, was
(06:55):
one of the highest holy days ofthe year.
And so as a custom, as a way ofjust showing their the the
goodness of the Roman Empire,whoever was in charge would
release a prisoner every year.
Hey, this guy's condemned todeath.
We're going to release him justto show that we're nice guys.
And so what he wanted to do,Pilate wanted to do, is to use
that little kind of gray area inthe law to be able to release
(07:18):
Jesus.
But once again, they didn't wantto do that.
They wanted to kill Jesus.
Isn't it interesting though thateven without them realizing it,
they were helping to fulfill OldTestament prophecy?
Because all the way back in thebook of Leviticus, like we just
got through reading, there was atime on the Day of Atonement
when the nation was uh askingGod to forgive them of their
(07:40):
sins for the year.
They would bring two sacrificesto the to the doorway of the of
the temple tabernacle.
And what the high priest woulddo is they would have two.
One would be the goat forAzazel, one would be the goat
for the Lord.
The goat for Azazel, he would uhsend out into the wilderness and
be the one that would be spared,but then the goat for the Lord,
he would put his hands on him,transferring the sins of the
(08:00):
nation, and then slaughter thatthat sacrifice for the nation.
Isn't it amazing?
Right there, standing before thepeople, there is Pilate, and
he's saying, Which one do youwant me to release to you?
And there's a lot of there'ssome historical evidence that
says that actually Barabbas'first name was Jesus.
Jesus was a very common nameduring the time because it was
very close to the name Joshua.
(08:22):
And in Hebrew, there's no J,there's a Y.
So Joshua would have beenYeshua, and Jesus would have
been Yeshua.
So Yahshua, Yeshua, very, very,very similar.
And so, and Bar Abas, Barabbas,Bar means son, Abbas means
father.
And so his last name meant sonof my father.
So isn't it interesting?
That on one side you've gotYeshua, the son of my father,
(08:44):
and you got Yeshua, the son ofGod, side by side, and you have
one that was led off, and wedon't really know what happened
to him after that, and thenwe've got the one who is now
going to be slaughtered for thesins of the nation.
So even without realizing it,all of these pieces are still
coming into the alignmentbecause God has a plan, and it's
absolutely amazing.
(09:05):
All right, here we go.
Verse 26.
As they led Jesus away, a mannamed Simon, who was from
Serene, happened to be coming infrom the countryside.
The soldiers seized him and puta cross, put the cross on him
and made him carry it behindJesus.
A large crowd trailed behind,including many grief-stricken
(09:25):
women.
But Jesus turned and said tothem, Daughters of Jerusalem,
don't weep for me, but weep foryourselves and for your
children.
For the the days are coming whenthey will say, Fortunate indeed
are women who are childless, thewombs that have not borne a
child, and the breasts that havenot have never nursed.
People will beg the mountains tofall on us and plead with the
(09:46):
heels, bury us.
For if these things are donewhen the tree is green, what
will happen when it is dry?
So pause again.
Jesus is giving a prophecy thatis later fulfilled in 70 AD,
when the siege of Jerusalem hadhappened, and it was such a
horrible, horrible thing aspeople were slaughtered as the
Romans uh came into Jerusalem,and it is very similar to what
Jesus is prophesying.
(10:07):
But also the reason why this guynamed Simon was compelled to do
this is that Jesus had alreadytried to carry his cross and he
fell and wasn't able to do it.
There was an interesting thingabout this is that most of the
time you were either flogged orcrucified.
You both didn't happen.
Because flogging, especially theRoman style of flogging, would
(10:28):
really put you within an inch ofdeath.
And so it wasn't considered agood sport because one of the
things about crucifixion is thatit lasted a while.
People who would be crucified,sometimes they would be on a
cross for multiple days becauseit took a while for your body to
slowly die of exposure, really,and suffocation.
And so if you you if you hadfull strength, then it would
take a while.
(10:49):
But if you were flogged withinan inch of your life, you would
only be able to live a littlewhile on the cross.
And so Jesus literallyphysically his body is breaking
down and he's unable to carrythis cross beam.
And so this guy named Simon wascompelled to then carry the
cross beam because Jesus wasunable to carry it because they
had already beaten him with aninch of his life.
(11:10):
All right, verse 32.
