Luke 23:44-49

[44] It was now about noon, and darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon.

[45] for the sun stopped shining. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two. 

[46] Jesus called out with a loud voice, ‘Father, into your hands I commit my spirit’ (Psalms 31:5). When he had said this, he breathed his last.

[47] the centurion, seeing what had happened, praised God and said, ‘surely this was a righteous man’. 

[48] When all the people who had gathered to witness this sight saw what took place, they beat their breasts and went away. 

[49] But all those who knew him, including the women who had followed him from Galilee, stood at a distance, watching these things. 

This is what happened when Jesus died. 

1. The sun stopped shining until three in the afternoon during daylight hours. 
2. There was a curtain in the temple in Jerusalem that separated the holy place, where priests offered daily sacrifices, from the most holy place, the place where only the high priest could go once a year to offer an atonement sacrifice for all of Israel. The most holy place represented where God lived and where he sat. A seat of mercy above the ark of the covenant. That curtain was ripped apart so that nothing separated those places.
3. Jesus spoke, before he gave his last breath, he spoke and quoted Psalms 31:5 as a prayer to God, he said, ‘Father, into your hands I commit my spirit’. 
4. The centurion, commander of a hundred (or hundreds) was a witness at Jesus’ crucifixion and began praising God and said, ‘surely this was a righteous man’. 
5. Witnesses who came to watch the crucifixion became visibly upset. When Jesus died, ‘they beat their breast and went away’. 
6. There were people at the crucifixion of Jesus who knew Jesus, including women who had followed him from Galilee. When Jesus died, they all stayed, stood at a distance and watched. 

 [1] What is the symbolism of the darkness that came over the whole land until three in the afternoon?

When Jesus died the sun stopped shining, symbolizing the greatness of Jesus’ life and his identity as the light of the world. 

Scriptures prophesied that God would send a savior who would deliver his people. This savior would be a great light that would bring illumination and understanding to people who were living in a deep darkness (Isaiah 9:1-2). A darkness where there was no joy, no rejoicing, a defeated people, burdened and oppressed. The light that this savior would be would show them joy and a reason to rejoice. 

Also when Jesus was born a tangible light, a star appeared in the night sky that led wise men, in search of the prophesied messiah, to a manger in Bethlehem and to Mary and the baby Jesus (Matthew 2:1-12). The light that led them was visible and symbolic. God was literally showing them the exact place that his word, prophesied in Isaiah 9:1-7 and Micah 5:2, would be fulfilled.

Jesus knew who he was and that he was sent from God to be a light to the world. Jesus says in John 8:12, ‘I am the light of the world, whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life. The light that was promised would remove gloom, sorrow and despair through what he would illuminate for people living in deep darkness. 

Genesis 1:1-3 says that when the earth was without form and void and darkness was over the face of the deep. God spoke his word and said, ‘Let there be light’. John the Baptist testifies that Jesus is the word of God and that the light that Jesus is, is what has given all things life from the beginning. Through God’s word, all things were made (through Jesus) and without him nothing was made that is made. In Jesus, the word of God, is life and this life is the light of all mankind that overcomes all darkness (John 1:1-5). 

The people who did not believe that Jesus was sent from God arrested him and sentenced him to death on the cross, but Jesus was adamant about his purpose, and the reason God sent him. 

He knew who he was even when accused of blasphemy. Jesus said in John 8:14-19;23-29 [14] ‘[14] Even if I testify on my own behalf, my testimony is true, for I know where I come from and where I am going. 

But you have no idea where I come from or where I am going. [15] You judge according to the flesh (everything that is in opposition to God); I judge no one. [[16] But if I do judge, my decisions are true, because I am not alone. I stand with the Father, who sent me. 

[17] In your law it is written that the testimony of two witnesses is true. [18] I am one who testifies for myself; my other witness is the Father, who sent me. [19] You do not know me or my Father. If you knew me, you would know my Father also.

I am going away, and you will look for me, and you will die in your sin. Where I am going you cannot come. [23] You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world. [24] I told you that you would die in your sins; for unless you believe that I am he, you will die in your sins. 

[28] When you have lifted up the Son of man, then you will know that I am he, and that I do nothing on my own authority, but speak just as the father taught me. [29] He who sent me is with me; he has not left me alone, for I always do what pleases him (John 8:14-19; 23-29).

Jesus knew who he was. The scriptures testify that he is the light that would come from God. Jesus also knew that this light that would bring life, would also be taken from them. 

The symbolism of the sun refusing to shine and darkness covering the whole land was a statement of what the world is like without the light and the life that Jesus is. 

To reject Jesus is to reject everything that gives life and embrace darkness, confusion, disillusion, misery, hopelessness. To reject Jesus is to live in a world where nothing is secure. 

