Guarding a Dead Man

(Author’s note: I ran this article earlier in the year during Easter week, but added it again here where it fits chronologically.)

Crispus, was one of the many Roman soldiers stationed in Jerusalem. He wanted the difficult week to be over. The feast the Jews called the Passover was challenging every year with so many pilgrims crammed into the city. He didn’t know what they meant by Passover, and he didn’t care.

Crowds poured into Jerusalem from all over Israel and even remote parts of the world. The Jews and their temple had so many feasts and rituals and rules that Crispus didn’t bother to find out why they did the things they did.  The only thing the guard cared about was keeping peace in the city.

The season of Passover had always been difficult, but for the last couple of years it had been even worse. The Jews seemed to always be arguing over a man named Jesus who came from a small village in the Galilee. This year Crispus could feel the tension building between the Jewish leaders and Jesus who had a large group of followers. It had come to a crisis point over the last few days.  

Crispus knew the Jewish leaders had come to Pilate and insisted the man Jesus be condemned to death by crucifixion. They were complaining that the man blasphemed their God. Maybe after the man was killed, the leaders would be appeased for a while and Jerusalem would settle down.

He hadn’t cared about the controversy raging over Jesus. At least not until the events of the day before. Marcus, a fellow soldier and Crispus’s closest friend, told him what had happened. Marcus was on the crucifixion squad, and it was just another day on the job as Marcus put another Jewish man on the cross. But Marcus knew something was different about Jesus. This man talked of forgiveness, even forgiving the soldiers who were killing him. If anyone else had told Crispus about the unusual happenings of the day, he would not have believed a word of it. But he knew Marcus and knew he was relating exactly what happened. Then Marcus told him the most bizarre part of it all. Marcus confided that by the time Jesus was dead, Marcus believed the man really was the Son of God. Marcus didn’t mean their Roman god, Jupiter. He meant the Son of the God of the Jews.

Crispus thought Marcus had been in Israel too long and needed to go back to Rome.

But now, the Jewish leaders were complaining again. They came to Pilate to insist he place guards around the tomb of the very dead Jesus. Pilate gave the order.

Soon Crispus was ordered to secure the tomb. When he arrived, he saw the massive stone that would have taken several men to roll covering the opening of the tomb. He found the best place to attach the seal. Crispus melted wax so that it fell between the wall of the tomb and the stone and pressed Pilate’s seal into it to leave an impression. This unbroken seal would prove than no one had opened the tomb. With the tomb sealed and guarded, it would be impossible for the followers of Jesus to steal his body.

Crispus, with all his expertise as a professional soldier, found himself guarding a dead man.

After standing on guard all night, Crispus was relieved to see the first light of dawn begin to color the sky on the first day of the week. His replacement would soon arrive to relieve him of his duty.  

As he watched some Jewish women approach the tomb. Then Crispus heard the low rumble of another earthquake. The next thing he knew, a figure descended from heaven. Immediately, Crispus understood it was an angel. The angel’s face was like lightening. His clothes were as white as snow. The angel touched the massive round stone covering the door of the tomb and rolled the huge stone away. Then the angel sat upon the stone.

Fear shot through Crispus. Every nerve ending on every inch of skin seemed to be on fire as he started to shake.

He couldn’t understand.

He couldn’t move.

He couldn’t speak.

Crispus stood there as if he was frozen, he heard the angel speak.

The angel said,

“Do not be afraid; for I know that you are looking for Jesus who has been crucified. He is not here, for He has risen, just as He said. Come, see the place where He was lying.” Matthew 28:5-6

Crispus knew that he had been guarding the dead body of Jesus and no one had opened the tomb. But now it was empty. Jesus was not there. Jesus was not dead. Jesus had risen from the grave. Crispus couldn’t explain it, but it was true.

He reported exactly what happened to the Jewish leaders. Jesus had risen from the dead.

But they would not accept what he told them. They shoved money in his hands and told Crispus he must claim that Jesus’s disciples stole his body while he slept.

He would never sleep on the job. If he had, he would have paid for the mistake with his life. But the leaders promised they would protect him.

Throughout Jerusalem, the story circulated that the body of Jesus had been stolen by his followers.  

But Crispus knew the truth. Jesus rose from the dead.

Note about this blog post:

Scripture does not tell us the name of the Roman soldiers who crucified Jesus. Nor does it tell us the names of the guards at the tomb of Jesus. So I gave these two men names for this post. All through scripture when people saw angels, they knew immediately they were angels sent from God Almighty. I like to think that these hardened Roman soldiers were changed after their experiences with Jesus. Maybe we will see them in heaven, along with the one thief who hung on a cross beside Jesus that day.