Luke 23:44-49

 This passage was looked at as part of a "Seven Last Words" preaching series in 2024.  

Some reflections

Psalm 31

When Jesus says "Into your hand, I commend my Spirit" he is referencing Psalm 31. (LXX 30).

In itself, this is interesting in that the word for Spirit here is "Ruach" or "ר֫וּחִ֥" which has all sorts of conations about life, breath and spirit. Looking at the root of the word "Spirit" helps make sense of why the next action of Jesus is to breath his last.  In fact, in Greek the word for "Spirit" is πνεῦμά and the word for "exhale" is ἐξέπνευσεν.

What is more interesting to me, at least, is the second half of the Psalm: "For you have redeemed me, O God of truth" (or faithful God).  Jesus final breath, I would contend, is not the first part of the Psalm, but the second part, in that he knows that God has faithfully delivered him.  The final part of Psalm 31:5 is "O God of Amen."  This final breath is Jesus 'amen' to the God and to the word.

Three reactions to Jesus death

Luke shows a few reactions to the death of Jesus

• Centurion:  Admiration.  The centurion glorifies God [ἐδόξαζεν (from , meaning "glorify")] and declares Jesus to be righteous [δίκαιος (meaning "righteous", 23:47)].  I like the connection here between Luke and Paul, in that for Paul, Jesus' righteousness is revealed in the faithfulness of Jesus on cross.  Here the Centurion acknowledges the righteousness of Jesus as he sees his faith on display in spite of everything.
• Crowd:  Perfunctory sadness.  The crowd is grieved [τύπτοντες their chests (meaning "beating", 23:48)], but does not linger, instead returns home [ὑπέστρεφον (meaning "return", 23:48)]
• Women:  Ready to follow.  The women have been following Jesus [συνακολουθοῦσαι (meaning "follow", 23:49)]  A couple things to note about this verb.  First, it is in the present tense.  They were in the process of following him to the cross and nothing suggests this has changed.  Also, the verb has a "συν" prefix, meaning they are following together.

Perhaps those are all three our reactions - amazement, sadness and readiness...

[As the week wore on, other things caught me]

• The contrast of Joseph of Arimathea with Roman centurion, both people of power
• The women who were following (note: Luke has this in the present tense) also returned, but they did not return in resignation, but to bury Jesus.