Welcome to Healing Scars with Pastor Burton. Here you'll find practical, relevant, biblical information.
The Bible will be broken down verse by verse so that you get the full context of the scripture to better grow in your relationship with Jesus.
Hey everybody, welcome back to The Sanctuary. It's great to have you with us as always.
Today we're going to start a new series looking at warriors, specifically the centurions in the Bible and their men.
Now, you know, we know life isn't always easy for our troops, more so back in those days.
You know, now there is often confusion about soldiers versus centurions in the Bible.
It's not uncommon for soldiers to be referred to as centurions. After all, they worked in the same vocation, right?
You know, they had the same allegiances, they carried the same banners for that matter.
And really, the difference came down to rank. A centurion was the highest rank a soldier could attain in those days.
They were a commanding officer and they were in charge of a hundred men, hence centurion, cent being a hundred, right?
Now, these were battle proven troops who had worked their way up the chain of command.
And they did so on the ground leading the charge.
So, I mean, they were literally in the fray with their men every step of the way.
Even once they attained this rank, they were still out there leading from the front.
You know, they were not the armchair quarterbacks that are so common today.
You know, instead they were in the muck and doing the work with their men.
So they were highly knowledgeable, they were highly loyal, they had earned the respect of their men and those above them.
Truly, we're talking about the best of the best, the elite guard, if you will.
Now, with that said, there are seven centurions that are actually spoken of in the Bible.
We're going to start with the centurion at the crucifixion of Christ.
A little morbid and probably not the centurion you thought we were going to be talking about.
You know, now for those with their Bible, a Bible app, or even if you're taking notes right now to go and refer back to later.
You know, turn with me, we're going to go to the book of Matthew and specifically we're going into chapter 27.
Now, Matthew 27, the first verse is 1-53.
The troops that are discussed, they were soldiers.
You know, it's not talking about the centurion.
Now, likely there was a centurion there with them.
You know, they'd be hard pressed for there not to be, especially, you know, being around, you know, Pontus Pilate and everything.
However, you know, the Bible doesn't talk about the centurion at that time.
Again, you know, that term, soldier and centurion, are used interchangeably and they shouldn't be.
The difference varies widely.
Okay, you know, let's think of it from the perspective of fighters, right?
You have that street kid, that punk bully, you know, that roams around schools and stuff.
You know, and then you have that martial artist that's trained and worked their way up, you know, from white belt up to black or whatever, you know, dance system is it that they have or whatever.
You know, then you have your amateur fighter all the way up to professional, right?
So you have your different levels.
Now, think about think of it this way that, you know, would you take that street kid or that bully or even a low ranking martial artist, say, you know, your white belt, your yellow belt, you know, and then pick them up against a professional fighter, you know, your black belts, your MMA fighters and all that kind of stuff.
You know, professional boxers and everything, you know, how well do you think that they would stand against them?
You know, how well do you think a high schooler would pick against Mike Tyson when Tyson was in his prime?
You know, I think they do very well.
No.
Obviously, you know, that answer stands right out for itself.
You know, it's like taking a crop duster pilot and throwing them into a jet fighter and expect them to know what to do.
You know, it's they're not the same.
Well, you know, on the basic level of everything, you know, certain things are the same.
They're definitely at different levels.
When it comes to the soldiers here in the Bible, the Centurions, same thing.
You know, you got your private on the ground, you know, a corporal or sergeant, you know, maybe a couple, you know, staff NCOs.
You know, working their way all the way up to the officer ranks, you know, and I said that it's you're looking at the difference between your noncommissioned officers and NCOs versus a high ranking general, essentially.
So I'm going into Matthew 27.
We're actually going to pick up, you know, in the scripture now, verse 54.
All right.
So Matthew 27, verse 54, the Bible says when the Centurion and those with him were guarding Jesus, excuse me, when the security and those with him who were guarding Jesus saw the earthquake and all that happened, they were terrified and exclaimed, surely he is the son of God.
