What They Said When Jesus Went to Calvary... "surely this was a righteous man"

Luke 23:44-47

And it was about the sixth hour, and there was darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour. Then the sun was darkened, and the veil of the temple was torn in two. And when Jesus had cried out with a loud voice, He said, "Father, 'into Your hands I commend My spirit.'" And having said this, He breathed His last. Now when the centurion saw what had happened, he glorified God, saying, "Certainly this was a righteous Man!"

In Christ Jesus, who gave up His life for us, Dear Fellow Redeemed,

If you've been to Disneyland, Great America or a world's fair sometime within the last ten years or so, you may have had a movie experience the likes of which you'd never dreamed of. It's called the IMAX theater. The people sit in a round auditorium, almost completely surrounded by a huge, semi-circular screen. The screen is so large, in fact, that it totally fills the range of vision of the viewers. When the movie begins, you have the immediate sensation of actually being there, because that's all you can see. In one film, called "Flight", you get the feeling that you, personally, are soaring in a glider over the Grand Canyon. The feeling is so strong that, when the plane in the movie banks left, the whole audience will lean to the left in unison!

Why is this type of movie so thrilling and powerful? Because it fills the eyes of the viewer. In fact, what it actually does is allow the viewer to look through the eyes of an airplane pilot, or a race car driver, or the front passenger in a roller coaster. Today you and I are being given an opportunity like that. Today God is offering us a panoramic view of the single most important event in history. It's the death of God's Son, Jesus Christ. Today we'll see that event, through the eyes of a Roman soldier who was actually there. The theme we've been following this Lenten season is "What They Said When Jesus Went to Calvary." Here's what the Roman centurion said:

"SURELY THIS WAS A RIGHTEOUS MAN"

I. Let's look through the eyes of the centurion II. Let's join in the confession of the centurion

As you know, it was the Jewish mob that screamed for the death of Jesus. But it wasn't the Jews who carried out the actual crucifixion - that job fell to a squad of Roman soldiers. Their leader was a minor officer, called a "centurion".

Tradition says that his name was Longinus, and he must have been a hard-bitten character. You didn't get to be an officer in the Roman army by being a nice guy. This man was tough - most likely a battle-hardened veteran. He'd seen a lot of things in his years with the Roman legions, including plenty of crucifixions.

When you and I consider the cruel realities of this kind of death, it's apt to make us shudder - the prisoner was fixed to the rough wooden cross, exposed to the full heat of the Middle Eastern sun. His arms were fixed on the cross-beam, and the full weight of his body had to be supported by a tiny block of wood that sloped away from his feet. It was death by slow torture. As the prisoner succumbed to exhaustion and dehydration, his legs would eventually become too weak to support the weight of his body. As the body slipped lower and the head lolled forward, the airway would be blocked, choking the victim. Death - when it finally came - was caused by suffocation. Yes, this is a sight that might well send a chill down our spine!

But crucifixion was nothing new to this centurion. This was a common mode of execution used by the Romans, especially when there was a riot or revolt. The soldiers under his command were so used to it that they sat beneath the crosses calmly thowing dice for the clothes of the prisoners. Another day, another execution. Grim, maybe, but really no big deal...

Or was it? Did it perhaps begin to dawn on the centurion that there might be something special about the case of this man Jesus of Nazareth? Let's look though his eyes - what had he seen in the last several hours?

Very likely he was there at Jesus' trial before Pontius Pilate. If so, he would have witnessed the governor declare again and again to the screaming mob, "I find no fault in this Man!" He saw the burning hatred of the people who nevertheless kept crying out, "Crucify Him! Crucify Him!" The centurion evidently knew of Jesus' claim to be the Son of God...but was that an offence punishable by death? And the exquisite cruelty of this particular death - that might have been something he'd never seen before. Usually, a criminal would suffer either scourging or crucifixion; Jesus was whipped within an inch of His life, and then crucified, too. Normally, a criminal's limbs would be tied to the cross with ropes; Jesus had spikes driven through His hands and feet.