Two others, both criminals, wereled out to be executed with him.
When they came to the placecalled the Skull, also known as
Golgotha, they nailed him to thecross, and the criminals were
also crucified, one on the rightand the other on the left.
Jesus said, Father, forgivethem, for they don't know what
they are doing.
And the soldiers gambled for hisclothes by throwing dice.
(11:33):
And the crowd watched, and theleaders scoffed.
He saved others, they said.
Let him save himself if hereally is God's Messiah, the
chosen one.
The soldiers mocked him too, byoffering him a drink of sour
wine.
And they called out to him, Ifyou are the king of the Jews,
save yourself.
A sign was fastened above him,read the words, This is the King
(11:55):
of the Jews.
Now, another thing that's goingon here, just to help you kind
of get your mind around theenormity of crucifixion, is I
know we we have like thesedifferent paintings that have
Jesus with a nail in the middleof his hand, but that actually
is not what they would do.
Because, and sorry for beinggraphic, but as soon as they
were to nail him on the crossand his weight would try to get
um would try to hold his weightby that, it would just rip right
(12:17):
through because there's no bonesthere to stop uh what was going
on.
And so they actually would nailhim to the cross right
underneath or right behind hiswristbone so that as he pulled
up to kind of catch a breath, hewould have to pull up on the
bones in his wrist.
And so they would have nailedhim there, but then they would
have also nailed him with hisfeet so that he his feet would
(12:38):
have he been able to haveactually a little bit of
purchase so he could lift up toget a breath of air and then
fall back down again.
And these other two criminalsare also crucified on his left
and on his right, and theyactually have more strength than
he does, and so they may not,may or may not have been nailed
like he was because they didn'talways nail them there, because
(13:00):
once again, part of the reasonwhy the uh crucifixion was so
bad was because you would die ofexposure.
So sometimes they would justlash your hands there and then
let you just hang for as long asyour body would hold up.
So we don't know for sure here,but we do know that Jesus was
nailed to the cross.
All right, verse 39.
One of the criminals hangingbeside him scoffed, So you're
(13:21):
the Messiah, are you?
Prove it by saving yourself andus too while you're at it.
The other criminal protested,Don't you fear God, even when
you're being sentenced to die?
We deserve to die for ourcrimes, but this man hasn't done
anything wrong.
Then he said, Jesus, remember mewhen you come into your kingdom.
And Jesus replied, I assure you,today you will be with me in
(13:45):
paradise.
By this time it was about noon,and darkness fell across the
whole land until three o'clock.
The light from the sun was gone,and suddenly the curtain in the
sanctuary of the temple was torndown in the middle, and Jesus
shouted, Father, I entrust myspirit into your hands.
And with those words he breathedhis last.
And when the Roman officer,seeing the execution, saw what
(14:07):
had happened, he worshipped Godand said, Surely this man was
innocent.
And then the crowds that came tosee the crucifixion saw what had
happened, and they went home indeep sorrow.
But Jesus' friends, includingthe women that had followed him
to Galilee, stood at a distancewatching.
Now it talked about the templecurtain being torn.
It's talking about the curtainthat was there between the holy
(14:29):
place and the most holy place,which is where the presence of
God was said to reside.
And there's a wonderfulsymbolism with that.
Because before that, only thehigh priest could go in once a
year to offer sacrifice for thesins of the nation.
But the symbolism is now at thedeath of Jesus, that bridge has
been crossed.
Now, because of Jesus, we nolonger need a curtain to protect
(14:52):
us from the holy presence ofGod.
But because of the blood ofJesus, all are welcome into his
presence.
Alright, let's finish this up,verse 50.
Now, there was a good andrighteous man named Joseph.
He was a member of the JewishHigh Council, but he had not
agreed with the decision andactions of the other religious
leaders.
He was from his own town inArimathea in Judea, and he was
(15:14):
waiting for the kingdom of Godto come.
He went to Pilate and asked forJesus' body.
Then he took the body down fromthe cross and wrapped it in a
long sheet of linen cloth andlaid it in a new tomb that had
been carved out of rock.
This was done late on Fridayafternoon, the day of
preparation, as Sabbath wasabout to begin.
And his body, uh at as his bodywas taken away, the women from
(15:37):
Galilee followed and saw thetomb where his body was placed.
