Luke 23 – 24
The last two chapters describe the power of the Gospel. No matter what Jesus said during his life, it really was His death and resurrection that makes Jesus matter. If it wasn’t for that the story is just good advice. This is something we often miss in studying the rest of the Bible. If it wasn’t for the blood sacrifice of Jesus for our sins and His ascension into heaven our souls would be in question.
In the story Pilate sends Jesus to Herod since he does not want to deal with this problem. Verse 23:8 shows Herod’s interest in Jesus:
When Herod saw Jesus, he was very glad, for he had long desired to see him, because he had heard about him, and he was hoping to see some sign done by him.
I read this and think of Jesus Christ Superstar and Herod’s song. The line that pops in my head when is read “he was hoping to see some sign” is “prove to me that your no fool. Walk across my swimming pool!” This is a blatant mocking of Jesus and His time on earth. Often we wonder why Jesus didn’t do something to save his life, but His death had more significance that his life and therefore no matter how painful he needed to be sacrificed.
A side note is in verse 23:12 where Herod and Pilate became friends after this:
And Herod and Pilate became friends with each other that very day, for before this they had been at enmity with each other.
Not that big of a deal, but seems like the experience joined them in a twisted sort of way.
Verse 23:45 is the symbolic end of Jesus and the significance it had on the temple:
while the sun’s light failed. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two.
Matthew describes this being torn from top to bottom. The Complete Jewish Bible translates this passage as “split down the middle.” The significance of the curtain being torn doqn is it shows the division between God and man being torn away by God and not man. After Jesus’ death man no longer required some elaborate “interface” to talk with God, anyone could do it … provided they were “in tune” with God. This “tuning” was simple, accept Jesus as your savior, believe that He is who the Bible said He is and confess your sins on the blood of Jesus. Without this the “veil” is symbolically still “up” for us.
The resurrection story starts with verse 24:1 and makes me curious of the timing:
But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they went to the tomb, taking the spices they had prepared.
We assume Jesus rose on Sunday, but this implies it was Monday. I know we can get into a long drawn out debate on the timing and when the Sabbath actually is, but let’s focus on this passage. If Jesus died on a Friday and Saturday is the Sabbath then Sunday is the day Jesus rose and is the “first day of the week” in the Jewish week. This also assumes they did not leave the body on display for much time. The timing works better in my mind for Monday, because Jesus died the afternoon on Friday, one day later he was removed and laid in the tomb. Then the Sabbath came and nothing was done and day three he rose and was discovered.
Now you could argue he rose on Sunday and was discovered on Monday, but it really doesn’t matter. The fact is the tomb as empty and Jesus started to appear to his disciples and followers. Although this is difficult to comprehend for someone who is new to this story, but it was necessary. It shows Jesus was God in flesh; it fulfilled the prophecies and was necessary to prove to all that He accomplished what He was meant to do.
Now I often wonder if you believe that Jesus walked the earth, did wondrous things and died for our sins as a sacrificial lamb, but question the resurrection would they be “saved”? I believe yes, since it takes some time for a person, especially in this day and age to believe most of what’s in the Bible. It has taken me years to reconcile Jesus and God being one and decades to reconcile creation as stated in the Bible over what science has to say. So to ask someone to believe that Jesus rose before they can receive salvation is not “Biblical” and here is why.
The sacrificial system was to reconcile the spiritual death caused by sin. The “sacrifice” had to receive your sin and then die in order for your heart to be cleansed. Jesus did this on his death on the cross, not his resurrection. This is a fine line and may be dangerous to say, but the death brings us the salvation the resurrection just provided the proof. With modern technology it’s easy to understand one can “die” and be resuscitated back to life, so the resurrection is not that difficult to comprehend.