Moment of Meditation: Centurion's Confession (Mark 15:39)

Original Broadcast: Lent 2009

Monthly Theme: The Passion according to St. Mark

And when the centurion, who stood facing Him, saw that in this way He breathed His last,
he said, "Truly this man was the Son of God!"
(Mark 15:39)

Centurion's Confession

When we look at the events of our Lord's Passion, we generally think about His disciples and the women who followed Him from Galilee. But what about the Roman soldiers who were simply doing their jobs as they executed enemies of the state? They were simply doing their job. That's evidenced by the personal effects of the condemned were handed over to the soldiers in charge. They cast lots for His clothes after they lifted Him up onto the Cross (v24). What about them?

Well, nothing major comes about for them because the majority of them see nothing out of the ordinary with this batch of executions. But one, possibly the chief of the soldiers on crucifixion duty that day, saw something completely out of the ordinary. This centurion, an officer of great rank in the Roman army, saw Jesus will Himself to die. He knew that no ordinary person could do such. Only a god could do that. Does that mean that this centurion immediately became a Christian? No. The Roman religious scene was a hodge-podge of many assimilated pantheons of Gods. The Romans borrowed gods from every region that they had conquered.

But the centurion's confession is truly remarkable because, even if he was still a pagan, he attested to the physical Incarnation of God in Jesus of Nazareth. This centurion knew that there was something truly special about this Galilean. It could only be that He was a son of one of the gods. He had to be divine in nature. Even the pagans at Jesus' death had to admit that God had come into the flesh. And He came into the flesh for you. Amen.