The Death of Jesus

Luke 23:44-49

⁴⁴It was now about noon, and darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon, ⁴⁵while the sun’s light failed; and the curtain of the temple was torn in two. 
⁴⁶Then Jesus, crying with a loud voice, said, “Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.” Having said this, he breathed his last. ⁴⁷When the centurion saw what had taken place, he praised God and said, “Certainly this man was innocent.” ⁴⁸And when all the crowds who had gathered there for this spectacle saw what had taken place, they returned home, beating their breasts. ⁴⁹But all his acquaintances, including the women who had followed him from Galilee, stood at a distance, watching these things.

Luke describes the death of Jesus in six sentences. His creation reacts by going dark while He hangs on the cross dying. The curtain of the temple is torn in two. Both Mark and Matthew report the rendering of the curtain after Christ’s death, while here in Luke it appears to be torn prior to Jesus’ death. Not certain if the difference is significant, but it still has the same meaning – That Jesus’ act on the cross makes access to the Father now possible to all.

Then Jesus commends His spirit to the Father and breathes His last.

The centurion declares that Jesus was innocent, and the women are witnesses to His death. This is an important point, since the same women would later witness the burial and the resurrection. They will be able to testify that the person who died on the cross and was buried in Joseph of Arimathea’s tomb, is the same one who was resurrected.

Why did Jesus have to die? The Bible tells us that Jesus, who had no sin, died on the cross to pay for humanity’s sins. But since God is all powerful and loving, could He not just forgive humanity’s sins without sending His Son to the cross?

It has to do with justice. Injustice can go two ways. An innocent person being declared guilty and made to pay a penalty would be an injustice. A guilty person being declared not guilty and not having to pay the penalty would also be an injustice.

Humans, being sinful and fallible, means that every human justice system has seen its share of injustice being done.

Every single human since Adam has sinned. Sins of commission, sins of omission, sins of the heart – We have all fallen short of God’s standards. And Romans 6:23 tells us that the wages of sin is death.

God is just and so the penalty for sin must be paid. Since every human is sinful, that would mean eternal death for all. Yet, God loves us so much, He was willing to form a plan which would bring salvation to humanity. Humans could do nothing, since they deserved eternal death. Which meant that no human could pay the penalty for humanity’s sins. So, God sent His Son, who had no sin, to die on the cross so that humanity’s penalty would be paid.

Now all we need to do is accept this act of love and repent, and we would be saved. That is the meaning of John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.”

The Roman justice system was not concerned about whether a method of execution was cruel or unnecessarily painful. In fact, that was the whole point. A very agonizing and painful death was the reason they reserved the cross for the worst offenders against the empire. Fear of being crucified was supposed to be a deterrent to committing acts against the empire. For such a wide-ranging empire, they felt it was an effective method to keep order throughout the empire.

The excruciating pain of having large spikes driven into one’s hands and feet, and then once the cross is stood up, the gravity would put unceasing agony to the wounds. Mark tells us that Jesus was crucified at 9:00am and Luke tells us that Jesus died at 3:00pm . This would mean that Jesus hung on the cross in excruciating pain for six hours.

As the day of the crucifixion approached, Jesus was aware of the pain that was to come. He even asked in the garden of Gethsemane whether there was another way to accomplish His work. But when it was made clear that there was no other way, He went willingly.

We know by John 3:16 that from the point of view of God the Father, Jesus was sent to the cross because God the Father loved us and wanted to save us.

Romans 14:9 gives us the reason why Jesus was willing to go to the cross – “For to this end Christ died and lived again, so that he might be Lord of both the dead and the living.”

Jesus wanted not only for us to be saved, but He wanted to be our Lord. To happily accept the fact that Jesus died for our sins and took the punishment that we deserved, while insisting that we live the way we want to live, is tantamount to telling Jesus, “Thank you for dying for me, but I will not have you lord over me.”

As we head into celebrating Jesus’ resurrection next week, let us keep in mind that through what Jesus did for us on the cross, we have been given the opportunity to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. All we have to do is to accept Jesus Christ as our lord and savior.

Kingdom implies a king and his subjects. Jesus is our king and we are His subjects. Instead of putting our interests first, let us seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness.

(the above is a summary of the message shared by Pastor Shun Takano at our worship on April 13, 2025.)