Joining Another Army (Luke 23:32)

A group of five soldiers in Jerusalem had the task that day of dealing with three crucifixions. There were four ordinary soldiers and a centurion. John tells us that four soldiers divided the outer garments of Jesus and then they gambled for his tunic, so maybe the centurion in charge did not take part in that activity. At one level, they were obeying the government; at another level, they were indifferent as to why it was taking place. They had no idea at the start of the day that they were about to take part in the most significant event in history. We have no idea where they came from. Yet here they were in Jerusalem. Why were they there?

 

Profession

Recruits in the Roman army usually served for twenty-five years. People joined it because it gave them an income and some land when they retired, and if they were not Roman citizens already, they received that status when they retired. They had to be very fit physically, with good eyesight and good hearing, so these men had undergone a demanding medical examination. After all, they had to observe hostile crowds and hear what was going on. The five would be extra careful on this day because it was a time of year when many Jews were in Jerusalem for the Passover, and they were a troublesome people. In addition, there had been an attempted Jewish revolt in recent days, with three of the ringleaders arrested, and two of them now sentenced to die that day by crucifixion. Could some of their friends try and rescue them? In any case, one never knows where his profession or career will take him.

 

Prediction

One astonishing detail about these men is that they were mentioned in an Old Testament psalm written a thousand years before by David. His word are these: ‘For dogs encompass me; a company of evildoers encircles me; they have pierced my hands and feet—I can count all my bones—they stare and gloat over me; they divide my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots’ (Ps. 22:16-18). Those verses tell us some details about the men. First, they were Gentiles (dogs). Second, as they looked at Jesus, they gloated. Perhaps they did so when they saw the accusation above his head. What kind of king was he? Third, they gambled over the victim’s clothing. Fourth, they pierced his hands and feet.

 

Yet as we think about this prophecy, we should note that their inclusion in it showed that God had his eye on them long before they were born, indeed long before their Roman Empire had come into existence. Not only did God have his eye on them in a general way, he also had his eye on them about a particular day. Moreover, his eye focused on a certain action that they would engage in. They did not know this, of course. But the psalm which has the detail about them had been sung often down the centuries. Surely some would have wondered why those men were in it. Was God going to punish them, help them, or ignore them?

 

Prayer

The first words of Jesus on the cross are a petition, but they are not a petition for himself even although he was in great need at that time. Instead the prayer was for the soldiers who had crucified him. So, it was a specific prayer, focussed on those who treated him in a cruel manner. It is also a surprising prayer because he had not seen them until a short time previously.

 

This prayer contrasts with what the other speakers near the cross had to say. Luke tells us what the Jewish leaders shouted about. They scoffed at the saving abilities of the suffering Saviour, as did the soldiers (vv. 35-37). There is a difference between their scoffing – the rulers were marked by malice and the soldiers by contempt. But how different were their words to those of Jesus!

 

In this petition, we can see that Jesus acts according to his own teaching that he had given to his disciples in his Sermon on the Mount: ‘You have heard that it was said, You shall love your neighbour and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven’ (Matt. 5:43-45).

 

Jesus could have spoken other words about the soldiers, and these words would have been just and true even if they had condemned the men. Yet from his heart there rose an intense desire for the forgiveness of those men. The degree of his intensity may be seen in the fact that the verb is an imperfect, indicating he was saying it more than once, not that he merely said the petition once. Eagerness and determination were in his request.

 

This petition is a fulfilment of prophecy. Isaiah had predicted that this would happen when the Messiah was on the cross: ‘yet he bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors’ (Isa. 53:12). Of course, virtually the whole chapter is fulfilled at Calvary as were many other scriptures. Those predictions reveal the great focus that there is in the Bible on the life and death of Jesus and how what happened there was mapped out beforehand.

 

The petition is one side of a conversation, and we do not hear the other side. Yet it is part of a special conversation, a conversation in which God the Father is involved. We know that the Spirit would have led Jesus to pray in this way. The divine response to the actions of the soldiers was that the Saviour should pray for their forgiveness.

 

The fact that Jesus made this petition is evidence that all kinds of sin can be forgiven, including being guilty of putting him to death. Their sin was one of ignorance as Jesus indicates, although there were some aspects of their action that would not be classified as ignorance. For example, it was not right that they should be indifferent about how they treated the condemned men; nor was it right that they should merely follow orders. But they did not know who Jesus was. They did not know that he is the eternal Son of God, the One who had come into the world to save sinners. They did not know that their actions included leading Jesus to where he would pay the penalty for sin. So they were ignorant of those important matters, and Jesus made that ignorance an argument in his prayer.

