Evidence of Jesus

Evidence of Jesus
Mark 15:33-39

 

A couple of weeks ago, in the last sermon I gave, I was trying to look at CSI’s view of evidence. Today I like to continue with that theme. I'd like to present evidence that Jesus did exist, evidence that there were factual incidences and even events that took place. There are many that try to disprove the Bible. They try to disprove that there's a God.

They try to disprove anything. In a science view, there was a big bang, we just created, and we go through life just by chance, I guess you would say by chance, and there is nothing to look forward to at the end of our lives. I like to start, first off, by looking at the centurion today. When I say THE centurion, I don't want to be misleading because there are many centurions and I'd like to reference a few of them this morning.

One, pay attention that there is more than one centurion and I'll try to describe who they are. Our text this morning is found in Mark 15:33-39 is the main text, but I will reference other verses also. In the days of Jesus, the most feared soldiers on the face of the earth were those of the legions of Rome. These men were practically invincible, from what I understand.

Obviously, I'm only going from historical accounts. I did not live during this time. I'm trying to go by what history says. It seemed that no nation of that day could stand against them. One of the reasons that they were so powerful and so feared was because of their armies which were led by men called centurions.

These centurions were seasoned veterans. They were commanders of units, approximately 100 men in force. In today's armies, they would be roughly equivalent to what I believe is a major. In Israel, two or three of these centurions would have been based in a fortress inside Jerusalem.

Most of them were stationed in a seaport called Caesarea because of the nature of the coast of the Mediterranean Sea. Israel had no natural deep-water seaports for ships to enter and exit. Herod the Great built this one. It was an engineering masterpiece of the day, from what I understand. It became so important to sea trade that Rome took it over and made it their capital city.

It was the capital in Israel. The city became a jewel of the Mediterranean with a theater, an amphitheater, a hippodrome, are just a few of the attractions, from what I understand, were there. It was where most of the Roman force in the area was camped. This city was also, being the capital, the place where Pilot lived.

Now, it may shock you to learn that there are many people in this world who hate Christianity and hate our God and hate our Bible.

They want to believe their own thing, do their own thing. I remember growing up the saying, let's just do our own thing, you know, we don't have to listen to anybody else. That's how a lot of people, I think, live their religious life, doing our own thing. They hate when we try to teach the Bible.

Many of these individuals are so called scholars - scholars who challenge every aspect of Scripture. And for decades Pilate was like a gift for these critics. There was no record of Pontius Pilate ever being Jerusalem and the skeptics taught that Pilate was nothing more than a figment of the imagination of the Gospel writers who gave God's word to us. Then someone found this huge stone at Caesarea with Pilot's name on it. From what I understand, there's an actual physical stone, and it says, “Tiberium, Pontius Pilate, Prefect of Judea”

Now, why is Caesarea important in our story this morning? Well, because it's possible that the centurion at the cross came from Caesarea. You see, Pilot didn't live in Jerusalem, and he probably didn't want to live in Jerusalem. He was quite possibly about 70 miles, from what I understand, and in the suburbs, of Caesarea. The only reason he would have needed to travel to Jerusalem was during festivals such as Passover and Pentecost when many Israelites were gathered together there. The Jews hated the Romans. Rome soon learned that any time that many Jews gathered in one place, it was a recipe in their mind for disaster.

There was unrest, there were riots, and possibly even the potential for a major revolt. Pilot probably didn't like the Jews any more than they liked him, but his job was to keep the peace. That required him to display a show of force, I should say, on occasion. At these times, when Jews gathered, he would lead extra soldiers to Jerusalem. Probably more soldiers required more centurions. One of those centurions that came with Pilot could have been the one that was standing guard at the base of the cross of Christ.

Now, I'd like to focus. Who was this guy? Who was the centurion that we hear of in Scripture that was at the foot of Jesus? Well, he was part of an exclusive club. There were only 20 or 25 centurions in Israel, from what I understand, at that time. Several of the commentaries say that it was intriguing that even though the Jews hated the Romans, the New Testament writers treated centurions with respect. Examples in Matthew 8:6-13, when Jesus was ministering in Capernaum, a centurion approached him asking for help. What does he say?

