03/06/2020
Just when you thought this was over... Nope! Easter is the New Beginning!
The Soldier's Epilogue at Golgotha
by Loren Porr
Soldiers
I love soldiers. Don’t get me wrong, I do not love war. Any thinking soldier hates war.
One thing which particularly touches me in the Gospels is the characterization of soldiers. We think of them as Roman soldiers, but many of the Centuries, Cohorts and Legions in New Testament times were conscripts from Rome or conquered Roman lands. In addition, Herod had a small Jewish army which included mercenary units. We lucky Americans can barely conceive of being an occupied country. Modern day examples are out there, but most of us conveniently ignore them, perhaps to our own peril.
From the Centurion, whose servant Jesus healed, to the Centurion at Golgotha and Centurions encountered by the early church, these men fascinate me. Some became Christians. Some “went native,” an Army slang term for a soldier who so identifies with an occupied people they take on their customs and mannerisms. It still happens today.
A Centurion was the highest rank a commoner could obtain. Century means 100 and a Centurion commanded a Century of 100, but things change over time, and in the New Testament a Century would have had 60-80 soldiers. The Centurion was a cross between a hardened Company Commander and an even crustier Company First Sergeant. Think Mel Gibson as LTC Hal Moore and Sam Elliot as SGM Basil Plumley in “We Were Soldiers.”
There was one cohort of 360-480 soldiers in Jerusalem at the time, with at least six Centurions, their commanding officer, staff and advisors to Herod. One of these Centurions, and a sizable number of common soldiers, had crucifixion duty. The situation was politically sensitive, so a sizeable number of soldiers were likely present for crowd control. It also was brutal duty, so the best leader and best unit was likely chosen. It was, as soldiers have long described it, “S-- Duty.”
Atrocities happen in war. That doesn’t make it right, it just is. Good leaders do their best to prevent them. 99% of soldiers are just normal Joes, stacking time. It is that one 1% you must watch out for. A Century was needed with soldiers that could handle the job and a Centurion who could lead. The Romans were very good at getting the job done. They had perfected the art and humiliation of crucifixion. However, the line between duty and atrocity was thin and rioting possible.
Golgotha is pictured as a hill overlooking Jerusalem with tall crosses overlooking the crowd. Oh, how we Christians have romanticized the Bible over time. The Gospels say nothing of a hill, and tall crosses would be inefficient. Rome was not inefficient. Golgotha was Aramaic for “Place of the Scull.” The scull is the most recognizable bone in the human body. Likely, Golgotha was littered with them. Likely Golgotha was a burial pit with three crosses in front that barely kept the victim’s feet from reaching the ground. Bodies could be quickly unloaded of the dead so the soldiers could either crucify the next or get off duty (it was Friday), wash and drink to forget.
But finally, two were chosen, after all of this, to guard the tomb. For the soldier, sometimes it just never ends.
I ramble, and there is no specific message or point to this devotional. It may depress some. This was an attempt, during Lent, to set the stage for the crucifixion and perhaps better understand some of the common soldiers who unknowingly, sadly and joyfully contributed to our salvation.
-Loren Porr
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[images: centurion and legionaire creative commons; Vietnam wall creative commons; Christ and Soldier people_desktop_nexus]
