Bible 101 - Luke 22:31-24

Presented June 12, 2006 by Phyllis Gilbert

Review: Thinking back to Luke 9, the turning point of Jesus' ministry, and the time when we're told "Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem," (9:51), we can see how everything he's done and said from that time has pointed to the events about to transpire. And even before - from his baptism and the start of his ministry, he's been involved in completing the Father's plan of salvation, a plan close to fulfillment.

Luke 22:31: In an amazing statement, Jesus tells Peter that Satan wants to "sift him" or to separate him from Jesus and from his faith. But Jesus tells Simon, "I have prayed for you that your faith will be strong." And he tells him, in a foreshadowing of his denial of Jesus and his restoration later, "when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers." Here we see Jesus acknowledging Peter's leadership. And Peter, of course, blusters on: "I'll go with you to prison and death," he protests. But Jesus tells him he'll deny him before the rooster crows the next morning. No doubt, Peter didn't believe this, convinced he was strong enough to endure anything. Jesus reminds them all of his instructions when he'd sent them out taking no extra baggage (Luke 9). Now he says gather up your supplies and swords; be prepared for opposition. Jesus has confronted the critics; those associated with him, following his death and resurrection, will face the same critics and threats. "Be prepared," he tells them; "I will die to fulfill prophecy," he adds unless they haven't yet understood. They count two swords among them and Jesus says "it's enough."

Luke 22:39: As he had on previous nights, he left Jerusalem for the Mount of Olives to pray. The disciples go with him - all except Judas. He asks them to pray; he moves to a spot "a stone's throw away" to pray alone. It's as though he's at the altar praying and the congregation is praying from their pews. They're meant to be supporting him in prayer. Jesus prays that the cup he's to drink be taken from him; then "not my will, but yours be done," he adds. Luke tells us "an angel from heaven appeared to him and ministered to him." This is the only gospel record of angels being near Jesus in this capacity at this time; earlier all of the synoptic Gospels record that angels came to his aid when he was being tested in the desert. How wonderful that touch must have been to him, suffering pain in advance of the crucifixion, knowing what lay ahead, knowing he could not avoid it if the plan of salvation were to be completed. He returns to the disciples who are sleeping; he tells them once again to pray. But they are interrupted by the temple guard and Judas. The betrayer kisses Jesus in greeting, a signal worked out beforehand, and the guards arrest Jesus. Peter, protesting this arrest, strikes with a sword and cuts off the ear of a servant; Jesus heals the man, reminding them he's no criminal, has not led a crowd of rebels, and that he'd been in the temple daily teaching. "Why didn't you arrest me in the temple?" he asks. He succinctly sums up their task and those who'd sent them: "This is your hour - when darkness reigns." In John's gospel, when Jesus speaks with Nicodemus, he says "Light [Jesus] has come into the world, but men love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil" (John 3:19).

Luke 22:34: Jesus, bound and surrounded by soldiers, is taken to the high priest's house. It's late at night; the Sanhedrin has gathered. While Jesus is inside, Peter is in the courtyard near the fire. He's spotted by a servant girl who says "you were with him [Jesus]" but Peter says not so. Another person spots Peter and says "you're a disciple," and he again denies it. A third time, his accent is identified as Galilean, and once more, Peter says "I don't know what you're talking about" and the rooster is heard. Peter rushed out, and "wept bitterly," remembering what Jesus had told him. Peter's courage had failed, but not his faith. He would not have wept or berated himself if he'd truly rejected Jesus. His heart is still with the Master, but at this moment, he hates himself.

Luke 22:63: This long night is far from over. The guards mock and beat Jesus, and then at daybreak, Jesus is taken before the council or Sanhedrin for questioning. "Are you the Christ?" they ask, and Jesus says, "If I tell you, you will not believe me." He knows they've made up their minds. If he says, "I am the Messiah," they will tell him he's a blasphemer, but if he denies who he is, they won't believe that either. Their minds are closed to the truth. He tells them "from now on, the Son of Man will be seated at the right hand of the mighty God." Jesus tells them he is the Messiah in this statement, but to be certain, they ask again: "Are you the Son of God?" and Jesus replies "Yes." They shout that further testimony is not needed and the next trial is about to begin. They lead him to Pilate.

