20-04-2025 - EASTER SUNDAY MESSAGE - A VIEW FROM CENTURION'S EYES -

MESSAGE BY  PASTOR ROB INRIG

   FROM BETHANY BAPTIST IN RICHMOND, BC.

I invite you to pray together: O Father of mercies and God of all comfort, our only help in time of need: We humbly beseech thee to behold, visit, and relieve thy sick servants for whom our prayers are desired. Look upon them with the eyes of thy mercy (Gaby P, Vicky O, Nancy R, Tere G, Liz N, Stevie A, Socrates D, Sara's mom H, Margarita G, Fega G,  Rosy Ch, Patricia L. Lina J. Manuel D. C, Yuya N. Mercedes L. )   Comfort them with a sense of thy goodness; preserve them from the temptations of the enemy; and give them patience under his affliction. In thy good time, restore them to health, and enable them to lead the residue of their life in thy fear, and to thy glory; and grant that finally they may dwell with thee in life everlasting; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

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Father God, we thank you for your answer to our prayers with 

The good news, with the recovery of health for some

Strengthen them so that they may regain their faith in you

And that they may be witnesses that you love them and 

that you respond when we trust and believe in you

Thank you Father God in the name

of Jesus our Lord of Lords and King of Kings

Praise be to your name

always and forever, AMEN.

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Since I was a boy all I ever dreamed about was serving at the pleasure of Rome.  Is there any greater honour than taking up the sword on behalf of your country?  To fight battles.  Overthrow enemies.  Protect what you value.  Enthrone your gods.   

When young, those things are simplistically clear.  Your battles courageous; your swords victorious.  The outcome for evil - predetermined when you wear the colours of the good and the right.  In your young world the destiny of your nation is in your hands, so in your imaginary street fights, you battle as if you cannot lose – those battles playing out again even as your sleep.  Though enemies may knock you down, they never overcome. 

In this world you are far more than warrior, you are a combatant for a way of life – a protector of the people, a guardian of house and home.

In your play and in your dreams you are a mighty Commander standing brave, wooden sword in hand, battling for the good.

In these battles, wounds may come, but no comrades are lost though that fate can’t be said for those who come against you.  The gods have determined a different end for them.  

In my Roman surround, there was no other way for me to look at life.  As I aged, my weaponry changed from wood to the weight and feel of shining metal.  The new blade heavier in my hand but quickly adjusted to.  Its lustre still unstained, the time not yet come when blood would smear the blade and the battlefield would dull the shine. 

But the innocence of youth doesn’t stay that way.  Just as wooden swords are put away, so too pristine, unmarked blades become heavier for the blood taken, the innocent sheen long gone. 

Now battles are real as are the deaths of those who stand by your side.  The truth is no soldier is spared the ugliness of death.

No one knows that better than those I’ve introduced to death on the battlefield.  As a soldier you learn not to think about death. Your task in battle is to advance.  If death weighs on your mind, it causes you to pause, incapacitating your need to attack as you must.  So you move forward, taking ground, conquering any who stand in your way.  

If you do pause to consider what you’ve done, that pause is short – as you quickly re-engage, convincing yourself that your actions, brutal as they may be, are just what’s required when you fight for a noble cause.  After all, spilled blood brings order and in a way that may seem strange to you, spilled blood even brings life, even if that order and that new life sometimes involves the horrific you try to ignore.  And when times come when we can’t turn a blind eye, echoes of our Centurion’s words, We engage in war so we can live in peace.  As noble as those words may sound, I’d be lying if any of us truly experience this peace so easily talked about.  

Is peace really possible when you do the unacceptable?  When you witness the unthinkable?  A person reduced to being no more than a discardable commodity.  So after a time you just do. Then you justify, giving no thought to lives taken and the families they once enjoyed, the laughter shared, the dreams felt.  Ended with the sword with barely a thought.

With the taking of life, the innocence of the childhood warrior is long gone.  Most of us who have advanced to positions of rank, are those most proficient in delivering death.  Our expertise - kill or be killed.

Truth is I have little regret for what’s done on the battlefield.  Nor do I have regret for much of what we do away from the battlefield where we are tasked with ending the lives of the undeniably evil.  Not a second thought is given to ridding the world of the evil and depraved.  