And they went home and preparedspices and ointments to anoint
his body.
But by the time they werefinished, the Sabbath had begun,
and they rested as required bythe law.
And so as we finish thischapter, what we see happening
here is Jesus has died, and nowhis body is there.
And because the Sabbath is onthe way, the Jewish people did
(15:59):
not want a dead body to be onthe cross during the Sabbath.
And so they actually ended up,we we know from another, they
broke the legs of the other twocriminals because then they
couldn't, you know, lean up andget a breath of air, so they
suffocated to death.
So they're they're all dead, andthey take them down.
And Joseph actually took a bigrisk by going to Pilate and
(16:22):
asking for the body of Jesus.
But he did because he believedin the kingdom of God and what
Jesus was doing.
And according to the text, theywanted to go ahead and anoint
his body, but because theSabbath had come, they didn't
touch his body, they let it staywhere it was, and so they went
away and had to come now onSunday morning.
Of course, we know exactlywhat's about to happen on Sunday
(16:44):
morning.
So there's a lot here, andreally the best way to look at
the crucifixion of Jesus is toyes look within the context of
the four gospels and tounderstand what crucifixion was.
Crucifixion was meant to be theworst punishment that had ever
been created.
I mean, that's what manyhistorians say that the Roman
crucifixion was the worst formof capital punishment that
(17:07):
mankind had ever been able tocome up with.
And isn't it amazing that at theworst moment in history, that's
when Jesus says, I'm coming.
He didn't pick the easiest.
If you think about now, nowadayswe have lethal injection, but
they give you a shot and youdie.
He didn't do that.
He picked the worst one inhistory because that's what was
required for our sin.
(17:28):
And he did it willingly,knowing.
There's not a moment in herewhere it says that he just
decided he wasn't going to do itanymore, but he's already there.
No, instead, he went willinglyfor all of us.
And so now I want to pass itover to you.
What about this sticks out toyou?
What is this that you can take anext step with?
I would encourage you to takeout your Bible journal and just
kind of write down whichever oneof these scriptures that really
(17:49):
spoke to you today.
And then write down, you know,the scripture, then write the O
for observation.
What was it that you did youobserve in the text?
And then A for application.
What are you gonna do about it?
Like God's word is not intendedjust to be for us a book that we
read, but it's a word that weapply.
And so we want to apply God'sword.
And then let's pray and ask Godto seal his word in our heart,
(18:10):
okay?
All right, I want to pray forus, and then we're gonna be done
for the day.
Father, thank you so much foryour goodness.
Thank you that you love us.
Thank you that you're sent, thatyou sent your only son to die on
a cross for us.
But thank you, Jesus, that yourlove went all the way to the
cross and it kept you there.
But what we love even more isthat you didn't stay there.
But as we're gonna read the nextchapter, you rose again, and
(18:31):
because of that, we have lifeforevermore.
I pray that as we know you more,God, we will love you more.
And as we love you more, we willfollow you more all the days of
our life.
In Jesus' name we pray.
Amen.
Amen.
Listen, I love you.
I'll see you next time for thegrand finale of the Gospel of
Luke.
Welcome to the Bible Breakdown Podcast.
Every day, we take one chapterof the Bible, dig deeper, and
discover that the more we dig,the more we find.
You can find out more at theBibleBreakdown.com.
Now let's grow in God's wordtogether.
Well, hello everybody, andwelcome back to the Bible
Breakdown with your host, PastorBrandon, today, Luke chapter 23.
(00:23):
And I'm gonna tell yousomething, man.
This is the one, this is thechapter that we have been
waiting on.
Before we get started, if youwould like for me to send our
daily Bible reading to you, textRLC Bible to 94,000 and we will
get these to you.
Also, you can go tobrandoncannon.com and you can
get my weekly newsletter wherewe break down more of this stuff
together.
And then last but not least, ifyou are watching this on
YouTube, make sure to like thevideo, subscribe to my channel.
(00:46):
Also, if you are listening tothis as a podcast, we now have a
podcast.
Make sure that you subscribe toit and then rate and review so
we can get more information outthere because I just have this
dream now.
This is slowly becoming a dreamof mine.
What would it look like if wecould develop just a community
of people that were justenjoying and reading God's word
together?