Luke 23: Under Roman law, the Jews could not carry out a death sentence; they could condemn Jesus, or anyone else for blasphemy, but they could not kill him. In order to get Pilate to pronounce a death sentence, they had to accuse Jesus of treason against Rome, and that is what they do. Pilate asks Jesus if he's "king of the Jews," and Jesus confirms it. But Pilate interprets this as a religious title rather than a civil one, and tells Jesus' accusers, "I find no basis for a charge against this man." The chief priests and others bent on having Jesus put to death drop the name of Galilee and Pilate grabs this chance to get Jesus out of his court and into Herod's. He sends him to the Galilean ruler, then in Jerusalem. Herod is pleased. Remember that earlier he'd heard about Jesus' miracles and wanted to see him (Luke 9). Now he has the chance. But even though he asked Jesus many questions, Jesus says not a word. He knows Herod's heart; Herod wants magic, not the truth. The chief priests keep up their stream of accusations so Herod falls in with them, mocks Jesus, dresses him in a king's robe, and sends him back to Pilate. And Luke tells us "Pilate and Herod became friends on that day - they'd been enemies before." What a political alliance this is: chief priests and other Jewish leaders, Herod an Edmomite, and Pilate a Roman who hated the Jews, all ganged together to quiet Jesus once and for all. God uses unlikely people, ungodly people, when it's necessary to carry out his plans. Nevertheless, Pilate is an unwilling judge. He finds no cause for death in what he's learned about Jesus. He agrees to beat him and release him. But the crowds, prompted by the religious leaders, shout, "crucify him." The crowds also want Barabbas released and Jesus to take the place of that condemned man. Pilate is dumbfounded; what has Jesus done? He appears unresisting before Pilate; the governor has heard nothing but rumors and gossip about Jesus, nothing of fact. He tells the crowds "I have found nothing in him guilty of the death penalty," but their shouts drown him out and he gives in. He releases a known criminal and condemns an innocent man, all for the sake of political expediency and peace. Luke puts it this way: "[he] surrendered Jesus to their will." Pilate becomes nothing more than a pawn.

Luke 23:26: Jesus, having now been up for close to 24 hours, having endured sham trials and beatings, is given the cross to carry to the crucifixion site. However, weakened by all he's endured (Luke doesn't tell us about the severe flogging in which he'd lost blood), Simon of Cyrene, one of the bystanders, is pressed into service. The soldiers transfer the cross from Jesus' back to his, and through crowds they go. Notice that once again Luke mentions women among his followers, now mourning his impending death. Jesus turns to them and says, "Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me; weep for yourselves and for your children. For the time will come when you will say 'Blessed are the barren women, the wombs that never bore and the breasts that never nursed . . . '" and thus he warns them of persecution and horror ahead. If we date the crucifixion at 33 A.D., over the next 30 plus years, Christians will be made to suffer, and in 70 A.D., Jerusalem will be under attack and the temple destroyed by the Romans. Jesus then adds an idiomatic saying: "For if men do these things when the tree is green, what will happen when it is dry?" Jesus is there with them, the green, growing tree; their faith in him is alive and well. But when he's gone physically, what will happen? Will the leaders become even more violent? And what about their faith? Will it remain fresh and green, or wither and die?

