<p>23:48 <i>And all the crowds that came together to this sight, when they saw the things that were done, returned, striking their breasts</i>-&nbsp;Contemplation of the death of the Lord Jesus is intended to stimulate our self-examination and self-knowledge. Those who saw it &quot;smote upon their breasts&quot; (Lk. 23:48), an idiom only used elsewhere for true penitence and realization of personal sinfulness (Lk. 18:13). See on Mt. 27:5. The whole structure of the records of the crucifixion are to emphasize how the cross is essentially about human response to it; nothing else elicits from humanity a response like the cross does. People 'beheld... the sight' (Lk. 23:48) - the verb <i>theoreo </i>and the noun <i>theoria&nbsp;here</i> suggest that people 'theorized', what they saw inevitably made them think out a response. See on Mk. 15:33.</p><p>The disciples kept changing the subject whenever the Lord started speaking about His death. As He hung in ultimate triumph and suffering on the cross, men came and looked, and turned away again (Is. 53:3; Lk. 23:48). The spiritual intensity of it couldn't be sustained in their minds, as it cannot easily be in ours. The more we break bread, the more we try to reconstruct Golgotha's awful scene, the more we realize this.</p><p>Those who beheld the cross &ldquo;beat their breasts&quot;, Luke records. The only other occurrence of this phrase is again in Luke, concerning how the desperate, sin-convicted publican likewise beat his breast before God in contrition (18:13). Does this not suggest that those breast-beaters were doing so because &ldquo;that sight&quot; convicted them of their own sinfulness? Their &ldquo;return&quot; to their homes uses the Greek word usually translated &lsquo;to repent&rsquo;. The cross inspired their repentance. The records of the crucifixion are framed to focus upon the response of individuals to the cross. The response of those who beat their breasts is very similar to that of the Centurion:</p><table border=1 cellspacing=3 cellpadding=0>    <tbody>        <tr>            <td width=533 valign=top>            <p>Centurion</p>            </td>            <td width=533 valign=top>            <p>Crowds</p>            </td>        </tr>        <tr>            <td width=533 valign=top>            <p>Having seen</p>            </td>            <td width=533 valign=top>            <p>Having observed</p>            </td>        </tr>        <tr>            <td width=533 valign=top>            <p>Happening</p>            </td>            <td width=533 valign=top>            <p>Happenings</p>            </td>        </tr>        <tr>            <td width=533 valign=top>            <p>Was glorifying</p>            </td>            <td width=533 valign=top>            <p>Returned / repented</p>            </td>        </tr>        <tr>            <td width=533 valign=top>            <p>Saying</p>            </td>            <td width=533 valign=top>            <p>Striking breasts</p>            </td>        </tr>    </tbody></table><p>The parallel is between his glorifying God, and their returning / repenting. The need for repentance is a strong theme in Luke (10:13; 11:32; 13:3,5; 15:7,10; 16:30; 17:3,4)- as if he perceived that the ultimate motivation to repentance was in the cross. The apocryphal <i>Acts of Pilate </i>4.5 claims that &ldquo;all the crowds who were gathered together for the observation of this&hellip;returned striking their breasts and weeping awful tears&quot;. And yet the record of the cross also leads to faith, not only conviction of our desperation (Jn. 19:35, &ldquo;these things&quot; = the record of the cross).</p><p>Appreciation of the cross will create unity between us; a common sense of failure, and yet also a common appreciation of the utter grace which we have been invited to behold and actually taste of. &quot;All the people that <i>came together</i> to that sight&quot; (Lk. 23:48) uses a word which really means to bond together in close association. This is the effect of the cross. Those who stared in wonder, yearning for a deeper appreciation, were somehow bound together by their experience of the cross.</p><p>The people 'coming together to that sight' might imply that the crowd which was milling around came clustering around the cross once the Lord uttered His final cries and so evidently died. The women also beheld His dead corpse from afar. This seems to be encouraging us to imagine the picture of the Lord just at that point; the dead body on the cross, the victory achieved. It was only at this stage that the curse of Dt. 21 came into effect: &quot;cursed (Heb. a curse; the Hebrew is <i>always</i> translated this way) is every one that hangeth on a tree&quot; (Dt. 21:22,23). These words have been misunderstood as meaning that the Lord as a living being was under one of the Law's curses of condemnation. This cannot be. It must be remembered that crucifixion was a Roman, not Jewish method. The Deuteronomy passage was not written with reference to crucifixion, but rather to the custom of displaying the already dead body of a sinner on a pole as a witness and warning (cp. the display of Saul's body). Sin brought the curse; and so every sinful person who died for their sin was bearing the curse of God. They were to be buried quickly as a sign of God taking no pleasure in the death of the wicked. The Lord died the death of a sinner; He bore our sins, and therefore our curse (Gal. 3:13,14). Every condemned sinner whose body had been displayed had been a type of the sinless Son of God. He was exhibited there for one or two hours (until Joseph got the permission to take the body), totally, totally united with sinful man. And then, because God had no pleasure in this condemnation of sin, the body was taken and buried. Smiting the breast connects with the sinner smiting his breast in repentance (Mt. 11:17 RVmg.). The thoughts of many hearts are revealed by meditation on the cross (Lk. 2:35). It leads us to repentance. The prophecy that the Jews would look on His they pierced and mourn in repentance may have had an incipient fulfilment at the crucifixion.</p>