So the soldiers took charge of Jesus. Carrying his own cross, he went out to the place of the Skull (which in Aramaic is called Golgotha). There they crucified him, and with him two others—one on each side and Jesus in the middle.  Pilate had a notice prepared and fastened to the cross. It read: JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS. Many of the Jews read this sign, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and the sign was written in Aramaic, Latin and Greek. The chief priests of the Jews protested to Pilate, “Do not write ‘The King of the Jews,’ but that this man claimed to be king of the Jews.”

Pilate answered, “What I have written, I have written.”  When the soldiers crucified Jesus, they took his clothes, dividing them into four shares, one for each of them, with the undergarment remaining. This garment was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom.

“Let’s not tear it,” they said to one another. “Let’s decide by lot who will get it.”   This happened that the scripture might be fulfilled that said,
   “They divided my clothes among them
   and cast lots for my garment.”

So this is what the soldiers did.
John 19:16-24

John begins and ends this passage with the word, "so."  So is probably not a word that we think about often.  We say it every day and don't think about what it really means or the implications of it.

According to the dictionary, so means "in that or this manner or fashion."  Let's look at the scripture again.  Verse 16:  "In that fashion, the soldiers took charge of Jesus." "In this manner, this is what the soldiers did."

But in what fashion?  In what manner?

To understand these men, who we don't know individually, we must look back historically.  We can look at the history of the Roman army, which existed in various forms for over 2,000 years.  Originally a loose-knit, farmer-based, volunteer organization whose soldiers showed up for war in the summers, it evolved into a highly paid, well trained military machine.

I would think, in an age where there was no Geneva Convention and brutality was the rule of law rather than the exception, that these soldiers were rough, tough, and didn't take anything from anyone.  Jerusalem, especially, was a hotbed of tumultuous activity at this time.  I would guess that the Roman soldiers were guarded, sick of being here, sick of these people, and ready for an opportunity to snap.

If you've seen "The Passion of the Christ," you've seen the Roman soldiers portrayed as bloodthirsty and cruel.  You've seen how quickly and easily they got caught up in the process of beaten Jesus to - literally - a bloody pulp.

They appear hate-filled.
They appear callous.
They appear greedy.

Sigh.

I keep wanting to change how this story ends.  I keep wanting someone to step, to recognize how wrong this violence is, and stop it!  I keep wanting someone to say, "This is the Son of God!"

It took the death of Jesus for one of the soldiers to take notice.  It took the completion of his agony for this Roman centurion to look at Christ in a different way.  It took a powerful deluge - an earthquake, the rending of the temple veil, the raising of the holy dead - of God's sovereignty and grief for this man to say, in Matthew 27, "Surely he was the son of God!" 

The Roman soldiers were the worst and the best that day.  As are we.  It often takes a powerful deluge of tragedy or grief in our own lives before we take notice of God.  Before we see him, turn to him.

I keep thinking about one thing through this Easter journey.  Each one of these people, at the moment of their death, had to stand before God, and look his son in the eye.  As we move closer and closer to the culmination of this Easter story, we see more and more wickedness and evil.  The characters just get worse and worse.  Do you see it that way?

And one by one, they died.  One by one, they appeared before God.  And one by one, they looked at Jesus.  Finally they believed.  Finally they saw him for who he was. 

Finally, when it was too late.

I think of these soldiers - dozens, if not more - who stood before God.  They that drove spikes into his hands, and thorns into his scalp.  They that laughed at his agony.  They that mocked him, spit on him, stole his clothing from him.

Now they were looking at him, not with contempt, but with eternal fear.  Now they are driven too their knees.

Finally, when it was too late.