But things like this?  That’s an entirely different matter.  There is no nobility in exercising power over people who don’t draw swords, who don’t speak war.  Sure, I understand – I am a man under command but that doesn’t mean that at times, commands are difficult to obey.

Like what was I to think about this One, before Whom my men are standing guard.  Before this One who for heaven only knows reasons, the authorities want His death to be placed center stage - showcased if you like.  The soldiers who follow my orders, don’t seem to see Him to be any different than others who are brought to this place.  He just one of them – no different than those who are on either side of Him as well others lining the road coming into the city.  Yet in some way, definitely different, He mocked and scorned unlike the others who are mostly ignored.  

Those passing by hurling insults at him, shaking their heads, saying, “You who are going to destroy the temple and build it in three days, save yourself! Come down from the cross, if you are the Son of God!”  In the same way the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the elders mocked Him. “He saved others,” they said, “but He can’t save Himself! He’s the king of Israel! Let Him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in Him.  He trusts in God. Let God rescue Him now if He wants Him, for He said, ‘I am the Son of God.’”  In the same way the rebels who were crucified with Him also heaped insults on Him.   

But His great crime?  Words said and good things done.  No threats made, no evil spoken.  No rebellion.  Instead peace and compassion. And truth.  Declarations made about who He truly was.  Ironically, those bringing charges - by the religious, they speaking hate and in the face of that, He speaking love.  

Listen, as a Centurion in command of men, I have seen more than my share of death.  On the battlefield, those fighting for what they believe, those dying for a cause.  Those trying to take ground or save ground.   

At least those were deaths of honor.  Not here.  Not in this place.  

Under the shadow of these crosses, death never comes with honor.  This is the death of the deserved – the thieves, the traitors, the insurrectionists, the murderers.  Death on display to convict but more importantly, to message.  Most of these dying alone, not a single person wanting to be seen with them.  Even in their suffering, many still breathing out contempt to the end.

If choice were possible, most of my men in this cohort would not be in a place such as this.  This was strictly duty. Though those under my command had tasks to do, I paid no attention to the criminals getting their just reward.  Occasionally, I did join my men in expressing my contempt for those who had taken Roman blood.  Other than these, I barely cast a glance at those on the cross. 

But that was not true for this One.  Given the uproar surrounding His death, you would have thought He was guilty of the most heinous crimes.  All Jerusalem seemingly caught up in the mess.  With that he had my attention in a way no other had ever done.

He wasn’t what I expected to see.  I knew evil and this wasn’t it.  What had been done to Him is an entirely different story. That was undeniably evil.  What truly turned it for me was that a guilty man doesn’t die like this.  Having seen countless men die, I know.

A guilty man who has given sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf, healing to the lame, new flesh to the leper and life to the dead?   This is one deserving of the lash?  I think not.

A guilty man who in His last moments expresses forgiveness to those whose actions should not be forgiven?   This is one deserving of nails and a Cross?

A guilty man who with last breath, turns to another, promising a dying thief something, that despite His own coming death, speaks hope beyond the grave?   This is one deserving of mockery and scorn? 

A guilty man who gives over the care of His mother to a man He loves knowing He has supposedly deceived these two and others for years?  This is one deserving of cruel hate?

This One who speaks love, condemned because He would say, I am the Way, the Truth and the Life, No one comes to the Father except by Me.  And then as if in answer to all the charges brought against Him, hours of darkness then His last words, It is finished.  And at that moment, the earth quakes, graves open and some known to be dead, brought back to life?  Those words, It is finished seemingly splitting the heavens wide open.  And as if in response, the Temple’s veil torn top to bottom.  Those words, It is finished splitting my heart wide open allowing me to see what I could not deny, Truly, this was the Son of God! 

But as confusing, troubling and incomprehensible as that was, that was nothing compared to what was to come.

The Empty Tomb – Igniter

To this point in time – it is easy to relegate many of the events of the Easter story, especially those centering around the Cross, to the historical.  The accounts of Jesus prior to this, impressive and amazing – even the most cynical can’t deny the wisdom in what He said or the compassion by which He lived.  The life and death of Jesus – indisputably historical – far too many sources validating these.  

