One of the important steps in any project is to check to make sure it is finished. No one likes loose ends. We want to answer the question, is it complete? Our minds like closed loops, tied knots, periods on the end of sentences.
This is especially true when we have delegated a task to someone else. If we have not been there to do the task ourselves, and the task is important, we want to make sure it has been completed.
This is one of the most important and often neglected tasks of a good manager. They hold people accountable for their actions. They ask for updates and progress reports. They check to see that things are actually getting done. People need to know that their work matters enough for someone to check.
It is not that the manager doesn’t trust them to do the job, or at least good managers trust their people to do the job, but that checking creates a connection between the task assigned and the task completed. If the manager just throws out tasks, but then never checks to see if they are done, then how does the person know if the task is important? Is everything the manager say of equal importance?
This kind of accountability helps build great organizations. Every time a check is made or a progress report is given it is an opportunity for feedback and encouragement. It also gives the opportunity to refine the task, a task that might need some adjustments because of changing circumstances. This is the give and take of good management. People are able to give their input along the way, input that is valuable because it is closer to the actual task, input that can be closer to the people.
Pilate gave the order for Jesus to be crucified at the beginning of his workday. Now late in the afternoon he gets a request for the body to be released for burial. The his takes Pilate by surprise. Jesus died fairly rapidly by crucifixion standards. So Pilate asks for accountability. He calls in the commander on the ground, the man in charge of the crucifixion detail.
I don’t know about you, but I wouldn’t want to be that commander. He might have been in charge of those hundred soldiers, but he wasn’t of high enough rank to be comfortable going before the most powerful Roman official in the area. This would have been the normal job of the Garrison commander. This man would have had more regular contact with Pilate, since he was the most senior military advisor in Jerusalem. He would have been part of Pilate’s inner circle. All things military would have had his input.
But now the lowly Centurion must give an account of Jesus. We know from the other Gospels that they performed the official check, a poke in the side with a spear, to confirm death. Even a severely weak person would react to being stabbed in the side. Jesus doesn’t react, and He leaks water and blood, a sign of the beginnings of decomposition. The Centurion would have had to confirm the diagnosis himself. He was responsible for accomplishing the task. Pilate was now holding him accountable.
And now he gets called into the principal’s office, I mean Pilate’s office. Not a pleasant walk. He confirms Jesus’ death to Pilate and Jesus’ body is released to Joseph. End of story. Jesus is dead.
The Arnold Journey 