Luke included three things in this heart of the death scene. He gave two evidences of God's displeasure with people for rejecting His Son. He recorded Jesus' prayer of trust in the Father, and he noted three immediate reactions to Jesus' death.
23:44-45 Luke arranged these unusual occurrences to show God's displeasure with humankind for rejecting His Son.511The sixth and ninth hours were noon and 3:00 p.m. respectively. Darkness obscuring the sun represented judgment obscuring the beneficent light of God's countenance (cf. Isa. 5:30; 60:2; Joel 2:30-31; Amos 5:18, 20; Zeph. 1:14-18; Luke 22:53; Acts 2:20; 2 Pet. 2:17; Rev. 6:12-17). Evidently this was a local rather than a universal phenomenon.
Luke moved the tearing of the temple veil up in his narrative whereas Matthew and Mark placed it after Jesus' death as a consequence of that event. It symbolizes the opening of the way into God's presence that Jesus' death affected in those Gospels. However in Luke the reader sees it as a sign of God's wrath. Specifically it seems to represent God's judgment on Judaism for rejecting the Messiah. It was a portent of the judgment coming on Jerusalem that Jesus had predicted.
23:46 Luke next recorded Jesus' death. This was Jesus' final prayer to His Father.
In this prayer Jesus offered Himself to God as a sacrifice for the sins of the world. Jesus voluntarily laid His life down; no one took it from Him (John 10:15-18; cf. John 15:13). His words were similar to those that many Jews used in prayer before they went to sleep at night (cf. Ps. 31:5).512They expressed Jesus' trust in God as well as His commitment to Him. The strength with which Jesus cried out showed His physical strength but more important the significance of His declaration. Jesus sovereignly controlled His circumstances to the end of His life.
23:47-49 The centurion who was responsible for carrying out the crucifixion added his testimony to the others who recognized Jesus' innocence. His witness constituted praise of God because it harmonized with God's assessment of His Son. Praising God is a reaction to God's power and mercy that Luke often noted in this Gospel (2:20; et al.). The reaction of the general public (Gr. ochloi, a mixed group) was to smite their breasts with their hands in typical ancient oriental fashion. This symbolized their grief at the tragedy of Jesus' crucifixion (cf. 18:13). Jesus' acquaintances, including several females, stood at a distance watching. The reference to these women prepares for the following events. The implication is that they, too, marvelled at the tragedy but stood aloof (cf. Ps. 38:11).
These reactions confirm that Jesus did indeed die as a real man. He was not a demigod who merely appeared to die. Note also that Luke presented these witnesses in a receding order from the cross (v. 46). The effect is to lead the reader to step back from the cosmic epicenter of history gradually.
Luke stressed Jesus' innocence in a number of ways that the other Gospel writers did not. He recorded that Pilate declared Him innocent three times (vv. 4, 14, 22). He also noted Herod's testimony to Jesus' innocence (v. 15). He contrasted Jesus' innocence with Barabbas' guilt (v. 25). He recorded the thief's testimony to Jesus' innocence (v. 41). He also included the centurion's confession of Jesus' innocence (v. 47). Finally he noted the reaction of the crowd that showed many of them believed He was innocent (v. 48).513Obviously Luke wanted to convince his readers that Jesus died as an innocent man, not as a sinner.
