Good morning. There once was a man, a soldier by trade, who did the unthinkable.
We don’t know his name, or any other details about him, save for one. More about that in a bit.
We know that he was a part of a special military group. They were the Roman soldiers called “the crucifixion guard”. Crucifixion was a task too important to entrust to just anyone. Only those who had proven that they had the cold heart; the hands that would remain steady and strong; the eyes that would never shed a tear for those being tortured to death; only soldiers with those attributes could be used for the job of crucifying people in the name of Rome.
He would have been busy with his task throughout the early morning hours. Those who were to be crucified were typically beaten and abused before they made the trek to the place of crucifixion, carrying the beam of their cross as they walked. On this day, the efforts to cause pain and humiliation took longer than usual, for one of those to be crucified was of special interest. His name was Jesus from the town of Nazareth in Galilee. The orders were to make an example of this one. To beat him more severely and to include exceptional acts of brutality.
“And the soldiers twisted a crown of thorns and put it on His head, and they put on Him a purple robe. Then they said, “Hail, King of the Jews!” And they struck Him with their hands.” John 19:2-3
The soldier was experienced, he knew that he and those with him would be able to subdue the condemned prisoners when they fought against the nails being driven through their wrists and ankles. But this one did not fight.
The centurion in charge gave the orders with typical calm boredom. He too had seen this happen a hundred times or more and his spirit was unlikely to be moved.
And when they had crucified Him, they divided His garments among themselves by casting lots.And sitting down, they began to keep watch over Him there. And above His head they put up the charge against Him which read, “THIS IS JESUS THE KING OF THE JEWS.” Matthew 27 35-37
When this man, the one they called Jesus, died…it felt as thought he world was coming to an end. There was lightening, and an earthquake, but it was more than that.
Now as for the centurion and those who were with him keeping guard over Jesus, when they saw the earthquake and the other things that were happening, they became extremely frightened and said, “Truly this was the Son of God!” Mt 27:54
Earlier I wrote: “We don’t know his name, or any other details about him, save for one. More about that in a bit.”
This is that other bit of information: Jesus died for him. If he too, was spiritually changed when he witnessed the death of Jesus Christ, then Jesus welcomed him into the arms of God when his time arrived.
The one who drove the nails, Jesus died for him. Jesus died for each of us as well. Think about that!
Vern