Soldiers, Saints and Sinners - Ray Filby

As one reads the gospels, one finds Jesus’s path being crossed by what we might call walk on characters. These are often people with a need, to whom Christ ministers in a way which reveals his glory. Then the narrative moves on to new characters, new situations and the individuals to whom Jesus has just ministered fade into obscurity. But these walk on characters were real people living in real situations, facing real problems. Apart from their brief appearance in the gospel narrative, we know nothing about their lives.

This book provides a series of pictures which speculate on what the background of these characters might have been. Of course, these accounts are all fictional. They suggest situations which may provide explanations to questions which are not answered in the gospels. For example, why did Jesus’s declaration of forgiveness to the paralysed man whose friends had lowered him through the roof to Jesus feet, so immediately effect his cure? What was so special about the centurion and his servant who Jesus healed at a distance without ever meeting them or even entering into the Centurion’s house? While the stories in this book suggest answers to these and other unknown facts about the walk on characters in the gospels, the reader is invited to consider whether or not the writer’s suggestions are really plausible, and if not, to suggest what may be more likely scenarios.

The writer hopes that these stories will bring to life, Biblical characters who may be otherwise overlooked as just incidental by anyone reading the gospels and rightly, fully focusing their attention on Jesus, as he reveals his unique nature through his ministry of teaching and healing.