Something made the soldier think. While his men were gambling under the cross, he was watching and listening. What did he see there, that Friday afternoon? For one thing, he saw the light of the sun go out. Not an eclipse, not just an overcast sky, but an unnatural darkness that lasted from noon till three. Even more unusual, to his mind, was Jesus Himself. The centurion had seen many men die...but never like this! This Man prayed for the people who were mocking His agony, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." From the very cross, this Man showed care and concern for His mother. Why, He even spoke kindly to the wretched thief who was dying next to Him! -And I wonder what went through the centurion's mind when he heard Jesus say to the thief, "Today you shall be with me in paradise"? Who was this Man? Why was He suffering?

You and I don't have to ask those questions, do we? We know who He was. More than that - we know exactly why He was suffering. In His own words, Jesus was "giving His life a ransom for many." -- Matt 20:28. He was paying the price of our sins. Do you realize that? Let's not tiptoe around it...Jesus was suffering for every time that you and I have failed to love God with all our heart, soul and mind; every time that you and I have profaned God's name, skipped church, defied authority, hurt somebody, had lustful thoughts... Keep going down the commandments - you won't have any trouble finding where you fit in. Well, on Good Friday, the lightning of God's anger over those sins of ours finally struck. But it didn't strike us. -It struck Jesus! "All we like sheep have gone astray," Isaiah said, but "...the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all." Is 53:10.

Yes, we know exactly who Jesus is, and why He was suffering on Calvary that day. And that grizzled centurion, he was beginning to figure it out, too. At about three in the afternoon, when Jesus was near the end, the soldier suddenly felt the earth shift beneath his feet. A tremendous earthquake shook the ground; rocks split, and people cried out. Sudden fear must have clutched at the centurion's heart - What have we done? Who IS this Man we've crucified? With His final words, Jesus answered the question: "And when Jesus had cried out with a loud voice, He said, 'Father, into Your hands I commend My spirit.' And having said this, He breathed His last."

Now the centurion knew! There was no doubt in his mind as he made his trembling confession: "Now when the centurion saw what had happened, he glorified God, saying, 'Certainly this was a righteous Man!'" And the parallel account in Matthew tells us that he not only confessed Jesus to be a righteous Man, but the very Son of God.

The death of the Son of God softened the hard heart of the Roman soldier. With his confession, the centurion overturned the verdict of the Jewish Sanhedrin who had snarled, "He is guilty of death." "No," the centurion decided, "He wasn't guilty of death. He was who He said He was - the innocent Son of God, the Messiah, the Savior." That's an important confession, and it's one we want to share during this Lenten Season!

You know, in another week we will hold our Good Friday services. There's a special type of Good Friday liturgy that thousands of churches across this country will be using on that day. It's called the "Tenebrae Service." It's a very gloomy kind of service that concentrates on sin and suffering and death. As the service progresses, four candles are snuffed out, the last being "the Christ candle," which is extinguished to symbolize the death of Jesus. The Lord's Prayer, instead of being spoken, is whispered. The service ends when a loud, grating noise called the "stepitus," sygnifying the closing of the tomb. -Then the people are supposed to leave silently.

Very dramatic! But I'm not much in favor of our church holding a "Tenebrae Service" on Good Friday, and I'll tell you why. The sadness, the sorrow, the sin of Christ's death is only half the story. Today we join the centurion in confessing Jesus as a righteous Man, the Son of God. And that confession tells not only of the cause of Jesus' death (our sin) - it also tells of the result of Jesus' death (our salvation). And in that we have good reason, not to be sad, but to rejoice! Today we're looking upon the "Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world." We know that when Jesus said, "It is finished!", He was talking about His work of redeeming us from our sins. We know that, because Jesus died, we need never die, since He earned eternal life for us. And we know something that the centurion couldn't possibly know: that Good Friday is inevitably followed...by Easter Sunday!

So let's be glad in knowing that, with His innocent death on the cross, Jesus has saved us from our sins. Today let's join that Roman centurion in confessing, "Surely this was a righteous Man." It's a good confession to make. Yes, Good Friday was a dark day. But, as one inspired Christian said: "How good it is to know that it will never be that dark again!" AMEN.

ONE THING IS NEEDFUL

Lutheran Sermons for the Church Year by Pastor Paul Naumann