- [Narrator] "When the Roman Officer,
"who stood facing him, saw how he had died,
"he exclaimed, 'This man truly was the Son of God.'"
Mark 15:39 NLT.
The final moments of Jesus's life
are recorded in Mark 15:33-39.
His path to the cross had been torturous.
He had been abandoned, ridiculed, humiliated, and tortured.
Now, as he hangs on the cross,
Jesus breathes his last breath.
Mark 15:33.
"At noon, darkness came over the whole land
"until 3:00 in the afternoon.
"This would be 12 o'clock in the afternoon.
"And the darkness would last until the ninth hour,
"or three o'clock."
This other worldly darkness
arrived when the sun was shining highest.
Because the moon was now full,
it couldn't have been created by an eclipse
because the moon can't intervene
between the earth and the sun when it's full.
This darkness was undoubtedly brought about
by God's prompt intervention.
Phlegon of Tralles and Emperor Hadrian's freedman
gives a description of it.
Eusebius in his "Records of the Year AD,"
quotes extensively from Phlegon,
who claims that in the fourth year of the 202nd Olympiad,
a large and extraordinary eclipse of the sun occurred,
surpassing any that had previously occurred.
At the sixth hour,
the day was turned into the darkness of night,
so that stars were seen in the heaven.
And there was a great earthquake in Bithynia.
And there was a great earthquake in Bithynia,
which over through many houses in the city of Nicaea.
Phlegon attributes to the darkness,
which he describes to an eclipse,
which was natural enough for him to do.
Astronomy knowledge was rudimentary at the time.
An earthquake is also mentioned by Phlegon.
This puts his story in very close alignment
with the sacred narrative.
St. Cyprian adds,
"The sun was constrained to withdraw his rays
"and close his eyes that he might not be compelled
"to look upon this crime of the Jews."
To the same purpose, St. Chrysostom:
The creature could not bear the wrong done to its creator.
Therefore, the son withdrew his rays
that he might not be hold the deeds of the wicked.
Mark chapter 15:34.
"And at the ninth hour,
"Jesus cried with a loud voice saying,
"'Eloi Eloi lama sabachthani,'"
which is being interpreted,
'My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me.'
Eloi Eloi lama sabachthani,
Saint Mark here uses the Aramaic form,
St. Matthew refers to the original Hebrew.
This might be rendered,
"Why didst thou forsake me?"
Mark chapter 15:35.
"And some of them that stood by when they heard it said
"'behold, he called with Elias.'"
Those who lingered around the cross,
despite the mysterious darkness are mentioned in verse 35,
the darkness would certainly add to the dreadfulness
of the situation.
It was out of that darkness
that the voice of Jesus was heard.
And in as much as Elias or Elijah
was believed to hold some relation to the Messiah,
it was natural for some of those who stood by
to understand the words to mean that our Lord
was actually calling for Elias.
Mark chapter 15:36.
"And one ran and filled a sponge full of vinegar
"and put it on a reed and gave it to him to drink saying,
"'let alone, let us see whether Elias
"'will come to take him down.'"
"And Jesus cried with a loud voice and gave up the ghost.
"And the veil of the temple
"was rent in twain from the top to the bottom."
There were two veils one before the Holy Place
and the second before the Holy of Holies.
The Holy Place would agree to what we call
the nave of the church in which the priests
were always present.
And the Holy of Holies would match to our chancel choir,
the holiest part of the building.
This was always kept closed,
nor might anyone enter it with the high priest.
And that only once in the year on the day of expiation.
The veil, which was rent at our Lord's death,
was that which was placed before the Holy of Holies.
It was the responsibility of the officiating priests
on the evening of the day of preparation
at the hour of evening prayer,
which would correspond to the time of our Lord's death
to enter into the holy place
where he would, of course,
be between the two curtains or veils,
the outer veil and the inner veil.
It would then be his responsibility
to roll back the outer veil,
exposing the sacred space to the people in the outer court.
Then in there, to their amazement,
they would witness the inner veil ripped apart
from top to bottom.
According to Josephus,
these veils were curtains were of immense bulk,
heavy and beautifully embroidered with gold and purple.
This tearing of the veil now meant,
first dispensation with its rights and ceremonies
was now uncovered by Christ.
And that then's fourth,
the middle wall of partition was broken down
so that now not the Jews only,
but the Gentiles also my draw nigh by the blood of Christ.
But second, it also implied that the way to heaven
was laid open by our Lord's death.
