Saturday, September 9: “Common Roman”

“Common Roman”

Mark 15: 39: “When the centurion, who was standing right in front of [Jesus], saw the way He breathed His last, he said, ‘Truly this man was the Son of God!”

Was a common Roman a convert to Jesus on Good Friday? Simon of Cyrene was an outsider, but still a Jew. There can be no doubt that this centurion had nary a drop of Jewish blood, as far from the Hebrew faith as one could get. Yet, aside from Dismas, the thief on the cross, he is the first to profess faith in Christ from the bloody hill of Golgotha. Does not this, and all the readings this week, show us the unlimited scope of God’s dynamic love and saving grace?