Wouldn't that be what an amazingreason to rally around one
(01:08):
another, right?
Okay, let's jump into Lukechapter 23 because this is it.
This is the moment thateverything comes to a head.
Remember that Luke was a trainedphysician, but he has now become
an investigative journalist, andhe's getting to everything has
been leading to this point.
Because what we're going to readin Luke chapter 23, the first
(01:30):
several verses, first 25 verses,talks about the trial before
Pilate.
And then verse 26 through 43 istalking about the crucifixion of
Jesus.
44 through 49 is about the deathof Jesus, and then 50 is about
the burial of Jesus.
And I don't know who, I in myimagination, I wonder who Luke
(01:51):
was talking to.
Did he have a personal interviewwith Pilate?
I mean, he was sent byTheopolis, a possible
high-ranking governmentofficial, and Pilate didn't last
much longer in this uh provincebefore he was sent elsewhere.
But did he get an audience withPilate because of the influence
of Theopolis?
I mean, what who was he talkingto here?
(02:11):
I don't know.
What we do know is that the HolySpirit inspired this so that we
could know what happened in thismoment.
So I want to read through this.
I'm going to read the entirenarrative of the trial before
Pilate, and I want to break downfor you some things that just
excite me when I read God'sword.
So here we go.
If you got your NLT Bible ready,you got your coffee ready, let's
(02:32):
dive into this.
Verse 1 of chapter 23.
Then the entire council tookJesus to Pilate, the Roman
governor.
They began to state their case.
This man has been leading ourpeople astray by telling them
not to pay taxes to the Romangovernment and by claiming he is
the Messiah, a king.
So Pilate asked him, Are you theking of the Jews?
(02:55):
Jesus replied, You have said it.
Pilate turned to the leadingpriest and the crowd and said, I
find nothing wrong with thisman.
Then they became insistent.
But he is causing riots by histeaching wherever he goes, all
over Judea, from Galilee toJerusalem.
Oh, he's a Galilean, Pilateasked.
(03:16):
Well then, uh, when they saidthat he was he was, Pilate sent
him to Herod Antipos becauseGalilee was under Herod's
jurisdiction, and Herod happenedto be in Jerusalem at the time.
But Herod was delighted at theopportunity to see Jesus,
because he had heard about himand had been hoping for a long
time to see him perform amiracle.
(03:37):
And he asked Jesus the questionafter question, but Jesus
refused to answer.
Meanwhile, the leading priestsand teachers of religious law
stood there shouting theiraccusations.
Then Herod and his soldiersbegan mocking and ridiculing
Jesus.
Finally they put a royal robe onhim and sent him back to Pilate.
And then there's like thisprincess.
By the way, Herod and Pilate,who had been enemies before,
(04:00):
became friends that day.
Pause real fast just to say,isn't it amazing?
That even enemies, when theyshare Jesus with one another,
become friends.
I think that's amazing.
All right, verse 13.
Then Pilate called together theleading priests and other
religious leaders along with thepeople, and he announced his
verdict.
You brought this man to me,accusing him of leading a
revolt.
(04:21):
I have examined him thoroughlyon this point in your presence
and find him innocent.
Herod came to the sameconclusion and sent him back to
us.
Nothing this man has done callsfor the death penalty.
So I will have him flogged, andthen I will release him.
But then a mighty roar rose fromthe crowd, and with one voice
(04:41):
they shouted, Kill him andrelease Barabbas to us.
Barabbas was in prison fortaking part in an insurrection
in Jerusalem against thegovernment for and for murder.
But Pilate argued with thembecause he wanted to release
Jesus.
But they kept shouting, Crucifyhim, crucify him.
And for the third time hedemanded, Why?
What crime has he committed?
(05:02):
I have found no reason tosentence him to death.
So I will have him flogged, andthen I will release him.
But the mob shouted louder andlouder, demanding Jesus to be
crucified, and their voicesprevailed.
So Pilate sentenced Jesus to dieas they demanded.
And has as he as they hadrequested, he released Barabbas
and the man who's in prison forinsurrection and murder, but
(05:26):
they turned Jesus, but he turnedJesus over to them to do as they
wished.
I was getting kind of distractedbecause there's so much in this
text that we don't even have anopportunity to cover all of it.
But first, who is Pilate?