But what was to come changing everything.  Changing an ending to a beginning, a tragedy to a hope.  Changing finality to a future.  Changing a sealed tomb to a resurrected Lord.  Because Easter isn’t about a Cross, it’s about an empty tomb that validates what the Cross promised. 

Behold, there was a great earthquake; for the angel of the  Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat upon it.  His countenance was like lightning, his raiment white as snow: And for fear of him the keepers did shake, and became as dead men.  Now on the first day of the week, very early in the morning, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, that they might come and anoint Him.  And they said among themselves, “Who will roll away the stone from the door of the tomb for us?”  But they found the stone rolled away from the tomb. And the angel answered and said unto the women, Fear not ye: for I know that you seek Jesus, which was crucified. He is not here: for He is risen, as He said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay.  Mtth 28, Lk 24.

Death to life.  Changing the certainty of death to the opportunity of everlasting life. Resurrection changing everything!  The scene put before us not a story, not a moment in time, religious event.  Not a yearly event to visit, then forget.

But a visitation of God coming in flesh so we could know Him.  So we could have our sins forgiven and as a forgiven child of God could live with Him forever.   

That resurrection validating the words Jesus said, I am the resurrection and the life.  The one who believes in Me, even though he die, he shall live.  And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die.  Jn 11:25,26.

An empty tomb the Bible tells us that for those who believe, heaven’s door is flung wide open to a new kingdom, an entirely different Kingdom unlike anything the world has ever known. 

Admittedly the story I opened with is indeed a story, the details of this man’s life and how he rose to the rank of Centurion is not known to us.  The events of his life plausible but not certain.  What is certain are what he witnessed and the incongruence of a righteous Jesus being numbered among the wicked and ungodly.  But Jesus was numbered among the wicked because He took on your sin and mine so we could be forgiven. 

Easter - not a story scripted by man but THE story authored by God – Jesus doing the miraculous by taking on flesh, becoming man so we could know Him and have our sins forgiven.  This story is God’s - that would lead this Centurion to the conclusion he came to while on assignment at the Cross, Truly, this the Son of God.

What he cannot see, like those around him are unable to see, is that his conclusion would not be written as the end of the story.  Because of what still awaits which is what we celebrate today.   

But first the Cross, God’s blood shedding, sin forgiving redemption plan – a God initiated death where we are told, The LORD was pleased to crush Him, putting Him to grief; if He would render Himself as a guilt offering, He will see His offspring, He will prolong His days, and the good pleasure of the LORD will prosper in His hand.  Is 53:10,11.

The truth of His death was our sins placed on Jesus, He paying the debt of our sin that we were not able to pay.  Offered to all – but only available to those who repent of their sin and accept God’s forgiveness given us in Jesus’ shed blood. 

As far as the Centurion could see standing under a blood stained Cross, he was right, this was the Son of God.  What a tragic conclusion to come to, not because it was wrong but because it wasn’t complete.  A tragic conclusion IF what is believed is considered the end of the story.    

But outside an opened empty tomb, a new beginning where everything is changed – no longer is this something that can be considered the historic, it is the promise of what IS – and what is still to come.  

All because of resurrection.  Our assurance is this, He has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of the dead 1 Pet 1:3.  

Without resurrection, no new birth.  Without new birth, no new hope.  Without resurrection, no living hope.  

But Easter celebrates new life in Jesus because His tomb is empty.  And that means new life is available now in the places we now think to be hopelessly dead.  The broken places, the can’t make life work places.  The imprisoned, can’t get free places. The promise of new life, amazingly - born again places where everything can begin anew.  

Impossible?  Yep unless - our Lord is alive but not just alive – He, our Risen and coming King who in a time soon to come will return to take those believe in Him to be forever with Him.

That my friend is God’s glorious story of Easter – a story He invites you into, not to look then turn away, but to bow down and believe. A story you believe and give your life to.  

For now, that means by the shed blood of Jesus Christ, your life has been made transformationally new.  

And for a time to come that means your life will

never end - a new life that will never get old,

a new life that will never disappoint.

He is risen! truly He has risen!

www.bethanybaptist.bc.ca