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The Centurion: "Truly, the Son of God" Text:
Matthew 27:45-46, 51-54 Tonight we come to the end of our Lenten parade of individuals who came into contact with Jesus before and during his suffering, crucifixion and burial. Nicodemus the Pharisee was the first and finally believed. Judas Iscariot though chosen did not believe. Neither did Pontius Pilate. Simon of Cyrene and the good thief on the cross were last-minute disciples. In different ways each was confronted with the claims that Jesus was the King of the Jews, the Messiah or Christ, the Suffering Servant, the Son of God. In three of them saving faith took root and each in their own way confessed Jesus to be the Savior. The other two rejected or simply ignored him. And what is your response? “That should be obvious,” you say, for why else would you be here? Yet, it is because the devil, the world and our sinful flesh still wars against Christ and faith in him and that it is always possible for a Christian to fall away from the faith that we are taking the time to do this spiritual inventory we call the discipline of Lent.
Now tonight we are at the hour of Jesus' death. An eerie afternoon darkness covers the scene. At Jesus' final cry there is a small earthquake. All of Jesus' disciples had fled away in terror. Our attention is focused on one of the last men standing at the scene of the crucifixion. Those were his orders. He is a Gentile pagan, an officer of the Roman army called a Centurion, that is, a commander of a hundred soldiers. Maybe we see him like one of those stone-faced Grenadier guards around Buckingham Palace in England simply doing his duty with no obvious emotion in his face. Inside, however, a strange, new feeling came over him, a surprising conviction that made him forget his formal military decorum for a moment, open his mouth and say those words of faith we have been waiting to hear, “Truly, this was the Son of God!”
As with all the other witnesses, he heard and observed the Word of God that played out before his eyes. He heard the claims of Jesus' identity thrown at him with accusing, waging heads, and the sign above him written in Aramaic, Latin and Greek, “Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews.” Maybe up to this point he had considered all the hubbub of these strange Hebrew people over merely religious issues to be the result of a primitive, unenlightened worldview. But standing there, carrying out his orders, he heard Jesus praying the words of Psalm 22, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Those are the only words of Jesus Matthew records. Surely, however, the centurion heard the other six words, “Father, forgive them;” to the thief, “Today you will be with me in Paradise;” to his Mother, “Behold, your son,” and to John, “Behold, your mother;” then “I thirst;” “into Your hands I commit my spirit;” “It is finished.” More than that Matthew tells us it was the whole scene; the earthquake and how everything took place that somehow spoke to the centurion. And he wasn't alone. Matthew says it was the centurion “and those who were with him” that saw and were filled with awe and said, “Truly this was the Son of God!” How could they have made such a leap from detached outsiders to sudden confessors of faith? What all of Jesus' teaching and preaching and signs of healing could not convey to and convince those of his own people with hearts hardened in unbelief or fear, these few words and signs called forth faith in the hearts and from the lips of those from whom we would least expect it.
If nothing else, this detail reminds us to always critically check our expectations. Remember how God's Word says, For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts [Isaiah 55:8-9 (ESV)]; and how often the tables are turned on our expectations as in the Beatitudes (Matthew 5:1-12) and our Lord's repeated refrain, “But many who are first will be last, and the last first” [Matthew 19:30 (ESV)]. In the Gospel our judgment of who are the good guys and who are the bad guys so often is challenged.
What I mean is, how different are the Gospels from mere propaganda. You know the way things go in this world. “Always put your best foot forward.” Advertisers are expert in projecting always only a positive image and message. If you're going to “make it” in this world you've got to learn to play the game. And isn't it interesting that we call it a “game”? For we are all aware of the need to cover up anything negative and detrimental to success.
How many people look at religion or the Christian Church as an enterprise in mere propaganda? Well, a lot of people do. Why else are we so familiar with the complaint, “the church is full of hypocrites”? Today we have not only “The DaVince Code” but even another book called “The Jesus Papers” putting forth the pure propaganda that Jesus didn't die, that he survived the crucifixion. The authors even come right out and say they have no physical, historic evidence to support their claim, but claim it they do and, what's worse, there are people that will believe it!
How different the record of the Gospels. There we have definite data as to time and place verified by archaeology and even secular historical records. But in addition, it is the very foolishness, doubt and slowness to believe of the disciples on the one hand, besides the surprising confessions of faith by complete outsiders on the other hand that convince us that this is no mere story or propaganda. So, there we are. Where do we stand? Our score is four believers to two unbelievers. Of the four believers the first was a Pharisee, the second a foreigner from Cyrene, the third a convicted criminal and the fourth a complete outsider and Gentile. Of the two unbelievers, one was an apostle of Christ. It would seem that our Lenten exercise has served us as both a warning and a promise. The warning is that we must be on guard at all times that we do not become bored or complacent in the matter of faith. The promise is that God works through his Word, many times in mysterious ways, but always with the clear declaration that “God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” [John 3:16 (ESV)]. ___________________
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