Commentary - Luke 23:33-49

Bird's-eye view

This passage is the epicenter of all human history. At a place called The Skull, the Lord of Glory is publicly executed by the Roman authorities at the instigation of the Jewish leadership. But this is no mere tragedy or miscarriage of justice. This is the preordained plan of God to reconcile the world to Himself. Luke presents the crucifixion as a multifaceted event, a tableau of divine sovereignty and human wickedness, of profound suffering and triumphant grace. We see the King enthroned on a cross, exercising His royal prerogatives to forgive His enemies and grant paradise to a penitent thief. We witness the world's reaction in the scoffing of the rulers, the mockery of the soldiers, and the bewilderment of the crowds. The cosmic significance of the event is underscored by the supernatural darkness that covers the land and the tearing of the temple veil, signifying that the way to God is now thrown open through the broken body of His Son. The passage concludes with the testimony of a pagan soldier and the grief of the onlookers, showing that the cross, even in its immediate aftermath, begins its work of dividing and conquering the hearts of men.

Every detail here is saturated with theological meaning. The public nature of the execution demonstrates that this is a cosmic victory, not a private affair. The seven sayings from the cross, three of which Luke records, reveal the character of our Savior in His final moments. The conversion of the thief is a dramatic display of salvation by grace alone through faith alone. The tearing of the veil is the exclamation point on the end of the old covenant. And the centurion's confession is the firstfruits of the Gentile harvest that the cross would make possible. This is not the story of a good man dying; it is the story of the God-man dying, in our place, for our sins, according to the Scriptures.

Outline

Context In Luke

This passage is the culmination of Jesus' long journey to Jerusalem, which began way back in Luke 9:51. Luke has meticulously detailed Jesus' ministry, His teaching, and His escalating conflict with the religious authorities. The immediate context is the Passion narrative. Jesus has been betrayed, arrested, subjected to a series of illegal trials before the Sanhedrin, Pilate, and Herod, and has been condemned to death. He has been flogged, beaten, and made to carry His cross toward the place of execution. The crucifixion is the climax of this entire section, the fulfillment of Jesus' own predictions about His suffering and death (Luke 9:22; 18:31-33). Following this passage, Luke will record Jesus' burial and then the glorious resurrection in chapter 24, which vindicates everything that happens here on the cross. The cross is the hinge on which the entire Gospel of Luke, and indeed all of history, turns.

Key Issues

The Throne of the Skull

It is a profound and glorious irony that the place of Christ's greatest humiliation is the place of His greatest exaltation. They took Him to a place called "The Skull," Golgotha, a place of death, defilement, and despair. And there, they "crucified Him." The cross was a Roman instrument of torture and shame, reserved for the lowest of criminals. But in the upside-down economy of the kingdom of God, this instrument of death becomes a throne. The inscription they placed over His head, intended as mockery, "THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS," was in fact the deepest truth. Here, on this bloody tree, Christ the King is exercising all His royal offices. As a prophet, His death fulfills all the law and the prophets. As a priest, He offers Himself as the perfect sacrifice for sin. And as a king, He triumphs over His enemies, forgives sins, and opens the kingdom of heaven to believers. The crucifixion was not a defeat that was later reversed by the resurrection. The crucifixion was the victory, and the resurrection was the public vindication and announcement of that victory to the entire world.

Verse by Verse Commentary

33 And when they came to the place called The Skull, there they crucified Him and the criminals, one on the right and the other on the left.

The location itself is named for death. This is where the sin of the world is to be dealt with. The crucifixion was a public spectacle, designed for maximum shame and deterrence. Jesus is crucified between two criminals, a fulfillment of the prophecy in Isaiah 53:12, "He was numbered with the transgressors." This positioning is deliberate. He is placed in the midst of sin and rebellion, identifying with the very people He came to save. He is not a detached, aloof Savior. He enters into the heart of our mess, our crime, our punishment. He becomes the chief sinner, as it were, taking the central place of condemnation so that those on either side of Him, and by extension all of us, might have a chance at life.

34 But Jesus was saying, “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.” AND THEY CAST LOTS, DIVIDING UP HIS GARMENTS AMONG THEMSELVES.