Luke 23:32: Jesus is not alone in the trek to Golgotha or Calvary, the crucifixion hill outside the city limits. Two criminals are with him, and they are crucified on either side of Jesus. Once hanging there, nearly naked, in pain none of us can imagine, his critics still mocking him, soldiers guarding him, a few disciples mourning him, he says "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." The religious and political leaders were carrying out God's plan; Jesus has willingly submitted to their punishment for crimes he did not commit. Truly, "they do not know what they do" since they are unwittingly fulfilling God's will for his Son. Even with his words of forgiveness ringing in their ears, they sneer at him and insult him, taunting him to come down from the cross. He could have done so, but it's worth remembering and being thankful for every day that he chose to stay. Pilate had posted a sign above his head which said "This is the King of the Jews," but though the chief priests protested this, wanting Pilate to edit it to say "He said he was the King of the Jews," the sign remained as Pilate dictated it. One of the criminals could read his title and said "Aren't you the Christ? Save us and yourself." The other criminal rebuked him by saying "Don't you fear God?" And he admitted that they had deserved to die, but said Jesus was innocent. Then turning to Jesus he said "Remember me when you come into your kingdom," and Jesus said "today you will be with me in paradise." What loving words! Statements of faith take all forms, and Jesus heard the man's heart as well as his words.

Luke 23:44: About the sixth hour, or noon, a great darkness took away all the daylight. Jesus, the Light of the World, was dying. And during those three hours of darkness, the curtain of the temple was split from top to bottom signifying that the way of salvation was open to all. Man no longer needed a human mediator; Jesus had become the mediator for all time. His sacrifice ended the need for animal sacrifices; his death, fulfilling prophecy, did away with the Yom Kippur solemnities when the high priest took blood into the Holy of Holies to atone for the sin of the nation. All that ended; God split the curtain when Jesus, taking the sin of the world on himself, died. Paul tells us: "God made him who had no sin to be sin for us that in him, we might become the righteousness of God" (II Cor. 5:21). Wow and hallelujah! At about 3 p.m., Jesus cried "Father, into your hands I commit my spirit," thus giving up his life. The salvation transaction was complete; Jesus had, as he says in John's gospel, finished his work.

Luke 23:47: In the immediate aftermath of his giving up his spirit, a centurion whose responsibility it had been to take Jesus to the cross and crucify him, said "Surely this was a righteous man." In another gospel account, he adds, "this was the Son of God." A Roman soldier saw what Jesus' own people could not see. Many of the witnesses left in grief, but the women stayed, watching from a distance. They it was who saw Joseph of Arimathea, a member of the Sanhedrin, come to get Jesus' body from the cross, wrapping it for burial. Joseph had gotten permission from Pilate to bury Jesus; the Jews were delighted that he was dead and that he would not remain on the cross at the start of Sabbath. Those same women followed Joseph as he carefully transported Jesus' body to his tomb. Having observed the place Jesus was lying, they went home with plans to return in the morning (after the Sabbath) with embalming spices to prepare his body properly.

Luke 24: Luke tells us that "On the first day of the week, very early in the morning," the women returned to the tomb. It is Sunday, maybe even before sunrise, when they approach the tomb and their task; they'd brought supplies with them and were ready to get to work. Along the way, they'd talked about rolling back the stone: "who will roll the stone away," they wondered (Mark 16:3), its size so substantial that they knew four women could never do it. But when they arrived, the stone was no longer blocking the entrance, and they could freely enter the tomb. But they found no body of Jesus. While they searched and questioned his whereabouts, two angels (men in shining clothes), asked them "Why do you search for the living among the dead?" And this question, which is really a statement, is emphasized with repetition: "He is not here; he has risen." (Luke 24:5b-6). The frightened women hear the angels repeat Jesus' words that he'd be crucified and rise from the dead on the third day; this brings back his voice to their minds, and they dash off to tell the 11 remaining apostles the good news.

Luke 24:9: The women, who had been disciples themselves and who had stayed at the cross, had followed Jesus' body to the garden tomb, told the disciples what they'd seen that morning. No one believed them. Imagine their frustration! "Their words seemed like nonsense" (Luke 24:11) to the people they spoke to - believers (the 11 and others) who have yet to remember what Jesus had told them about his death and resurrection. But Peter, the man of action, goes to the tomb himself, sees the evidence of Jesus' absence, and even then is unable to put all that he knows together in a coherent explanation. (And it may be at this time, perhaps as Peter is leaving the garden, that Jesus appears to him. See v. 34. The encounter between them is not recorded in any of the gospels. But we can understand its importance; Peter had denied Jesus, and Jesus is eager to reassure him that he loves him. John 21 shows us that Jesus has not abandoned Peter.)

