Read: Mark 15:33–39
Roman soldiers likely witness dozens of crucifixions. Maybe even hundreds. They were used to blood, pain, and watching people dying slowly on a cross. As brutal and impersonal as it seems to us, it was business as usual for them—except for this one.
Jesus didn’t put up a fight as they nailed him down. He didn’t curse. he didn’t beg for mercy. He cried out to his Father, begging forgiveness for the very people who were putting him to death. He breathed his last with dignity, strength, and heartbreaking surrender—and that opened the soldier’s eyes.
“Truly this man was the Son of God.”
It’s one of the most powerful confessions in the Gospels, and it came from the last person you’d expect: a Gentile soldier standing at the foot of the cross, suddenly aware that he was standing in the presence of the Messiah.
Jesus didn’t reveal who he was through power or status. He revealed it through sacrifice. Through suffering. Through love that stayed steady all the way to death. We often think pain is a sign that God isn’t working, but this moment reminds us that God often reveals Himself most clearly in our hardest moments.
If you're in a season of pain yourself, don’t assume God is silent. He may be using that very moment to reveal something deeper. During seasons of struggle, he can do incredible work in us. He can also do incredible work through us, using our strength, faith, and resilience to inspire others and direct them to his incredible power.
Today, ask God to help recognize Jesus clearly, just like that soldier. And pray for the courage to reflect him, even when it costs something.