B, Midweek Lent 5 - 15:37–39, 44–45 "Pilate & the Centurion's Passover"

Mark 15:37–39, 44–45 (ESV) “And Jesus uttered a loud cry and breathed his last.  And the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom.  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!”  Pilate was surprised to hear that he should have already died.  And summoning the centurion, he asked him whether he was already dead.  And when he learned from the centurion that he was dead, he granted the corpse to Joseph!”

The last breath of Jesus Christ caught the attention of the centurion standing at the foot of the cross!

Sometime in the future you and I too will give up our last breath.  What might that look like for us, as we ponder Jesus’ last breath? 

This Roman soldier would have been accustomed to seeing death.  He would have seen plenty die at his command.  He would have spilt criminal’s and enemy soldier’s blood and seen them give up their last breath.  As a soldier, he would have been thankful it was them and not him who died. 

Yet, to see Jesus die in the way that he did, made this Roman commander of the crucifixion, make this extraordinary claim.  What did he see in himself seeing the Son of God dead on the cross?  A Roman soldier served only one god and that was Caesar!  Yet here he calls the dead man on the cross, Son of God!

This man was “a” Son of God, is the Greek translation of the centurion’s exclamation!  We are not told why he said it, we are not told what he saw other than the way Jesus breathed his last.

In Matthew’s account of Jesus’ death, it’s not just the centurion who makes the exclamation, “this man was a son of God!”   Rather, it is he and the other Roman soldiers who are intensely frightened, or filled with awe, as a result of the eclipse of darkness, the earthquake that tore the curtain in the temple Holy of Holies, splitting rocks, and people raised from the dead. 

In Luke’s account of Jesus’ death, written for the Gentiles, it testifies, “when the centurion saw what had taken place, he praised God, saying, “Certainly this man was innocent!” (Luke 23:47 ESV)

Whatever it was, causing the centurion to exclaim a man crucified to be a Son of God, shows this was no ordinary crucifixion. 

Being a commander of one hundred, he would have allowed and witnessed those under his authority having their sport with Jesus.  Dressing him in a purple robe, pushing the crown of thorns down into the flesh of his skull, spitting on him, striking him, and humiliating him as the King of the Jews!

Now the commander confesses this crucified man was a Son of God.  Why he said this, is not entirely clear.  However, what is clear, the one he exclaims as a Son of God, is dead!  God on the cross was no longer alive!

Pilate is surprised by the timeliness of Jesus’ death, when Joseph of Arimathea, asks for Jesus’ body.  So, he calls the centurion who witnessed Jesus’ death, and the centurion reports the accuracy of the situation, and Pilate releases the body of Jesus to Joseph.

The claim of Jesus being the Son of God has greater significance in Mark’s Gospel account than the other Gospel accounts.

John Mark, the gatherer, and complier of Peter’s witness of Jesus’ ministry, death, and resurrection, introduces his account saying, “The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.” (Mark 1:1 ESV)

Although not all manuscripts say “the Son of God” in verse one, those that do, stand out from Matthew’s Gospel which introduces Jesus Christ as the son of David, the son of Abraham.   Luke’s account begins in the temple with Zechariah, the father of John the Baptist, not mentioning Jesus till later on.  And John’s account of the Gospel, begins with a parallel of Genesis one, “In the beginning was the Word…”, introducing Jesus as the Word made flesh!

“The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God”, written in Mark one, introduces only a few claims that Jesus is “Son”, “of God.”  Jesus only ever refers to himself as “the Son of Man” in Mark.  In fact, only in John’ Gospel do we ever hear Jesus directly name himself as “the Son of God”.

Surprisingly, in Mark’s Gospel account, we do not even hear Satan test Jesus in the wilderness,  by temping him with the words, “If you are the Son of God…”.  There are no “ifs” here in Mark, Jesus is the Son of God! 

However, the revelation that Jesus is the Son of God, comes from Satan’s entourage.  When Jesus comes in contact with evil spirits, they do not question “if” he is “the Son of God”.  They cower before Jesus, proclaiming him as “the Son of God”!

In Mark’s Gospel, God first declares Jesus as his Son, at his baptism, by John in the Jordan.  In Mark one verse eleven we hear, “And a voice came from heaven, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.” (Mark 1:11 ESV)  God again affirms this at the transfiguration.  We hear, “And a cloud overshadowed them, and a voice came out of the cloud, ‘This is my beloved Son; listen to him.’” (Mark 9:7 ESV)

Nevertheless, it’s the evil spirited man at the synagogue in Capernaum who first names Jesus as being “of God”!

He says, “What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth?  Have you come to destroy us?  I know who you are—the Holy One of God.”  (Mark 1:24 ESV)

There is no testing here!  Rather, there is affirmation and fear of God the Son’s fury and annihilation!  And it’s not just a one-off accident as we hear from Mark three verse eleven, “whenever the unclean spirits saw him, they fell down before him and cried out, “You are the Son of God.”  (Mark 3:11 ESV)

Similarly, before Jesus casts the demons out of Legion into a herd of pigs, he reacts to the coming of Jesus in this way, “And when he saw Jesus from afar, he ran and fell down before him.  And crying out with a loud voice, he said, “What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I adjure you by God, do not torment me.”  For he was saying to him, “Come out of the man, you unclean spirit!”  (Mark 5:6–8 ESV)

The demonic spirits who are destroying people, see Jesus, know, and fear Jesus of Nazareth because he is “the Son of God”.

The reality of the unseen world sees the reality of the truth; Jesus is the Son of God!  Now the centurion sees this too.  He is the first in the seen world to see Jesus as a Son of God.  However, he sees this after his death.  Here a gentile, a pagan, one who did the bidding of those seeking to do evil to Jesus, sees the truth of whom he has crucified on the cross.

The death of Jesus Christ at the Passover passes over nobody!  Those who were witnesses of the crucifixion, those who participated in the crucifixion, those who cowered before the crucifixion, remember Jesus’ death!  But now all know Jesus of Nazareth, is the Messiah, Christ the King, and is the Son of God raised from the dead.

How much more does Satan and his entourage of supporters now fear him since he has power over death!  The Son of God was born into his own creation and lived as a man, Jesus of Nazareth.  He was killed on the cross and buried with the dead.   Now he is raised and glorified as the Son of God. 

Now the Son of God takes away the sin of those who do not pass over Jesus as the Son of God, who bears forgiveness of humanity’s sin in his resurrection from, and power over death. 

As we draw near to the remembrance of Jesus’ death on Good Friday, in the reality of your death, in your last breath, may the Holy Spirit grant you comfort and clear sight in the Son of God’s salvation over your sin.  Amen.