Mark 15:44-45
One
of the important steps in any project is to check to make sure it is finished.
No one likes loose ends. We want to
answer the question, is it complete? Our minds like closed loops, tied knots,
periods on the end of sentences.
This
is especially true when we have delegated a task to someone else. If we have
not been there to do the task ourselves, and the task is important, we want to
make sure it has been completed.
This
is one of the most important and often neglected tasks of a good manager. They
hold people accountable for their actions. They ask for updates and progress
reports. They check to see that things are actually getting done. People need
to know that their work matters enough for someone to check.
It
is not that the manager doesn’t trust them to do the job, or at least good
managers trust their people to do the job, but that checking creates a
connection between the task assigned and the task completed. If the manager
just throws out tasks, but then never checks to see if they are done, then how
does the person know if the task is important? Is everything the manager say of
equal importance?
This
kind of accountability helps build great organizations. Every time a check is
made or a progress report is given it is an opportunity for feedback and
encouragement. It also gives the opportunity to refine the task, a task that
might need some adjustments because of changing circumstances. This is the give
and take of good management. People are able to give their input along the way,
input that is valuable because it is closer to the actual task, input that can
be closer to the people.
Pilate
gave the order for Jesus to be crucified at the beginning of his workday. Now
late in the afternoon he gets a request for the body to be released for burial.
The his takes Pilate by surprise. Jesus died fairly rapidly by crucifixion
standards. So Pilate asks for accountability. He calls in the commander on the
ground, the man in charge of the crucifixion detail.
I
don’t know about you, but I wouldn’t want to be that commander. He might have
been in charge of those hundred soldiers, but he wasn’t of high enough rank to
be comfortable going before the most powerful Roman official in the area. This
would have been the normal job of the Garrison commander. This man would have
had more regular contact with Pilate, since he was the most senior military
advisor in Jerusalem. He would have been part of Pilate’s inner circle. All
things military would have had his input.
But
now the lowly Centurion must give an account of Jesus. We know from the other
Gospels that they performed the official check, a poke in the side with a
spear, to confirm death. Even a severely weak person would react to being
stabbed in the side. Jesus doesn’t react, and He leaks water and blood, a sign
of the beginnings of decomposition. The Centurion would have had to confirm the
diagnosis himself. He was responsible for accomplishing the task. Pilate was
now holding him accountable.
And
now he gets called into the principal’s office, I mean Pilate’s office. Not a
pleasant walk. He confirms Jesus’ death to Pilate and Jesus’ body is released
to Joseph. End of story. Jesus is dead.