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Luke

About this book
Chapter 23

1 Then the whole group of them rose up and brought Jesus before Pilate. 2 They began to accuse him, saying, “We found this man subverting our nation, forbidding us to pay the tribute tax to Caesar and claiming that he himself is Christ, a king.” 3 So Pilate asked Jesus, “Are you the king of the Jews?” He replied, “You say so.” 4 Then Pilate said to the chief priests and the crowds, “I find no basis for an accusation against this man.” 5 But they persisted in saying, “He incites the people by teaching throughout all Judea. It started in Galilee and ended up here!” 6 Now when Pilate heard this, he asked whether the man was a Galilean. 7 When he learned that he was from Herod’s jurisdiction, he sent him over to Herod, who also happened to be in Jerusalem at that time. 8 When Herod saw Jesus, he was very glad, for he had long desired to see him because he had heard about him and was hoping to see him perform some miraculous sign. 9 So Herod questioned him at considerable length; Jesus gave him no answer. 10 The chief priests and the experts in the law were there, vehemently accusing him. 11 Even Herod with his soldiers treated him with contempt and mocked him. Then, dressing him in elegant clothes, Herod sent him back to Pilate. 12 That very day Herod and Pilate became friends with each other, for prior to this they had been enemies. 13 Then Pilate called together the chief priests, the leaders, and the people, 14 and said to them, “You brought me this man as one who was misleading the people. When I examined him before you, I did not find this man guilty of anything you accused him of doing. 15 Neither did Herod, for he sent him back to us. Look, he has done nothing deserving death. 16 I will therefore have him flogged and release him.” 17 But they all shouted out together, “Take this man away! Release Barabbas for us!” 18 (This was a man who had been thrown into prison for an insurrection started in the city, and for murder.) 19 Pilate addressed them once again because he wanted to release Jesus. 20 But they kept on shouting, “Crucify, crucify him!” 21 A third time he said to them, “Why? What wrong has he done? I have found him guilty of no crime deserving death. I will therefore flog him and release him.” 22 But they were insistent, demanding with loud shouts that he be crucified. And their shouts prevailed. 23 So Pilate decided that their demand should be granted.⁠ 24 He released the man they asked for, who had been thrown in prison for insurrection and murder. But he handed Jesus over to their will. 25 As they led him away, they seized Simon of Cyrene, who was coming in from the country. They placed the cross on his back and made him carry it behind Jesus. 26 A great number of the people followed him, among them women who were mourning and wailing for him. 27 But Jesus turned to them and said, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children. 28 For this is certain: The days are coming when they will say, ‘Blessed are the barren, the wombs that never bore children, and the breasts that never nursed!’⁠ 29 Then they will begin to say to the mountains, ‘Fall on us!’ and to the hills, ‘Cover us!’ 30 For if such things are done when the wood is green, what will happen when it is dry?” 31 Two other criminals were also led away to be executed with him. 32 So when they came to the place that is called “The Skull,” they crucified him there, along with the criminals, one on his right and one on his left. 33 [But Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they don’t know what they are doing.”] Then they threw dice to divide his clothes. 34 The people also stood there watching, but the leaders ridiculed him, saying, “He saved others. Let him save himself if he is the Christ of God, his chosen one!” 35 The soldiers also mocked him, coming up and offering him sour wine, 36 and saying, “If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself!” 37 There was also an inscription over him, “This is the king of the Jews.” 38 One of the criminals who was hanging there railed at him, saying, “Aren’t you the Christ? Save yourself and us!” 39 But the other rebuked him, saying, “Don’t you fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? 40 And we rightly so, for we are getting what we deserve for what we did, but this man has done nothing wrong.” 41 Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come in your kingdom.” 42 And Jesus said to him, “I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise.” 43 It was now about noon, and darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon, 44 because the sun’s light failed. The temple curtain was torn in two. 45 Then Jesus, calling out with a loud voice, said, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!”⁠ And after he said this he breathed his last. 46 Now when the centurion saw what had happened, he praised God and said, “Certainly this man was innocent!” 47 And all the crowds that had assembled for this spectacle, when they saw what had taken place, returned home beating their breasts. 48 And all those who knew Jesus stood at a distance, and the women who had followed him from Galilee saw these things. 49 Now there was a man named Joseph who was a member of the council, a good and righteous man. 50 (He had not consented to their plan and action.) He was from the Judean town of Arimathea, and was looking forward to the kingdom of God. 51 He went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. 52 Then he took it down, wrapped it in a linen cloth, and placed it in a tomb cut out of the rock, where no one had yet been buried. 53 It was the day of preparation, and the Sabbath was beginning. 54 The women who had accompanied Jesus from Galilee followed, and they saw the tomb and how his body was laid in it. 55 Then they returned and prepared aromatic spices and perfumes. On the Sabbath they rested according to the commandment.

Texts in conversation

Compare Luke 23:24 and Tacitus, Annals 15.44

New Testament · Classical

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Summary

Luke 23 describes Pilate giving in to public pressure and allowing Jesus to be killed. These details match what is found in Tacitus, which mentions Pilate as the official who ordered the execution during Tiberius’s reign.

Passages

Luke 23:24

New Testament
20 But they kept on shouting, “Crucify, crucify him!” 21 A third time he said to them, “Why? What wrong has he done? I have found him guilty of no crime deserving death. I will therefore flog him and release him.” 22 But they were insistent, demanding with loud shouts that he be crucified. And their shouts prevailed. 23 So Pilate decided that their demand should be granted. 24 He released the man they asked for, who had been thrown in prison for insurrection and murder. But he handed Jesus over to their will. 25 As they led him away, they seized Simon of Cyrene, who was coming in from the country. They placed the cross on his back and made him carry it behind Jesus.
75–85 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in Luke

Tacitus, Annals 15.44

Classical
So far, the precautions taken were suggested by human prudence: now means were sought for appeasing deity, and application was made to the Sibylline books; at the injunction of which public prayers were offered to Vulcan, Ceres, and Proserpine, while Juno was propitiated by the matrons, first in the Capitol, then at the nearest point of the sea-shore, where water was drawn for sprinkling the temple and image of the goddess. Ritual banquets and all-night vigils were celebrated by women in the married state. But neither human help, nor imperial munificence, nor all the modes of placating Heaven, could stifle scandal or dispel the belief that the fire had taken place by order. Therefore, to scotch the rumour, Nero substituted as culprits, and punished with the utmost refinements of cruelty, a class of men, loathed for their vices, whom the crowd styled Christians. Christus, the founder of the name, had undergone the death penalty in the reign of Tiberius, by sentence of the procurator Pontius Pilatus, and the pernicious superstition was checked for a moment, only to break out once more, not merely in Judaea, the home of the disease, but in the capital itself, where all things horrible or shameful in the world collect and find a vogue.
117–138 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in Tacitus, Annals Book 15

References

"... Of all the figures that appear in the New Testament and early Christian literature, Pontius Pilate is probably the most ambiguous, and yet also the most well evidenced in non-Christian writings, importantly in Philo (Legat. 299–305), Josephus (Bell. II.117–18; 167–279; Ant. XVIII.55–64; 85–89), and in Tacitus (Ann. XV.22.4). The rhetorical aspects of the literary sources have been well discussed, notably by J. P. Lémonon and B. C. McGing, and recently by Helen Bond, who has deftly explored the historical Pilate beneath this material ..."
Joan E. Taylor, “Pontius Pilate and the Imperial Cult in Roman Judea,” NTS 52.4 (2006): 555–582.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

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Luke 23:24 and Tacitus, Annals 15.44

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