“Jesus called out with a loud voice, ‘“Father, into your hands I commit my spirit,”’ When he had said this, he breathed his last.”
~ Luke 23:46
Hi James and Ellen,
The 56 verses of Luke 23 capsulate the last day of God – as God the Son, being an incarnate man – whose name was Jesus. Luke tersely and succinctly summarized this historic, infamous day by naming all the bit players who had roles in Jesus’ final life moments and in the moments right after Jesus’ death. When your grandpaa was a senior at Volga Public High School in Volga, South Dakota, your grandpaa was asked if he would be willing to play a part as a supporting actor in a one act play. When your grandpaa was asked if he would be willing to play a part as a supporting actor in a one act play – which was called the ‘Balcony Scene’, your grandpaa was sitting at his desk during a study hall period with no thoughts at all or aspirations of ever acting in any kind of play. Your grandpaa’s English teacher that day had the responsibility of moderating your grandpaa’s study hall period. When the teacher who had the responsibility for the one act play – which would compete against one act plays from area high schools, asked your grandpaa’s English teacher if she thought that there was anyone in her study hall who she thought would be good at playing a supporting role in the one act play, your grandpaa’s English teacher suggested that she talk to your grandpaa. One moment your grandpaa was sitting at his desk waiting for the study hall period to end and the next moment your grandpaa was replacing a kid in the role that he no longer had because he was not showing up for the one act play practices. The one act play was a comedy about a couple who had died who now was attending as ghosts the funeral of someone who they knew who had died. The ghost couple sat in the balcony of the place where there was a memorial service for the person who had died – where they made sarcastic, humorous remarks about the person whose funeral that they were attending. Your grandpaa’s role was a guy who was first henpecked by his wife and then by the end of the one act play bossing his wife. Everyone in Volga’s Public High School knew that your grandpaa was a real introvert and did not do anything with gals. Everyone in Volga’s Public High School knew that the gal who was your grandpaa’s ghost wife in the one act play was a real extrovert and that she was stylish and popular. Because of the way that your grandpaa and the gal are hardwired – having personalities that were totally opposite of each other, your grandpaa and the gal who acted as your grandpaa’s wife won the best supporting actor and the best supporting actress awards in the one act play competition between the area high schools.
God gave Himself – as God the Son – as an incarnate man – whose name was Jesus, on the last day of His life a large cast of supporting role characters. Jesus’s last day begins with soldiers and large mob of His own people group – who were guys who were Jews or God’s specially chosen guys, taking Him to Pilate – who was Judea’s Roman governor, where because Jesus was saying that He was a king, Jesus was accused of being a subversive. When Pilate decided that the charges that the chief priests and the mob were making against Jesus were nothing that should lead to Jesus being killed – and learning that Jesus was from Galilee and under Herod’s jurisdiction, Pilate had the chief priests and the mob haul Jesus off to Herod – for Herod to make the decision as to what to do next with Jesus. Herod – by happenstance, was in the city of Jerusalem – otherwise Herod would probably have been in his home in Tiberias. Tiberias is a town that is located on the west shore of the Sea of Galilee. Even though Herod had wanted to meet Jesus – as he had never gotten the chance to meet Jesus before, Herod – with his soldiers, ended up mocking and ridiculing Jesus before he sent Jesus back to Pilate. Because Pilate could not find any reason to kill Jesus, Pilate gave the chief priests and the mob the choice to either kill Jesus or kill a well-known insurrectionist and a murderer whose name was Barabbas. Because of the frenetic actions of the chief priests and the mob – who were communicating a desperation to crucify Jesus, Pilate prudently released Barabbas from jail and turned Jesus over to the chief priests and the mob for them to fulfill their wish to see Jesus die on a cross. When it became obvious that Jesus did not have the strength to drag the cross all by himself, a guy from Cyrene whose name was Simon was physically obliged to help Jesus. A crying, wailing crowd followed Jesus and Simon. Jesus at one point told the gals in the crowd to not be concerned about His welfare but to be very concerned about their welfare and the welfare of their kids. When Jesus got to a place that was called the Skull, He was nailed to the cross after His cross was pushed up between the crosses of two bad guys. One of the bad guys suggested to Jesus that He if really was Who He said that He was that He should save Himself and that He should also save them. The other bad guy told the first bad guy that he was out of line for what he had said to Jesus as they had been hung on crosses for actually doing bad things while Jesus had been hung on a cross even though He had not done anything bad. After Jesus did what verse 46 says, “Jesus called out with a loud voice, ‘“Father, into your hands I commit my spirit,”’ When he had said this, he breathed his last”, the sun stopped shining and the temple curtain ripped into two pieces. When all this happened, a centurion – who probably was a witness to everything that happened that day, understood in his heart that Jesus had been the incarnate God – as God the Son. Another witness – whose name was Joseph, had not been in favor of killing Jesus even though he was a member of the Council. Joseph – after asking Pilate if he could do so, took Jesus off the cross that He was nailed and tied to, wrapped a linen cloth around Jesus’ body and put Jesus’ body in a tomb.
This Luke Book chapter ends with two gals finding the tomb empty where Joseph had entombed Jesus’s body.
Luke 23 (597)