Welcome and thank you for taking a bible break to test your knowledge of God's word.
This week's question:

Six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany where Lazarus was, the one whom Jesus raised from the dead, and had supper there and the people heard He was there, "The great multitude therefore of the Jews learned that He was there; and they came, not for Jesus' sake only, but that they might also see Lazarus, whom He raised from the dead. But the chief priests took counsel that they might put Lazarus to death also; because on account of him many of the Jews were going away, and were believing in Jesus." (John 12:9-11) Jesus told His disciples to go and get a colt that had never been sat upon (Mark 11:1-7) and although it seemed like a small thing at the time, it actually fulfilled scripture as they understood later, "And Jesus, finding a young donkey, sat on it; as it is written, 'Fear not, daughter of Zion; behold, your King is coming, seated upon a donkey colt.' These things His disciples did not understand at first; but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things were written of Him, and that they had done these things to Him" (John 12:14-16). A great multitude, many who observed Lazarus being raised from the dead were bearing witness of it heard that He was coming and lined the road and laid out their garments and palm branches and cried out to Him as He passed, "On the next day the great multitude who had come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, took branches of the palm trees, and went out to meet Him, and began crying out, 'Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel.'" (John 12:12-13) Some of the Pharisees who were in the crowd told Jesus as they heard these things, "'Teacher, rebuke Your disciples.' And He answered and said, 'I tell you, if these become silent, the stones will cry out!'" (Luke 19:39-40) It is more than amazing that before the week is out, many of the same people are crying out, "Crucify Him!" (Luke 23:21)

That brings us to our question, "Who said,' Certainly this was a righteous Man.'?". Upon entering Jerusalem, Jesus tells His disciples, "The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified." (John 12:23), and then He said, "Now My soul has become troubled; and what shall I say, 'Father, save Me from this hour?' But for this purpose I came to this hour. Father, glorify Thy name.' There came a voice out of heaven, 'I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again.' The multitude therefore, who stood by and heard it, were saying that it had thundered; others were saying, 'An angel has spoken to Him.' Jesus answered and said, 'This voice has not come for My sake, but for your sakes. Now judgment is upon this world; now the ruler of this world shall be cast out. And I, if I be lifted up from this earth, will draw all men to Myself.' But He was saying this to indicate the kind of death by which He was to die. The multitude therefore answered Him, 'We have heard out of the Law that the Christ is to remain forever; how can You say, 'The Son of Man must be lifted up.' Who is the Son of Man?'" (John 12:27-34), and then the multitudes response, "But though He had performed so many signs before them, yet they were not believing in Him." (John 12:37) This is one of the reasons the people did not believe He was the Christ and were more willing to call upon Pilate for His crucifixion when encouraged by the Jewish leaders (Matthew 27:20). Pilate then washes his hands at the calling of the crowd for His crucifixion over even Barabbas (Luke 23:18), and Pilate has Jesus scourged and taken to the place called the Skull and they crucify Him there, with criminals on either side (Luke 23:33), and He said, "Father forgive them; for do not know what they are doing." (Luke 23:33)

So then, for the answer to our question we turn and read, "And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, and yielded up His spirit. And behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom, and the earth shook; and the rocks were split, and the tombs were opened; and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised; and coming out of the tombs after His resurrection they entered the holy city and appeared to many. Now the centurion, and those who were with him keeping guard over Jesus, when they saw the earthquake and the things that were happening, became very frightened and said, 'Truly this was the Son of God!'" (Matthew 27:50-54), "Now when the centurion saw what had happened, he began praising God, saying, 'Certainly this was a righteous Man.'" (Luke 23:47). So there we have the answer to our question, as it is the centurion who stood guard over Jesus to make sure the crucifixion went through and yet trembled with fear at His death as he recognized this Man as the Son of God! Interestingly enough, when Jesus gave up His life, the reaction of the multitudes was again very different from the cries of "Crucify Him!", as this verse follows the reaction of the centurion, "And all the multitudes who came together for this spectacle, when they had observed what had happened, began to return, beating their breasts." (Luke 23:48)

May we be moved by these events, as the centurion, and the sacrifice made by Jesus that we will be obedient to Him and His word, just as Jesus leaned obedience on Calvary, called the place of the Skull, "Although He was a Son, He learned obedience from the things which He suffered. And having been made perfect, He became to all those who obey Him the source of eternal salvation," (Hebrews 5:8-9).