Lord, my servant is lying paralyzed at home, suffering terribly. Jesus says to him…what? I will come and heal him. The centurion we talked about in our Bible class this morning was a person of position, had people underneath him. He could be one of those ones that say, “Do you know who I am?”

Yet he's seeking out Jesus, isn't he? He's seeking out Jesus and says, I need you to heal my servant. What does Jesus say? I'll come. What does the centurion reply?

Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof, but only say the word and my servant will be healed. For I am to a man under authority, with soldiers under me. And I say to one, go, and he goes, to another, come, and he comes, and to my servant, do this, and he does it.

When Jesus heard this, He marveled and said to those who followed him, truly, I tell you, with no one in Israel have I found such faith. I tell you, many will come from east and west and recline at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven, while the sons of the kingdom will be thrown into outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. To the centurion, what does Jesus say? Go, let it be done for you because of your belief.

The servant was healed at that very moment. Acts 10:22 tells about a centurion named Cornelius, who God sent Peter to preach to. Cornelius lived in Caesarea. Acts describes Cornelius as upright and a God-fearing man who was well spoken from the Jewish nation. You would say he's well-spoken of by the whole Jewish nation.

He was directed by a holy angel to send for you to come to his house and to hear what you have to say. Also in Acts 27, we're told of a centurion who had Paul as his prisoner, but in that passage, we're told that Julius the centurion treated Paul kindly and gave him leave to go to his friends and to be cared for, as we read Acts 27:3. Obviously, I'd just like to make a point that these centurions were highly regarded by the early Church. Why were these men viewed so favorably in scripture, you could ask.

Well, because centurions were not your common soldiers. They were a step above. They were chosen because of their level headedness and their ability to be good leaders. They were chosen because they were dependable, and they understood their men. A Greek historian said that in choosing their centurions, the Romans looked not so much for the daring or fire eating type, but rather for men who were natural leaders and possessed a stable and calm temperament. Not men who would start a battle and launch attacks, but those who would stand their ground even when outdone or hard pressed or will die in the defense of their post. These centurions were dependable, level headed leaders.

They could be cruel, though, when needed to be, and that was why the centurion was at the base of the cross. He was carrying out a common task for Roman soldiers—the crucifixion of guilty men. In that day, Rome was a nation. It was the only nation, from what I understand, that crucified people, and they did it often. One scholar noted that Romans practiced both random and intentional violence against populations that they had conquered, killing tens of thousands by crucifixion. Crucifixions were not jobs for the squeamish.

Centurions had to stand watch while men died slowly and painfully on the cross. When they crucified a man, it was a practiced that Romans would flog them first. They beat the prisoner until bones were broken and blood covered the ground. Then the prisoner's arms were tied to a crossbar, and he was paraded through the streets with a soldier walking out in front carrying a sign that indicated their crimes. At the place of execution, the prisoner's wrists were nailed to the cross bar. The bar was then lifted and placed on the stake, which was already driven into the ground, and the condemned man's ankles were then nailed to the stake.

Prisoners could remain conscious for a long period of time, struggling for breath as they hung by the nails driven through their wrist. As they hung there they experienced the pressure on their chest for having their arms suspended above them and that robbed them of the ability to inhale. They would have to push upward with their legs in order to breathe.

We know, or can't even imagine, I don't think, the invariable pain from the nails driven into their feet. They would sag and hang from their arms. Again, as they would just about lose all breath, they would struggle to reach up and inhale again. Sometimes the Roman soldiers would shorten the suffering by breaking the prisoner's legs. With their legs broken, they could no longer support the effort to push up and breathe, so they suffocated faster.

Because of the stress on their diaphragms, prisoners could take only short burst of air, which is why, as Jesus hung on the cross, some historians would say his statements were very short. It's reported that one soldier who observed the crucifixion wrote this. It is how he described it: Of all the sounds in hell, none is more pitiable than those terrible cries through the silence of midnight where crucified men hang in agony and cannot die while a breath of suffering remains in their lungs. Centurions had to oversee this entire process. They had to oversee prisoner after prisoner after prisoner. Watching men die was just part of their job description.

