The centurion was a student of death. Taking life was his craft. He knew the signs. He ordered the spear plunged into Jesus’ side. He watched the blood and water gush from the wound. He looked on as Jesus breathed his last and lowered his head in death. He saw his chest stop rising. He saw Jesus wounds stop bleeding as his heart stopped beating. And when the centurion saw how Christ died, he concluded, “Truly this man was the Son of God” (Mark 15:39)! The centurion knew that Jesus truly died and that he truly died for him!
On May 4th, 1865, Abraham Lincoln’s body was laid to rest at the Oakridge Cemetery in Springfield, IL. But his initial interment was anything but restful. In the years that followed, the crypt was disturbed 17 times for various maintenance and security reasons. So, in 1901, Robert Lincoln ordered his father’s coffin be encased in a block of concrete, permanently sealing the crypt. But before the concrete was poured it was decided that the body needed to be identified. As the casket cracked open, a foul cloud wafted over those gathered. They crept forward to behold the familiar face of the 16th President. The beard on his chin was as black as the day he died. He was wearing the same suit he wore at his 2nd inauguration, now finely frosted with yellow mold. One of the spectators, J.C. Thompson later told reporters:
As I came up, I saw that top-knot of Mr. Lincoln’s. His hair was course and thick, like a horse’s, and it stood up high in front. When I saw that, I knew that it was Mr. Lincoln… His features had not decayed. He looked just like a statue of himself lying there.
Suppose I knew the exact location of the tomb in which Jesus was laid to rest 2,000 years ago. Suppose we went, like Indiana Jones on a torchlit quest, into the Jerusalem countryside or a secret underground chamber. Suppose we rolled the great stone away and entered the crypt. Do you know what you would smell?
Nothing.
There would be no shriveled corpse. No bones. No ashes. Nothing is there, because Jesus is not there. He is risen! He has conquered the grave.
But did you know that more than 1 in 4 people on earth don’t believe that Jesus actually died on the cross? Central to the Islamic teaching on Jesus is their denial of his crucifixion and death. With some Jewish and liberal protestant theologians, they insist the man who died on the cross was a body-double, a stunt savior. Others believe that Jesus merely swooned on the cross, only to be revived later.
Three That Testify
To prove that Jesus truly died, Mark calls upon three witnesses. He begins with Joseph of Arimathea, “a respected member of the council, who was also himself looking for the kingdom of God, [who] took courage and went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus” (Mark 15:43). It was Friday evening, the Day of Preparation before the Sabbath which would begin at sundown. But there was a problem: three bodies were on crosses on a hill outside Jerusalem. To a people whose religion revolved around ritual purity, blood and death were ceremonially defiling contaminants which had to be removed before Sabbath.
Knowing this, Joseph asked Pilate for permission to bury Christ’s body. Like Nicodemus, Joseph was a leader of the Jews who trusted in Christ as his Savior and was “looking for the kingdom of God.” As Mark says, Joseph’s request “took courage,” because it aligned him with Christ, an enemy of the state. But Joseph found freedom from his fear. By fixing his heart on Jesus’ death for him, Joseph was able to live courageously for Jesus. Considering Christ’s valiant love for you on the cross will make you bold for him, too.
Next, Mark offers the testimony of the centurion. When Pilate heard that Jesus had already died, he was surprised (Mark 15:44). The Greek literally rendered means “awestruck.” Why? Because death by crucifixion was designed to be slow. Even the word “excruciating” is taken from the Latin, ex cruciatus, or, “out of the cross.” Victims were left tied or nailed to their cross, exposed to the elements and wild beast, until they were overcome with exhaustion and expired.