All right. And Mark 15, so Mark chapter 15, verses 37 through 39, the Bible says, with a loud cry, Jesus breathed his last.
The curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom and the Centurion, who stood there for Jesus, saw how he died.
He said, surely this man was the son of God.
Now, I could tell you, you spend enough time around violence and death.
It truly takes something remarkable to shake you after a certain point.
The military conditions you so that when it comes to the time to do things that you're asked to do, you could disassociate to a point.
So certain people, you know, those people you're told are your enemy, you no longer see them as people.
You know, certain acts that would normally be detestable.
Well, when it comes to your enemy, they're now the norm.
You know, the sooner a warrior is able to flip that switch, the easier it is for them to get the job done.
Plain and simple. There's nothing normal about subduing another man, yet alone killing one. Right.
And these soldiers, they've been around for more than a minute. They've been around the block.
They were highly trained. They were highly conditioned. They've been working their stations for a while.
They'd seen if it's, you know, as the ad says, you know, they knew a thing or two because they'd seen a thing or two. Right.
This is why when you go to Second Timothy, Chapter two, verse four, the Bible says,
No one serving as a soldier gets entangled in civilian affairs, but rather tries to please his commanding officer.
You know, our military is separated from civilian matters in so many respects for a reason.
The mindset of a warrior is different.
It has to be in order to maintain discipline, to maintain order and to function properly as a military force.
Also, to keep as many of these warriors alive as possible when they go into conflict.
You know, the warrior ethos that focuses on physical discipline, mental discipline and character discipline, you know, to be a good warrior,
you have to give up certain comforts. You have to give up certain securities that you had and known throughout your life
and implement the highest levels of discipline at all levels.
The same being for a good soldier of Jesus. You have to be able to give certain things up.
You have to be willing to give certain things up and maintain discipline to be a good soldier for Christ. It's that simple.
Going back to our reading. These soldiers and the centurion were shaken.
Having the experience that they had and being around the dead and dying in their time of duty,
they would have been numb to anything that had been in the norm.
That's really the easiest way to put it.
Luke chapter 23 verse 47, the Bible tells us like this,
Listen, the centurion, seeing what happened, praised God and said, surely this was a righteous man.
Indicating that, you know, that when he looked at Jesus and what was going on and how he died,
you know, he was seeing that he was innocent. He knew that he was a good person.
You know, again, these men, they'd been around for a while. They knew the norm. They knew what to expect from the crowds.
They knew what to expect of those on death row that were going to be crucified.
From the ways that they would react to the things that they would say to what to expect as they hung their suffering and dying,
which also speaks to just how extraordinary things would have to be in order to get their attention,
let alone to rattle them in this way.
You know, as a man on the ground, they could see he was innocent.
You know, and this extends back, you know, not just from from Jesus being on the cross.
This goes all the way back from Pilate washing his hands, right?
When after, you know, when Jesus was scorched and everything, you know, Pilate washed his hands, you know, signifying, you know,
that he was not going to be held responsible for for what was happening.
You know, they could see that what was, you know, what was different, you know,
that he was innocent from how Jesus responded to everything that was going on and everyone around him.
You know, from that time all the way up to the cross to being hung on the cross.
You know, they could see God's involvement from the darkness that surrounded them.
Remember, the scripture tells us that the sky's got dark to the literal earthquake that, you know, we just read about.
You know, things around them, they weren't right.
And, you know, and it didn't take a rocket scientist to see.
To the average person on the ground, you could see things weren't quite right.
Something was different.
And for those soldiers, oh, buddy, you know, there was no doubt in their mind.
You know, you know, veterans, you know, really, you know, even, you know, people still on active duty, you know,
anyone that spends, you know, some time in service, they they they become very hyper aware of their environment.
And it's something that is quickly learned and it sticks through, you know, with you throughout your life.
