Romans - Matt 27:37; Mark 15:24-26; Luke 23:34,38; John 19:19-24

Before we move forward, I think it’s important to give some information on the background of the Roman army because they play such a pivotal part in the life and death of the Savior. First, regular Roman soldiers, or Legionaries, were men over the age of 20 who enlisted for 20 years. Having been in the army myself, I feel that I can speak to at least some of the motivation to join, and I’d imagine that it’s similar to the Roman reasoning. It all has to do with opportunity, if you come from a wealthy family where you will inherit whatever they have, then spending 20 years marching, fighting, and building probably sounds disgusting to you.

But if you come from a poor family or have lots of siblings to compete with for inheritance, then the opportunity to make your own money might be more appealing.  An article from quora.comsays, “Roman soldiers (Legionary & Auxiliary) were well paid for battles they fought, some of the wealthiest people in Roman cities were from the common soldiery.” Then there is always the “adventure” aspect of the job. Roman soldiers traveled all over the empire and basically had liberty to do horrific things to the local, non-Roman citizenry. I have to admit, there might be just a bit of crazy in those who look at the job of fighting and think, “yeah, that’s for me.”
It might not have all been voluntary, as surely there were some who were pressed into service because of debts or family obligations. There were also non-Roman citizens who could join the “Auxiliary,” who were described in an article in quora.com as “highly paid and after 25 years they were rewarded greatly with a plot of land, the rights of a Roman citizen for him and his lineage. The veteran of the Auxiliary would also receive a pension.” These were probably men who were ethnically non-Roman, but whose societies had been conquered by Rome. As a young man, trapped as a second class citizen in a society over run by monsters, the choice between starving to death or joining the monsters yourself, really isn’t a hard one, especially when we consider that young, non-attached men are at the most “aggressive” peak of their lives and are typically ready for “adventure.”
There is a major difference between the military today and Roman soldiers though. Today, the whole objective of our weapons is to keep our people as far away from the violence as possible, while doing as much damage as possible to the enemy, which is accomplished through long range weapons like rockets, missiles, and guns. Anciently, the Romans didn’t have that type of technology and so most of their victory came after hand to hand combat, with and without weapons. As much as we look at the atrocities committed during wartime in our day, it’s relatively tame and rare considering what the average Roman solider participated in on a daily basis. I’m not excusing any type of misconduct, but it does start to explain why the Roman soldiers are so much more prone to violence and seem unfazed by shocking cruelty, both seeing and administering it. But we also have to remember that they faced this type of brutality themselves as punishment for their own misdeeds, as we see later, the punishment for falling asleep on guard duty is death, seems a little bit extreme.
Imagine the process of nailing a human being to a piece of wood. I’m confident that most people weren’t as accepting of their fate as Jesus was, so there surely would have been sheer terror coming from the victims, screaming, crying, begging, probably fighting back, then the shrieking that would come as you personally pounded a rusty spike into their hands. Imagine holding two feet together, one on top of the other. Just the unnatural position the feet would take while being held there with your hands, then again pounding a rusty spike over and over again as bones crunched and blood spurted in your face and the poor victim screamed and probably vomited and probably peed themselves. Now you’re covered in blood, vomit, and urine while deaf from the high pitched shrieking. That is an incredibly traumatic experience for the person perpetrating all that violence against another person. Now imagine the type of circumstances that the person who just performed that cruelty came from to think, “yeah, the military is a better life.”
Not even just the horror of crucifixion, Roman soldiers were professionals, meaning that they didn’t get to go home after the war was over. These men earned their livelihood as soldiers, they were trained and committed to their job, and threatened with death if they faltered, the stakes were very high. They couldn’t have refused the order to crucify, whatever their motivation was for joining, whatever their personal opinions and reactions to the horror that came with the job, once you’re in, it doesn’t matter, you do what you’re told or you die. There is a “dark” humor that comes with facing horrible situations, it’s a subconscious defense mechanism that allows one to survive unconscionable circumstances. You have to tune yourself out to what you’re doing in order to make it ok in your own mind, otherwise you’re reaction is “I won’t do this, just kill me,” and most people don’t start out at this point, some reach it, but for the vast majority, the will to survive is stronger than almost any other need.
Jesus, of course, knows all of this, because while being nailed to the cross, he prays, “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do (Meaning the soldiers who crucified him).” JTC comments, “As the crucifiers proceeded with their awful task, not unlikely with roughness and taunts, for killing was their trade and to scenes of anguish they had grown callous through long familiarity, the agonized Sufferer, void of resentment but full of pity for their heartless and capacity for cruelty, voiced the first of the seven utterances delivered from the cross. In the spirit of God-like mercy He prayed: ‘Father forgive them; for they know not what they do.’” I have to be honest, people have done a lot less to me than  nailed me to a cross, and I’ve been angry with them for that. The Savior knew their hearts and understood what His crucifixion was for them, whether good or bad, and choose to mediate for them with His Father. He mediates for all of us, but he did it for them right then in that instance, which demonstrates to me who eager he is to forgive and love.
