We could tell that day that pilate wanted to be done with this trial. He wanted to just punish Jesus and send him on his way. But that did not go over very well with the crowds or the chief priests.
I remember him giving the crowds the choice of what to do that day. You see it was customary for the governor at the passover season to pardon and release any one condemned prisoner whom the people might name. On that day there was one who was awaiting execution, he was suppose to be going to the cross. He was a notable prisoner, found guilty of murder, His name was Barabbas. I think pilate was just trying to pacify the the priests and the people, so he asked them,, " whom shall I release to you,,Barabbas, or Jesus which is called Christ.?" When he asked that the 1st time, you could almost see the chief priests and elders running through the crowds urging them to demand that Barrabas to be released that day. So Pilates asked again, and when he did the crown erupted with the name Barrabas. I could see that he was kinda taken back with the answer, and that's when he asked, "what shall I do then with Jesus which is called Christ?"
That's when the crowd got even louder and started yelling the he be crucified, Crucify him, is what the crowd continued to yell.
That's when the order came down, Pilalte released barrabas, and we were given custody of Jesus to be scourged, we were to punish him severely but not kill him.
Now I am just a soldier, just doing my job, you see I had my orders. My orders were to beat and punish Jesus. We all had the tools we used to punish him, you see it wasn't just me that was following orders. As by procedure some of us had iron balls on the end of chains, when we would hit Jesus's back with those it would cause deep contusions,. Some of us had whips, but these weren't normal whips, they had many leather strands at the end , and each strand had pieces of bone or metal at the ends of them. When we would hit Jesus with these it reduced his back to raw flesh. It litterly cut to the bone and they caused Jesus to lose a lot of blood that morning. I have seen many men die from these beatings..but not this man... after all that was not my orders, my orders were to just beat him right up to the point of death or unconsciousness.
I remember we mocked Jesus and made fun of him. I admit that as soldiers we didn't feel much sometimes, we were just following orders....They claimed that this Jesus fellow, was the king of the Jews, so we took and made a crown for him., We twisted up thorns and made them in the shape of a crown and then we jammed it on his head and twisted it down, those thorns pierced it his skin, this thing was not coming off. After the we bowed down and mocked him even more and and started to say"hail, king of the Jews" Some of spit him and punched him and just really mistreated him. We just wanted to humiliate him..
Now came time to lead him to the cross. In my estimation, when I had done this before it was pretty good advertisement for the roman government, I mean people really seemed to take notice, that why we made the route to the cross so long. We wanted as many people as possible to see it. as a type of warning if you will..we forced Jesus to carry his cross . I don't know how he did it, this crossbar had to weigh about 300 pounds...and we just left the town square where we beat him to the edge of death. I don't think he could have made it the entire way, ....but you see we had regulations and rules for everything, we made this guy Simon help Jesus carry the cross,...We didnt know him, but we picked him out of the crowd and forced him, He couldn't refuse it was the law. I am sure that coming to celebrate the passover, this was not at all what he expected to happen, I am sure it changed him.
once we arrived at golgotha, oh ....that means "place of a skull" our journey was about over,...It was just outside the city walls, some said the face of the rock looked like a skull....
As always there was some wine there, well it was sour wine mixed with gall ....it was kind of a pain numbing drink. Jesus was offered the drink, but he refused.
I remember it so well, I remember what a sunny day it was ....I remember the sound of the nails being driven, the sound that made I don't know that I will ever forget.once all the nails had been driven into him we lifted the cross and dropped it in the whole. This form of death was the worse imangible,,,, and here I was part of it and watching and participating....as part of just following orders.,
I don't remember exactly when it happened, but I do remember being impressed with Jesus..maybe it was how he held up under the pain. I don't know if I think about it maybe it was how he prayed for our forgiveness. I had never heard such a prayer come from the cross. He was hanging there in agony , and we were about to cast lots for his clothes. and I heard him , I heard hIm say " Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." It was if he was talking about me and asking that I be forgiven. How could this man who I had been instrumental in getting to this point ask God to forgive me.?
Then I am heard him giving some comfort to the guy hanging on the cross beside him , well the one on his left. The other guy was yelling and making fun he was yelling that if he was really the son of God that he should save himself..
...But I remember him saying to the guy on his left , "Today you will be with me in paradise."
Then after about 3 hours of being there, I looked up to the sky and it was the weirdest thing. It became dark ....it was pretty creepy. Middle of the day and it was completely dark outside. Then about 3 in the afternoon Jesus cried out with a loud voice, " My God my God, why have your forsaken me" I remember at that time were shouting more insults, saying look he is calling for Elijah, let see if Elijah comes to save him.
Then he cried out one more time. "It is Finished". And with that he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.
A that moment earth began to shake. The rocks around us split, ...it was one of the scariest things I have been through,...
And that's then it hit me, after I had witnessed everything first hand! I was terrified, and I cried out, "surely he was the Son of God"
........
Lights in church come on dimly. Take helmet off, and sit on stool in front ....
This morning as we got a first hand account, just a glimpse maybe of what the roman soldier felt and saw.
The final thing we see is that the cross of Christ has the poser to change an individual, you see the centurion began as a roman officer overseeing a crucifixion, but ended the day acknowledging that Jesus was the son of God.
1 Corinthians 18: 23-24 says. For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God
You see we hear the about the roman soldier and wonder how they could be so vile and evil to hang Jesus from the cross. How they could be so sinful and be responsible of crucifying Christ. But here is the hard truth. I am and you are just as guilty of putting Him there. The bible teaches us that we are all sinners and have fallen short of the glory of God.
I mentioned a few minutes ago that when the soldier heard christ say father forgive them for they know not what they do, he had to be in awe of how Christ could forgive him.
We are in the same boat, how could Christ love us so much that he died on the cross for us, how he could look at me and the sin in my life . How could he look at you and the sin in your life and willingly, with out fighting back or begging for mercy go to the cross for our forgiveness. John 3:16 says that Jesus died for the whosoevers....He died for me , he died for you, he died for the roman soldier, ..
On the way to Louisiana on the I-10 there is a large billboard which catches your eye. It stands high above everything else. O it is a picture of Jesus Christ hanging on the cross of calvary, head bowed. The caption underneath says in bold letters "its your move".
What a powerful thought, God has already taken the initiative in salvation. He died for you...now its your move...
So as we stand.. lets all bow our heads and close our heads ..no one is looking around, I ask you this simple question. If you have never received Christ as your savior and have a relationship with him wont you slip your hand up and put it right back down...
As we sing this morning with the worship team , my most sincere prayer is for each and every person to leave here different than what you came in. So if you here and you slipped your hand up a minute ago, wont you step out and make you way down front, and accept what Jesus has done...
