Luke 23:48 Commentary and Bible Study

The ‘smote their breasts.’ This was a sight that caused them to grieve deeply. They now realised that they had called for the death of an innocent man, and they were responsible. There was an unbearable sense of guilt, but as yet no relief from it. They had welcomed him into Jerusalem as their Messiah, crying, ‘Hosanna: Blessed is the King of Israel that cometh in the name of the Lord’ (John 12:13), and then they had called for his death. The superscription had been placed above the cross by Pilate, and they had mocked him, but his constant patience and humility had finally got to their hearts, and now that he was dead when it was too late, they realised the awful nature of what they had done. This is why they smote their breasts in self-recrimination. What would be the end of these things? Clearly this fed into their response to the preaching of Peter on the Day of Pentecost, fifty days later. That guilt had not dissipated, and the preaching of Peter, and the convicting power of the Holy Spirit told them that Peter’s words were exactly right: ‘Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain’ (Acts 2:23). That conviction was beginning now, even as they stood before the cross.Others were there too, disciples who had travelled down from Galilee, and particularly the women who had ministered to him (Mark 15:40-41; Luke 8:2-3). These stood afar off, not wishing to associate with the crowds that had called for his death, and sorrowing deeply, for up till now, they did not understand the events that were taking place. They witnessed his death with what must have been a terrible sense of loss, as expressed by those on the road to Emmaus: ‘the chief priests and our rulers delivered him to be condemned to death, and have crucified him. ²¹ But we trusted that it had been he which should have redeemed Israel’ (Luke 24:20-21). All this was in spite of Christ repeated prediction of the events that were taking place, and showing that they were part of the plan of God.