You know, knowing your your your entrances and your exits, what the lighting looks like, the vulnerabilities,
vantage points, you know, color points, looking for how people are acting or or dressed, you know,
in order to spot things are out of the norm or or even those, you know, who are carrying weapons like, you know,
knives, guns and other potential threats, you know, whether they're concealed or otherwise, depending on where you live.
You know, for instance, here in New Mexico, we're we're we're an open carry state.
So not everybody has a concealed carrier carries concealed.
You'll you can go places and see people, you know, with their firearms strapped to them, you know, clear as day.
These soldiers, though, you know, along with their centurion, they they knew without a doubt that things had just taken a drastic turn
all the way to the point where the centurion said, surely this was a righteous man or as the other accounts that we read said,
surely he was the son of God.
You know, in any case, you know, these these are strong words.
They're really, you know, these are this power here, not simple utterances, not even a simple holy moly.
You know, I could tell you given circumstances, I've said much worse than all crap.
You know, and I'm sure everyone else here has as well.
You know, and you know, this would have been one of those moments where my guard would have skyrocketed as I'm sure it did for them.
You know, which brings us to the centurion and his soldiers after Christ died.
You know, turning to John 19, verses 32 through 34, the Bible says this.
The soldiers therefore came and broke the legs of the first man who had been crucified with Jesus and those of the other.
But when they came to Jesus and found he was already dead, they did not break his legs.
Instead, one of the soldiers pierced Jesus aside with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water.
Now, like I said, they're experienced. They'd seen a lot. They've been party to a lot.
They carried out executions. They knew the signs of a dead man.
They knew, you know, they knew a corpse when they were looking at one.
Those telltale signs of death.
You know, they knew the sights, the conditions the body would go through, the smells.
You know, they knew that they didn't have to go to the trouble of breaking his legs to bring about death faster.
Death had already come.
Instead, a soldier, not the centurion.
All right. Let's be clear about this.
It was a soldier, not the centurion.
Even though the centurion would have been there and would have been the one to give the order, it was a soldier who pierced Christ with the spear.
All right.
And we'll go into that a little bit more depth here in a moment.
All right.
A soldier doing this under the direction of a centurion makes more sense when looking at the chain of command and how troops function, you know, back then all the way up to this very day.
You know, for someone that high ranking to do something like this is not within the norms or standard of operating procedures today any more than it was back then.
It was more much more likely than just as it is today that he simply gave the order.
And what happened when he was stabbed speaks volumes as well.
When that spear was plunged into Jesus's side, blood and water came out.
You know, it's very graphic, but it's very specific.
This is blood and water, which points directly to part of the physical cause of death here, going from extreme the extreme shock, you know, from his lashings to the continued abuse.
And stresses all the way to be crucified, you know, and all those things, you know, the the blood water being an indicator of, you know, what what's referred to in the medical world as pericardial fusion.
Basically, you had a sack that's around your heart that's filled with water.
And when you undergo extreme stresses and injury and stuff like that, like Jesus did, it fills with more water and in turn that applies much more pressure to the heart.
You know, in most cases, it's not that big of a deal.
But when you know, you had stress and how much water is there and everything, it can become, you know, deadly quickly.
You know, and so ultimately, this is why a lot of people will say Jesus died of a broken heart for the sin of us all.
Right. So that's that's where that comes from.
All that water basically crushing in on the heart, along with all the stresses and everything else.
You know, the loss of blood.
There's just so much there.
You know, so again, these new these warriors, they knew without a doubt that the man that they were looking at was indeed dead.
The fact that they were also in a partial party also speaks to the fact that when they pronounced him dead, they were the experts beyond the shadow of a doubt.
You could safely say that these were the professionals.
All right. When they when they made that declaration of death, you know, they they weren't on Jesus's side.
They weren't on the people's side. They were just they're doing their job what they were asked to do.
So, you know, when they said it's done, it was done. All right.
No, no, no pun intended there for, you know, the final words of Jesus there for gave up his spirit saying it was finished.
