April 7, 2007

  • When it was noon, darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon.  At three o'clock, Jesus cried out with a loud voice "Eloi, Eloi, lema sabacthani?" which means "My God, My God, why have You forsaken me?"   When some of the bystanders heard it they said, "Listen, he is calling for Elijah."  And someone ran, filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on a stick, and gave it to him to drink, saying, "Wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to take him down."  Then Jesus gave a loud cry and breathed his last.  And the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom.  Now when the centurion, who stood facing him, saw that in this way he breathed his last, he said,
    "Truly this was God's Son."   Mark 15:33-39

    And so, there you have it.  A Good Friday miracle.  We hear all the time about the miracle of Easter itself, and about all the other miracles that Jesus himself performed or that the disciples did in his name after his death and resurrection.  But perhaps this Good Friday miracle is the most powerful of all, and made powerful by it's very obscurity > I am indebted to Heidi, the pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church in NYC for bringing it to my attention.

    Here is a miracle of the change of one's heart.  Centurions were known for being eminently practical, for being bound by duty to carry out the most heinous of tasks (capital punishment by crucifixion being one of the worst), and for taking that duty in stride.  It was one of the highest honors in the Roman army, to be made a centurion.  And one of these hard core, dyed-in-the-wool, by-the-book soldiers was in charge of Jesus' execution.  He saw them every day > indeed, this day he crucified two others at the same time.  None other was remarkable, only the death of this one man, Jesus of Nazareth, affected him, and the effect on him was incredible.

    In the face of the man he had crucified as a common criminal the centurion, who had stood opposite Jesus during the entire ordeal, was able to see something so much more than a man dying on a cross.  He saw in the agonized face of a humble carpenter the face of God's Son.  He saw the righteousness of Jesus and recognized his true Power.  His heart was persuaded.

    You know how hard it is to change someone's mind about something when they have it made up.  Even more so when the position they have adopted has the full force of government sanction behind it.  And yet, something in this humble, broken man on a cross caused the centurion to see truly what was happening > he was able to recognize that God's Son had willingly given himself and his life to be broken and poured out for the world.

    Against all training, against all conventions, against all odds and probabilities, the centurion was able to see the truth about the world for that moment.  He would never be the same again, and that is truly a Good Friday miracle.