And Now, The Rest of the Story....

As told by Arturo, Guard of the Tomb
At last this horrible crucifixion was over, so I gathered my men and began the march back to the guard’s barracks. It had been a harrowing night and day leading up to the crucifixion of Jesus…and now we all deserved some much needed rest…but alas, that was not to be.

We had barely made our way back to the Palace walls when I was summoned by Pilate. He had been petitioned by a man, a follower of Jesus by the name of Joseph, of the village of Arimathea, to have the body of Jesus released to him for a quick and hasty burial before the start of the Jewish Sabbath. So, I gathered a small detachment of my men and headed with him back to the Hill. We arrived and quickly took the body of Jesus down and wrapped him in some linen sheets for his transport to the tomb….at last we were done with this man…whoever he was….son of God or innocent dupe….he was no longer my concern…or at least that’s what I thought.

We marched back to the garrison and I set the guards for the rest of our duty and then, I went to bed. I was dogged tired, yet I could not sleep. I could not get the face nor the words of this man Jesus out of my mind; “Father, forgive them” and “It is finished”….what was finished and how could a mortal man endure such pain and agony and ask that his executors be forgiven?

I finally seemed to drift into an uncomfortable and fitful sleep when I was abruptly awakened by one of my men; seems I was being summoned to Pilate’s court again. I dressed hastily and hurried to the courtyard where I was ushered into the presence of my liege. Pilate was surrounded by the same yammering mob of Pharisees that had clamored for the death of Jesus and now they wanted a Roman guarded posted to keep out his disciples…they were afraid that his disciples would steal his body within the next three days and make claims that Jesus had risen from the dead. They listed several times that Jesus had made such claims and somehow, to my astonishment, they had convinced Pilate that such a commotion would be bad for him and the keeping of the peace during the Passover days.

Pilate gave me my orders and instructed me to go with 11 of my men to post a full watch over the tomb…that meant 24 hours of guarding a dead man…and for what…..to appease a group of malcontents that hated our very existence in their land….but, I had my orders.

I posted the first watch and then went over to the hillside there in the garden. I found a grassy knoll that peered across the valley of Kidron and settled in for the hours that lay ahead. I checked on the guards periodically and made sure that the tomb was secure and that the seal had not been broken. Now, all that could be done was to spend another night and the three days would have passed….and then, maybe, I would be finished with this Jesus once and for all.

I set the mid-watch and fell asleep for what seemed like only minutes when, I was awakened to the violent shaking of the ground …it reminded me of that day…just days before at Calvary when the ground shook and was split open. There was a bright light and I saw standing before me, a man or some angelic being, clothed all in white. I turned away for I feared that he had come to take my life. I threw myself on the ground and felt it tremble underneath my shaking body…it was hard to tell who was shaking more; me or the ground. I dared not look up in fear that I might be blinded by such a fearsome light.

Now, I have been in many great and ferocious battles in my life…and I have been frightened many times before; but never have I been this terrified of what was about to happen. Was I about to die at the hand of this man robed in white or was there some escape from this doom that was set before me?

I lay perfectly still, hoping that this being might think me already dead….I kept my head still and lay motionless, afraid to look around. I could sense that my men had deserted their post and fled in terror at the first sight of this creature. I was all alone…awaiting my eventual doom….but as I lay there, still and lifeless, I heard voices ….women’s voices.

I decided to risk it all; so, I slowly rose to my feet and looked up. The great stone that my men and I had rolled into the mouth of the tomb was now rolled away…and sitting upon it was the same man of white brilliance. He spoke softly to a small band of women…the same women that had been at the foot of the cross of Jesus …I heard him say that Jesus was not there….that He had risen and was alive and was going before them and would see them in Galilee…then he commanded them to go and tell his disciples that He had risen from the dead….and in an instant this man, this angel robed in white, was gone.

I stood there frozen in my own tracks as the women peered into the tomb, then rushed by me as they hurried from the garden. I inched slowly toward the tomb, the huge stone rolled over twenty feet from the mouth of the grave... then, I walked inside.

I can hardly describe what I saw next….nor my astonished reaction; but the tomb was EMPTY…except for the neatly folded linen and face napkin…Jesus was GONE!

As a soldier, I knew what this meant….I had failed my assigned duties and I would pay dearly for my dereliction of duty (and so would my men); but, as a mortal man who was in complete control of my once shaken emotions and harried thoughts, I knew a miracle had taken place.

My men and I had guarded this tomb with our lives and no one had breached our security…BUT THE TOMB WAS EMPTY…and I had seen with my own eyes, the stone rolled away and a being, not of this realm, seated upon it….and he proclaimed, in no uncertain terms that Jesus was alive…I was left with the same conclusion that I remember saying at the time of his death…..

Truly, this man was the son of God!

Today, you are faced with the same unequivocal evidence that the Roman centurion saw as he stood before the cross of Jesus and then later, as he peered into Christ’s empty tomb….Truly, this man…this Jesus so despised by the maddening throng….this man of sorrows… is the son of God.

Now, we may never know, this side of heaven, if that centurion’s declaration of Jesus as the Son of God sealed his place in God’s eternal home; but today, you can know for yourself….if you will accept His blood shed for your remission of sin and if you will peer into that empty tomb and believe that Christ has been raised from the dead….then, Easter is your time of thanksgiving and eternal celebration….Jesus said many times, “He who has ears, let him hear.”

Are you listening today for the voice of the risen Savior....Pleading, O sinner, come home?

Declaring the Risen Lord….Savior and Friend,

WPQ