So Pilate was sent in by theRoman government kind of as a
magistrate, the one who kind ofkept order in the area.
They he represented Rome to allof the people and he kept
(05:49):
everything under Roman control.
But he also gave like socialpower to the Pharisees and
Sadducees because they knew heknew that the Pharisees and
Sadducees would keep the Jewishpeople in line for their own
benefit.
So there was this uneasy sortof, you scratch my back, I'll
scratch yours, sort of alliancebetween the Jewish leaders and
(06:11):
Pilate.
Pilate ultimately spoke for theRoman Empire, but he knew things
would go better because theJewish people were just very
rambunctious and very willing toget into a fight if necessary.
And so he knew that if I letthem have a certain level of
autonomy, it'll go better forme.
And so there was this uneasypeace that was constantly
happening, and that's why he hecouldn't just say, well, this is
(06:34):
what we're going to do, becausehe knew that everything came at
a cost, right?
Well, on the other side of that,he wanted to let Jesus go.
He realized that Jesus wasn'tguilty of anything.
He realized they were justjealous of Jesus.
So what they had was is everyyear as a custom, because the
feast of Passover, which is whatwas going on at the time, was
(06:55):
one of the highest holy days ofthe year.
And so as a custom, as a way ofjust showing their the the
goodness of the Roman Empire,whoever was in charge would
release a prisoner every year.
Hey, this guy's condemned todeath.
We're going to release him justto show that we're nice guys.
And so what he wanted to do,Pilate wanted to do, is to use
that little kind of gray area inthe law to be able to release
(07:18):
Jesus.
But once again, they didn't wantto do that.
They wanted to kill Jesus.
Isn't it interesting though thateven without them realizing it,
they were helping to fulfill OldTestament prophecy?
Because all the way back in thebook of Leviticus, like we just
got through reading, there was atime on the Day of Atonement
when the nation was uh askingGod to forgive them of their
(07:40):
sins for the year.
They would bring two sacrificesto the to the doorway of the of
the temple tabernacle.
And what the high priest woulddo is they would have two.
One would be the goat forAzazel, one would be the goat
for the Lord.
The goat for Azazel, he would uhsend out into the wilderness and
be the one that would be spared,but then the goat for the Lord,
he would put his hands on him,transferring the sins of the
(08:00):
nation, and then slaughter thatthat sacrifice for the nation.
Isn't it amazing?
Right there, standing before thepeople, there is Pilate, and
he's saying, Which one do youwant me to release to you?
And there's a lot of there'ssome historical evidence that
says that actually Barabbas'first name was Jesus.
Jesus was a very common nameduring the time because it was
very close to the name Joshua.
(08:22):
And in Hebrew, there's no J,there's a Y.
So Joshua would have beenYeshua, and Jesus would have
been Yeshua.
So Yahshua, Yeshua, very, very,very similar.
And so, and Bar Abas, Barabbas,Bar means son, Abbas means
father.
And so his last name meant sonof my father.
So isn't it interesting?
That on one side you've gotYeshua, the son of my father,
(08:44):
and you got Yeshua, the son ofGod, side by side, and you have
one that was led off, and wedon't really know what happened
to him after that, and thenwe've got the one who is now
going to be slaughtered for thesins of the nation.
So even without realizing it,all of these pieces are still
coming into the alignmentbecause God has a plan, and it's
absolutely amazing.
(09:05):
All right, here we go.
Verse 26.
As they led Jesus away, a mannamed Simon, who was from
Serene, happened to be coming infrom the countryside.
The soldiers seized him and puta cross, put the cross on him
and made him carry it behindJesus.
A large crowd trailed behind,including many grief-stricken
(09:25):
women.
But Jesus turned and said tothem, Daughters of Jerusalem,
don't weep for me, but weep foryourselves and for your
children.
For the the days are coming whenthey will say, Fortunate indeed
are women who are childless, thewombs that have not borne a
child, and the breasts that havenot have never nursed.
People will beg the mountains tofall on us and plead with the
(09:46):
heels, bury us.
For if these things are donewhen the tree is green, what
will happen when it is dry?
So pause again.
Jesus is giving a prophecy thatis later fulfilled in 70 AD,
when the siege of Jerusalem hadhappened, and it was such a
horrible, horrible thing aspeople were slaughtered as the
Romans uh came into Jerusalem,and it is very similar to what
Jesus is prophesying.
