This was the Son of God
This was the Son of God
54 So when the centurion and those with him, who were guarding Jesus, saw the earthquake and the things that had happened, they feared greatly, saying, “Truly this was the Son of God!”
Matthew 27:54
The Romans are always portrayed as the bad guys in the New Testament. The soldiers were a terror to God’s people and were the ones to put the nails in Jesus’ hands and feet. And yet here in this verse, one centurion was able to see what so many Jews couldn’t. As the man saw Jesus die and the earth react with such impact, he recognized the divinity of Jesus. He is one of the few to call Jesus the Son of God in those days.
We can never prejudge anyone. The one we may think could never understand the truth may turn out to be the only person who does.
27 But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty; 28 and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are,
1 Corinthians 1:27-28
Only God knows the heart of people. Only he knows who will be open to the truth and who won’t be. When we avoid or bypass people, we put ourselves in the place of God. We must give everyone a chance to know the truth. What they do with that knowledge is between them and God.
55 And many women who followed Jesus from Galilee, ministering to Him, were there looking on from afar, 56 among whom were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Joses, and the mother of Zebedee’s sons.
Matthew 27:55-56
It’s also interesting to see that those who did believe were also there, though afar. Yet it never says that any of them ever said ‘He was the Son of God’. Isn’t that interesting? Sometimes we miss or take for granted that we know what is going on. Had their hearts been open as the centurion, perhaps they too would have spoken the truth. Let us look at our own lives and not take anything for granted. Let us not be blinded when a truth is before us.
God bless,
Pr. Steven Couto