Conversation Points for Luke 23:33-43

Study Format:
1. Read passage aloud. What did you notice in the reading? What words or phrase caught your attention?
2. Read passage aloud a second time. What questions would you ask the text?
3. Read passage aloud a third time. What do you hear God calling you to do or be in response to this text?

Interesting Ideas to Consider:
• Jesus prayed for forgiveness in verse 34, who was he praying for? 34a seems to make an awkward shift from the chief priests earlier in chapter 23 to the soldiers, was Jesus praying for the Romans or the Jewish leaders, or both? Culpepper suggests both. The soldiers, operating under order, are the easiest to fit under the plea of ignorance. But throughout the gospel, Luke has emphasized the role of the Jewish leaders, and the people in calling for Jesus’ death. And the speeches in Acts continue to maintain that the Jewish leaders acted in ignorance when they called for Jesus’ crucifixion. So it seems Jesus’ call for forgiveness should be for all involved.
• The prayer itself is also true to the pattern of Jesus’ prayer throughout the gospel, a model prayer to precede a model death. One Stephen will follow in his own martyrdom in Acts, a death that eventually led to the conversion of Paul. • The soldiers responded to the prayer by continuing their business of dividing his clothing, as was called for in the Scriptures (Psalm 22:18), thus demonstrating their ignorance of the events transpiring.
• Unlike in Mark, Jesus was taunted not by the crowds, but by the leaders (v. 35), the soldiers (v. 36-37), and the criminal (v. 39). The irony of these taunts helps underscore Jesus’ identity and the true meaning of his death. The one who taught that those who wanted to save their lives must lose them, now loses his own life to save others. If he had saved his life, it would have denied his salvific role. The challenges echo the tempter’s taunts in Luke 4.
• Luke is the only Gospel to record the conversation between Jesus and the men with whom he was crucified. The story contributes to prominent Lukan themes: Jesus as giver of forgiveness, Jesus as one who stands with outsiders (even dies with them in this case).

Works Sourced:
Culpepper, R. Alan. “The Gospel of Luke.” The New Interpreter’s Bible Volume IX. Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 1995.