Jesus’ death was different. There was something different about Jesus that shook this centurion. The question is, what was there about Jesus that made His death different? We're not told exactly, but I'd like to address a few ideas. First, being a centurion made you part of a very select and exclusive club.

There are probably only about 25 of these commanders in Palestine and it's a pretty good guess that they knew each other well. When one centurion went to Jesus and begged for his servant to be healed, you can count on that the fact that story probably became known to the other centurions. Jesus spent His three years of ministry going throughout Israel, healing the sick and the lame, the blind, even bringing back to life an individual, also being feeding thousands with the small quantity of a few loaves and a few fish. This centurion had a front row seat to something that others didn't.

He was there, and I'm sure he heard the stories of what Jesus did. Then he watched as pilot tried to release Jesus, not just once, but twice. He listened as Pilot declared; I find no fault in this man. He watched as Pilate brought out the bowl of water and washed his hands, saying that you have made this conviction and trying in a symbolic sense of washing himself of the blood that they said, let it be upon us and our children. Then he watched as Pilot took Jesus and flogged him, as we see in John 19:1.

He watched as the soldiers led Jesus away into the palace and how they placed Him in a purple robe, and they twisted that crown of thorns on His head, and they called out to Him, hail, King of the Jews. Again and again, they struck Him on the head with a staff and spit on Him, falling on their knees, paying a mocking homage to Him. After they mocked him, they took off the purple robe and put Him in His own clothes, and then they let Him out to crucify Him, as we see in Mark 15:16-20. This centurion, you could say, had seen all that, and at the cross he was in command. As these soldiers (I could picture him being the man in charge of the soldiers) as they are driving the nails through Jesus’ feet and through His hands.

He was there when they lifted the crossbar and dropped it into place and watched as Jesus’ body sagged against the nails that held Him in place. As the centurion watched all of this, I'm sure he had to ponder that he knew it wasn't fair, like Pilot. It was not fair. It wasn't right. It shouldn't have happened.

It shouldn't have happened to this normal, well in man's thinking, this innocent man, but we know Jesus is more than normal. This Jesus wasn't a normal man, was He? And I think the centurion knew it. The centurion had heard stories, as I mentioned, about Jesus.

He had been kind to the weak. He had healed. He had fed thousands. He even raised Lazarus, as we know, from the dead. He showed compassion. He even cried, as it says the shortest verse in the Bible, “Jesus wept” at the death of Lazarus.

Then we read the text that we have in Mark 16:33-39 and when the 6th hour had come, there was darkness over the whole land until the 9th hour. At the 9th hour Jesus cried with a loud voice “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?”. Which means my God, my God, why hath thou forsaken me? And Jesus uttered aloud cry and breathed his last. The curtain of the temple was torn into two from top to bottom. When the centurion who stood facing him saw that in this way, He breathed His last, he said truly, this was the Son of God.

That is a statement that we as Christians can have confidence in. This man is not a Christian, this man works with the Romans. This man oversaw those that put Jesus to death nailing Him to the cross. There was an observation that was also stated. I pictured back just a few hours before this when they were saying; crucify Him, crucify Him. They're yelling to Pilate, “let his blood be upon us and our children”.

Now this man says, truly, this was. Everything that Jesus was saying, everything that Jesus stood for, the innocence that He represented, for anybody that can say well, how can God send His own Son? The centurion is answering that question. He doesn't know why, but he knows it's out of love. He knows everything that Jesus did was for the love of mankind, for you and me. The centurion is making the final exclamation mark.

Somebody that is just observing everything that took place, didn't grow up in the temples, that I know of, didn't grow up listening to all things being taught, was not guided, but made observations in the presence of Jesus. He says truly this was the Son of God. A non-Christian observation to all of us as Christians today, truly this was the son of God. There was something about the way Jesus breathed his last that shook the centurion.

He had seen other men die, I'm sure, but no mortal man had ever died like this. The story of the centurion at the foot of the cross was mentioned in three of the Gospels. There was something about the story of a pagan Roman soldier's reaction that God specifically wanted us to see, as we talked about in our Bible study this morning. Remember, John tells us that thousands of things or millions, we don't know how many, but God recorded these events. These are the ones that were written.