(10:07):
But also the reason why this guynamed Simon was compelled to do
this is that Jesus had alreadytried to carry his cross and he
fell and wasn't able to do it.
There was an interesting thingabout this is that most of the
time you were either flogged orcrucified.
You both didn't happen.
Because flogging, especially theRoman style of flogging, would
(10:28):
really put you within an inch ofdeath.
And so it wasn't considered agood sport because one of the
things about crucifixion is thatit lasted a while.
People who would be crucified,sometimes they would be on a
cross for multiple days becauseit took a while for your body to
slowly die of exposure, really,and suffocation.
And so if you you if you hadfull strength, then it would
take a while.
(10:49):
But if you were flogged withinan inch of your life, you would
only be able to live a littlewhile on the cross.
And so Jesus literallyphysically his body is breaking
down and he's unable to carrythis cross beam.
And so this guy named Simon wascompelled to then carry the
cross beam because Jesus wasunable to carry it because they
had already beaten him with aninch of his life.
(11:10):
All right, verse 32.
Two others, both criminals, wereled out to be executed with him.
When they came to the placecalled the Skull, also known as
Golgotha, they nailed him to thecross, and the criminals were
also crucified, one on the rightand the other on the left.
Jesus said, Father, forgivethem, for they don't know what
they are doing.
And the soldiers gambled for hisclothes by throwing dice.
(11:33):
And the crowd watched, and theleaders scoffed.
He saved others, they said.
Let him save himself if hereally is God's Messiah, the
chosen one.
The soldiers mocked him too, byoffering him a drink of sour
wine.
And they called out to him, Ifyou are the king of the Jews,
save yourself.
A sign was fastened above him,read the words, This is the King
(11:55):
of the Jews.
Now, another thing that's goingon here, just to help you kind
of get your mind around theenormity of crucifixion, is I
know we we have like thesedifferent paintings that have
Jesus with a nail in the middleof his hand, but that actually
is not what they would do.
Because, and sorry for beinggraphic, but as soon as they
were to nail him on the crossand his weight would try to get
um would try to hold his weightby that, it would just rip right
(12:17):
through because there's no bonesthere to stop uh what was going
on.
And so they actually would nailhim to the cross right
underneath or right behind hiswristbone so that as he pulled
up to kind of catch a breath, hewould have to pull up on the
bones in his wrist.
And so they would have nailedhim there, but then they would
have also nailed him with hisfeet so that he his feet would
(12:38):
have he been able to haveactually a little bit of
purchase so he could lift up toget a breath of air and then
fall back down again.
And these other two criminalsare also crucified on his left
and on his right, and theyactually have more strength than
he does, and so they may not,may or may not have been nailed
like he was because they didn'talways nail them there, because
(13:00):
once again, part of the reasonwhy the uh crucifixion was so
bad was because you would die ofexposure.
So sometimes they would justlash your hands there and then
let you just hang for as long asyour body would hold up.
So we don't know for sure here,but we do know that Jesus was
nailed to the cross.
All right, verse 39.
One of the criminals hangingbeside him scoffed, So you're
(13:21):
the Messiah, are you?
Prove it by saving yourself andus too while you're at it.
The other criminal protested,Don't you fear God, even when
you're being sentenced to die?
We deserve to die for ourcrimes, but this man hasn't done
anything wrong.
Then he said, Jesus, remember mewhen you come into your kingdom.
And Jesus replied, I assure you,today you will be with me in
(13:45):
paradise.
By this time it was about noon,and darkness fell across the
whole land until three o'clock.
The light from the sun was gone,and suddenly the curtain in the
sanctuary of the temple was torndown in the middle, and Jesus
shouted, Father, I entrust myspirit into your hands.
And with those words he breathedhis last.
And when the Roman officer,seeing the execution, saw what
(14:07):
had happened, he worshipped Godand said, Surely this man was
innocent.
And then the crowds that came tosee the crucifixion saw what had
happened, and they went home indeep sorrow.
But Jesus' friends, includingthe women that had followed him
to Galilee, stood at a distancewatching.
Now it talked about the templecurtain being torn.
It's talking about the curtainthat was there between the holy
(14:29):
place and the most holy place,which is where the presence of
God was said to reside.
