Darkness
“With a loud cry, Jesus breathed his last. The curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. 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!” (Mark 15:37-39)
The Roman centurion and the rest of the soldiers on the execution squad had an up-close-and-personal experience of Jesus’s death. Once Pilate had passed judgment on Him, Jesus was delivered into their hands to carry out the work of execution. It was work for which they were well-trained—success in the Roman army being largely dependent on a soldier’s ability to kill.
It was the centurion’s job to oversee the execution. He had to make sure that the flogging was done thoroughly, but shy of killing Jesus in the process. And while we don’t know who gathered the company of soldiers in the Praetorium, we know that the centurion would have been present. Just as he would have been present while Jesus drug the crossbeam through the streets. And he would have remained at his post alongside Jesus, until he could confirm that the crucifixion had ended in death.
Because the centurion was the person who was responsible for ensuring that Jesus’s death sentence was carried out as ordered. Consider the darkness he witnessed that day. An unjust trial. A brutal flogging. Spitting, beating, and mockery. All culminating in a deep physical darkness that fell over the land from noon to three.
Yet, at some point the centurion began to see the Light shining in the darkness. His experience with Jesus that day made it possible for him to give the following testimony after His death: Jesus was the Son of God (Mark 15:39)—a righteous man (Luke 23:47) had died (Mark 15:45).
