Dark Raider

When it was noon, darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon. At three o’clock Jesus cried out with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” When some of the bystanders heard it, they said, “Listen, he is calling for Elijah.” And someone ran, filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on a stick, and gave it to him to drink, saying, “Wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to take him down.” Then Jesus gave a loud cry and breathed his last. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. Now when the centurion, who stood facing him, saw that in this way he breathed his last, he said, “Truly this man was God’s Son!” There were also women looking on from a distance; among them were Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James the younger and of Joses, and Salome. These used to follow him and provided for him when he was in Galilee; and there were many other women who had come up with him to Jerusalem.

Introduction

Well, the next two Sundays we return to and finish up the Gospel of Mark. Today is a kinda Good Friday with emphasis on Jesus’ Death and the reaction of the Centurion. We are skipping over the arrest, trial, and sentencing of Jesus and fast forwarding to his death.

Background

Training was systematic and harsh and discipline severe.

The upper command was usually of the patrician class and only served three years. The real leadership was in the centurions. Usually sixty to a legion. There were different levels of centurions based on service and performance. The centurion was payed 16 times more than the average legionnaire. The centurions were wealthy and had considerable social and military status and the power that went with it.

Background

Let’s talk about centurions for a moment. These were well trained, Battle hardened men They had 100 legionnaires that served under them. They were well trained, well payed and loyal.

it is interesting to note that the Roman legions did not reside in Italy they were out in the provinces to keep order and put down rebellions. Rome took good care of her legions. The soldiers received regular pay, bonuses including a discharge bonus when they completed the 16 year recruitment. Housing and food was provided. Even medical care. The average Legionnaire had it much better than the average person in the mediterranean world. To top all this off, not everyone was taken into the legions, there was a screening process and physical fitness.

Training was systematic and harsh and discipline severe.

Now with that in mind let’s turn to today’s scripture.

Exegesis

So Jesus has been tried and sentenced, nailed to a cross. “He cries out: God, God, why have you forsaken me?” of course this is the opening of the 22nd Psalm.

My God, My God, why have you forsaken me!?”

Psalm 22:1 NRSV

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from helping me, from the words of my groaning?

Scholars have argued about this for centuries. I do not have the time, nor do I want to bore you to death with all the theories of what was happening here. But I will quickly share with you what I think. I believe Jesus was identifying with humanity that is separated from God by sin. If he really thought he was abandoned he would not have cried out. He wouldn’t have cried out for God unless he felt that God was indeed able to deliver him. is written that way. is a lament Psalm and lament Psalms always move from the lament and crying out to confidence in God’s saving power. In the end though, there is a mystery to this, just as there is to the crucifixion itself.

The bystanders hear this cry and mock Jesus offering him sour wine and being curious to see if Elijah will make an appearance. This is not compassion this is moribund curiosity and looking for a show.

The Jesus gives a loud cry and breathed his last. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two. A sign of the reconciling nature of his death. He just cried out for God, and God has shown up by renting the veil and offering the direct relationship we need for our salvation.

Let us not forget what happend at his Baptism:

Mark 1:9–11 NRSV

In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. And just as he was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him. And a voice came from heaven, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.”

Mark 1:9-

The veil is torn and the heavens were torn apart.

It is at this time that the Centurion makes his confession:

Mark 15:39 NRSV

Now when the centurion, who stood facing him, saw that in this way he breathed his last, he said, “Truly this man was God’s Son!”

Women: Mark inserts this notice to provide a link between the crucifixion and the traditions associated with Jesus’ tomb. They highlight the absence of Jesus’ male disciples. It is the only time that women followers of Jesus appear publicly in Mark’s Gospel.

Application

What Mark claimed in the very first verse of the gospel has been restated by a pagan.

Mark 1:1 NRSV

The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

At three times in Jesus life a voice confirms that Jesus is God’s son. His baptism, the transfiguration, and now here at his death. The first two are God the father here it is a pagan gentile. This confirms Jesus ministry and mission should be taken to the gentiles. The religious authorities, the pious Jews, could not see his identity, but the centurion could.

Why is that? Well, Mark says that he saw how he died. How many men had this centurion seen die on the battlefield? How many men had he seen executed? Here he sees a condemned insurrectionist that just hours before his men were striking mocking and spiting on that he know calls God’s son.

