Story of Jesus, December 23rd

Luke Chapter 23

The entire council rose and took Jesus to Pilate, the Roman governor. They began to accuse him, saying, “We have found this man misleading our nations and forbidding us to give tribute to Cesar, and saying that he himself is Christ, a king.”

So Pilate asked Jesus, “Are you the king of the Jews?”

Jesus replied, “You have said so.”

Then Pilate announced to the chief priests and the crowd, “I find no guilt in this man.” But they insisted, “He stirs up the people all over Judea by his teaching. He started in Galilee and has come all the way here.”

On hearing this, Pilate asked if the man was a Galilean. And when he learned that Jesus was under Herod’s jurisdiction, he sent him to Herod, who was also in Jerusalem at that time.

Herod was delighted at the opportunity to see Jesus, because he had heard about him and had been hoping for a long time to see him perform a miracle. He asked Jesus question after question, but Jesus refused to answer.

Meanwhile, the leading priests and the teachers of religious law stood there shouting their accusations. Then Herod and his soldiers began mocking and ridiculing Jesus. Finally, they put a royal robe on him and sent him back to Pilate.

That day Herod and Pilate became friends, as before this they had been enemies.

Pilate called together the chief priests, the rulers, and the people, and said to them, “You brought this man to me, accusing him of leading a revolt. I have examined him thoroughly on this point in your presence and find him innocent.

Herod came to the same conclusion and sent him back to us. Nothing this man has done deserves death. Therefore, I will punish him by having him flogged, and then release him.”

With one voice they cried out, “Away with this man! Release Barabbas to us!” Barabbas had been thrown into prison for insurrection to the city, and for murder.

Wanting to release Jesus, Pilate appealed to them again. But they kept shouting, “Crucify him! Crucify him!”

For the third time he spoke to them: “Why? What crime has this man committed? I have found in him no grounds for the death penalty. Therefore, I will have him punished and then release him.”

But with loud shouts they insistently demanded that he be crucified, and their shouts prevailed. So Pilate sentenced Jesus to die as they demanded.

As they requested, he released Barabbas, the man who had been thrown into prison for insurrection and murder. But he surrendered Jesus over to them to do as they wished.

As they led Jesus away, a man named Simon, who was from Cyrene, happened to be coming in from the countryside. The soldiers seized him and put the cross on him and made him carry it behind Jesus.

A large crowd trailed behind, including women who mourned and wailed for him. Jesus turned and said to them, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me; weep for yourselves and for your children. For the days are coming when they will say, ‘Fortunate indeed are the women who are childless, the wombs that have not borne a child and the breasts that have never nursed.’

People will beg the mountains, ‘Fall on us,’ and plead with the hills, ‘Bury us.’ For if these things are done when the tree is green, what will happen when it is dry?”

Two other men, both criminals, were also led out with him to be executed. When they came to the place called the Skull, they nailed him to the cross. There they crucified him, along with the criminals; one on his right side, the other on his left.

Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” And the soldiers gambled for his clothes by throwing dice.

The crowd watched and the leaders scoffed. “He saved others,” they said, “let him save himself if he really is the Christ of God, the Chosen One.”

The soldiers also came up and mocked him by offering him a drink of sour wine. They called out to him, “If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!”

A sign was fastened above him which read:
THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS.

One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: “Aren’t you the Christ? Save yourself and us!”

But the other criminal rebuked him. “Don’t you fear God,” he said, “since you are under the same sentence? We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.”

Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” Jesus answered him, “I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in 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 temples was torn down the middle.

Then Jesus shouted, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” And with those words he breathed his last.

The centurion, seeing what had happened, praised God and said, “Surely this was a righteous man.” When all the people who had gathered to see the crucifixion saw what had happened, they went home in deep sorrow. But Jesus’ friends, including the women who had followed him from Galilee, stood at a distance watching.

Now there was a man named Joseph, a member of the council, a good and up-right man, who had not consented to their decision and action. He came from the Judean town of Arimathea and he was waiting for the Kingdom of God.

Going to Pilate, he asked for Jesus’ body. Then he took the body down from the cross, wrapped it in linen cloth, and placed it in a new tomb cut in the rock. This was done late on Friday afternoon, the day of Preparation, as the Sabbath was about to begin.

As his body was taken away, the women from Galilee followed and saw the tomb where his body was placed. Then they went home and prepared spices and ointments to anoint his body. But by the time they were finished the Sabbath had begun, so they rested as required by the law.