BibleProject | Upside-Down Kingdom / Part 1 - LukeSample

The temple leaders can’t execute Jesus without permission from the Roman governor, Pontius Pilate. So they make up a charge that Jesus is a rebel king stirring up revolution against the Roman emperor. Pilate asks Jesus, “are you the King of the Jews?” And Jesus answers, “You say so.” Pilate can see that Jesus is an innocent man and doesn’t deserve death, but the religious leaders keep insisting that he’s dangerous. So after Jesus is sent to Herod and returned to Pilate bruised and bloody, they negotiate a shocking plan. Pilate will release an actual rebel against Rome, a man named Barabbas, instead of Jesus. The innocent is handed over in place of the guilty.

Jesus is taken away with two other accused criminals and nailed to a Roman execution device. He’s made into a spectacle. People auction off his clothing and mock him saying, “if you are the messianic King, save yourself!” But Jesus loves his enemies to the very end. He seeks forgiveness for his executors and gives hope to one of the criminals dying beside him saying, “Today you will be with me in paradise.”

The sky suddenly darkens, the veil of the temple tears into two pieces, and Jesus cries out to God with his last breath, “into your hands I commit my spirit.” A Roman centurion witnesses the whole thing and says, “certainly this man was innocent.”

Read, Reflect, and Respond:

• How does Luke’s account of Jesus’ death impact you today?
  
• Compare Pilate and Herod’s attempt to hold Jesus back from death with the religious crowd’s demands for his execution. What do you observe? When you consider the actual charges brought against Jesus (vs. 23:2), how is this unexpected?
  
• Review the dialogue between the criminals (see 23:39-43). What do you observe? How does Jesus’ response to the criminals’ request affect you? As you study this interaction, what do you learn about the nature of Jesus’ Kingdom?
  
• Luke tells us about a religious leader named Joseph who opposed the lethal plan of his peers (vv. 23:50-51, 22:66-71, 23:1). Consider how Joseph shows his affections for Jesus (see 23:52-53). Are you a member of a group that you disagree with? How can you show your beliefs?
  
• Pilate, Herod, the mourning crowd and the mocking crowd, Simon, the conspiring religious leaders and the dissenting Joseph, the criminal on Jesus’ left and the criminal on his right, they all have different interactions with Jesus. Which character or characters in this story do you relate to most?
  
• Let your reading and reflection prompt a prayer from your heart to God now. He’s listening.