We know that if they were to try to write everything that Jesus did, the whole world couldn't contain the books. This is the snippet; this is the account when God inspired the writers of His Word. He wants us to know this Roman's reaction. God wanted us to see that. God wanted us to see the impact Christ's death had on this centurion that would lead him to recognize the truth about Christ, that truly this was the Son of God.

I want to close with a story that I have heard. I heard it's a true story. Back in 1976, there was an eight-hour TV miniseries titled Jesus of Nazareth. Some of us may have seen it. It'll probably be coming up again about this time of year, just before Easter.

Usually, the world and the TV productions put it on. It was starred Robert Powell as Jesus, Olivia Hussey as his mother Mary and Anne Bancroft as Mary Magdalene. For the role of the centurion, they picked a seasoned actor named Ernest Borgnine. Borgnine was a highly respected actor at the time, having acted in both comedies and dramas, and he took this role very seriously from what is recorded. He said that the weather for filming that day was chilly and gray, and since the camera was to be focused on Borgnine at the foot of the cross, it wasn't necessary for Robert Powell, who betrayed Jesus, to even be there to help focus him for the role. The director placed an X on some scenery behind the cameraman and told Borgnine to focus on that as if he was looking at Jesus when he spoke.

Borgnine said that for some reason he was nervous and uneasy that day, and he asked for somebody to read from the Bible the words that Jesus said as he hung on the cross. The director found a Bible and opened it to the Book of Luke signal for the cameraman to start rolling. As he began to read the text, Borgnine said that he stared up stared up at that chalk mark, trying to think about what might have gone through the centurion's mind. That faithful day as he's playing that role, he said that as he heard the words of Jesus to the one thief, verily I say unto thee, today thou shalt be with me in paradise.

Borgnine said he visualized the centurion thinking, if Jesus can forgive that criminal, then he could also forgive me. I will lay down my sword and retire to my little farm outside of Rome might have been that centurion's thought. At this point, Borgnine wrote that it happened. As I stared upward, instead of the chalk mark, I suddenly saw or visualized in my mind the face of Jesus life-like and clear. It was not the face of Robert Powell, as I was used to seeing, but it was a pain, seared, sweat stained face with blood flowing down from thorns pressed deep into the brow.

His face was still filled with compassion. He looked down as though through tragic, sorrowful eyes, with an expression of love beyond description. Then his cries rose against the desert wind. Not to the voice of the director, but the voice, possibly a voice that we can each hear through God's word of saying, “Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit.” He says that in awe as he watched Jesus’ head slump to one side.

He would have known, the centurion would have known that Jesus was dead, the terrible grief that would well up in him. Borgnine says he felt that he could picture in reality, if you play that role of the centurion that is what you would see. The director yelled cut. As Borgnine was seen sobbing uncontrollably. Borgnine looked over to see that the two actresses, Olivia, and Anne, were also crying.

He looked up again to where Jesus would have been. Of course, he was gone because he was never really there. Borgnine closed his comment with these words I have not been quite the same person since. I believe that I take my faith more seriously. I like to think that I'm more forgiving than I used to be.

That centurion learned 2000 or some years ago what I too have found, that you simply cannot come close to Jesus without being changed. As we sit here this morning, we have an advantage that the centurion never had. We have God's words in our hands, in our Bible. We know things about Jesus and his sacrifice that the centurion would never have considered, but sometimes we have a problem.

Sometimes we don't see Jesus. We don't understand and feel what He went through on the cross for us. We realized this morning we have that advantage. Brother Doug brought out so eloquently the memorial that we look at when we remember Jesus on the cross, why we need to do it, how we look inside, we look back and we look forward, how we move both vertically and horizontally, and how we are to continually remember this. Again, I would just hopefully lay that out here, as a CSI detective, a non-Christian, a plain, ordinary man I shouldn't even say that he went through special things. He was almost the anti in what they did against Christianity, but how moved he was. “Truly this was the son of God.” Today we know, like in the words of the last song in our book, there is a God, he is alive. In him we live, and we survive. God calls us.

God is calling the prodigal, another song that we sing. Today we are that prodigal. May we make the choice to accept God's way to repent of our sin and be buried with Him in baptism, or ask, if need be, for the prayers of the congregation as together we stand and sing our song of invitation.