Son of God?
Experiencing Resurrection: Part 1
April 12, 2026
When the centurion, who stood facing Jesus, saw how he died, he said, “This man was certainly God’s Son.”
Mark 15:39
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"Even in Israel I haven't found faith like this."
That's what Jesus told the crowds the day he healed a centurion's servant. But the centurion never wanted to be a model of faith (Luke 7:1-10). He had no interest in Jesus' religion. If anything, what he did that day was a last-ditch hope, an act of sheer desperation. He wasn't interested in the God of Abraham. He just thought if this teacher they called Jesus could heal others, maybe he might just have a little miracle left over for him and his servant.
And yet. Jesus called it faith.
We don’t know if this was the same centurion we see at the cross but imagine for a moment that it was. He finds himself passing down the order to crucify that same teacher.
Seeing Jesus carry the cross beam up the hill stops him in his tracks. He feels a knot growing in his stomach. He had never questioned an order before in his life, but this one just didn't feel right.
He couldn't explain what happened next. The tomb was empty. Dead men don't walk again. So he went along with the cover story. After all, the winners always write history. Surely this would all be forgotten in a few years.
Still, he wondered.
What if this man was the Son of God?
He had pledged his allegiance to Caesar, the one his world called Son of God, savior, prince of peace. But that man, that rabbi, died with more dignity than Caesar had ever shown. Jesus faced the weight of the entire Roman military, unarmed and unafraid. He never resisted his fate, no matter how undeserved. Jesus died like a king. Not the kind of king Rome would ever recognize, but maybe the kind of king we still need today.
We are never told if the centurion becomes a follower of Jesus, but I can imagine him whispering Jesus’ name in the darkness, shaken by all he has seen. His question lingers for all of us: what would it cost to tell the truth about what we've seen? And what loyalties, comforts, or fears keep us from saying it out loud?
Sometimes our dreams are too small. Like the centurion, it's easy to stay focused only on what's right in front of us. We tend to live in problem-solving mode, survival mode, just doing our jobs.
We don't serve others so that our church will grow, or so that God will bless us. We serve because that's who we are as followers of Christ. We love because God first loved us.
The centurion didn't know it yet, but he had already encountered the kind of king worth giving everything for and the kind of friend who would give his life for him.
Maybe we have too.
Where do you notice competing loyalties in your own life, whether to systems, expectations, or identities, that make it harder to follow Jesus?
Reflect on an experience you could not explain but also could not ignore that shifted how you see God.