Rome’s efficient killers

One of the key aspects of the backdrop of the gospel accounts of the life and ministry of the Lord Jesus in Palestine is Roman rule.

It is there at the beginning of the story, with Augustus Caesar passing a decree to take a census of all within the Empire (Luke 2:1). Our Lord’s ministry begins, we are told, in the 15th year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar (14 –37 AD), the son of Augustus’ wife from a previous marriage. And it is there at the end of the story when, during the reign of Tiberius, Jesus is crucified.

Crucifixion was a form of punishment that the Romans had adopted from the Persians and which they liked because it normally extended the dying process of the criminal over two days or so. It is noteworthy that the responsibility for carrying out the sentence of Jesus’ execution was entrusted to a Roman centurion.

Roman centurions were the Roman equivalent of our highest-ranking NCO, namely a sergeant or sergeant-major. Centurions were men who had served for 15–20 years, had been promoted from the ranks, and had responsibility for the training and discipline of 50 to 100 men – the Roman century – who they usually led into battle. They were men who could keep their heads in fearful battle situations, were courageous though not foolhardy, and knew how to kill efficiently and without hesitation or qualms of conscience.

In this light it is telling that one of the high points of the Gospel of Mark is the declaration of the centurion in Mark 15:39, who, observing the manner of Jesus’ death, could only conclude: ‘Truly this man was the Son of God’.

The central purpose of Mark’s Gospel is announced at its very beginning when he tells the reader that his book is about the ‘gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God’. As Mark unfolds his story of Jesus he is seeking to do two things: show that Jesus is the Messiah awaited by Israel and that He is the Son of God. And it is significant that it is a Roman centurion who recognises that Jesus is the Son of God.

The Palestinian Jews generally hated the Romans because of their brutality and idolatry. But Jesus’ relationship to these brutal conquerors is so different. At the cross of Christ it is the epitome of Roman rule and conquest, the centurion, who is shown mercy and won to genuine faith.

Michael Haykin is Professor of Church History and Biblical Spirituality at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Louisville, Kentucky.