Luke 22-24

The Voice

22 This daily pattern continued as they came closer to the holiday of Unleavened Bread, also known as the Passover.

² The chief priests and religious scholars continued looking for a way to kill Jesus; they hadn’t been able to act yet due to their fear of the people’s reaction. ³ At this point, Satan entered into one of the twelve, Judas (also called Iscariot). ⁴ Judas set up a private meeting with the chief priests and the captains of the temple police to discuss a plan for betraying Jesus and putting Him in their hands. ⁵ This was just the kind of break they had been waiting for, so they were thrilled and agreed to a handsome payment. ⁶ Everything was settled, and Judas simply waited for the right moment, when the crowds weren’t around, to betray Jesus into their custody.

⁷ They came to the Day of Unleavened Bread, a holy day when a special lamb (called the Passover lamb) had to be sacrificed. ⁸ Jesus chose Peter and John and gave them instructions.

¹⁷ He took a cup of wine and gave thanks for it.

¹⁹ Then He took bread, gave thanks, broke it, and shared it with them.

²⁰ And similarly, after the meal had been eaten, He took the cup.

²³ They immediately began questioning each other.

²⁴ Soon they found themselves arguing about the opposite question.

³⁹ Once again He left the city as He had been doing during recent days, returning to Mount Olivet along with His disciples. ⁴⁰ And He came to a certain place.

⁴¹ He distanced Himself from them about a stone’s throw and knelt there, ⁴² praying.

[⁴³ Then a messenger from heaven appeared to strengthen Him. ⁴⁴ And in His anguish, He prayed even more intensely, and His sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground.]^{[c] 45} When He rose from prayer and returned to the disciples, He found them asleep, weighed down with sorrow. ⁴⁶ He roused them.

⁴⁷ Even as He said these words, the sound of a crowd could be heard in the distance, and as the crowd came into view, it was clear that Judas was leading them. He came close to Jesus and gave Jesus the traditional greeting of a kiss.

⁵⁰ Before Jesus could answer, one of them had swung his sword at the high priest’s slave, cutting off his right ear.

Then He reached out to touch—and heal—the man’s ear. ⁵² Jesus turned to the chief priests, the captains of the temple, and the elders and spoke.

⁵⁴ They grabbed Him at this point and took Him away to the high priest’s home. Peter followed—at a distance. ⁵⁵ He watched from the shadows as those who had seized Jesus made a fire in the center of the courtyard and sat down around it. Then Peter slipped in quietly and sat with them. ⁵⁶ But a young servant girl saw his face in the firelight. She stared for a while and then spoke.

⁵⁸ A little later, a man also recognized him.

⁵⁹ An hour or so passed, and then another person pointed to Peter.

And he hadn’t even finished the sentence when a nearby rooster crowed. ⁶¹ The Lord turned toward Peter, and their eyes met. Peter remembered Jesus’ words about his triple denial before the rooster would crow, ⁶² so he left the courtyard and wept bitter tears.

⁶³ At this point, the men who were holding Jesus began to mock Him and beat Him. ⁶⁴ They put a blindfold on Him.

⁶⁵ They kept on with this sort of insulting, degrading treatment for quite some time. ⁶⁶ When dawn had given way to full day, the Sanhedrin council assembled, consisting of religious leaders of the Sadducean party, along with the chief priests and religious scholars. They took Him to their headquarters for interrogation.

23 So the whole council got up and took Jesus to Pilate. ² They brought accusations against Him.

⁷ When Pilate learned that Jesus was indeed Galilean—which meant He was officially under Herod’s jurisdiction—Pilate sent Him over to Herod, who was currently in Jerusalem. ⁸ Herod was fascinated to meet Jesus for he had heard about Him for a long time. He was hoping he might be treated to a miracle or two. ⁹ He interrogated Jesus for quite a while, but Jesus remained silent, refusing to answer his questions. ¹⁰ Meanwhile the chief priests and religious scholars had plenty to say—angrily hurling accusations at Jesus.

¹¹ Eventually Herod and his soldiers began to insult Jesus, mocking and degrading Him. They put expensive clothing on Him and sent Him back to Pilate. ¹² This ended a long-standing rift between Herod and Pilate; they became friends from that day forward.

¹³ Pilate assembled the chief priests and other Jewish authorities.

[¹⁷ It was the custom for Pilate to set one prisoner free during the holiday festivities.]^[d]

¹⁹ Barabbas had been imprisoned after being convicted of an insurrection he had led in Jerusalem. He had also committed murder. ²⁰ Pilate argued with them, wishing he could release Jesus, ²¹ but they wouldn’t be silenced.

²³ But they would not relent. They shouted louder and louder that He should be crucified, and eventually Pilate capitulated. ²⁴ So he pronounced the punishment they demanded.

²⁵ He released the rebel and murderer Barabbas—the insurrectionist they had pleaded for in His place—and he handed Jesus over to them to do with as they desired.

²⁶ On the way to the place of crucifixion, they pulled a man from the crowd—his name was Simon of Cyrene, a person from the countryside who happened to be entering the city at that moment. They put Jesus’ cross on Simon’s shoulders, and he followed behind Jesus. ²⁷ Along with Him was a huge crowd of common people, including many women shrieking and wailing in grief.

