This week we
will continue to study the Gospel of Luke.
(1) Who were these guards? What should their duty be?
(2) Why did they mock Jesus and how? (See vv. 64-65)
(3) Did they not see and hear of Jesus’ miracles?
(4) Contrast how Jesus spent the night and how the council spent theirs.
(5) In trying to kill Jesus, what question did they ask Him and why?
(6) What if Jesus answered “yes”? Would they then demand proof?
(7) Would they then believe? (See Jesus’ verdict in v. 68.)
(8) In v.69 Jesus clarified what kind of “Christ” He is. Pay attention to the contrast between “Son of Man” and “seated at…”.
a. Who did He claim to be?
b. What is meant by “seated at the right hand of the mighty God”?
c. What does “from now on” mean (in predicting their imminent action)?
(9) Why would they conclude from Jesus’ answer that He claimed to be the Son of God? (See previous discourse on the subject in Lk. 20:41-44)
(10) Why did they say that they had heard enough from Jesus’ own lips?
(11) Why did they not ask for proof?
(12) What is the main message to you today and how may you apply it to your life?
(1) The religious leaders considered Jesus’ claim as the Son of God a blasphemy.
a. Why did they not debate or reason with Him on biblical ground?
b. Why was His death the only recourse?
(2) They knew that they did not have the proper authority to kill Jesus (see Jn. 18:31), especially not with the kind of crime they were to pin on Him. Neither did they have the authority to exercise the kind of penalty they wished to execute Him with, i.e. crucifixion, and so they brought Him to Pilate, the governor.
a. List the crimes they tried to pin on Jesus.
b. Did anyone of them have any legal validity?
(3) How did Pilate respond to these charges? What did he expect Jesus to answer?
(4) What did Jesus say in reply? Why then did Pilate still say that he found no basis for any charge against Jesus?
(5) Why did Pilate quickly refer the case to Herod once he learned that Jesus came from Galilee? What was his motive?
a. Was he simply trying to follow proper political and legal protocol?
b. Was he seeking to avoid being manipulated by the religious leaders?
c. Was he trying to pass the buck to Herod?
d. Was he trying to spare Jesus?
e. Or…?
(6) For what reasons did Herod entertain Pilate’s request?
a. He wanted to administer justice.
b. He wanted to know who Jesus really is.
c. Or…?
(7) Why did Jesus flatly ignore him?
(8) What kind of people would Jesus flatly ignore?
(9) How did Herod deal with the insult inflicted on him by Jesus?
(10) Luke ends this scenario with Herod with these words, “That day Herod and Pilate became friends — before this they had been enemies”. Mull over these words:
a. How did such a trial of Jesus make them friends?
b. How did Pilate use Jesus for his own political ends?
c. As they became friends, whom did they become in the eyes of God?
(11) What is the main message to you today and how may you apply it to your life?
(1) How did Pilate seek to discharge Jesus the first time?
(2) How did he seek to discharge Jesus here the second time?
(3) What compromise did he make to the religious leaders this time?
(4) Including the two criminals who were crucified together with Jesus, how many death-row prisoners did Pilate have at the least? Why did he pick Barabbas for the people to choose against Jesus (see Matt. 27:15-18 as well)?
(5) The crowd (as incited by the religious leaders) was bent on killing Jesus, but what kind of death penalty did they demand?
(6) As far as you know, what was crucifixion reserved for?
(7) Would you call such a savage act religious fanaticism? Why or why not?
(8) If Jesus really committed blasphemy and/or heresy, how should they approach such a situation? How would you?
(9) Barabbas, literally represented the vilest of criminals, but he was spared by the death of Jesus. What does it say symbolically about the redemption of Christ on the cross?
(10) Pilate tried for the third time to free Jesus and yet the shouts of the people “prevailed” and he “surrendered Jesus to their will”.
a. How did Luke portray Pilate as a Roman governor?
b. What was his duty as a governor?
c. What options might he have?
d. Why did he not choose other options?
e. What is your verdict on Pilate?
f. What is the verdict of the Scripture on him? (See Acts 4:27)
(11) What is the main message to you today and how can you apply it to your life?
(1) Cyrene is in Africa. Why was Simon travelling all the way from Africa to Jerusalem? What was he looking forward to in Jerusalem during Passover?
(2) Was it an accident that he was forced to carry the cross of Jesus? Who drafted him in essence?
(3) How would he feel at the time?
(4) Look up Mark 15:21 and Romans 16:13. What do you think was the result of this encounter of Jesus by Simon?