You know, it's just it was just a matter of fact, you know, on both parts.
Now, going going back to what I was speaking of when I said it was a soldier and not the centurion who pierced Christ, you know, now there are various legends and traditions that are held by the legalist that claim that it was the centurion who did these things.
In fact, there's some some places that you go to where they even give a name. There's there's actually a couple of names out there that are quite frequently used.
Now, nothing that's found in the Bible or substantiated anywhere in records or anything, you know, substantiates this, you know, legends in this case being stories.
All right. Stories. Nothing of substance backs it up there.
And therefore, when you hear people talking about and they're giving the names and these accounts, you know, of the soldiers or the centurion after, you know, the death of Christ and everything, it shouldn't be taken seriously.
What they're saying is to take it with a grain of salt. You know, I mean, don't be mean or anything. But, you know, again, there's there's nothing in the Bible and nothing that I found to this day in any kind of record or anything that indicates for sure, you know, a name or anything like that to go with any of these men, you know, or anything like that.
You know, the records are that are out there indicate that possibly, you know, there was a specific centurion that might have been in the area, but it doesn't mean that it was this guy that we're looking at in the Bible.
But even that is very sketchy from what I've read. So definitely be careful. We are hearing and reading about the centurion and the soldiers surrounding this part when it starts going into that kind of depth because there's just nothing there.
All right. Back into what we're looking at here, though. All right. The very, you know, let me put let me say this, you know, the verification of Jesus death, you know, it's it's morbid.
However, you know, it speaks. This is something that's that's spoken to my heart for years now.
You know, being something for me is very relatable. Let me go into why, you know, you know, what this actually goes back to what I first was looking into going to the military.
Excuse me, little sneeze there. Tried to hit my mute button.
Sneezes. They just creep up on you sometimes, don't they? Give me a second here. I'll put you on mute. Try to get this out of my system real quick.
Okay, I think it's good. All right. Allergies are something else right now, aren't they? Gotta love the spring. Anyway, so I said that this is going to be kind of morbid.
And when I first spoke to the recruiter about enlisting, you know, I was looking for a specific job.
And, you know, the recruiter, he was he was honest and he explained that this is one of a handful of jobs that couldn't be guaranteed because of the training requirements to qualify.
Basically, you know, if you didn't meet all those, then you'd become open contract and you could be thrown anywhere that the military needed and not even necessarily remotely close to where you wanted to be.
What you know, basically one of the requirements, which was really the most harrowing for me, was that you had to have a first class web qualification.
I grew up landlocked for the most part. I never considered myself a strong swimmer, you know, regardless of being in creeks and lakes and rivers and all that kind of stuff.
It just wasn't something that I considered one of my strong suits, you know, on a side note when I graduated, you know, lo and behold, I did get that swim call that was needed.
Anyway, you know, at that time, I didn't know that Jesus was preparing me to see and deal with death at a much more intimate scale.
So what had happened is I went and I was weighing out pros and cons. We weren't at war at that time.
You know, this is prior to 9-11. You know, I wanted a job that would translate to civilian life when it came time for that transition, you know, because nobody stays in the military, you know, really forever.
I mean, there's a few cases and everything, but I mean, in general, you know, we all get out sometime, whether it's after our first contract or after a career, everybody comes home.
So I ended up, you know, becoming a military policeman.
And as such, I responded to all the typical things that law enforcement does, you know, assaults, rapes, car accidents, suicides, animal cruelty, and then some.
You know, we we saw some of the worst things that humanity and therefore the world really had to offer, you know.
And later on, you know, this would follow me and transition into the civilian world as planned, you know, working for civilian law enforcement agencies, later security.
You know, I even spent a number of years literally working in the morgue.
My desk was 30 feet away from the cooler where bodies were kept there in the crypt. Right.
And violent, you could say violence and death. These were a daily occurrence for me for years, and it took me a long time to see as a blessing and not a curse.
