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\u201cSo, let me get this straight. Petronius glared at the two Roman soldiers\nsitting across from him. There was a bright light, and you were knocked to\nthe ground, and when you got up, the seal was broken, the two-ton stone was\nrolled away, and the body was gone?\n.\nThere was also a roaring sound, Justin added. He glanced over at Lucius,\nwho was staring at the table in silence, still in shock.\n.\nA roaring sound, their commanding officer repeated. Like a lion?\n.\nNo, like scraping Justin stopped to think. But yes, also like a lion.\n.\nPetronius threw his reed pen down in frustration. A scraping sound that\nroared like a lion. Do you know how crazy that sounds? Honestly, if it\nweren\u2019t for the other soldiers on guard last night with similar nonsensical\nstories, you two would be on your way to the execution block for sleeping\non the job, because this all sounds like a crazy dream!\n.\nJustin saw Lucius cringe. I know how it sounds, said Justin. That\u2019s also\nhow it felt. Crazy. Impossible.\n.\nPetronius dismissed them so he could converse with the other officers.\nDon\u2019t go far, he warned them. You\u2019re being watched until we get this\nsorted out.\n.\nJustin led Lucius to the courtyard. I\u2019ll get us something to eat, he said\nas he sat his friend beneath an olive tree. Lucius nodded and slumped\nagainst the tree trunk.\n.\nJustin walked to a nearby booth selling pomegranates. As he handed his\ncoins over, he wondered if this would be his last meal. What had the dead\nmanwhose tomb they had been guardingeaten for his last meal? Justin\nshuddered as he thought about the crucifixion he had witnessed just a few\ndays before. He\u2019d seen many executions, but this one was different. He\u2019d\ngotten the distinct sense that this man in no way deserved the abuses\nheaped upon him as his death sentence wascarried out. Now, Justin wondered\nif he, too, might be executed.\n.\nAs he walked back toward the courtyard, a shadow fell across his path.\nMove, please, Justin said, his voice lacking the hard Roman edge it\nnormally had. Let me pass.\n.\nThe man took a step closer. Justin looked up, and the pomegranates he was\nholding fell to the ground. It\u2019s you, he whispered. The eyes were the\nsame as when they beat him and nailed him to that cross, but he didn\u2019t look\nweak and helpless anymore. He looked healthy and whole.\n.\nThe man gave him a kind smile. Go get your friend, he said, nodding\ntoward the courtyard. Then follow me. Courtney Lasater\n.\n After Jesus rose from the dead, He appeared to many people before He\nascended into heaven. Today\u2019s fictional story imagines Jesus appearing to\nsome of the Roman soldiers who were present at His tomb and His\ncrucifixion. While we don\u2019t know if something like this happened or not, we\ndo know that Jesus called many gentile (or non-Jewish) people, including\nRomans, to follow Him, both before His death and after His ascension. What\ndoes this reveal about God\u2019s compassion and mercy? (If you want to dig\ndeeper, check out Matthew 8:5-13; 27:54; Mark 15:39; Luke 7:1-10; Acts\n10:1-48; 16:23-34; 27:1-44.) \n.\n Jesus is God in human flesh, and He came to die a terrible death on the\ncross for people who were His enemies. The reality is, without Jesus, we\nare all God\u2019s enemies. But because Jesus died and rose again for us, we can\nbe forgiven and reconciled to God by putting our trust in Jesus (Romans\n5:10). Have you ever felt like you were somehow disqualified from following\nJesus? How might today\u2019s Bible passages speak into this?\n.\n Jesus seeks out the lost, He meets us with immeasurable kindness, and He\nbeckons us to follow Him....