Episode NT32 – The Soldier’s story

The Bible Story Podcast

Based upon the crucifixion accounts in the Bible Episode NT32 – The Soldier’s story ‘I saw it all. You see, I was in the Roman army at the time and I lived in Jerusalem. We’d ‘eard about Jesus and many of us ‘ad seen ‘im. ‘E didn’t look anything special, but they kept telling us about the miracles’e’d done, and the things ‘e’d said about God. We thought everyone loved Jesus - but we were wrong!’ ‘In the middle of the night we got ordered to go and arrest Jesus, and one of ‘is followers, a man named Judas, took us to ‘im in some kind of garden in the middle of nowhere so we could arrest ‘im! Why ‘e needed arresting I’ll never know! It’s not as if ‘e ever did anything wrong. Still, orders is orders, so me and me men went with Judas and some of the Jewish guards to this garden - and there was Jesus. (P) Judas was scum! ‘E led us right to Jesus, ‘is own friend – someone ‘e’d followed and lived with for three years, and then shows us in the darkness exactly who ‘e was by giving ’im a welcoming kiss – the kiss of a friend … becoming the kiss of betrayal!’ ‘Well, at that point we arrested Jesus and took ‘im to the Jewish leaders who hate ‘im. We went back to our barracks for some sleep. But apparently, when ‘e gets to the Jewish leaders, they accuse ‘im of all kinds of rubbish – an’ no one can agree with what anyone else says! It’s a shambles. But then the ‘igh priest asks Jesus if ‘e’s the Son of God? ‘N Jesus says – Yeah, ‘e is! This makes the leaders go potty and they demand ‘is death. Mind you, I reckon they’d already decided they wanted ‘im dead before they even asked that question. – And anyway, what worried me a little was, what if Jesus was telling the truth? What if ‘e really was the Son of God?’ ‘Anyway, then, we ‘ear that Jesus was kinda beaten up by the Jewish leaders and taken to our boss, Pilate and Pilate starts to question Jesus about all the false things that the Jewish leaders have said about ‘im. Pilate’s not stupid, ‘e knows that they’re just jealous of Jesus and want ‘im out the way so they can keep their own privileged positions. Then ‘e asks Jesus – ‘Are you the King of the Jews?’ ‘Jesus answers that one and says that his Kingdom is not of this world! (P) And Pilate gets a little worried about that answer. And as Jesus hasn’t shown any signs of being either dangerous or guilty of anything, Pilate starts to think, ‘I better let ‘im go!’ ‘Now, it was the time of a special feast in Jerusalem called Passover when each year Pilate lets one of the prisoners, who we’ve worked really hard to catch, go free! So we’re none to ‘appy about this idea, but apparently it keeps the Jews ‘appy! Anyway, Pilate doesn’t want to execute Jesus, so he goes before a ‘uge crowd and tries to make them agree to let Jesus go! But they refused! I think the Jewish leaders were down in the crowd telling the people to shout against Jesus. And then, the people start to demand that someone else, a murderer no less, called Barabbas, be set free! It made no sense to me!’ ‘So Barabbas – the murdering scum that ‘e is – gets released and Pilate starts asking the crowd what ‘e should do with Jesus! At first ‘e suggests that ‘e has ‘im whipped and set free. But as I watch I see those religious leaders out in the crowd shouting as loud as they can for Jesus to be crucified! Crucified! ‘E’s innocent and they want to kill ‘im with one of the nastiest deaths that’s ever been thought of? Pilate didn’t like the idea of that, you could tell, but when the Jewish leaders started to say they’d tell the Roman Emperor that Pilate wouldn’t execute a rival king - because Jesus had claimed to be the ‘King of the Jews’ and Rome considered anyone who claimed to be a king to be an enemy of the Emperor - Pilate ‘ad no choice. It was more than ‘is job was worth to say no! So ‘e ‘anded Jesus over to us – to crucify ‘im.’ (P) ‘But all the time I was wondering, if ‘e really is the Son of God, then why is ‘e going through all this? Why doesn’t ‘e just walk...