At the beginning of the Jewish Passover Seder, the youngest child rises and asks, “Why is this night different from all other nights?” The questions run through the whole meal: Why on this night do we eat only unleavened bread? Why only bitter herbs? Why do we dip our food twice? Why do we recline?

We might ask a similar question of tonight’s Good Friday service: why on this night do we gather to sing about the cross, to reflect upon the death of Christ? Because this is the very night we are remembering. And it may be the most important night of all.

This Easter season, we have been reading through the gospel of Mark in our Sunday morning services. Before we participate in the Lord’s Supper this evening, I would like to focus our attention upon one verse of Scripture from the gospel of Mark: Mark 15:39. Let me read it for you now:

Mark 15:39
And when the centurion, who stood facing him, saw that in this way he breathed his last, he said, “Truly this man was the Son of God!”

In many ways, this is the point of the entire gospel of Mark. Jesus is the Son of God! This is how the gospel begins: “The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God” (Mark 1:1). And this is how the gospel ends: “Truly this man was the Son of God!” (Mark 15:39).

What we have read here this evening is not fiction. It is not made up. It is not a parable. It is not a fable. No, it is actual history. It really happened that Jesus Christ died upon the cross. This Gentile centurion nails the point: “Truly this man was the Son of God!”

So, why would this centurion say such a thing? The text makes it clear. He saw the way Jesus suffered. He saw the way Jesus died. His unique death caused this centurion to confess, “Truly this man was the Son of God.”

Remember, this man was a centurion. He had jurisdiction over 100 soldiers. He had much military experience and had arisen through the ranks. He had seen many crucifixions before. When Joseph of Arimathea came to ask Pontius Pilate for the body, Pilate was surprised that Jesus had died so quickly, and so he summoned this very centurion, the man in charge of this crucifixion, to verify that Jesus was already dead (verses 44-45). You don’t come to be the one in charge of carrying out a death sentence without working your way up through the ranks, as a soldier, then a supervisor, then as the one in charge.

So this man had seen many crucifixions before, but none like the death of Jesus.

He saw how the soldiers beat on Jesus, but Jesus never retaliated. Though they made fun of Jesus, dressing him up as a mock king with a purple cloak and a crown of thorns on his head, only to strike him in the head and spit on him and feign homage to him, Jesus never retaliated. Like a lamb led to the slaughter, so he was silent before his shearers (Isaiah 53:7).

This centurion saw the religious leaders mock Jesus:

Mark 15:29-32
“Aha! You who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself, and come down from the cross!” So also the chief priests with the scribes mocked him to one another, saying, “He saved others; he cannot save himself. Let the Christ, the King of Israel, come down now from the cross that we may see and believe.”

He saw those who were crucified with him reviling him as well. Jesus took it all without a word. There is something about being accused wrongly and not fighting back that made an indelible mark upon this centurion.

He saw the darkness descend upon the land for three hours (verse 33), just as the suffering of Jesus was at its worst. He heard Jesus cry out to God, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Mark 15:34). He saw others try to extend the life of Jesus with some wine, hoping that Elijah would come. Then he heard Jesus utter his last words, “It is finished!” (John 19:30). Then he watched his body go limp.

After seeing the way in which Jesus breathed his last, this centurion said, “Truly this man was the Son of God!”

Nobody suffered like this. Nobody died like this. The death of Jesus was unique.

When the centurion said this, it was not in any way a mockery of Jesus, as if he had died as a failed insurrectionist. In that case, he would have mocked Jesus and his followers, saying, “This man claimed he was the Son of God!” No, the words of the centurion here are words of authenticity. They were words that certified his death: “Truly this man was the Son of God!”

To this centurion, the manner of his death proved it. Jesus fulfilled his mission by dying. His death was the purpose of his life.

Jesus came to die: “For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45).

In recent days as a church, we have been reading through the book of Leviticus. We have been reading about the sacrifice of many animals. Think about these animals. Their purpose in life is to die, and in their death they accomplish their task. The lambs, the bulls, the turtledoves and pigeons, their death is their reason for living, and in their death they fulfill their purpose. So likewise did Jesus die. He gave “his life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45).

