Mark 15:39

‘And when the centurion who stood opposite him saw that he so (cried out and) breathed his last, he said, “Truly this man was the Son of God”.'

The awesome events on that day had produced their own effects in the centurion in charge of the guard. And when he saw the way that Jesus died he cried out ‘truly this man was the Son of God'. He would mean by that that he was impressed by the fact that Jesus was in some way divine.

What he meant by ‘Son of God' is open to question for we know nothing about him. He may have meant the son of whichever God or gods he believed in. Or he may have overheard talk around him in which Jesus' recognition as ‘the Son of God' was mentioned (Matthew 27:40; Matthew 27:43) and be concurring in that idea, while also inevitably linking it in his thoughts with his own ideas. It is unlikely that he was a Jew, but he may well have been connected with a syncretistic religion which included the God of the Jews and of the Samaritans. However, we must not take his faith too far. Note the ‘was'. As far as he was concerned Jesus was now in the past. What he thought beyond that we can hardly hope to surmise.

But to Mark the importance of his statement was that it amounted to a testimony by ‘a Roman' to Who Jesus is. He is the Son of God, a favourite title of his (Mark 1:1; Mark 1:11; Mark 3:11; Mark 5:7; Mark 9:7; Mark 12:6; Mark 14:61 see also Matthew 4:3; Matthew 4:6; Matthew 14:33; Matthew 16:16; Matthew 26:63; Luke 22:70).

Note that Mark deliberately refers the word ‘breathed His last' to both the tearing of the veil and the words of the centurion. He is drawing attention to the fact that on His death both God and Rome testified to Who Jesus is.

‘He so (cried out and) breathed his last.' There is good support for the inclusion of ‘cried out' in one form or another although it is omitted in Aleph and B. But the cry would certainly have made its own impression on those who were there.