You know, it came down to that point that, you know, when others were were frozen or lost focus, you know, I was suddenly able to speak to them, you know, and keep my team focused on the mission that was at hand, because I'd already seen these things.
You know, when others didn't know how to cope, I could coach them through, you know, on a on a modern day, you know, basically, you know, I was a modern day centurion being able to look at a body and know instantly that it was a corpse.
The spirit was gone. It was a skill that over the over time had become like breathing to me, just like it was to the centurion and these soldiers.
You know, to be this a cheering at the cross, you know, or one of those soldiers, you know, for all the things that were normal that day, those things that were not would have been something that stuck out and stuck with them for the rest of their lives.
You know, we've been painfully obvious. And that, you know, I said, that's why it's so relatable for me.
And I'm sure that there's some out there, you know, whether you're working law enforcement or health care or those in the military or veterans, or it's, you know, no different for you.
You know, some trillions of ways today, they're the consummate, you know, professionals, they know when things aren't adding up, you know, and to heighten security.
You know, those little hairs on the back of your neck stand up, you know, and just let you know, you know, spidey sense starts tingling.
Now, this isn't to say that when it happens that things are just always going to go south, you know, it doesn't.
You know, sometimes you just you have to heighten your guard a little bit.
You know, however, as soldiers in Christ, it's a little bit different.
You know, we need to be vigilant for the things to come. We need to be on our guard.
Yes. Matthew 24.
Jesus warns us to be vigilant because there's going to be those that come claiming things and even using his name in vain.
However, as the Bride of Christ, we can rest assured that he will take care of us in the times to come.
You know, that's biblical. The Bible tells us this, you know, that, you know, and ultimately we're going to be witness to his victory.
So when our guard is up, you know, as soldiers of Christ, it's up differently.
We're not sitting there like, oh, what's going to happen? What's going to happen?
You know, expecting the worst. We know things are going to be turbulent. We've talked about this.
The Bible's warned Jesus has warned us there's going to be turbulence in our lives.
You know, however, we know that God is going to get us through and we're going to be on the prevailing side in his victory, in his glory.
When it's all said and done.
You know, often God puts us in places to mold us and to test us.
It's not until much later that we're able to see that his work was actually a blessing to prepare us for what was coming in our lives.
All right. And to the point, you know, for us to point the way to him and his glory,
the Bible tells us that every good and perfect blessing is from God, even though we may not see it that way at first.
You know, some of the things that for the longest time, I was thinking I was cursed.
Like this is, you know, not everybody can do that. I've got to do this so others don't have to.
Right. That's the mentality type of mentality that gets there.
You know, people people have deployed into combat. It's like, you know what?
Yeah. Keep me here. Extend out my tour. You know, transfer me to another unit or send me back.
Whatever. Because, you know, if I'm here, then that means, you know, that somebody else gets to go home and that's worth it.
That's the type of mindset that comes into play. You know, it's not about yourself at that point.
It's about others. And they talk about love.
Because that is exactly what that is. That is love.
So remember, even though you're in tough times, even though you're seeing things and having to do things that you might not necessarily agree with.
Those things that you take that you're taking so hard right now that are just kind of tormenting you.
It's all part of the test. Remember, the teacher is often silent during the test.
You don't necessarily get to speak to the teacher, right, until it's all said and done.
But this is this is testing your metal to see where you're going to bend, where you're going to break and what needs to be reinforced, what needs to be worked on, what needs to be strengthened.
And this is taking what's already strong and sharpening it, honing it into a fine blade.
It's not always going to be easy. Certain things are going to stick and they're going to stick hard.
But you're to take those things because those are gifts. And at some point you're going to use that gift.
You're going to use your testimony and that's going to speak to others.
And that that is the power of the Lord working through you to bring others to him.
Be willing to go out there, step out in faith and let that light shine.
Remember, you are loved and you are blessed. Now go and be the church.
Thank you all for joining us here today at Healing Scars with Pastor Burton.
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We look forward to hearing from you all. God bless.