2021, Good Friday Service, People of the Cross, The Roman Soldiers
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In Daniel’s vision in 7:1-8, the Roman Empire is described as a beast that was “terrifying and dreadful and exceedingly strong. It had great iron teeth; it devoured and broke in pieces and stamped what was left with its feet.”
Rome’s army was brutal. It trained its soldiers to keep the people it conquered in subjection through power, abuse, and intimidation. It’s no wonder that they adopted crucifixion from the Persians and perfected it to maximize pain and suffering. Crucifixion was the pinnacle of their brutality.
Rome reserved crucifixion for the its greatest enemies and the worst kind of criminals.
Yet, according to God’s plan, this method of torture and execution would be used against His Son, Jesus Christ, a man who knew no sin and committed no crimes.
The reason being that for the Gospel to work and for atonement for sin to occur, a blameless sacrifices would need to endure the wrath of God for all sin.
The magnitude of Jesus’ physical suffering through crucifixion would mirror the magnitude of his spiritual suffering as He bore the wrath of God the Father for sin.
21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
and...
9 Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God.
This evening, I don’t want to look at the components of crucifixion as much as the men who applied them.
The Roman soldiers are a sad part of this story. The demonstrate just how far humanity has strayed from Eden because of sin.
The Roman soldiers in charge of crucifying Jesus were dark and morbid human beings. There were four of them (John 19:23) we learn and they were directed by a centurion (commander of 100 men).
Pilate permitted the injustice of crucifixion, so the guards scourged Jesus (Mt. 27.26), stripped Him and mocked him as the king of the Jews. They dressed him in a scarlet/purple robe and twisted and embedded a crown of thorns into His head, put a reed in his hand as a psuedo-scepter (Mt. 27:28-29). Then they bowed before him to be sarcastic homage to Him. Then they spit on him and led him away to be crucified.
Rome dehumanize people made in the image of God.
Normally they made the victim carry the cross, but Jesus couldn’t, so they made Simon of Cyrene (a bystander) do it. Mt. 27.32
When they arrived at Golgotha, the place of the skull. These men coldly and efficiently drove spikes through his wrists and ankles, fixing him to the cross. The word crucifixion means “fixed to a cross.” The mechanism if it is that they diaphragm can’t do its job in a hanging position. You have to push up to breathe. Eventually, you can’t push up and so you suffocate.
They hoisted Him up and thus began the slow, agonizing death process. While on the cross, they would gamble for His clothes.
People often stayed on crosses for days before they died of asphyxiation and fatigue. Sometimes the birds started working on them before they passed. The soldiers and the centurion wanted it to be a slow process. This was a deterrent to anyone else who thought about rebelling against their rule. They even provided a sponge full of sour wine which had the intention to keep Him alive, so he could suffer more.
Due to Passover, the Jews asked that the crucifixion be expedited. So the soldiers would break legs and the victims would suffocate. They did not need to break Jesus’ legs because He had already died.
Then, to test to make sure they were dead, they would drive a spear into the side to see if the red blood cells and plasma had separated. Btw, tradition says the man who ran Jesus through was named Longinus.
What kind of men were these who could do this to other human beings? It is not as though they are just indifferent, but they seem to enjoy destroying people. They are sadistic. They are people with seared consciences. These were monsters of men.
They had done thousands of these crucifixions. They were cold and efficient in them.
Yet, this one was different.
There were strange, shocking, and visible wonders that happened during the execution.
Darkness from noon to 3 PM (Mt 27:45)
The curtain separating the Holy Place and The Most Holy Place tore from top to bottom (51)
There was an earthquake and the rocks split (51)
Tombs opened and dead saints were resurrected (52-53)
But there was something also in the way that Jesus died (Mark 15:39. He died satisfied and complete, “It is finished” (John 19:28-30) “Into You hands I commit my spirit.”
46 Then Jesus, calling out with a loud voice, said, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!” And having said this he breathed his last.
Uttered a loud cry…Mark 15:37
Scripture says that Jesus’ death rattled the centurion in charge and the soldiers with him.
54 When the centurion and those who were with him, keeping watch over Jesus, saw the earthquake and what took place, they were filled with awe and said, “Truly this was the Son of God!”
and...
47 Now when the centurion saw what had taken place, he praised God, saying, “Certainly this man was innocent!”
You get the idea from the text that they realized at that point what they had done.
Not only had they tortured and killed an innocent man.
They had tortured and killed a divine man.
There is a stark difference between their attitude now and the mocking spirit they had just a few hours before.
Their hardness melted. They had fear of God in that moment. They knew they had sinned.
Church tradition says the centurion became a believer upon the death of Christ. Maybe he talked to his colleague in Galilee whose servant was was healed (Mt. 8:5-13)?
The lesson for us today is that the message of the cross, the gospel, is powerful to penetrate even the hardest hearts.
If these monsters can believe in Jesus, then there is no one so bad that Jesus can’t save.
So long as any person is still living, there is still hope they may believe.
You may be a hard hearted person. You do not believe. This story tells us that if you face Jesus, the message of the cross can penetrate even your heart. We pray it does.
Many of you have hard family members. We should pray for them and don’t give up. Because...
16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. 17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.”