GOOD FRIDAY: A WARRIOR’s perspective from the day Jesus crossed the divide
Mark 15:39 – "And when the centurion, who stood there in front of Jesus, saw how he died, he said, 'Surely this man was the Son of God!'"
He had seen death before. He had caused death before. A Roman centurion is not just a soldier; he is a warrior forged through years of brutal training and bloodshed. He had watched friends die in battle, ordered executions without hesitation, and lived with the weight of choices made in the name of empire. Rome did not reward soft men.
And yet, as he stands before the cross of Jesus, something feels profoundly different. This centurion is a man who has no time for illusions. A Roman soldier’s world is one of brutal clarity – not politicking or dancing around the truth sheepishly — it was largely a world of life or death, victory or defeat, truth or lies. He has learned to see through the empty bravado of men facing death. But this is different.
The Nazarene hangs there – having been beaten beyond recognition. Blood pools at His feet, His body a ruined shell. But He did not rage while being beaten or nailed to the cross. He isn’t cursing or begging for mercy now on the cross. Instead, He is praying: "Father, forgive them."
Forgive them?!
The centurion had seen men scream at death, spit at their executioners, or die in quiet, broken surrender. But never forgiveness. Never love.
Then the darkness falls. A seasoned warrior does not fear the dark, but this was no ordinary nightfall—this was an unnatural shroud, thick with sorrow and judgement. And then the earth beneath his feet trembles -- tangible manifestations of the profound significance of this death. The Man on the cross cries out with a loud voice, with it releasing His last breath.
The centurion had likely stood on battlefields littered with corpses, had watched friends fall in war, had definitely seen men crucified without purpose, honor or dignity, and he had lived under the cold certainty that death comes for all. But this death is different. It is not taken — it is given. This man, this Jesus, does not die as other men did. Not only does he not beg, bargain or curse like other criminals – He faces death as though He commanded it. Standing at the foot of the cross, the Centurion recognizes something undeniable. He knows power when he sees it. And he knows truth when he sees it.
In that moment, something breaks inside. He looks up at the lifeless form of the man he had helped to crucify, and the words escape his lips:
"Truly, this was the Son of God!"
Not a criminal. Not an enemy of Rome. But the Son of God.
How can a hardened soldier say such a thing? Because he knows power when he sees it. And what he sees in Jesus was a power unlike Rome had ever known—not the power of a sword, but the power of sacrifice motivated by the purest love he’d ever seen.
The centurion had spent his life serving an empire that ruled by fear. Now, at the foot of the cross, he witnesses a kingdom built on love. And for the first time, perhaps in his entire life, he sees absolute truth.
"But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed."
Isaiah 53:5
