What’s the most loving thing that someone has ever done for you?
1
Given that Pilate thinks Jesus is not deserving of death, why does he sentence Jesus to be crucified?
2
Releasing one convicted but popular criminal was a Passover festival tradition of the time. What’s ironic about Barabbas being released? What does it highlight about Jesus’ death?
3
Put yourself in the shoes of Simon of Cyrene (v.26). Why might, or why might not, you want to carry the cross of Jesus?
4
What are the various insults that are hurled at Jesus in v.36-39? How does this contrast with what Jesus himself says in v.34?
5
How is the response of the second criminal different? What might have prompted his response in v.40-42?
6
What do you make of Jesus’ offer to the second criminal (v.43), even in the context of his own suffering and death?
7
What’ the emotional tone around Jesus’ death? How does it make you feel?
8
What do you think might have led the Centurion to respond to Jesus’ death in the way that he does?
The prophecy which Jesus quoted in the hours before his arrest, from Isaiah, described God’s righteous servant who would die like a sacrificial lamb. Jesus pointed to it as holding the key to understanding his death.
a man of sorrows, acquainted with deepest grief.
We turned our backs on him and looked the other way.
He was despised, and we did not care.
Yet it was our weaknesses he carried;
it was our sorrows that weighed him down.
And we thought his troubles were a punishment from God,
a punishment for his own sins!
But he was pierced for our rebellion,
crushed for our sins.
He was beaten so we could be whole.
He was whipped so we could be healed.
All of us, like sheep, have strayed away.
We have left God’s paths to follow our own.
Yet the LORD laid on him
the sins of us all.
He was oppressed and treated harshly,
yet he never said a word.
He was led like a lamb to the slaughter.
And as a sheep is silent before the shearers,
he did not open his mouth.
Unjustly condemned,
he was led away,
No one cared that he died without descendants,
that his life was cut short in midstream,
But he was struck down
for the rebellion of my people.
He had done no wrong
and had never deceived anyone.
But he was buried like a criminal;
he was put in a rich man’s grave.
9
How does this prophecy resonate with the events that Luke describes? What does it say about why Jesus died?
John Stott, Trinity alumni and Christian author, explains Jesus’ death like this:
10
How does this leave you feeling about Jesus’ death?
Jesus’ death is incredibly significant and emotionally moving. Perhaps you might like to reflect on Jesus’ death by listening to a song. Here’s some that could be appropriate.
- The Power of the Cross, Shane & Shane
- Under the Blood, Maverick City & Kirk Franklin
- Man of Sorrows, Hillsong
- Handel's Messiah, Behold the Lamb of God
The final study will start at Luke 24:1, so you could read any parts of Luke’s account that you haven’t read so far, ahead of that.
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