His comment means that Jesus identity is linked to his death. It is the fulfillment of

Psalm 22:27 NRSV

All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord; and all the families of the nations shall worship before him.

More ! The veil is torn and now the Temple is a house of prayer of all nations. Here is Jesus words from

Mark 11:17 NRSV

He was teaching and saying, “Is it not written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations’? But you have made it a den of robbers.”

This centurion who may have been a type of Dark Raider: one from the darkness has seen the light. As he stood in the darkness, the veil was removed and in Jesus death he saw who Jesus truly is. Could it have been the loud cry? Victims of crucifixion die by asphyxiation, they cannot get enough breath to yell! Could it have been that the centurion understood real power and saw the power Jesus demonstrated in going to the cross?

Weakness is now a sign of power and godforsakeness leads to reconciliation with God! Jesus executioners did not realize that his death would not be the end of him, but instead the end of the old world order.

The Centurion had to have had his life transformed to say what he did. Caesar was to be called Son of God. Power was evidence of divinity! He had sworn allegiance to the Emperor and he represents Roman power! In light of all this even though the title “Son of God” only belonged to the emperor, this centurion bestows the title of the emperor on a Jew that has just been executed.

To be able to make this confession the centurion had to be open to the leading of the Holy Spirit. He had to have gone through a complete change in thinking and world view. His whole understanding of power had to be turned upside down. I like how one commentator put it:

The power that Rome represented was coercive. It forced others to submit or else. Jesus’ powerless death exerts a different kind of power from what the centurion had served and used on others. He recognized that true power, which was revealed in the cross, is not coercive, exploitative, or manipulative. The power he served crushed others and transformed life into death. The power of the cross gives itself for others and transforms death into life.

There is no doubt that the centurion also understood absolute obedience. I think he realized that he had just witnessed Jesus be totally obedient to the mission he was sent to carry out.

Today we have modern bystanders who are standing around the cross not understanding the true nature of divinity and of power. Much of this is the fault of Christians and the church. The reporter and the camera man from WSB could not understand why we were not going to sue to get our way with Flowery branch.

Power is not in the courts, it is not in the congress or senate. It is not in our military or nuclear weapons. Power is not in money and possessions. real power is not of this world. Power is in the death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus Christ.

The realization of this can change us instantly. It can transform our thinking and our life and this is why Mark wrote this gospel. Mark wrote this gospel to answer the question, “Who is Jesus?” And a detested Roman centurion knew the answer because it was reveled to him by the Holy Spirit!

The power he saw and the power that changed him was Love. I like how NT Wright puts this:

The Crown and the Fire: Meditations on the Cross and the Life of the Spirit Chapter 7: ‘Truly, This Man Was the Son of God’

And, in Mark’s Gospel, written quite likely for a Roman audience, the centurion’s comment implicitly asks the question: Have you stood before the cross and recognised that here there is an act of love which marks out this man as none other than the Son of God? Have you allowed yourself to accept what was there accomplished on your behalf? Do you still, like so many, regard Good Friday as an awkward, somewhat embarrassing moment, stuck between the Hosannas of Palm Sunday and the Hallelujahs of Easter Day? Or have you learnt to recognise that, on Calvary, Jesus—even through his fear, his doubts, his final bitter temptations—was completing the obedient vocation he had undertaken? And have you attempted to bring the pains and puzzles and tragedies of your own life into the searching, but amazingly loving, light of that cross? If you have, you may have begun to realise this great truth: that here we cannot reduce the cross to either an abstract idea of ‘atonement’, or to a set of ‘bare historical facts.’ Instead, the cross itself summons us to rethink and remake the whole fact and idea of knowledge itself, belief itself, life itself. Here we are unmade; here we are remade.

Have we? Have we stood before the cross, like this centurion, and realized that this man on the cross is acting out a love which marks him as God’s Son?

Have you cried, My God, My God, why have you forsaken me? Have you attempted to bring the pains and puzzles and tragedies of your own life to the cross of the man who, through his doubts and fears and temptations was ultimately obedient to God?

Darkness is chaos, the light of Jesus will bring order to that chaos!

the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters. 3 Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light.

So what we have here in essence is a new beginning. Augustine said Jesus death wasn’t an end but a beginning he chose! His death is the beginning not an end. The last thing is not the worst thing. We will talk about Jesus resurrection next week.

However, are we willing to stand at the foot of the cross, with all our baggage, all our laments and chaos and recognize Jesus for who he is?