Midnight at Noon & the Irony & Goodness of Good Friday
When the centurion and those who were with him, keeping watch over Jesus, saw the earthquake and what took place, they were filled with awe and said, “Truly, this was the Son of God!” (Matthew 27:54, ESV)
For hours, the centurion had been watching him die. Death, torture, and humiliation were his daily fare, but there was something very different about this man and this execution.
The centurion was a hardened Roman soldier who had become immune to the sights and sounds of death. It was all in a day’s work, but it wasn’t every day, they put to death a so-called “king.”
What sort of king would end up on this God-forsaken hill to be crucified with robbers and insurrectionists? The centurion and his men reveled in stretching this ridiculous idea to its limit. At first, it was a game. What was a king without his royal garb?
They found a faded purple cloak and threw it over Jesus’ lacerated back, twisted a crown of thorns and jammed it into his brow, and thrust a staff into his right hand as a scepter. What a pathetic joke! Their mockery and cruelty continued as they knelt before him and hailed him “king of the Jews.” Then they punched him, spit in his face, and led him away to be crucified.
