A Centurion Recognizes Truth about Jesus

Today we return to our study of Luke’s gospel, resuming our look at the narrative just after the death of Jesus (v. 46). Luke 23:47–49 records the response of four different spectators of the crucifixion.

First, verse 47 gives the reaction of the centurion to our Lord’s death. A centurion was an official in the Roman army who had one hundred soldiers under his command. This centurion oversaw the crucifixion, which was conducted at the instigation of the Jewish religious leaders but under the orders of the Roman government, specifically the governor, Pontius Pilate (vv. 1–25). Seeing the darkness and other natural phenomena that took place as Jesus died (vv. 44–46), the centurion recognized that they had just killed an innocent man. His testimony emphasizes the injustice of the proceedings and serves as a stark contrast to how the chief priests and other Jewish leaders understood Jesus. A gentile member of the Roman occupying forces that the Jews hated so much could see more truth about Jesus than the covenant people who should have known Him best.

The second group that Luke describes consists of “the crowds that had assembled for this spectacle” who “returned home beating their breasts” (v. 48). These people were not those who followed Christ as disciples but were the residents and visitors of Jerusalem who were present to witness our Lord’s death. Luke does not specify whether this was exactly the same crowd that the Jewish leaders had encouraged to call for the crucifixion of Jesus (vv. 18–25), so it may have included those who had not demanded that the Romans crucify the Savior. Their beating of their breasts points to their recognizing that the death of Jesus had been unjustly carried out, but not necessarily that they came to faith at that point.

Finally, Luke mentions the third and fourth groups present at the crucifixion, Jesus’ “acquaintances” and “the women who had followed [Christ] from Galilee” (v. 49). Luke does not give us their names, but the other three Gospels identify some of the women (see Matt. 27:55–56; Mark 15:40; John 19:25). We know from the other Gospels that this group included Mary Magdalene, and since Luke 8:1–3 mentions her as one of the women who supported Jesus’ ministry financially, it’s possible that these women who observed the crucifixion included Joanna and Susanna, also named in Luke 8.