Surely this man was the Son of God!

And when the centurion, who stood there in front of Jesus, heard his cry and saw how he died, he said, “Surely this man was the Son of God!” Mark 15:39

Sunday, I preached from Mark 15:33-41—the death of Jesus. My outline was one long question. Here is it is:
No matter how foolish Jesus looks or you look, will you be close to the cross declaring Him the Son of God because of your intimate knowledge about His death?

Why?
One. The cross and the message of Jesus is foolishness to the world. To both Jews and Romans a cross was a disgusting instrument of cursing and death. At the time of Jesus people weren’t using them for decorations or jewelry. Surely they would look at us to today and think, “These people are creepy.” We should expect people to think that we are crazy for following.
Two. Mark tells us that the centurion who makes the great confession that Jesus is the Son of God was right in front of the cross. The very next thing he tells us is that the women were at a distance. And there is no mention of the disciples around at all.
Three. The confession that Jesus is the Son of God finishes what Mark introduced in chapter 1, verse 1 where he said, “This is the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Peter calls him the Christ in chapter 8 and now the centurion completes the description. To call Jesus, the Christ, the Son of God is an affirmation that He is God and He can claim that He is the way, the truth and the life and that no one comes to the Father but through Him. (John 14:6). It would have been hard to hear then and it is hard for many people now.
Four. The reason the centurion made the claim was because “he saw Jesus die.” He didn’t get the miracle of a resurrection or Jesus coming down and saving himself as the mockers requested.

Application.
Let’s grow in our understanding and appreciation about His death in order to keep declaring Him the Son of God even when people think we are crazy.