Luke Bible Study, Day 39
Today’s passage: Luke 23:44–56
Focus verse: Going to Pilate, [Joseph] asked for Jesus’ body. Then he took it down, wrapped it in linen cloth and placed it in a tomb. (Luke 23:52–53)
As Jesus hangs on the cross, his life ebbs away. Minute by minute he moves toward death, in one of the most agonizing ways possible.
Then, in the middle of the day, everything goes dark. It stays that way for three hours. Luke writes that the sun stops shining.
Some people explain this as an eclipse, but given its length, it must be a supernatural event. Regardless, it’s unexpected and unusual. Unprecedented, it certainly grabs everyone’s attention.
Then the curtain in the temple that separates the holiest place from the people, rips apart. Symbolically, everyone now has direct access to God. Then Jesus dies.
The centurion overseeing the crucifixion has never seen anything like this. He knows what death looks like, for he has seen it many times. He knows Jesus is dead.
The centurion senses God’s power in what happened, praises God, and affirms Jesus as a righteous man.
The people watching the crucifixion are overcome by what they just saw. Jesus is dead. They hang their heads in sorrow and walk away. Jesus’s friends, including some of his female followers, stand at a distance, watching all this take place.
The Roman centurion, the people in the crowd, and Jesus’s followers all witness his death. All that remains is to bury him.
Joseph—a member of the religious council that brought about Jesus’s death—didn’t agree with the decision to kill him.
A man of integrity, hailing from the town of Arimathea, he lives in expectation of the coming kingdom of God. Joseph goes to Pilate and asks for Jesus’s body so he can give him a proper burial.
Joseph must act fast, for the Sabbath is about to start, and his faith keeps him from work on this holy day. He takes down Jesus’s body, wraps it in linen, and places it in a new tomb, one hewn from rock.
Then a huge stone is placed at the entrance to seal the crypt. This marks the certainty of Jesus’s death.
The women who watched Jesus die follow Joseph and see him place Jesus’s lifeless body in the tomb.
Then they head home to gather spices, so they can embalm his body. But since they can’t do it on the Sabbath, they must wait until the first day of the week to perform this loving act for their fallen Savior.
Jesus is dead, and his body lies in a tomb. Many eyewitnesses confirm his death and his burial.
They assume this is the end.
Questions:
- Do we sometimes forget the significance of Jesus’s death and how much he suffered so that we could live?
- Do we act with God-honoring integrity, like Joseph?
[Discover what Isaiah predicted about how Jesus would suffer in Isaiah 52:14 and Isaiah 53:4–6.]
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Read more about the book of Luke in Dear Theophilus: A 40-Day Devotional Exploring the Life of Jesus through the Gospel of Luke, now available in ebook, paperback, and hardcover.
Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront a status quo faith and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.
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