To reject Jesus is to live in a world where there is knowledge but no understanding. 

To reject Jesus is to live in a world where our best efforts to do good fail at best and at worst create more injustice, evil, oppression and sorrow. A life lived but in deep darkness.  

[2] Yet in that deep darkness another symbolic statement was made. Luke 23:45 says that “the curtain of the temple was torn in two’.

What is the symbolism of the curtain of the temple being torn in two?

The veil separated the holy place from the most holy place where God’s presence dwelt. Only the high priest could pass through the veil once a year on the day of atonement to offer a sacrifice to God for the sins of Israel. 

Exodus 26:31-34 says, ‘and you shall make a veil of blue and purple and scarlet yarns and finely twisted linen, with cherubim woven into it by a skilled worker. And you shall hang it with gold hooks on four posts of acacia wood overlaid with gold, standing on four silver bases. And you shall hang the veil from clasps and place the ark of the covenant law behind the veil. And the veil will separate the holy place from the most holy place. You shall put the mercy seat on the ark of the covenant in the most holy place’. 

In Leviticus 16 God is giving Moses instructions concerning the duties of Aaron the high priest he has chosen and all future high priests; how they are to approach God.

Leviticus 16:2-34 says that God would appear on the mercy seat (the seat of atonement) and atone for the sins of the high priest and all of Israel on the day of atonement. 

Leviticus 16:34 says that atonement is to be made once a year for all the sins of the Israelites; and that the duties of this priest this is to be a lasting ordinance. 

Leviticus 16:30 for on this day shall atonement be made for you to cleanse you. You shall be clean before the Lord from all your sins. 

Leviticus 16:32 says that the priest who is anointed and ordained to succeed his father as high priest is to make atonement, wearing the holy linen garments. 

Leviticus 16:33 says that He shall make atonement for the most holy place, for the tent of meeting and the altar and for the priests and all the members of the community. 

How was this atonement made? 

What did the statue require?

Leviticus 16:3 says that death was required, the life of a bull from the herd for a sin offering and a ram for a burnt offering. 

Leviticus 16:7-21 says and two goats are to be presented before the Lord, one as an offering and the other to confess the sins of Israel and put them symbolically on the head of the goat and release it into the wilderness symbolizing the offering taking the sins of the people on itself and far away from them. 

It was at this place that the symbolic statement was made. The most holy place that was behind the veil held the covenant law of God, the commandments that were given to Moses. The commandments symbolized God’s promise to be faithful and were God’s instructions for his people. The most holy place also held Aaron’s staff symbolizing God’s chosen priest. 

The veil that separated the most holy place contained representations of God, his faithfulness, his law and his chosen priest. Priests who were not the high priest would enter another part of the temple, the holy place and offer sacrifices of atonement according to specific regulations such as the daily sacrifices offered morning and evening, at new moon festivals, on the Sabbath and for people who confessed specific sins as well as offerings of peace and thanksgiving. 

No one who was not a priest could come into the holy place and only the high priest could enter the most holy place once a year. 

So this veil was more than decorative. It was a visual representation of the separation that existed between God and humanity because of unrighteousness. Only priests who performed symbolic purification through sacrifices could be near God and only one man could approach God directly, once a year, dressed in symbolic robes of righteousness (Leviticus 16:4). 

Jesus says in John 8 that God knew who Jesus was and that everything that he did pleased God (John 8:29). When Luke 23:45 says that the curtain of the temple was torn at the death of Jesus, it symbolized that Jesus’ death was an action done as a great high priest. Jesus was blameless, clothed in righteousness and also became the sacrifice of atonement that removed the barrier that separated God from everyone. 

The torn veil was a visual representation of a spiritual work. Jesus was a man, he was human, but he was conceived by the Spirit of God which made him God personified, Emmanuel, God with us. It is God’s will for humanity to be in relationship with him, to know him. Jesus’ sacrifice fulfilled the will of God to make a way for us to be in close relationship with him. 

The Bible is a testimony of God’s faithfulness in every generation, through every account. Even when his people rejected him he made a way for them to be reconnected. He gave a promise that he would never forsake his people and the laws of this covenant were what God used to cover his people in righteousness. Symbolizing that following the statutes that God requires covers his people in blamelessness and forgiveness. In Leviticus 16 God is seen putting a priest in place that he has chosen to ensure that his statutes are upheld and that the atonement sacrifices are consistently made. 

Jesus has become the priest that God has chosen. God’s promised savior and plan fulfilled that would create a way for everyone to be in relationship with him and cover them in righteousness.  

