“Good morning, Paul,” the guard greeted him as Paul left his bed chamber early one morning.
He stood near the door of the house; some guard or other had stood there every day during the 20 months Paul had so far spent waiting for his trial before Caesar. Paul may have the luxury of his own hired house, but the guard was a constant reminder that he was very much a prisoner, unable to come and go as he chose. Still, there was no point in moping or
complaining. Another day meant more opportunities.
“Greetings, Crispinus,” answered Paul as he went and sat at the table in the spacious room where he frequently welcomed visitors who wanted to hear about the gospel. “You’re back on shift again. Have you had a chance to think about my comments – two days ago, was it? – about why you should believe Jesus Christ rose from the dead?”
“Yes, some – and I talked to my wife
about it too. We can see why you are so convinced about it, if you saw him alive, but we haven’t. After about a year months of guarding you on and off, I trust you in many things, but this seems a bit of a stretch. The fact is, people don’t come back from the dead. I don’t know anyone who’s died and come back to life.”
“You’re right, it doesn’t happen normally. The Lord Jesus was and is a special case. That’s one of the reasons
why I call him ‘The Lord’ or ‘Jesus Christ’.”
“Our Roman religion has lots of gods and demi-gods and people ascribe all sorts of amazing achievements to them. But I don’t know many people who expect any of those sorts of marvels to happen nowadays. Today, life comes and goes. People live and die – and they don’t come back to life.”
“Jesus Christ did, and I’ve met him a few times.”
“That’s all very well, but can I meet him?”
“Probably not,” smiled Paul, apologetically. “One of the most important things about the Lord Jesus Christ is that he died on a cross. He was crucified. He’s not being presented as a hero like your heroes or a god like your gods. He was a hero as a sacrifice; a servant.”
“Doesn’t sound like much of a hero to me. It’s criminals who get executed on
crosses, and we burn their bodies as rubbish.”
“Ah,” said Paul, his eyes lighting up. As always, he was eager to convince doubters, and here he sensed an opening. “That’s what makes Jesus Christ different. He wasn’t a criminal. He was no thief, no liar, no murderer, no adulterer, no brawler. In fact, there’s never been a man who was further from being any of those things. Even Pilate the governor realised that he wasn’t guilty of
any crime. No, the problem was that he was too good. The Jewish leaders were jealous of his goodness and his popularity, so they were determined to kill him. Pilate wanted to free him, but didn’t dare to do so because of the threats of the Jewish leaders. His enemies were only able to kill him because of his goodness. If he’d been like them, fighting to maintain his own position, he could easily have defeated them. He had power to do miracles! Thousands
of people saw that. But God’s plan for Jesus was for him to die on a cross, not because he was guilty but because he wasn’t.”
Crispinus looked puzzled. He always felt a little puzzled when Paul began to talk about Jesus. The religion Paul presented had a completely different foundation from anything Crispinus had ever learned. It wasn’t that it was impossible or ridiculous, it was just that most of what Paul described was counter-intuitive
or paradoxical. He presented a religion of victory through defeat; joy through suffering; mastery through service; life through death; riches through poverty. It had a radically different starting point.
He sighed. “I don’t understand how you can expect to be saved by a man who was defeated and killed by his enemies.”
“I understand your problem,” answered Paul, earnestly, “but this question goes to the root of God’s
entire plan for salvation. He made us and wants to save us, but it has to be done his way – and that’s not through human pride, ability, arrogance or even determination. Jesus Christ won his victory by obedience to God, his father, through death on a cross.”
“I suppose obeying God makes sense – since you say he created us and having one God as our creator seems reasonable to me. So obeying one’s creator really does make sense.”
“I’m glad it makes sense to you, because it certainly makes sense to me,” said Paul. “Unfortunately, Adam, the first man God made, chose to ignore his creator’s instructions. God calls that sin, and Adam died because of his sin. And death was passed on to everyone because we all sin – although in many different ways. Everyone disobeys God’s laws, whether by doing things he forbids or by not doing things he requires. Everyone, that is, except
for Jesus Christ. And that’s why the Jewish leaders were jealous of him.”
“I can see how that could happen, and why they would kill him. But resurrection is a different story.”
“Yet the resurrection is just another logical part of the whole plan. Sin led to death as God had promised. Does that make sense?”
“Yes, I think so.”
“Yet if Jesus Christ
never sinned, did he deserve to die?”
“I suppose not.”
“So how could he stay dead? Death was a punishment for sin.”
“It sounds logical,” Crispinus answered slowly. “But still, resurrection…”
A knock sounded on the door. Crispinus quickly made sure his uniform was neat and tidy, then picked up his spear from where it leaned against the wall, and opened the
door. Although the house was rented by Paul, his guards had to okay each visitor.
“Ah, Luke,” said Crispinus. “Come in, and you too, Lucius – we’re in the middle of a discussion you might be interested in.”
Luke stood back and signalled for Lucius to enter first. Lucius, like Crispinus, wore the uniform and insignia of the Praetorian Guard, the elite unit answering directly to the emperor and responsible for guarding
Caesar’s prisoners.
“Is Paul still working toward his goal of converting the entire Praetorian Guard?” asked Lucius, smiling.[1]
“He may have converted you,” said Crispinus, mildly, “but I’m not completely convinced yet. Resurrection still seems a bit of a stretch to me.”
“Paul told me it was one of the ways God announced Jesus to be his obedient son. I like the idea: resurrection highlights
Jesus’ holiness and God’s power.”
“I suppose so, but I still need to think about it more,” said Crispinus.
Luke had followed Lucius in and shut the door. “I happen to have a scroll of the Psalms with me, Crispinus. Have you ever read any of them?”
“I haven’t read any, but Paul has told me about some of them, including one that gave amazing details about the death of Jesus. Phenomenal
detail for something written hundreds of years before it happened. I found it very convincing. It really fits with crucifixion and the events of Jesus’ death.”[2]
“Agreed,” said Luke. “Well, there’s another Psalm which predicted that Jesus would not return to dust the way all other dead bodies do. I’ll just find it for you.” He laid the scroll on a table and unrolled it until he found the Psalm he was looking for. “This Psalm was
written by the great King David. Near the end of it he says,
“ ‘For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol,
or let your holy one see corruption.
You make known to me the path of life;
in your presence there is fullness of joy;
at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.’[3]
“Do you think that could be a reference to the resurrection of Jesus Christ? Dead only three days, then raised to life and soon afterwards going into heaven to sit at God’s right hand.”
“I don’t know that passage,” said Lucius, delightedly. “The prophecies in your Jewish Bible are quite astonishing.”
“Yet the
leaders of the Jews don’t believe them,” objected Crispinus.
“But that didn’t stop them fulfilling the prophecies of his crucifixion,” said Lucius. “People don’t need to believe God’s prophecies to fulfil them.”
“I’ll have to tell my wife about that prophecy,” said Crispinus. “Can I read the rest of the Psalm now?”
“Be my guest,” said Luke.
Crispinus leaned his
spear against the wall again and sat down, leaning over the scroll to read.
Notes
[1] Paul obviously spoke to his guards while imprisoned in Rome and seems to have converted some of the Praetorian Guard and Caesar’s household. See Philippians 1:13 and 4:22.
[2] See Psalm 22.
[3] Psalm 16:10-11
