Luke 23 Footnotes
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23:39-40 Both Mt 27:44 and Mk 15:32 state that the criminals crucified with Jesus mocked him. Only Luke tells us of one’s repentance. Over the course of a crucifixion that lasted for several hours, the second criminal apparently became impressed with Jesus’s demeanor and speech and changed his view of him.
23:44-45 Luke was not asserting that a solar eclipse took place (a physical impossibility at Passover, which occurs during a full moon). The word he used (Gk ekleipo¯) merely means the sun was obscured. The physical cause of the darkness may have been thick clouds or a sandstorm, but the Gospel writers were interested in the phenomenon not for its physical but for its theological meaning. Similarly, darkness does not cover the entire “world” but the “whole land,” that is, of Judea or of the region of Jerusalem (Gk ge can mean “earth” or “land”).
23:46 The final words of Jesus are recorded differently in the Gospels. The saying recorded at Mt 27:46 and Mk 15:34 (“My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?”) is certainly historical, since the early church would not invent such a saying for Jesus (see Mt 27:46). The saying recorded by Luke (“Father, into your hands I entrust my spirit”) should also be taken as historical, since it finds echoes in Mt 27:50 and Jn 19:30. John’s record of the words, “It is finished” seems to precede this statement. Thus Jesus apparently first gave the cry of dereliction. Later, immediately before dying, He cried aloud, “It is finished!” and committed his spirit to God.
23:47 Luke recorded the centurion’s words differently than Matthew and Mark, both of whom had him declare Jesus to be “Son of God.” The centurion may have said both things. More likely, Luke was summarizing the centurion’s point, since the term he used (Gk dikaios, “righteous, innocent”) occurs frequently in Luke’s writings, and the motif of Jesus as an innocent sufferer is common in Luke and Acts. Historically, though the centurion may have used “Son of God” language, it probably expressed his conviction that Jesus truly was a King and thus innocent of the charges upon which he was crucified (Mk 15:39).