(5) How then should you treat a cross that the Lord imposes on you?
(6) Why did Luke choose to mention the women who followed the procession?
(7) Why did Jesus tell these women who mourned for Him to mourn for themselves and their children instead?
(8) The severity of God’s wrath is reflected in the words in v. 30. Look up the following passages to get a sense of the day of God’s wrath: Isaiah 2:19; Hosea 10:8 and Revelation 6:15. Why did Jesus choose to give this warning at this time? (see v. 31)
(9) Reflect on v. 31. It is a difficult verse to understand, but it is generally agreed that it is a verse of contrasts. If the green tree (i.e. a tree full of sap) refers to Jesus or Jesus’ presence, and such wickedness (of killing the Son of God) could happen, what will happen when it (Jerusalem, representing Israel) is dry (ripe for judgment)?
(10) What is the main message to you today and how may you apply it to your life?
(1) How much do you know about the process and cruelty of execution by the cross? Try to describe it.
(2) The Scripture does not go into detail to describe this horrific process of crucifixion. Can you think of the reason why?
(3) Given what Jesus went through and the great pain on the cross, how special was His prayer in v. 34 (especially in light of His earlier comment in v. 31)?
(4) In what way(s) did they (the Jews and the Gentiles) not know what they were doing?
(5) Will the Father forgive them?
(6) Would you, if you were the father of the son so crucified?
(7) Read Isaiah 53:9, 12 and Psalm 22:18. If you lived in the time of the Old Testament, how might you interpret these prophecies about the Messiah before Jesus appeared?
(8) What then is the significance of the happening of these events at Jesus’ death?
(9) Read the insults hurled at Jesus by the people, the rulers, the soldiers and even the criminal. What in essence was the core content of their mocking?
(10) Read Matthew 4:5-7 and compare the temptation Jesus was facing at the cross. Which, in your opinion, represented a more powerful temptation? Why?
(11) What did the other criminal on the other cross demonstrate with his words of rebuke and his request to Jesus?
(12) Do you think this criminal was saved even at this late stage of his life? Why?
(13) What is the main message to you today and how may you apply it to your life?
The Death of Christ:
(1) Do you think it was an accident that the sun stopped shining from noon to 3:00 PM that day? What did it signify?
(2) How significant was it that the curtain of the temple was torn in two? (See Exod. 26:31-33; Heb. 10:19-20)
(3) What impact might it have on the priests? (Acts 6:7)
(4) Jesus called out His last Word on the cross with a loud voice, "It is finished!”.
a. What is the significance of addressing God as “Father” at this time?
b. What does it mean to commit His Spirit in the hands of the Father?
c. What is the implication to those Christians who also commit their spirits into God’s hands when they die?
(5) Luke then describes the reaction of the people to Jesus’ death:
a. What was the reaction of the centurion (believed to be of German descent)?
- Why did he praise God?
- What prompted him to realize that Jesus “was a righteous man”?
b. What was the reaction of “all the people” who witnessed the crucifixion?
- Why did they beat their breasts?
- What did they do apart from beating their breasts?
- Why did they not react like the centurion?
c. What was the reaction of those who knew Jesus, including the women who followed Him from Galilee?
- What might be the best description of how they felt at the time?
- Extreme sorrow
- Anger
- Perplexity, bewilderment
- Why did they not react like the centurion?
(6) Spend a bit of time, putting yourself at the foot of the cross:
a. What might be the best description of how you would feel at the time?
b. Would you react like the centurion? Why or why not?
(7) What is the main message to you today and how may you apply it to your life?
The Burial of Christ
(1) Luke gives a detailed description of Joseph. Try to list each of things that Luke says about him.
(2) What is Luke trying to say about him?
(3) What might be the thing you admire about him most?
(4) But John adds one more piece of information about him in John 19:38. Does it change your opinion about him? Why or why not?
(5) Compare 23:53 with Luke 2:7:
a. What contrast can you detect?
b. What similarity can you detect?
c. What does this say about our Lord Jesus Christ?
(6) This was the last Sabbath before the resurrection of Jesus:
a. Could the women and men who followed Jesus really rest on that Sabbath?
b. Can you describe their restlessness?
c. And yet this was really the “true Sabbath” for all people, do you agree? Why?
d. Have you entered the “true Sabbath” and rest because of Jesus’ death and resurrection? Why or why not?
(7) What is the main message to you today and how may you apply it to your life?