This centurion put the stamp of approval on the life of Jesus: “Truly this man was the Son of God,” who came to accomplish his purpose of giving his life a ransom for ours. All of this happened according to plan. Three times Jesus had predicted that this would happen.

Mark 8:31-32
And he began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed, and after three days rise again. And he said this plainly.

He said this plainly, and Peter heard it clearly enough to push back: “Far be it from you, Lord! This shall never happen to you.” And Jesus said to him, “Get behind me, Satan.” It was so clear that Peter tried to stop it, and Jesus had to rebuke him.

Mark 9:31-32
For he was teaching his disciples, saying to them, “The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill him. And when he is killed, after three days he will rise.” But they did not understand the saying, and were afraid to ask him.

It is almost as if the disciples missed that last part: “after three days he will rise.” They were so overcome by the words about his death that the resurrection promise went in one ear and out the other. For them, in that moment, this felt like the end of the road.

Mark 10:32-34
And they were on the road, going up to Jerusalem, and Jesus was walking ahead of them. And they were amazed, and those who followed were afraid. And taking the twelve again, he began to tell them what was to happen to him, saying, “See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and the scribes, and they will condemn him to death and deliver him over to the Gentiles. And they will mock him and spit on him, and flog him and kill him. And after three days he will rise.”

Yet sadly, the disciples didn’t believe his words. They scattered in fear at his arrest. “Strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered” (Zechariah 13:7). The religious leaders didn’t believe that Jesus was the Son of God, so they delivered him up to Pontius Pilate. Pontius Pilate didn’t believe that Jesus was the Son of God, so he handed him over to die. The soldiers didn’t believe that Jesus was the Son of God, so they beat him mercilessly. Those who walked by didn’t believe it, which is why they mocked Jesus upon the cross.

But it was this Roman centurion who believed. This is, in a sense, the first statement of faith upon the earth in this way, the first person to say of the crucified Jesus: “Yes, this man was the Son of God.” The centurion may not have understood all the theology. He did not know of the resurrection that was coming. But he saw that this man died differently from any man he had ever seen die.

Do you believe that Jesus is the Son of God? This Good Friday evening, as we take time to contemplate the death of Jesus upon the cross, I ask you: do you believe it?

Do you believe that Jesus is the Son of God? I trust that you do. You are here this evening because you believe.

But what does his death mean for us? His death upon the cross was for our sins. We have hindsight to help us. We have the epistles that explain his death. As Paul wrote, “Christ died for our sins, according to the Scriptures” (1 Corinthians 15:3). As Peter wrote, “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness” (1 Peter 2:24). As John wrote, “To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood” (Revelation 1:5).

The death of Jesus upon the cross secured our salvation. We have an advantage the disciples did not have. Some people say they wish they had been there, walking with Jesus. But we are far better off living on this side of the cross, able to look back with the full benefit of history and the completed Scriptures, knowing that he rose from the dead. That is why we have all come this evening, to reflect upon the cross of Christ.

As you reflect tonight upon the cross, consider that the suffering of Christ was far more than physical. The thieves on either side also experienced physical suffering. But Jesus cried out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” He experienced the wrath of God upon the cross, bearing the judgment that rightly belongs to us. “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one, to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all” (Isaiah 53:6). He bore our sins in his body, bearing the wrath we deserve. If there is sin you want to confess tonight, cry out to him. Be thankful for forgiven sins. “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1). “God demonstrates his own love for us in this: while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).

Jesus tells us to remember the cross through the Lord’s Supper, when we reenact the Last Supper that Jesus had with the disciples. When he took bread and broke it and said, “This is my body, broken for you; eat it in remembrance of me.” When he took the cup and said, “This cup is the New Covenant in my blood; drink it in remembrance of me.”

Of all nights throughout the year, this is the night to remember him.

This sermon was delivered to Rock Valley Bible Church on April 18, 2025 by Steve Brandon.
For more information see www.rockvalleybiblechurch.org.