I Was There

This is was the only independent eyewitness account of the conduct of Jesus up to the moment of his death. I was there when Jesus was tried. I watched his beating, his whipping and his punishment. I saw him fall beneath the weight of the cross. It was me that gave the order that the nails be driven through his hands and his feet. I stood there with my soldiers throughout that dark afternoon waiting for the end, and I was there when he took his final excruciating breath, yes I was there as I had been for so many others before.

You might even say that if anyone could be the blamed for the carrying out of the death of the Son of God, it was me, because I was the final enforcer.

I was a commanding officer of one -hundred foot soldiers in the Roman Army, and I am a centurion. And I must tell you that the rank of a centurion was not easily achieved. In fact, it was the highest rank to which an ordinary soldier could hope for. Unlike any other position, the rank of a centurion was a career, one that was paid well. In fact, we were the backbone of the entire army.

And I know that some of you may think of this as a highly respected position, but the position to which I was appointed for, selected for, and hired for was anything but desirable.

I was responsible for the oversight of this execution. I was to ensure that capital punishment was carried out. And while early in my appointment, the punishments that we were to be enforced, at times were difficult to watch, and then at other times I had become somewhat desensitized, deadened and numb to the violence and bloodshed that were a part of my everyday employment.

Although, I was dealing with some criminals, and with some lowlifes of humanity, they were they who deserved the discipline that they received. May I tell you that it was tough to watch?

These criminals had been convicted of a crime, and it wasn’t my job to determine their guilt or their innocence, but it was my job to accept their guilt and carry out their sentence. And whenever the dreadful punishment would begin to bother me, I would just remind myself of their crimes. It served as a way for me to shut off my emotions, curve my feelings, and replace my reactions so that I would not get involved, because if I would’ve allowed my feeling to get involved, I never would have lasted in my position, if I would’ve allowed myself to get involved the way I did that fateful day I would’ve lost my job a long-time ago.

Allow me to tell you how the day went. You see the morning began just like any other morning. The commotion outside the walls of Antonia alerted us to a situation. My men quickly assembled themselves together when the Jewish leaders showed up with a prisoner, and he was the one that they claimed to be dangerous to the Roman Empire, he was a threat to the upper echelon, and he was guilty of treason.

In fact, when they finally pronounced his charges, they said he had claimed to be the Son of God, and they said that he must die. Now Pilate was apprehensive about the entire situation, and he tried to convince the members of the Sanhedrin council of Jesus innocence. But the record is that they wouldn’t have it. They insisted he be crucified. Finally, it became obvious to Pilate that this was not a battle that was worth fighting, so he agreed, and much to his opposition handed this innocent looking prisoner over to me to be whipped and crucified.

In the contemporary, civilized culture of which we are a part, it’s hard to understand the severity of what I’m about to describe to you. It may even make you nauseous and sick. But from what I’ve been told is that this culture has somehow glamorized this part of Jesus life, so much to the degree that we are no longer moved by what happened to Jesus. But before you get giftwrap this situation I want you to hold on to your seats, because I’m going to tell you what he went through.

The means of his punishment is known as flogging, which consisted of repeated lashes or blows, usually with a rod or a whip. In Jesus case he was stripped naked and tied to a pillar about 18 inches in diameter with iron rings about 9 feet from the ground. The soldiers then hung him by the hands from those rings so that his feet couldn’t touch the ground, which made it impossible for him to escape the lashes that he was about to receive. I know I was there I tell you!!!!!