Mark 15:19, 20 And they struck him on the head with a reed stick, spit on him, and dropped to their knees in mock worship. When they were finally tired of mocking him, they took off the purple robe and put his own clothes on him again. Then they led him away to be crucified. (New Living Translation)

29, 30  The people passing by shouted abuse, shaking their heads in mockery. “Ha! Look at you now!” they yelled at him. “You said you were going to destroy the Temple and rebuild it in three days. Well then, save yourself and come down from the cross!”

31, 32  The leading priests and teachers of religious law also mocked Jesus. “He saved others,” they scoffed, “but he can’t save himself! Let this Messiah, this King of Israel, come down from the cross so we can see it and believe him!” Even the men who were crucified with Jesus ridiculed him.

39  When the Roman officer who stood facing him saw how he had died, he exclaimed, “This man truly was the Son of God!”

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Clint Eastwood starred in a movie called Hang ‘Em High in 1968. He played a character who was nearly killed by vigilantes. He became a lawman and returned to provide real justice. 

I was under ten years old when I saw that movie. That was about the same time I was coming to understand what it meant for Jesus to be nailed to the cross. My orientation toward the event was up. Gallows were up off the ground. The cross was likewise up. 

It’s far more likely that the cross Jesus died on placed him close to eye level with the crowd. This was no remote death. This was up close and personal. Those who mocked him were in his face. 

The Roman officer saw something in Jesus that only his closest companions would have recognized had they been there that day. The women who had followed him from Galilee and John made up the horrified group of friends who suffered along with Jesus. 

That Roman officer didn’t see a coward coming to a well-deserved death. He didn’t see a brash revolutionary uttering threats and hate. He saw something more than a man could be, could bear, could declare. He saw Jesus for who he was, is, and evermore shall be. He saw a King, a suffering servant, a Savior.

Jesus still gets mocked more than believed. Those who see him eye to eye, who have eyes to see and ears to hear, discover so much more to him than a figure on a cross worn around necks, tattooed on arms, and adorning the walls of churches and homes. They see in those eyes what the Roman officer saw. 

When you look Jesus in the eye, . . . 

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I see my Savior and my King.

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Our Father, give us eyes to see and ears to hear. Give us the courage to confess Jesus as our Savior and Sovereign. Give us an up close and personal relationship that transforms us. Amen.