Day 43. (Luke 23:26-49)

The Crucifixion of Jesus

26 As the soldiers led him away, they seized Simon from Cyrene, who was on his way in from the country, and put the cross on him and made him carry it behind Jesus.27 A large number of people followed him, including women who mourned and wailed for him.28 Jesus turned and said to them, "Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me; weep for yourselves and for your children.29 For the time will come when you will say, 'Blessed are the childless women, the wombs that never bore and the breasts that never nursed!'30 Then
"'they will say to the mountains, "Fall on us!"
and to the hills, "Cover us!"'

31 For if people do these things when the tree is green, what will happen when it is dry?"

32 Two other men, both criminals, were also led out with him to be executed.33 When they came to the place called the Skull, they crucified him there, along with the criminals—one on his right, the other on his left.34 Jesus said, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing." And they divided up his clothes by casting lots.

35 The people stood watching, and the rulers even sneered at him. They said, "He saved others; let him save himself if he is God's Messiah, the Chosen One."

36 The soldiers also came up and mocked him. They offered him wine vinegar37 and said, "If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself."

38 There was a written notice above him, which read: this is the king of the jews.

39 One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: "Aren't you the Messiah? Save yourself and us!"

40 But the other criminal rebuked him. "Don't you fear God," he said, "since you are under the same sentence?41 We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong."

42 Then he said, "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom."

43 Jesus answered him, "Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise."

The Death of Jesus

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." 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.


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This passage describes Jesus’ crucifixion and his death. The first thing that stood out to me was the bit where Jesus is telling the women not to weep for him but for them to weep for their children and for them to wish that they had never had children. I did a bit of research and found out that this is Jesus foreseeing the destruction of Jerusalem and then the following bit where he says “For if these men do these things when the tree is green, what will happen when it is dry?” (Luke 23:31) is him warning them that the men will do something so unjust as to crucify Jesus, an innocent man, what would these men do to the Jews in a time of war.

Throughout the rest of the passage Jesus’ focus is on other’s plights and not his own. In verse 34 he asks God to forgive the soldiers who were dividing his clothing among themselves because they do not know who they are disrespecting. And in verse 43 he tells one of the criminals being crucified with him that they will see each other soon in heaven because the man recognises who Jesus is and asks him to remember him.

I found this passage very interesting because it describes Jesus’s suffering without much gory detail and I love how simply by acting out his faith Jesus enables others to come to know God. 


Georgie