When the veil was torn, God could approach us the way that he approaches Jesus as a Father and we could approach God the way that Jesus approaches God as his children, people in close relationship and part of their Father. Not through a priest or through sacrifices of animals. 

John 1 testifies that everything comes from God, everything that exists. The veil symbolized the separation that existed between us and our creator. This separation from God was like living in a land of deep darkness not able to be in close relationship with God. 

Living in darkness means that your best hope is whatever you can do for ourselves. Your ability to protect yourself, belief in your wealth to bring you security; hope in imperfect humanity. All of these things are at best uncertain and at worst useless. 

Certainly people in times preceding Jesus had faith in God, but that faith was displayed through ritual, through obeying the law, through the atonements sacrifices offered by priests. The actions of the priests were evidence of righteousness, so many priests became self-righteous and people who were not priests felt distant from God. 

But God in his love created a way for us to be in direct relationship with our Creator. A relationship as close as Jesus had with God. Approaching God clothed in the righteousness of Jesus means that we can see the face of God for ourselves. We can see his faithfulness and love demonstrated in our lives because we are covered in righteousness through Jesus, we stand before God blameless. This is how we inherit eternal life in God’s presence which is our greatest gift. 

Jesus as the light of the world illuminates all the aspects of God’s character; the sacrificial offering that he became that tore the veil brings us in relationship with God. A God who is able. We do our best and still fail but God cannot fail. He cannot fail to bring us peace in our lives and rid us of what burdens us and perform miracles in our lives. When we believe that God is with us, that we are connect to the source of life we can trust that he will make a way of deliverance out of every situation that we do not know how to overcome. 

Reconnection to God gives hope because we are connected to our God who is greater. Being in relationship with God, which is what the torn veil represents, means that we have renewed meaning for our lives. 

We are not our mother’s daughter, the culmination of our work, our gifts or talents. We are children of God. A child of God can approach their Father with any request or question, boldly knowing that he represents someone who has their best interest at heart and is positioned to know how to react. And our Father is not a man; he is not human but God and is able to provide and respond better than any earthly parent or guardian. 

We are also the body of Christ and his bride. As his bride we put our faith in the commitment that Jesus has made with us as his bride to be a partner with him in life through sorrow and joy. 

[3] Jesus spoke before he gave his last breath, he said, ‘Father, into your hands I commit my spirit’. 

What does this statement mean?

Literally he was dying and believed that his spirit would go back to God. But he said, ‘Father’ because he knew God. 

What did Jesus know about God?

Jesus quoted a Psalm of David when he died, Psalm 31. David was a man who loved God a man after God’s own heart (1 Samuel 13:14). David was devoted to knowing God in a way that few others besides prophets expressed. David knew God. He was a king among kings and a warrior and yet he said, ‘In you, O Lord, do I take refuge’ (Psalm 31:1). 

When we put our faith in God to be Father or take on the identity as a member of the body of Christ and look to God to be our provider this is not naïve thinking. it is not from a place of weakness to look to the creator of everything for provision. 

David believed that if he could put enough faith in God, God was reliable to never let his faith in him be in vain, he would never be ashamed for trusting in God (Psalm 31:1). 

David said, my strength as a warrior and my status as the king of a nation will not save me, it is ‘your righteousness that will deliver me’ (Psalm 31:1). 

David believed that God is a God who listens. Politicians do not listen, even the best of friends do not understand our deepest needs, but David knew God, he was in relationship with him and knew that God was capable of rescuing him out of every situation and speedily (Psalm 31:1)!

David did not look to his military to be his refuge he said God, ‘you are my rock, you are my refuge, you are my fortress (not my strength, wealth, or status) but it is you who saves me (Psalm 31:2)!

Jesus was in his last moments, and his last moment was a scene of mockery and ridicule. Jesus was sentenced to death for what he was saying he could do and who he was saying he was. He was beaten and stripped naked and raised for everyone to see what happens to people who are condemned as liars and blasphemers of God.

In his last moments his accusers wanted it to appear like God had left him to be made a mockery of before he died. Yet Jesus was in such close relationship with God, his identity so wrapped up with who he knew he was and who God was that he remembered David who said that he would follow God anywhere. That where God leads or guides, even to the net that my enemies have set out for me and that I have fallen into. I will follow you. Into the net of death, because I know who you are. You alone are able to take me out of the net, for you are my refuge (Psalm 31:3-4). I know that if I follow you to death that my spirit will not be left here to be tormented but will be in your hands. So Jesus says to his father, who he knew, ‘into your hands I commit my spirit’ because knew that God is a redeemer and faithful (Psalm 31:5). 

[4] It wasn’t until the last moments of Jesus’ life when the darkness covered the land and the veil of the temple was torn and Jesus called out to God as ‘Father’ that people recognized who he was. 