JTC continues, “Let us not attempt to fix the limits of the Lord’s mercy; that it would be extended to all who in any degree could justly come under the blessed boon thereof ought to be a sufficing fact.” If we truly believe that there is nothing that we can ever do that would be unforgivable by God, then we must look at the perpetrators of the most horrific acts in human history and know that forgiveness can be theirs on Christ’s terms. If we wish to accept his mercy for ourselves, we have to accept the fact that he chooses who benefits from that same mercy, not us. If we want to be forgiven for all of our wrong doing, then we have to be content with knowing that other people’s salvation is none of our business, that the Savior is a just judge, but that his mercy is extended to all, not just those we believe are worthy, because surely someone somewhere out there believes us to be unworthy of God’s mercy.
Jesus and the cross are hoisted to an upright position and he’s left to hang there and die, but the process of dying takes a while and one of the perks of being an executioner is going through all the stuff of the person who is dying, because after all, they won’t need it where they’re going. Apparently there are four Roman soldiers at ever cross to make sure that everything goes smoothly, and “they parted his garments, casting lots upon them, what every man should take.” The IM explains, “Jewish men usually wore five articles of clothing- headdress, shoes, inner garment, outer cloak, and girdle or belt- which, according to Roman custom, became the property of the soldiers who performed crucifixions. In Jesus’s case, all of His clothing besides His coat was divided between the four soldiers at the cross. But his coat was seamless and too valuable to be cut up, so the soldiers cast lots to see who would get it. This episode fulfilled the prophecy: ‘They part my garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture.’”
Why does fulfillment of prophecy matter? It’s definitely a good tool to use when looking forward to something. I think that I might get caught up in the whole “Jesus is from Nazareth, but the Messiah will be from Bethlehem.” But it’s an excellent tool for looking backwards as well. The IM quotes Elder Bruce R. McConkie as teaching, “How marvelous it is to view the fulfillment of prophecy. More than a thousand years before, David, by the power of the Holy Ghost, had foretold in minute detail what these Gentile solders would do on this dread occasion as they acted without help or guidance from either the friends or enemies of Jesus.” If anyone was completely uninterested in what Jewish prophecy had to say about anything, it was the Romans, and they still managed to do exactly what had been described. I believe that fulfillment of prophecy is a lot like miracles, they are not meant to convert, only to strengthen, because there can be so many questions; it’s not a clear path all the time. And usually you can’t tell if something has been fulfilled until the very end.
With Pilate having washed his hands of the whole “Jesus” business, it is interesting that he reinserts himself in to the process of crucifixion because “Pilate wrote a title, and put it on the cross. And the writing was, JESUS OF NAZARETH THE KING OF THE JEWS. This title then read many of the Jews: for the place where Jesus was crucified was nigh to the city: and it was written in Hebrew, and Greek, and Latin.” This might have been Pilate’s last great act of defiance towards the Jewish leadership, they might have forced his hand in allowing Jesus to be crucified, but he was determined to have the last word.
The chief priests clearly objected, saying, “Write not, The King of the Jews; but that he said, I am King of the Jews.” They are saying, “don’t validate his claim, just say that he was punished for saying it.” Pilate’s words probably served several purposes. First, because public execution was not only a punishment, but also to deter others from committing capital offenses, there was a lot of foot traffic going by as Jesus hung there. Other Jews and those who are under Roman control would have seen this sign and connected Jesus’ death with an effort to overthrow Rome. Therefore, Pilate would have deterred others from sedition.
But there also might have been just a little bit of belief behind Pilate’s words as well. We know that his wife was a strong, spiritual woman. I imagine that they would have been married for quite some time when Jesus had appeared on their doorstep. If Pilate had been the kind of husband that was stone-hearted against his wife, he would have abused her to the point that she would never had dared to send a message to him, especially during business hours. Because his wife was still granted the freedom to communicate spiritual impressions with him, even during important events, I believe that he was not a complete monster, and that he was still open hearted a little bit.
Unlike during the trial, Pilate is under no obligation to the chief priests now and he answers their plea to change the sign, saying, “What I have written I have written,” he will not change the sign. Pilate might be too committed to Rome at this point to change his allegiance, but he’s open enough to at least passive-aggressively stick it to the Jewish leadership and maybe even believe a little bit. As much as he could without knowing the Jewish religion, with this sign Pilate signifies that at a minimum, Jesus is an incredible individual and the world is worse off without him. The IM quotes Elder Bruce R. McConkie as teaching, “In Hebrew, Greek, and Latin- as though to symbolize the fact that here was a message for all nations and tongues- Pilate bore a written testimony of the divine Sonship of our Lord, a testimony which he obdurately refused to change, a testimony which is true and so stands everlastingly.”