Arturo Augustus….Captain of the Guard

In all my years upon the battlefields of the world, I have never been as fearful as I was on that Sabbath morning; but, I get ahead of myself. My story really begins on Thursday evening, when I, and 24 of my best men, encircled a band of misfits in search of the Nazarene, Jesus of Galilee.

We had been lead to the Garden of Gethsemane by one of his inner circle, Judas Iscariot, with orders to arrest the man that he kissed. After a brief skirmish, one of the servant’s of the High Priest had his ear cut off …and this man, Jesus, reached out and touched his wound…and he was immediately healed. We bound him and lead him away.

In the courtyard of the High Priest, Jesus was beaten, kicked and spat upon as my men and I sat silently by…totally amused by these pitiful, rabbinical guards. After their mock trial and its shallow proceedings, Jesus was given to us to be taken to Pilate. We gathered our prisoner and made the short march across the open city square, followed closely by the High Priest and his entourage of Jewish malcontents.

At the palace of Pilate, I entered and asked permission to present the prisoner and in a short time, Pilate appeared. It was clear by his countenance that he was not happy to see this crowd and I reasoned that this matter would be over quickly. He engaged Caiaphas and upon learning that Jesus was from Galilee, Pilate sent Jesus to Herod, the local Roman administrator of the Jews.

Herod had his fun with Jesus as he had his soldiers dress him in a royal purple robe. They spit upon him, kicked and punched him, then blindfolded him to see if he could tell them who it was that was beating him. They amused themselves for sometime; then Herod sent Jesus back to Pilate.

Pilate was not happy as I marched Jesus back into the great hall, followed closely by the mob of Pharisees. One by one they brought forth witnesses that condemned Jesus for inciting the crowds with his magic and miracles and speaking out against Rome. Pilate heard the trumped up charges and then turned his attention to Jesus. He asked him many questions and gave him every opportunity to defend himself; but Jesus just stood there and offered no defense. It was clear to see that Pilate had grown weary of the whole proceeding and so he gave his verdict… he found no fault in this man but to please these peasants, he would have Jesus flogged.

He instructed me to administer his sentence…39 lashes with the cat of nine tails; a Roman device of torture that had killed many a man after only half as many lashes. My men and I took Jesus out into the courtyard and began to take turns beating him with the whip of chards of glass and bits of metal. Some how, in some way, Jesus, though mangled and bloody from this ordeal, was still alive….then once again, with his purple robe and crown of thorns, he was lead back to Pilate. The crowd became enraged that Pilate purported to release Jesus; instead they demanded that Barabbas be released and that Jesus be crucified. Pilate called for a wash basin and there, before all the gods of Rome, he washed his hands of the innocent blood of this man…then he ordered me to carry out his execution upon a Roman cross.

Now, I have followed many an order to execute a prisoner by means of crucifixion and I have hardly ever given it a second thought; but this time, I felt very uneasy as I prepared my men to obey this order. We gathered the other two prisoners set for execution that day and gave each their wooden beam to carry to the hill known as Golgotha. We flanked the prisoners on each side as we made our way through the burgeoning crowds …many still chanting, CRUCIFY HIM, CRUCIFY HIM…as the lowly carpenter of Galilee passed by. The woman, that had been at his trial, followed closely and kept crying out for us to let him go…that he had done nothing wrong…and somehow, in my heart, I knew they were right. But, I am a soldier and captain of the guard and I follow orders no matter what!

Jesus stumbled and fell…and it was clear that he could not make it on his own, so I grabbed a man from the crowd and made him carry his cross. At the summit, we placed Jesus and the other two criminals on their cross beams and began the torturous process of nailing them to the wooden cross. As captain of the guard, it was required of me to deliver the first blows; to see that the spikes were driven through the flesh and into the hardened wood. Once this was complete, I gave the order to raise the cross beams and lower them into the prepared holes…the resounding THUD and the ensuing cries of pain let me know that the dance with death had begun.

I took my place at the peak of the summit, just a few feet from the cross of Jesus. I ordered one of my men to hang the sign that read, JESUS, KING OF THE JEWS and listened to the angry response from the Pharisees. The crowd was still large for such an early morning hour and they continued to mock him and jeer at him…even my own men joined in as they called for him to save himself, if he was indeed the son of God.

I watched as my men took his garments and divided them among themselves… and because the purple robe was one piece, they cast lots to see who would become the owner of this fine linen. The day wore on and slowly, many of the accusers and the riotous crowd began to disperse…only a few of his women followers remained, along with his mother. I watched as he tenderly asked a man standing there to see to her care…and then, he uttered the unthinkable….that His Father should forgive those that had sent him to such a horrible death….. And I thought to myself, could he possibly mean me?

The next few hours are really almost a blur as the clouds began to gather and the sun seemed to be blackened from the sky…it was high noon, but for the next three hours, it seemed as dark as a starless night. The wind began to blow and torrential rains began to fall and in one defining moment, Jesus raised himself up and cried in a loud voice, “Father, into thy hands I commit my spirit!” …. And with that cry, the earth began to shake; the sky was pitch black and the rocks upon Golgotha’s Hill were split open …and Jesus, this innocent man, breathed his last breath.

I literally shook in my sandals and I could hear my armor rattle as the son of God died on Calvary ….my men lay prostrate on the ground, daring not to move for fear that one of the cracks in the hill would open up and swallow them whole. We were all fearful and yet our orders were not complete. We were to guard the body and to make sure that each of the criminals were dead. We broke the bones of the other two, but since Jesus appeared to be dead, one of my men stuck his spear in his side and watched as water and blood gushed out. It seemed to be finished and yet, it was only beginning.

There’s more to my story….if you care to hear it.

Are you like the Roman centurion…the evidence of Christ as the Son of God is presented and you believe ….at least in your head; but the real message at Calvary has not yet touched your heart.

Arturo proclaimed, as the earth shook and Jesus died…”Surely, this man was the son of God;” but Arturo believed in many Gods and so he felt safe in making such an exclamation of fact…he had head knowledge based on what he had just experienced, but his heart was far from convinced…..

How about you? Do you believe in Jesus or ….DO YOU KNOW JESUS? The answer to that question makes all the difference….ETERNAL DIFFERENCE!!!!!

Come by Monday …after the Resurrection and hear the rest of Arturo’s story and meet the Characters of the Resurrection….you’ll be blessed as you celebrate with each of them the Risen Lord, JESUS CHRIST.

HAPPY EASTER,

WPQ