"When Thou hadst overcome the sharpness of death,
"Thou didst open the kingdom of heaven to all believers."
The veil implied that heaven was closed to all
until Christ by his death,
rent this veil in twain and laid open the way.
Mark chapter 15:39.
"And when the centurion, which stood over against him,
"saw that he so cried out and gave up the ghost.
"He said, 'Truly, this man was the Son of God.'
"The words so cried out
"are not in the most important authorities."
The centurion's job was to keep an eye on everything
and see that the sentence was carried out.
He must have been standing close to the cross
and there was something
in the dying sufferer's entire demeanor
that was so unlike anything he had ever seen before
that it elicited the spontaneous cry.
"Truly, this man was the son of God."
He had watched him through those weirdest of hours.
He had seen the meekness and the dignity of the sufferer.
He had heard those words so profoundly impressed upon
the faith and reverence of Christians,
which fell from him from time to time as he hung there.
And then at last he heard the piercing cry.
So startling, so unexpected,
which escaped him just before he yielded up his spirit.
And he could come to no other conclusion than this,
that he was in very deed God's Son.
In just a few verses, Mark packs a lot of punch.
There's a lot to say about the strange events that occur.
But today we're drawn to the Roman officer
who admired Jesus after he died.
Jesus influenced those close to him.
The thief on the cross had reacted uniquely to him.
And now the soldier overseeing him
has to remark that he is the Son of God.
Jesus had kept his identity hidden
at the beginning of his ministry.
Now it was plain for everyone to see.
As a commander, a Centurion was in control of the soldiers
who dealt with Jesus.
Did he participate in the soldiers' taunting
and beating of Jesus as they crowned him with thorns?
Maybe, or perhaps he was too respectable for such antics.
Maybe he was the one who gave Simon of Cyrene
the task of carrying Jesus's cross.
Once they arrived at Golgotha, the place of the crucifixion,
the nails were driven through Jesus wrists
and he was raised up on the cross.
This was just another day at the office really.
His function was to supervise the execution
of offenders via crucifixion, but somewhere along the way,
Jesus sees to appear to him as a common criminal.
Perhaps it was the way Jesus engaged
with the world's powers.
He never begged for his life.
Perhaps it was Jesus's words of love from the cross
that moved him.
Perhaps it was the strange darkness that blanketed the land.
Maybe it was the tearing of the veil.
Alternatively, perhaps Jesus had imparted truth
to this officer as they traveled down the road.
Something stirred in this man's soul,
as he gazed at Jesus's lifeless body, whatever that was.
I imagined him staring up at the cross, mouth gaping,
as he wraps words around his thoughts.
"This man truly was the Son of God."
What a declaration for a Roman officer to make.
If any of the religious leaders overheard him,
they would have lost their minds.
He spent the previous day persuading Rome
to execute Jesus precisely because he was blaspheming
about being God's Son.
It's one thing to recognize Jesus as the Son of God,
when he's alive.
Peter recognizes Jesus as the Messiah
in Mark 8:29-30.
"And he sayeth unto them,
"'But whom say ye that I am?'
"And Peter answer it and sayeth unto him,
"'Thou art, the Christ.'
"And he charged them that they should tell no man of him."
When Jesus is alive,
it's one thing to recognize him as the Son of God.
It's another thing to recognize Jesus as the Son of God,
after the resurrection.
Many people came to faith then,
but to recognize Jesus as the son of God,
when he is dead and all hope is gone?
This Roman officer may be the only person
who have done such a thing.
So what happened to that Roman officer?
We have no idea.
I'm sure he had a lot on his mind in the days ahead,
especially as word spread that Jesus was still alive.
Perhaps he realized the gravity of his crimes against Jesus.
What we do know is that it wasn't too late for him.
While on the cross,
Jesus was paying the cost for this officer's sins.
He was paving the way for this officer
to be with his Father.
As Stuart Townson wrote in the hymn,
"How Deep The Father's Love For Us,"
"Behold, the man upon a cross,
"my sin upon his shoulders.
"Ashamed, I hear my mocking voice
"call out among the scoffers."
We need to realize that Jesus died for you.
Do not reject him.
Once you know him,
once you've heard the gospel and rejected it,
you can never be the same.
It says that when the rich young ruler rejected Christ,
he turned away grieved, emotionally disturbed.
Because when you reject the claims of Christ,
that's a very serious thing.
It will be an hour of decision
for many of you who will receive him today.
There have been those
that have been rejected by God, however,
an example is Saul.
To watch the rise and fall of Saul, click here.