 

What is the extent of forgiveness that Jesus prays for? There must be a special dimension to the forgiveness because the obvious feature of the petition is that Jesus does not say to them, ‘I forgive you.’ That is different from suggesting he did not want to forgive them, because he did want them to be pardoned. Yet there is a process to forgiveness which everyone must follow, and which Jesus followed here. The process includes approaching the Father for his pardon. That is what we must do as well. We ask the Father to forgive us our sins. That is what Jesus taught in the Lord’s Prayer. He interceded with authority on this occasion, but he interceded.

 

Process

How many processes were taking place at Calvary. The answer is several. The obvious one is the process that Jesus was engaged in as he made atonement for sin. Another process is what happened in the experience of the converted criminal. A third process is what took place in the hearts and minds of the soldiers.

 

Two later references are made about them. One is in the words of the centurion in verse 47: ‘Now when the centurion saw what had taken place, he praised God, saying, “Certainly this man was innocent!”’ The second is Matthew’s comment that ‘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!”’ (Matt. 27:54). Those statements together suggest they saw evidence of the deity of Jesus and the perfection of his humanity. A church tradition says that the name of the centurion was Petronius.

 

James Boice has a sermon on the miracles of Calvary around the death of Jesus. Four of the miracles are the darkness, the rending of the vail in the temple, the earthquake, and the resurrection of some dead believers. Then he mentions what he describes as the greatest of the miracles – the expression of faith by the centurion.

 

Why would this soldier want to speak in this way? One suggestion is that Jesus is the first innocent man he had seen die. We can extend it to say that Jesus was the only totally innocent man ever to die. Consider what the centurion would have seen. Jesus had shown no malice as he was nailed to the cross, Jesus had spoken wonderfully to the penitent criminal, Jesus had taken care of his mother, Jesus had referred to his Father in a trusting manner, Jesus had undergone an incredible agony during the hours of darkness, Jesus had died in a dignified, awe-inspiring way. What kind of man was this who could have such experiences on the cross! Moreover, Mark tells us that the centurion confessed that Jesus was the Son of God.

 

Here we have an example of the power of the intercession of Christ. People in deepest spiritual darkness come into the light with no obvious explanation for the change apart from the grace of God. One truth that every conversion reveals is the effectiveness of the intercession of Christ. And we can also see that a consequence of his work is that the recipient wants to praise him.

 

The soldiers are an interesting study. They were indifferent, they were selfish, they were callous, yet within a few hours they were saying something quite different because they bore witness to Jesus as the Son of God. Their eyes were opened by the light that shone out of the darkness of the cross and they were led captive by the Captain of salvation. They became soldiers in another army.

 

Lessons

One lesson that we can take from the example of Jesus is that we can pray expectantly for great sinners. We should also learn from the example of Jesus that we should pray for sinners who are doing something against us at this very moment. Stephen followed the example of Jesus when he prayed for those who were stoning him.

 

A second lesson from the Saviour’s response is the importance of saying the right thing at the right time. Several responses could have been made to the soldiers. They could have been rebuked for their indifference and punished for their cruelty. Yet Jesus revealed his heart for them by praying for them to the heavenly Father, the one who was able to forgive them. Some soldiers sent to arrest Jesus on an earlier occasion returned and said that ‘Never man spoke like this man.’ I wonder what these soldiers said when they went back to their barracks later that evening.

 

A third lesson from this incident is to note that there were no immediate positive indications that the prayer of Jesus had been heard. The soldiers continued with their task and then gambled over his clothes. After that, they joined in the derision and the mocking shown towards the Saviour. Surely, Jesus prayed expectantly, but he did not base his comfort about the prayer on what he could see taking place around him. Rather, his comfort came from having committed them to God.

 

A fourth lesson is that every unconverted sinner is ignorant of what they are doing when they reject the gospel. None of them realise that rejecting Jesus is the greatest sin of which they can be guilty. They don’t know the value of the salvation that they are rejecting or the power of the Saviour whose offer they are dismissing.

 

A fifth lesson is to note that one of the soldiers wore the garment of Jesus after being to Calvary. In doing so, he is a picture of what happens with sinners when they believe in Jesus. They become clothed in the garments of salvation and wear the seamless robe of his perfect life as their acceptance in the sight of God. Are we wearing that garment?