Luke 24:13: This incident on the Road to Emmaus is one of the wonders of the gospels. Two of the disciples are leaving Jerusalem to go home to Emmaus, a village about 8 or 9 miles away. They're discussing what's happened, trying like Peter and the others to sort out what they know and what they don't know. And then Jesus is with them, but they see him as another traveler, a "visitor to Jerusalem" rather than the risen Lord. He asks them questions and they tell him that Jesus, whom they hoped was the Messiah, had been crucified, and now on this the third day, they'd heard of the empty tomb, but they have no explanations for where he is or what's happened to him. Jesus says "How foolish you are," and he begins with Genesis and teaches them God's plan of salvation, tracing it all through the Old Testament. As they're near home, Jesus appears ready to leave them, but they invite him to come with them and spend the night. Jesus does, and while they're at the table, Jesus blesses the bread and breaks it, and then "their eyes were opened and they recognized him" as Jesus, the Messiah, their risen Lord. And Jesus vanishes from sight. They rush back to Jerusalem, meal forgotten, to tell those waiting behind closed doors the good news. Can you hear them? Shouting "It's true, it's true," they give the group details of what they'd learned about OT prophecy, Jesus death and resurrection, and their recognition of who he was.

Luke 24:36: As if to confirm this witness, Jesus is there standing in the middle of the group. All at once, they look up and there he is, saying in a voice that's familiar, "Peace be with you." But they're having trouble accepting what they see: is he a ghost? Is he real? Jesus asks them for food; he eats it, telling them to inspect his hands and feet. There they see the holes the nails have left; "touch me," he invites, and then he reminds them of what he'd said three times before they'd reached Jerusalem - he'd be crucified at the hands of evil men, and on the third day, rise from the dead. He takes them back through scripture, all the prophecies they've studied, to show them that God keeps his promises: Jesus is the Messiah who fulfills all the Old Testament hopes and theirs. And now "their minds are opened" as Jesus tells them "you are witnesses of these things." It is their responsibility to share what they've seen and heard, the good news of salvation free to all through Jesus' death and resurrection. They are to take this message to all the world after the Holy Spirit comes upon them with power, a new strength enabling them to be bold and to do what they've never done before. In all, Jesus appears to his disciples over a period of 40 days following the resurrection, and then, "he led them out to the vicinity of Bethany," and rose before their eyes to Heaven. They returned to Jerusalem "praising God" continually in the temple. The fear that had kept them in a closed room is gone; they are now in the open, ready to confront the skeptics and those who crucified Jesus. And that's when the book of Acts begins.

Great commission: Just as Matthew concludes with "Go into all the world and preach the gospel," so Luke records Jesus' mission for them. It is in Acts that we see that mission carried out.

Reflections on Luke: Luke is the most detailed of the gospels in that he records more about Jesus' birth and youth, many more parables, more details of miracles, teaching and debate with the Pharisees and other religious leaders. The question is why. Why does Luke provide such depth about Jesus' life? Look back at his introduction: "It seemed good also to me to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, so that you may know the certainty of the things you have been taught" (Luke 1:3b-4). Luke investigated all that he'd heard about Jesus, talked with disciples, those who'd been healed, even Jesus' mother Mary. With the eyes and ears - and nose - of a reporter, he went after the story in living color. And we along with Theophilus are the beneficiaries of his thorough and careful account of Jesus' life and death, and above all, his resurrection. Luke is perhaps the perfect transition between the first two synoptic gospels (Matthew and Mark), and John whose style is so different from the first three gospels. But taken together the four gospels allow us to enter into the times and places, to hear the sounds and see the sights, to feel the wonder of Jesus' miracles and his teaching.

Let's close in prayer.

Homework for those who want to go deeper: