Verse 33: Crucifixion was meant to be death by slow torture; although a victim could die faster from shock due to blood loss, they could spend a few days dying of dehydration or perhaps asphyxiation. Hanging naked before crowds, unable to hold back one’s bodily waste or swat flies from wounds, was also meant to humiliate the victim.
34: Although there was biblical precedent to pray for vengeance (e.g., 2 Chron 24:22; Ps 139:7-9; Jer 15:15; 17:18; 18:23; 20:12), Jesus prays for his persecutors’ forgiveness (cf. Lk 6:28). Later rabbis said that those being executed were to confess their sins and pray, “May my death atone for all my sins.” Jesus instead refers to the sin of those who unjustly convicted him; false witnesses were biblically liable to the penalty they sought to inflict (Deut 19:18-19). Ancient biographers liked to parallel comparable figures; cf. Acts 7:60 in Luke’s second volume.
By custom, the soldiers could keep whatever possessions the executed person still had. For lots, see comment on Acts 1:26.
35: One of a naked crucifixion victim’s sufferings was normally public ridicule. Irony is common in ancient literature (here, Jesus does in fact save others, and his enemies sound like the devil in Luke 4:3, 6-7, 9).
36: Cheap, low-quality “sour wine” or “wine vinegar” could be offered to someone to dull their pain, but here is simply part of the mockery.
37: Their ridicule may reflect the anti-Judaism of the Syrian auxiliaries who comprised much of the Roman garrison in Jerusalem.
38: The condemned person sometimes carried the “titulus,” or statement of the charge, to the site of the execution. Posting it above Jesus contributes to the mockery.
42: This request offers another example of Luke’s theme of Jesus’ extraordinary practice of welcoming sinners.
43: Jewish sources often speak of “paradise” or “the garden of Eden” as the future dwelling of the righteous, in contrast with Gehenna, the destiny of the wicked. They proposed various locations for Paradise, such as in the third heaven or on the edge of the world (where some Greeks placed the Elysian Fields). They could use it for the abode of the righteous after death (as here) or after the resurrection.
44: In April, the “sixth hour” might begin shortly before noon. A person could spend days dying on the cross, but Jesus’ beating may have been particularly savage. The ninth hour, beginning shortly before 3 p.m., was also close to the time for the “evening” sacrifice in the temple. Darkness was one judgment on Egypt and recurs as a judgment in the prophets, sometimes for the end-time (due to locusts, smoke, etc.; e.g., Is 13:10; Ezek 30:3, 18; 32:7-8; Joel 2:2, 10, 31; 3:15; Amos 5:18; Zech 14:6). For darkness at noon as a judgment, cf. Deut 28:29; esp. Amos 8:9.
45: The temple curtain here probably is the one separating the holy of holies (the place of God’s presence) and the priestly sanctuary (Ex 26:33). Its rending might indicate that God now provides access for everyone to his presence (cf. Heb 6:19), but the context of judgment suggests that it likelier emphasizes God’s withdrawal from the temple (as in Ezek 10 to 11).
46: Later tradition suggests that Psalm 31:5 (the wording of which Jesus evokes here) was often recited at the time of the evening offering – roughly the time of Jesus’ death here.
47: “Innocent” is a natural corollary of Mark’s “Son of God.”
48: Beating one’s chest was a sign of extreme mourning (cf. 18:13). No public mourning (such as a funeral) was allowed after criminals died, so pious Jewish women may have offered this as the only consolation they could give the deceased.
49: Family and friends could attend an execution; the male disciples, however, could risk danger because they could be regarded as followers of the one convicted of treason. Most crosses were fairly close to the ground (in contrast to most modern pictures of the event), so no one was permitted too near lest they obstruct others’ view. That these women had often accompanied Jesus’ disciples could appear scandalous to some.
(Adapted from Dr. Keener’s personal research. Used with permission from InterVarsity Press, which published similar research by Dr. Keener in The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament. Buy the book here.)