Our Redeemer Lutheran Church
Quincy, IL
Rev. Larry D. Troxel
Fifth Lenten Midweek Service
Wednesday, March 5, 2008 at 12 N and 7:00 p.m.
Saint James Lutheran Church
Quincy, IL
Sixth Lenten Midweek Service
Wednesday, March 12, 2008 at 12:10 and 7:00 p.m.
“The Gospel According to Jesus’ Enemies:
The Gospel According to the Roman Soldiers”
(Matthew 27:51-54)
In Jesus’ name. Amen.
They had witnessed many an execution. They were familiar with the way criminals died. No longer were the soldiers at the cross
affected by the anguished screams, the loud moans, and the hate-filled curses that came from the throats of those they crucified.
So when they crucified Jesus, with hearts hardened by experience, they gathered beneath His cross, gambling to see who would
get possession of their victims’ clothing.
But this execution was different. Instead of cursing them, Jesus prayed for their forgiveness. “Father, forgive
them, for they know not what they do.”1 The soldiers heard what Jesus
said. When one of the criminals who were being executed with Jesus turned to Him, Jesus replied, “Truly,
I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.”2 The soldiers heard
what Jesus said.
Earlier that morning, when they still were inside the governor’s headquarters, these soldiers and their comrades had stripped
Jesus, put a crown of thorns on Him, spit on Him, and struck Him on the head, driving the thorns deeper into his scalp. They had
mocked Him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!”3 In those morning moments they looked
upon Him with disgust and rejection.
But as Jesus hung on the cross, they heard Him speak seven times. Never had they heard a victim of crucifixion speak the way Jesus
spoke. And when He died, the events surrounding His death filled them with great fear and awe. Never had they witnessed such a
death as this.
Stand with those soldiers and behold the scene. The text is Matthew 27:51–54. “And behold, the
curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And the earth shook, and the rocks were split. The tombs also were opened.
And many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised, and coming out of the tombs after His resurrection they went into
the holy city and appeared to many. “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!’ ”
4
The Gospel of Christ Jesus cannot and will not be silenced. The Gospel of Christ Jesus has in itself the power to change not only a
person’s mind but also his heart and soul. These soldiers, who had witnessed so many crucifixions, who had become
hardened against their victims’ anguish, reacted not only to the earthquake and other events that accompanied Jesus’
death. They reacted to what they had heard. They had heard the hate-filled mockery of the religious leaders and others who had
gathered at the cross. The soldiers remembered what they had been hearing about this Jesus during the past three years. And in
what must be regarded as the darkest moment of all history, God the Holy Spirit brought forth from the lips of these soldiers what
we must regard as a true confession of faith: “Truly this was the Son of God!”
Go back for a moment to the events of the previous Sunday, when Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey’s colt, receiving
the praises of His followers and of many of the pilgrims who had crowded Jerusalem for the Passover celebration. The religious
leaders had complained to Jesus about the noisy celebration: “Teacher, rebuke Your disciples.” But Jesus had replied,
“I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out.”5
Now Jesus’ disciples were silent. They had fled in fear, thinking that their own lives were at stake.
Even Peter was nowhere to be found, even though last night he had boasted, “Lord, I am ready to go with you both
to prison and to death.”6 At this most significant moment in history, when no disciples
dared to speak for Jesus, the stones did cry out. “ The earth shook, and the rocks were split. The
tombs also were opened.”7 What no human emotion could do, God the Holy Spirit did.
He shattered the hardness of the soldiers’ hearts and souls and brought from their lips the clear proclamation of the
Gospel. “Truly this was the Son of God.”8
Our English language cannot express with the needed precision just what the commanding officer and his soldiers said. When they
declared that Jesus is the Son of God, they were not speaking a title. They were using “Son of God” as Jesus’
proper name. Nor were they speaking in the context of Greek and Roman mythology. They did not declare that Jesus
was one of the sons of one of the mythological gods. They did not say, “a son of god” or “a son of the gods.”
The words they spoke were a clear confession of the very thing that the religious leaders refused to say. Jesus is God’s Son,
true God, begotten of His Father, and also true Man, born of the virgin Mary.