Luke 23:47 says that a centurion, seeing all this happen spoke and began praising God and testified that Jesus was a righteous man. 

Why did the centurion begin to praise God and why did he say, ‘surely this was a righteous man’?

He was in awe. He was a centurion, which means commander of a hundred if not more and in that moment, whatever he thought about Jesus, he could not do anything to save him or protect him from his situation. In fact his orders were to use his hundred to keep Jesus on the cross and ensure he died there. Meaning he only had power to uphold the man’s sentence not deliver him from it. 

Yet he was witness of the power of God. Maybe he had seen many people crucified. Jesus was not the first. But the sun did not blot itself out at the sight of any of their deaths. No unseen hand went into the holiest portions of the temple and ripped symbolic veils. And if any of them spoke, did they beg him for mercy? Did they look to him and beg him to take them down? Jesus did not look to the centurion or speak to him, he looked to God with his last breath and said, ‘father’ take me to you. 

In that moment the words of the prophet Hosea were fulfilled that said God would have mercy on his people. God prophesied through Hosea in Hosea 2:16-23 that, a day would come, ‘[16] declares the Lord that you will call me ‘my husband’ and no longer call me ‘my master’. 

[17] I will remove the names of all of your masters from your mouth, and they shall be remembered by name no more. [18] I will make a covenant, on that day, with the beasts of the field, the birds of the sky and the creatures that move along the ground. 

I will abolish the bow, the sword and war from the land, so that all may lie down in safety. [19] I will betroth you to me forever. [20] I will betroth you in righteousness and in justice, in steadfast love and mercy. I will betroth you to me in faithfulness and you shall know the Lord. 

[21] In that day I will respond, declares the Lord, I will respond to the skies and they will respond to the earth; [22] and he earth will respond to the grain, the new wine and the olive oil, and they will respond to the one who sows. [23] I will sow her for myself in the land; I will have mercy on ‘no mercy’ and I will say to ‘not my people’ you are my people and they will say, ‘you are my God’. 

At the death of Jesus, the centurion began to praise the God of the people who were crucifying Jesus. God used him to testify that this was not an act done by human will, but an act orchestrated by God. He was saying that this man, Jesus, is not at fault, in fact, God has taken up his case to defend him in ways that neither I or my men could do. 

[5] But while he stood amazed, praising God for what God was capable of. The people who had gathered to watch and had seen what he was witness of responded differently. Two responses are described in Luke 23:48-49 among people who had gathered: (1) the response of the onlookers who came to see the spectacle and (2) the response of people who knew Jesus. 

Luke 23:48 says that the people who had come to be witness of the spectacle they all in turn, ‘beat their breasts’ and then went away. Beat their breasts meaning mourned the injustice of the sentence. Maybe they said, ‘it isn’t right. What was he guilty of? There is no justice. I wonder what he did that made him deserve this kind of death. The world is cruel. Everything is hopeless. 

The crowd that came to watch the spectacle were angry and sorrowful, so they left. 

Where did they go?

They went back to the city that put Jesus on the cross. They went back to the rulers they called unjust. They went back to the world they saw as cruel to live there in anger and sorrow. 

[6] Luke 23:49 says that there were other people there who had witnessed the death of Jesus. Luke 23:49says that these people knew him. Some of the people who knew him were women from his hometown in Galilee and they had followed him from there to his death. Luke doesn’t say that these people said a word. Luke 23:49 says that ‘they stood at a distance and watched’. 

What did they know about Jesus?

They had followed Jesus because they believed in him. They believed in Jesus and maybe they were remembering all the things he had said. 

In John 10:11-18 Jesus says, ‘[11] I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. [12] The hired hand is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep. So when he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away. Then the wolf attacks the flock and scatters it. [13] The man runs away because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep. 

[14] I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me—[15] just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep. [16] I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd. [17] The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life—only to take it up again. [18] No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father. 

Why were they standing and watching?

The people who knew Jesus were waiting for him to complete the work of salvation. They were waiting for his resurrection that would bring him back to life and that would bring the life that he had spoken about, a life reconciled back to God as our Father. They knew the significance of his sacrifice that it was not the end of his life but a requirement for a greater promise. That his father put him there out of love for him and for the people that this sacrifice would save. People who knew him and people who would come to know him and his father because of what he had done. 

Ephesians 2:18-22 says that 

[18] Through Jesus we who know him and those who will know him have access to the Father by one Spirit. [19] So then you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household, [20] built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. 

[21] In Jesus the whole building is joined together and rises to become a (new) holy temple in the Lord. [22] And in Jesus you too are being built together to become a (temple) in which God lives by his Spirit.