A Unique Death

Mark 15:37-39

“And Jesus uttered a loud voice and gave up the ghost… and when the centurion who stood by over against him, saw that he so gave up the ghost he said, truly this man was the Son of God”.

This Roman centurion was no stranger to death or to how people behaved in their last moments on the cross of crucifixion. And yet Jesus “uttered with a loud voice” and died in such a manner that the Roman centurion was convinced that Jesus was the Son of God… it must have been something truly spectacular.

Although I am no expert on how people die I am familiar with the death process. I am convinced that when people were crucified that at the moments just preceding death they were in an extreme weakened condition and probably would have a difficult time even “uttering” a whisper much less having the ability to “utter with a loud voice”.

So, that had to be extremely unusual and perhaps without precedent, to the Roman centurion.

Luke’s account (Luke 23:46) states that Jesus, “crying with a loud voice, said, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit: and having said this, he gave up the ghost”.

Imagine a man at the point of death, first of all knowing that he was about to die, and secondly announcing it with a loud voice to those witnessing the event. How do you predict that you are about to die so that you can make such an announcement? How do you do it with strength when you have no strength?

The Roman centurion expected Jesus just to fade away into the arms of death. Instead he witnessed Jesus announcing his impending death with a loud, confident and strong voice and immediately expiring.

This Roman centurion who was an expert in death by crucifixion and everything that accompanied it saw something so unique that he concluded Jesus was the Son of God… what else could he conclude? I hope it changed his life forever.