And there's a wonderfulsymbolism with that.
Because before that, only thehigh priest could go in once a
year to offer sacrifice for thesins of the nation.
But the symbolism is now at thedeath of Jesus, that bridge has
been crossed.
Now, because of Jesus, we nolonger need a curtain to protect
(14:52):
us from the holy presence ofGod.
But because of the blood ofJesus, all are welcome into his
presence.
Alright, let's finish this up,verse 50.
Now, there was a good andrighteous man named Joseph.
He was a member of the JewishHigh Council, but he had not
agreed with the decision andactions of the other religious
leaders.
He was from his own town inArimathea in Judea, and he was
(15:14):
waiting for the kingdom of Godto come.
He went to Pilate and asked forJesus' body.
Then he took the body down fromthe cross and wrapped it in a
long sheet of linen cloth andlaid it in a new tomb that had
been carved out of rock.
This was done late on Fridayafternoon, the day of
preparation, as Sabbath wasabout to begin.
And his body, uh at as his bodywas taken away, the women from
(15:37):
Galilee followed and saw thetomb where his body was placed.
And they went home and preparedspices and ointments to anoint
his body.
But by the time they werefinished, the Sabbath had begun,
and they rested as required bythe law.
And so as we finish thischapter, what we see happening
here is Jesus has died, and nowhis body is there.
And because the Sabbath is onthe way, the Jewish people did
(15:59):
not want a dead body to be onthe cross during the Sabbath.
And so they actually ended up,we we know from another, they
broke the legs of the other twocriminals because then they
couldn't, you know, lean up andget a breath of air, so they
suffocated to death.
So they're they're all dead, andthey take them down.
And Joseph actually took a bigrisk by going to Pilate and
(16:22):
asking for the body of Jesus.
But he did because he believedin the kingdom of God and what
Jesus was doing.
And according to the text, theywanted to go ahead and anoint
his body, but because theSabbath had come, they didn't
touch his body, they let it staywhere it was, and so they went
away and had to come now onSunday morning.
Of course, we know exactlywhat's about to happen on Sunday
(16:44):
morning.
So there's a lot here, andreally the best way to look at
the crucifixion of Jesus is toyes look within the context of
the four gospels and tounderstand what crucifixion was.
Crucifixion was meant to be theworst punishment that had ever
been created.
I mean, that's what manyhistorians say that the Roman
crucifixion was the worst formof capital punishment that
(17:07):
mankind had ever been able tocome up with.
And isn't it amazing that at theworst moment in history, that's
when Jesus says, I'm coming.
He didn't pick the easiest.
If you think about now, nowadayswe have lethal injection, but
they give you a shot and youdie.
He didn't do that.
He picked the worst one inhistory because that's what was
required for our sin.
(17:28):
And he did it willingly,knowing.
There's not a moment in herewhere it says that he just
decided he wasn't going to do itanymore, but he's already there.
No, instead, he went willinglyfor all of us.
And so now I want to pass itover to you.
What about this sticks out toyou?
What is this that you can take anext step with?
I would encourage you to takeout your Bible journal and just
kind of write down whichever oneof these scriptures that really
(17:49):
spoke to you today.
And then write down, you know,the scripture, then write the O
for observation.
What was it that you did youobserve in the text?
And then A for application.
What are you gonna do about it?
Like God's word is not intendedjust to be for us a book that we
read, but it's a word that weapply.
And so we want to apply God'sword.
And then let's pray and ask Godto seal his word in our heart,
(18:10):
okay?
All right, I want to pray forus, and then we're gonna be done
for the day.
Father, thank you so much foryour goodness.
Thank you that you love us.
Thank you that you're sent, thatyou sent your only son to die on
a cross for us.
But thank you, Jesus, that yourlove went all the way to the
cross and it kept you there.
But what we love even more isthat you didn't stay there.
But as we're gonna read the nextchapter, you rose again, and
(18:31):
because of that, we have lifeforevermore.
I pray that as we know you more,God, we will love you more.
And as we love you more, we willfollow you more all the days of
our life.
In Jesus' name we pray.
Amen.
Amen.
Listen, I love you.
I'll see you next time for thegrand finale of the Gospel of
Luke.
Popular Podcasts
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.