What happened with the Roman soldiers that participated in and witnessed Jesus crucifixion? The Bible does not address this, but we’d like to think that at least a few of them sought the truth and accepted Christ. Ken Gire’s The Centurion tells of Lucius, who sees Mary Magdalene at the cross and pursues her. However, he finds more than he planned to.

Lucius falls for Mary, but she cannot surrender to her love for a man. He asks God to grant this relationship, but Lucius is instead sent to the Frontier. This loss, and the hardships of battle cause him to spurn belief in God. As we often try to do, he looks to fill the void with other things. This process leaves him empty and unfulfilled. His distaste for what has happened keeps him from seeing the truth about Jesus.

Lucius missed the point about putting selfish ways aside and thinks that God abandoned him. Throughout the story, Mary’s life is shown, how she puts her own wants aside in order to serve Jesus by serving others.

The story was excellent and it held my attention from start to finish. Gire illustrated the two outlooks people have about Christ, He is worthy of worship or He is not. The two main characters show the difference each choice makes in a life.

In addition to the selflessness of the Christians, one other part that really stood out is how Gire shows the parallel between the crucifixion and Passover. I have not seen that done in many fiction books before.

I received a free copy of The Centurion from Moody Publishers in exchange for my honest review.