This is the first of the seven words from the cross, and it is staggering. As the nails are being driven through His hands and feet, Jesus' immediate response is not a cry for vengeance but a prayer for mercy. He intercedes for His own murderers. He asks the Father to forgive them, and even provides a basis for it: their ignorance. This does not mean their ignorance excused their sin; sin is by definition inexcusable. Rather, it means their sin was not the unpardonable sin. They were acting in blindness, not in full-orbed, final rebellion against the Holy Spirit. This prayer is the foundation of the gospel. It is a prayer that God answered, beginning on the day of Pentecost when many who cried "Crucify Him!" were brought to repentance. While He is praying for their souls, they are gambling for His clothes, fulfilling the prophecy of Psalm 22:18. The contrast is stark: divine grace set against human greed. He is being stripped naked, bearing our shame, while they squabble over His few earthly possessions.

35 And the people stood by, looking on. And even the rulers were scoffing at Him, saying, “He saved others; let Him save Himself if this is the Christ of God, His Chosen One.”

The cross is a great revealer of hearts. The people simply stand and watch, a picture of passive indifference. But the rulers, the religious leaders, are actively hostile. They scoff, sneering with contempt. Their words are meant to mock, but they unwittingly speak a profound theological truth. The central challenge is, "He saved others; let Him save Himself." This is the very heart of the atonement. The reason He could not save Himself is precisely because He was saving others. If He had come down from the cross, He would have saved His own life, but He would have damned the entire human race. His refusal to save Himself is the very act that accomplishes our salvation. They mock His identity as "the Christ of God, His Chosen One," not realizing that His suffering is the ultimate confirmation of that identity.

36-37 And the soldiers also mocked Him, coming up to Him, offering Him sour wine, and saying, “If You are the King of the Jews, save Yourself!”

The mockery is universal. The Jewish rulers mock Him, and now the Gentile soldiers join in. The offer of sour wine was likely a cruel parody of offering a drink to a king. Their taunt is the same as the rulers', but with a political twist: "If You are the King of the Jews..." Everyone, from every segment of society, is united in their rebellion against God's anointed King. And their challenge is the same satanic temptation from the wilderness: prove who you are through a display of self-serving power. Save yourself. But Jesus' kingship is not demonstrated by self-preservation, but by self-sacrifice.

38 Now there was also an inscription above Him, “THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS.”

Pilate intended this inscription, written in the three major languages of the day (Hebrew, Latin, and Greek), as a final insult to the Jewish leaders who had strong-armed him into this execution. But God, in His sovereignty, used Pilate's cynical act to declare the truth to the whole world. This was not just a Jewish affair. This was an event of universal significance. And the charge sheet, the official reason for His execution, was His claim to kingship. The world condemned Him for being a king, but it is precisely as King that He saves us.

39-41 And one of the criminals hanging there was blaspheming Him, saying, “Are You not the Christ? Save Yourself and us!” But the other answered, and rebuking him said, “Do you not even fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed are suffering justly, for we are receiving what we deserve for what we have done; but this man has done nothing wrong.”

The two criminals represent the two possible responses to Christ. The first thief joins the chorus of mockers. His is a purely selfish faith; he wants a Christ who will get him out of his predicament. He wants salvation from his circumstances, not salvation from his sin. The second thief, however, undergoes a radical transformation. He begins with the fear of God. He recognizes that he is facing imminent judgment. This leads to a clear-eyed confession of his own sinfulness ("we indeed are suffering justly"). And this, in turn, leads to a declaration of Christ's perfect righteousness ("this man has done nothing wrong"). This is the essential shape of all true conversion: fear of God, confession of sin, and faith in the righteousness of Christ.

42 And he was saying, “Jesus, remember me when You come in Your kingdom!”

This is one of the most remarkable statements of faith in all of Scripture. This thief, looking at a bloody, beaten, and dying man, sees a King who is about to enter His kingdom. While everyone else saw failure, he saw sovereignty. While everyone else saw a criminal, he saw a Lord. He does not ask to be taken down from the cross. He asks for future grace. "Remember me." It is a plea for mercy, an expression of total dependence on the grace of this dying King. He believed in the resurrection and the kingdom to come when all the evidence of his senses screamed the opposite.