Earlier in the day, the soldiers had heard the religious leaders mocking Jesus, saying, “If You are the Son of God, come down
from the cross.”9 God the Holy Spirit used everything that the soldiers had seen and heard to
bring forth from them the great confession of faith, “Truly this was the Son of God.”
God the Holy Spirit has not needed earthquakes and cosmic displays to accomplish His work in us. God the Holy Spirit has used
much simpler means. He has worked in us by means of His Word and through His holy sacraments. The results, though, are just
as striking. He has taken us from death to life, from unbelief to saving faith, from hard-heartedness to a living, confident hope and
a peace that surpasses all human understanding.
God the Holy Spirit has opened our mouths to voice our Savior’s praises and to confess His holy name. He even chooses
to work through us to bring His Gospel to those people who are a part of our lives — our family members, our relatives,
neighbors, friends, and coworkers. God the Holy Spirit works in them through the words we speak and still does His life-giving,
life-changing work so that the people to whom we speak join with us and the soldiers in confessing that Jesus truly is the Son of God.
God in His wisdom and grace combined a number of powerful displays to show the truth that is contained in the confession which
the soldiers spoke. “The curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom.”10
That curtain was huge, sixty feet in length, and thick enough to prevent anyone seeing through it. The curtain symbolized the separation
which sin caused between God and mankind. Only the High Priest could go beyond that curtain into the very presence of God, the
Holy of Holies, and he only once a year with the blood of atonement.11 That separation was ended
when Jesus shed His blood for us on the cross.12 Now we have direct access to God our Father.
For that reason the Temple curtain was torn in two, from top to bottom, as by the hand of God. While the soldiers did not see it torn,
once the report became public, it added further verification to their confession that Jesus is the Son of God.
“The earth shook, and the rocks,” even the rock cliffs, “were split.” The creation convulsed at the moment of
death of Him through whom everything was made.13 This is something that the soldiers did see.
It filled them with great fear and awe, moving them to confess that Jesus is God’s Son.
“The tombs were opened. And many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised, and coming out of the tombs after
[Jesus’] resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many.” Thus God demonstrated that Jesus’ death
accomplished the great victory, the death of death itself, and it foreshadows the opening of all tombs on the Last Day. The bodies of many
of those who had believed God’s promise to send a Savior and who had died and had been buried near Jerusalem were raised.
There was no reason to raise the bodies of those who had not believed God’s promise to send a Savior. They had nothing to say.
But those who had died looking forward to the coming of the Savior would have much to say. Among them quite probably was Simeon,
the man who had recognized Jesus as the Savior when Jesus was only forty days old.14 And after Easter
morning, these resurrected saints did bear witness to many residents of Jerusalem that Jesus is God’s Son.
Look what the Word of God has accomplished. It changed hard-hearted soldiers into Jesus-confessing believers. It brought Old Testament
believers life eternal, as their own resurrections demonstrated. But most importantly, God’s Word has been His power of salvation
for you, for you join with the soldiers in confessing, “Truly Jesus is the Son of God.” It suited God’s purposes to use
some of the words of Jesus’ enemies as a witness to the Gospel. But those enemies received no blessing, no benefit, no salvation
through the words they spoke. Only the Roman soldiers were moved from unbelief to a saving faith confession. And that is what God has
done in us and for us. He has brought to us His gift of saving faith and, by so doing, He moves us to speak the Gospel, not reluctantly but
eagerly and joyfully, not unwillingly but with Holy Spirit led joy and excitement and eagerness. May the confession of our lips and of our lives
always be a clear confession that Christ Jesus is God’s Son and our Savior. Amen.
1. Luke 23:34
2. Luke 23:43
3. Matthew 27:27–31
4. Matthew 27:51–54
5. Luke 19:39–40
6. Luke 22:33; see also Matthew 26:33 and Mark 14:29
7. Matthew 27:51–52
8. Matthew 27:54
9. Matthew 27:40
10. Matthew 27:51
11. Exodus 26:31T; Exodus 36:35T; Leviticus 16
12. Hebrews 9:7–12
13. John 1:3
14. Luke 2:22–35
[ Home ] [ Up ] [ About Us ] [ Contact Us ] [ Links ] [ Pastor ] [ Events ] [ Youth ] [ Services ] [ Our Staff ] [ Education ]