Second Soldier

From We Were There

By Sarah A. O'Malley and Robert D. Elmer

SOLDIER UNDER THE CROSS: Do you like to gamble? To listen to the click of the dice as you shake them? The excitement of gambling races through my blood.

That day, as part of our pay, we were given a seamless garment: the robe of the Nazarene. The soldier with me raised his sword to divide the robe, but I stopped him.

"Wait. Aren't you a gambler?", I said. "Let's throw dice to see who gets the whole garment. Why spoil a good piece of cloth?" And you know what? I won the prize.

As I held up the robe in triumph, I looked at Jesus. I heard him say, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" Jesus wasn't concerned about losing his garment. No, he called out for his God; it was his God that he was clinging to. I watched him as he was dying and I could have sworn he nodded toward me, as if to say, "I'm glad you didn't destroy my robe. My mother made it." Probably all in my imagination, of course.

Yet, I couldn't think of wearing that robe or even selling it. Instead, I gave it back to his mother. It was one of the few remembrances she had of him. I've always been a lucky guy. I was lucky to meet Jesus, even under the cross; lucky to win his garment and then to meet his mother.

Did you see me that day, casting lots under the cross?