We live hungry for truth we can trust—and for people who will speak it plainly when everything else is collapsing. At the cross, the world’s certainties are stripped away and something raw and decisive is spoken: an outsider names who Jesus is, and a handful of women refuse to leave. What might it do to our faith if we let that late, stunned witness shape how we live now?

In these passages (Matthew 27:54–56, Mark 15:39–41, Luke 23:47–49) a Roman centurion and those with him react at Jesus’ death, and a group of women watch from a distance. Matthew and Mark record the centurion saying, “Truly this was the Son of God,” while Luke records the centurion praising God and declaring Jesus innocent (Luke emphasizes “a righteous man”). All three Gospels note faithful women—Mary Magdalene and others—who had followed and ministered to Jesus; the lists of names differ (Mark names Salome, Luke names Joanna; Matthew titles one as the mother of the sons of Zebedee). John’s Gospel does not include this centurion confession in the same way, showing each evangelist highlights different angles of the moment.

This scene reveals something essential: even in apparent defeat, Jesus’ identity breaks through human categories. A pagan soldier, standing at the edge of empire, is moved to a confession many religious leaders had missed. The Gospel’s honor often falls on the least expected—women who stayed, a centurion who spoke. The moment is heavy: it forces us to ask whether we’ll recognize truth when it comes dressed in scandal and shame. It’s also full of grace: God works through unlikely witnesses and through suffering to disclose his kingdom.

Today, practice “staying” and speaking simply. If you’re tempted to shrink from grief or hard conversations, choose to be present—call someone grieving, show up at a difficult meeting, or pray aloud a simple confession: “Jesus, you are….” Let your presence and your honest words be the kind of witness that the bystanders offered. It won’t make everything neat, but it lets God use your small faith in big ways.