Just Enough Stuff

Tomorrow is Memorial Day. Roman soldiers, Centurions rather, have a place in the New Testament. We see in Luke 7 how a Centurion understood Jesus' authority. Capernaum was a border town. Jesus was able to heal from a distance. Centurions maybe seen as outsiders in the church, just as Jesus who was crucified was seen as an outsider to the Roman Empire. In Mark 15 a Roman Centurion commits blasphemy and treason by declaring Jesus to be the Son of God an imperial title. We have to ask ourselves. What did this centurion see to make him say, 'This is truly a Son of God." We should start by looking at Roman Officers. Roman officers took orders from above and gave orders to the men below them. They lived and understood the system. They saw the silliness and nonsense in the Roman Empire. The Emperors called themselves gods but they were mortal and immoral as anyone else. The Roman officers understood Jesus; they got him. They saw the political machinations. The Roman Emperors, Generals, Governors were all miscreants. The officers had to sacrifice their lives for those miscreants. They had to ask themselves. "Is this worth it?" Jesus was a direct opposite to the Emperors and Generals. Jesus was not gathering power for himself but empowering those who had none. Understanding what sacrifices really were, the Centurion saw that Jesus was someone to follow and was a much better person than his own leaders. Jesus was a worthy cause. God's Peace happens through Jesus.