³² Jesus wasn’t the only one being crucified that day. There were two others, criminals, who were also being led to their execution. ³³ When they came to the place known as “The Skull,” they crucified Jesus there, in the company of criminals, one to the right of Jesus and the other to His left.

Meanwhile they were drawing lots to see who would win Jesus’ clothing. ³⁵ The crowd of people stood, watching.

³⁶ The soldiers joined in the mockery. First, they pretended to offer Him a soothing drink—but it was sour wine.

³⁸ Even the inscription they placed over Him was intended to mock Him—“This is the King of the Jews!” [This was written in Greek, Latin, and Hebrew.]^[g]

³⁹ One of the criminals joined in the cruel talk.

⁴⁰ But the other criminal told him to be quiet.

⁴⁴ At this point, it was about noon, and a darkness fell over the whole region. The darkness persisted until about three in the afternoon, ⁴⁵ and at some point during this darkness, the curtain in the temple was torn in two.

And with those words, He exhaled—and breathed no more.

⁴⁷ The Centurion^[i]—one of the soldiers who performed the execution—saw all this, and he praised God.

⁴⁸ The crowds of common people who had gathered and watched the whole ordeal through to its conclusion left for their homes, pounding on their own chests in profound grief. ⁴⁹ And all who knew Jesus personally, including the group of women who had been with Him from the beginning in Galilee, stood at a distance, watching all of these things unfold.

⁵⁰ Meanwhile a man named Joseph had been at work. He was a member of the council, a good and fair man, ⁵¹ from a Judean town called Arimathea. He had objected to the plans and actions of the council; he was seeking the kingdom of God. ⁵² He had gone to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. ⁵³ He removed the body from the cross and wrapped it in a shroud made of fine linen. He then laid the body in a cavelike tomb cut from solid rock, a tomb that never had been used before. ⁵⁴ It was Preparation Day—the day before the holy Sabbath—and it was about to begin at sundown. ⁵⁵ The women who had accompanied Jesus from the beginning in Galilee now came, took note of where the tomb was and how His body had been prepared, ⁵⁶ then left to prepare spices and ointments for His proper burial. They ceased their work on the Sabbath so they could rest as the Hebrew Scriptures required.

24 Early on Sunday morning, even before the sun had fully risen, these women made their way back to the tomb with the spices and ointments they had prepared. ² When they arrived, they found the stone was rolled away from the tomb entrance, ³ and when they looked inside, the body of the Lord Jesus was nowhere to be seen. ⁴ They didn’t know what to think. As they stood there in confusion, two men suddenly appeared standing beside them. These men seemed to glow with light. ⁵ The women were so terrified that they fell to the ground facedown.

⁸ The women did remember Jesus’ words about this, ⁹ so they returned from the tomb and found the eleven and recounted for them—and others with them—everything they had experienced. ^10-11 The Lord’s emissaries^[j] heard their stories as fiction, a lie; they didn’t believe a word of it. (By the way, this group of women included Mary Magdalene, Joanna, and Mary the mother of James, along with a number of others.) ¹² Peter, however, got up and ran to the tomb. When he reached the opening, he bent down, looked inside, and saw the linen burial cloths lying there. But the body was gone. He walked away, full of wonder about what had happened.

¹³ Picture this:

That same day, two other disciples (not of the eleven) are traveling the seven miles from Jerusalem to Emmaus. ¹⁴ As they walk along, they talk back and forth about all that has transpired during recent days. ¹⁵ While they’re talking, discussing, and conversing, Jesus catches up to them and begins walking with them, ¹⁶ but for some reason they don’t recognize Him.

They stop walking and just stand there, looking sad. ¹⁸ One of them—Cleopas is his name—speaks up.

²⁷ Then He begins with Moses and continues, prophet by prophet, explaining the meaning of the Hebrew Scriptures, showing how they were talking about the very things that had happened to Jesus.

²⁸ About this time, they are nearing their destination. Jesus keeps walking ahead as if He has no plans to stop there, ²⁹ but they convince Him to join them.

So He accompanies them to their home. ³⁰ When they sit down at the table for dinner, He takes the bread in His hands, He gives thanks for it, and then He breaks it and hands it to them. ³¹ At that instant, two things happen simultaneously: their eyes are suddenly opened so they recognize Him, and He instantly vanishes—just disappears before their eyes.

³³ So they get up immediately and rush back to Jerusalem—all seven miles—where they find the eleven gathered together—the eleven plus a number of others. ³⁴ Before Cleopas and his companion can tell their story, the others have their own story to tell.

³⁵ Then the two men report their own experience—their conversation along the road, their moment of realization and recognition as He broke the bread. ³⁶ At that very instant, as they’re still telling the story, Jesus is there, standing among them!

³⁷ They’re startled and terrified; they think they’re seeing a ghost.

[⁴⁰ Then He shows them His hands and His feet.]^[k]

⁴¹ Now their fear gives way to joy; but it seems too good to be true, and they’re still unsure.

⁴² They hand Him a piece of broiled fish, ⁴³ and He takes it and eats it in front of them.

⁴⁵ Then He opens their minds so they can comprehend the meaning of the Hebrew Scriptures.

⁵⁰ Then He leads them out to Bethany. He lifts up His hands and blesses them, ⁵¹ and at that moment, with His hands raised in blessing, He leaves them and is carried up into heaven. ⁵² They worship Him, then they return to Jerusalem, filled with intense joy, ⁵³ and they return again and again to the temple to celebrate God.