43 And He said to him, “Truly I say to you, today you shall be with Me in Paradise.”

Jesus, in His agony, exercises His divine authority to grant salvation. He gives the man more than he asked for. The thief asked to be remembered in the future; Jesus promises him fellowship in the immediate present. "Today." Not in some distant future, but this very day, your suffering will end and you will be with Me. And the destination is "Paradise," a term for the abode of the righteous dead, a place of peace and fellowship with God. This is the gospel in miniature. Salvation is not earned by a lifetime of good works. It is a free gift, received by simple faith in Jesus, and it can be granted in an instant to the most undeserving of sinners. This thief did nothing to earn his salvation. He could not be baptized. He could not join a church. He could not perform any good works. All he could do was believe, and that was enough.

44-45 And it was now about the sixth hour, and darkness fell over the whole land until the ninth hour, because the sun was obscured. And the veil of the sanctuary was torn in two.

The cosmos itself bears witness to the significance of this event. From noon until three in the afternoon, a supernatural darkness covers the land. This is not a normal eclipse. This is the judgment of God. Darkness in Scripture is associated with judgment and the wrath of God (Amos 8:9). As Jesus hangs on the cross, bearing the sin of the world, the Father turns His face away. The full fury of God's wrath against sin is poured out upon His Son. At the same time, inside the temple, the massive veil separating the Holy Place from the Most Holy Place is torn in two, from top to bottom. This was a divine act. The way into the presence of God, which had been barred to sinful man for centuries, was now ripped open by the death of Christ. The old covenant system of sacrifices and priests was now obsolete. Access to God is no longer restricted; it is available to all who come through the torn flesh of Jesus Christ (Heb. 10:19-20).

46 And Jesus, crying out with a loud voice, said, “Father, INTO YOUR HANDS I COMMIT MY SPIRIT.” Having said this, He breathed His last.

This is the final word from the cross recorded by Luke. It is a cry of trust and completion. Quoting from Psalm 31:5, Jesus commits His spirit into the hands of His Father. The darkness is over. The wrath has been absorbed. The atonement is complete. He cried with a loud voice, showing that He was not a helpless victim succumbing to exhaustion. He was in full control to the very end. No one took His life from Him; He laid it down of His own accord (John 10:18). And then, "He breathed His last." The Creator of life gave up His own life.

47-49 Now when the centurion saw what had happened, he began praising God, saying, “Certainly this man was righteous.” And all the crowds who came together for this spectacle, when they observed what had happened, were returning, beating their chests. And all His acquaintances and the women who accompanied Him from Galilee were standing at a distance, watching these things.

The immediate effects of the cross begin to ripple outward. A Roman centurion, a hardened pagan soldier, is the first to make a true confession. Seeing the manner of Jesus' death and the accompanying signs, he praises God and declares Jesus' innocence and righteousness. This is the beginning of the Gentile mission. The crowds, who had been passive or mocking, are now struck with conviction. They return home "beating their chests," a sign of deep grief and repentance. The seed of the church in Jerusalem is being planted right here. And finally, His followers, the women from Galilee and His other acquaintances, stand watching from a distance, bewildered and sorrowful, not yet understanding the victory that had just been won.

Application

The cross of Jesus Christ is not an event to be merely observed, analyzed, or even admired. It is an event that demands a response. It divides all of humanity into two camps, represented by the two thieves. We are either like the unrepentant thief, who sees Jesus as a potential means to our own selfish ends, a way to escape our immediate troubles, or we are like the penitent thief, who sees in Jesus our only hope for salvation from the judgment we rightly deserve.

We must see ourselves in this story. We are the ones who stood by and watched. Our sins are the reason the rulers scoffed and the soldiers mocked. It was our rebellion that nailed Him to that tree. And it was for us that He prayed, "Father, forgive them." The proper response to the cross is the response of the second thief. We must first fear God, recognizing that we stand under a just sentence of condemnation. We must confess that we are getting what we deserve for our sins. We must look to Jesus and declare that He alone is righteous. And we must cast ourselves entirely upon His mercy, saying, "Jesus, remember me."

The good news is that when we do this, His answer is always the same: "Today you will be with Me in Paradise." The veil is torn. The way to God is open. There is nothing standing between you and the Father except your own refusal to come. The cross has accomplished everything necessary for your salvation. Your part is simply to believe it, to receive it, to abandon all trust in your own righteousness and fall helpless into the arms of the King who died in your place.