Luke 23

Luke 23 is the twenty third chapter of the Gospel of Luke in the New Testament of the Christian Bible. The book containing this chapter is anonymous, but early Christian tradition uniformly affirmed that Luke the Evangelist composed this Gospel as well as the Acts of the Apostles. This chapter records the trial of Jesus Christ before Pontius Pilate, Jesus' meeting with Herod Antipas, and his crucifixion, death and burial.

And the whole multitude of them arose, and led him unto Pilate. "The whole multitude of them" (, hapan to plēthos) may also be translated as "the whole assembly", or "the whole Council". Luke uses τὸ πλῆθος (rather than το ὄχλος, to ochlos) to signify a multitude in number. They led Jesus to Pontius Pilate, the provincial governor (prefect) of Judaea.

But they were the more fierce, saying, “He stirs up the people, teaching throughout all Judea, beginning from Galilee to this place.”
Traditionally, "throughout all Judea" has been rendered as "throughout all Jewry". Farrar suggests that these words imply a "Judean ministry" which the synoptic gospels do not narrate, which term would therefore include the area of Perea east of the Jordan River. Matthew, Mark and John all refer to Jesus' stay in Perea, and Lucan scholars generally assume that the route Jesus followed from Galilee to Jerusalem passed through this region. The reference to Jesus' ministry "beginning from Galilee" relates back to Luke 4:14, where Jesus begins to teach in the synagogues there.

Responsibility for the interrogation of Jesus is transferred from Pilate to Herod Antipas. This section is unique to Luke's Gospel.

[Pilate] said to them, "You have brought this Man to me, as one who misleads the people. And indeed, having examined Him in your presence, I have found no fault in this Man concerning those things of which you accuse Him." Luke's version of the trial scene "emphasizes Pilate's reluctance to act against Jesus".

Then he said to them the third time, "Why, what evil has He done? I have found no reason for death in Him. I will therefore chastise Him and let Him go." This "third time" of declaring Jesus' innocence follows the previous declarations in verses 4 and 14 15. This verse reads ο δε πιλατος επεκρινεν γενεσθαι το αιτημα αυτων in the Textus Receptus, matching the opening words of Mark 15:15 (NKJV), ο δε πιλατος ("so Pilate "), but the sentence begins καὶ Πιλᾶτος ("and Pilate ") in critical texts such as Westcott Hort. Pilate's "official decision" was to comply with the request of the crowd. The word ἐπέκρινεν (epekrinen, "pronounced sentence") is specific to Luke, although it also appears in the apocryphal Maccabees 4:47 (NABRE), where innocent men are condemned to death. Matthew's parallel passage, Matthew 27:34, notes that Jesus was offered wine mixed with gall to drink. Luke does not include this, a reference to Proverbs 31:6 7, Give strong drink to him that is perishing , but his reference to women in attendance may include their role in fulfilling this observance.

One of the two thieves who die with Jesus reviles him, the other is saved by faith.

Now it was about the sixth hour, and there was darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour. Like , Luke records three hours of darkness, which signify "the awesomeness of what is taking place". Jesus' crying "with a loud voice" is not, as in , one of desolation (why have you forsaken me? ), but of "secure confidence". Jesus quotes , rather than which appears in Mark's gospel. Nicoll understands the phrase "the things that had happened" (, tà genómena) "comprehensively, including the crucifixion and all its accompaniments". Albert Barnes refers to "the earthquake, the darkness, and the sufferings of Jesus" as the "things which were done". The earthquake is only recorded in Matthew's Gospel, but the third century historian Sextus Julius Africanus also refers to an earthquake on or around the day of the crucifixion.

And all his acquaintance, and the women that followed him from Galilee, stood afar off, beholding these things. "The women" that followed Jesus from Galilee (also in Luke 23:55) were "Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women with them" according to Luke 24:10. Matthew 27:55 lists "Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Joseph, and the mother of the sons of Zebedee", whereas Mark 15:40 names "Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James the little and Joses, and Salome".

And the women who had come with Him from Galilee followed after, and they observed the tomb and how His body was laid. According to Luke 24:10, "the women" (also in Luke 23:49) were "Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women with them". Matthew 27:61 lists "Mary Magdalene, and the other Mary", whereas Mark 15:47 names "Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of Joses".