Jesus testifies before Pilate
1 So the whole crowd got up and took him to Pilate, 2 where they began to accuse him: “We found this person subverting our nation and agitating against paying taxes to Caesar, and he says he is an anointed king.”
3 So Pilate asked him, “Are you the king of the Judeans?”
“Yes,” replied Jesus, “you’ve said it yourself.”
Pilate argues with the religious rulers about Jesus
4 Then Pilate said to the high priests and the crowd, “I find nothing incriminating against this person.”
5 But they were insistent: “He agitates the people with his teachings all over Judea, from here to Galilee!”
6 When Pilate heard this, he wanted to find out if this person were a Galilean. 7 And once he found out that he was under the authority of Herod, he sent him to him, since he was in Jerusalem at the time.
Jesus is silent before Herod
8 Now when Herod found out about this he was very pleased, because for a long time he had wanted to meet Jesus, since he had heard so much about him. He especially wanted to see him perform a miracle. 9 But though he asked him many questions, Jesus did not respond. 10 Then the high priests and scribes who were standing there began to accuse him vigorously. 11 Even Herod and his troops joined in the jeering, and then they dressed him up in fancy clothes and sent him back to Pilate. 12 (On that very day, Herod and Pilate became friends, though before this they were bitter enemies.)
Pilate argues with the mob about Jesus
13 Pilate then called together the high priests and rulers of the people, 14 and he said to them, “You brought this person to me under the charge of subversion, but let it be known that I examined him in your presence and found no basis for the charge. 15 In fact, neither did Herod, seeing that he sent him back to me. So my finding is that he has done nothing worthy of the death penalty. 16 I will have him punished and then released.” 17 17 18 Yet as one they all kept saying, “Away with this one! Release Bar-Abbas to us instead!” 19 (Bar-Abbas was in jail for rioting and murder.) 20 So Pilate informed them again that he wanted to release Jesus, 21 but they shouted back, “Crucify! Crucify him!” 22 Then for the third time Pilate said to them, “What crime has he committed? I have found no reason to charge him with a capital offense! I will punish him and then release him.”
23 But they only shouted all the louder for him to be crucified, and they finally wore Pilate down. 24 So he granted their demand; 25 he released the one they asked for who had been in jail for rioting and murder, but handed Jesus over to them to do as they wished. 26 And as they led him away, they seized Simon the Cyrenian who was coming in from the fields, forcing him to carry the cross behind Jesus.
Jesus is crucified
27 There was a large crowd of people following Jesus, including women who grieved and mourned for him. 28 But Jesus turned around to them and said, “Daughters of Jerusalem, don’t weep for me but for yourselves and your children. 29 For the days are coming when people will say, ‘Blessed are the infertile, the wombs that have never given birth, the breasts that have never nursed!’ 30 Then they will say to the mountains, ‘Fall on us!’, and to the hills, ‘Cover us!’ 31 For if they do these things when the wood is green, what will they do when it dries up?”
32 Now two criminals were also taken away with him. 33 And when they reached the place called The Skull they crucified him, putting one criminal to his left and the other to his right. 34 Then Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they don’t realize what they’re doing.” And they divided up his clothes and gambled for them.
35 The people stood and watched, and they as well as the rulers mocked him viciously: “He saved others, so let him save himself, if he is Christ of God, the Chosen One!” 36 The soldiers jeered too, offering him their cheap wine 37 and saying, “If you are the king of the Judeans, save yourself!” 38 (There was an inscription above him with the words, “This is the King of the Judeans.”)
39 Even one of the criminals hanging there slandered him and said, “Aren’t you Christ? Save yourself and us too!”
40 But the other one rebuked him and said, “Even now, do you not fear God, since you are under the same judgment? 41 We are only getting what we deserved for our deeds, but this one has done nothing wrong.” 42 And he said to Jesus, “Remember me when you acquire your kingdom!”
43 “I tell you truly,” Jesus replied, “Today you will be with me in Paradise.”
Jesus dies
44 Now it was already around noon, and darkness covered the whole earth until three in the afternoon, 45 because the sun had gone dark. Then the curtain in the temple was ripped down the center, 46 and Jesus shouted out loudly, “Father, into your hands I present my spirit!” And with that, he breathed his last. 47 Now when the Roman army captain saw all this, he gave honor to God and said, “This person had to have been righteous!” 48 And the crowd that had gathered to watch saw this too, and they turned away in shame. 49 But his close friends, including the women who followed him from Galilee, all stood at a distance observing all this.
Jesus is buried
50 Then came a man named Joseph, a member of the Council with a reputation as a fair civic benefactor, 51 who had not consented to the Council’s motives and deeds. He was from Arimathea, a city in Judea, and he had been anticipating the kingdom of God. 52 He approached Pilate and asked for Jesus’ body. 53 He took it down and wrapped it in linen, then placed it a new tomb carved out of rock.
54 It was Preparation Day and a sabbath was about to start. 55 The women who had come together from Galilee with Jesus had been following along, and they noted the tomb and how his body was placed in it. 56 Then they returned and prepared aromatic spices and perfumed oils.56
- 17 Verse 17 (similar content to Matt. 27:15 and Mark 15:6) was a much later addition and thus not authentic to Luke.
- 56 Luke 23:56 and Mark 16:1 appear on the surface to contradict each other. But Luke does not say exactly when the spices were purchased and prepared, neither activity of which could be done on either the Passover Sabbath or the weekly Sabbath. It is clear in Luke that the women observed the burial on the Preparation Day, but highly doubtful that they would have had time to purchase and prepare the spices in the very short time from then to the start of the Passover Sabbath. So since Mark’s account has the women buying and preparing spices after the Sabbath, it appears that this happened between the Passover Sabbath (Wed. eve. to Thurs. eve.) and the weekly Sabbath (Fri. eve. to Sat. eve).