When the soldiers crucified Jesus, they took his clothes, dividing them into four shares, one for each of them, with the undergarment remaining. This garment was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom.
“Let’s not tear it,” they said to one another. “Let’s decide by lot who will get it.”
This happened that the scripture might be fulfilled that said,
“They divided my clothes among them
    and cast lots for my garment.”
So this is what the soldiers did.
Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother, his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to her, “Woman, here is your son,” and to the disciple, “Here is your mother.” From that time on, this disciple took her into his home.

• John 19:23-27

SPOILER ALERT WARNING

If you intend to read this book, the following may give away the mystery

Not much here.

“CENTURION: Pass along, there! Pass along, please! … Now then, my lad, stand back- you can’t come any closer.
JOHN: Pray, good Centurion, let us pass. We are friends of Jesus of Nazareth.
CENTURION: Then you’d best steer clear of trouble. Take those women away. It’s no place for them.
MARY VIRGIN: Sir, I am his mother. I implore you, let me go to him.
CENTURION: Sorry, ma’am. Can’t be done…. Corvus! Keep those people moving! … Now just you go home quietly.
MARY MAGDALEN: Marcellus – do you know me? CENTURION: No, my girl. Never saw you in my life.
MARY MAGDALEN: Has grief so changed my face? … Quick, you Maries, pull off my veil, unpin my hair! … Look again, Marcellus! Is there another woman in Jerusalem with red hair like mine?
CENTURION: Mary of Magdala!
SOLDIERS: Mary! … Mary of Magdala! … Where have you been all this time, Magdalen?
MARY MAGDALEN: By the feet that danced for you, by the voice that sang for you, by the beauty that delighted you – Marcellus, let me pass!”

• Dorothy L. Sayers, The Man Born to be King, Scene II, King of Sorrows

“For Jesus Christ is unique – unique among gods and men. There have been incarnate gods a-plenty, and slain-and-resurrected gods not a few; but He is the only God who has a date in history. And plenty of founders of religions have had dates, and some of them have been prophets or avatars of the Divine; but only this one of them was personally God.”

• Dorothy L. Sayers, The Man Born to be King, Introduction

Boilerplate

In this mini-series, I will fulfill a promise.  Some time ago, published 14 January 2025, I wrote a brief synopsis of the book, Subversive by Crystal Downing.  The post is called A Subversive Christian.  In that book, I talked about the three books in the photo above.  And I especially wanted to do a mini-series on the book on the right, The Gospel in Dorothey L. Sayers.

Note that the title uses the preposition “in.”  Dorothy L. Sayers did not write a fifth gospel.  She did not write as if inspired directly by God.  The canon of Scripture is complete.

But in stating what this is not, then what is it?  All Christians have the Holy Spirit within them, guiding them.  When being a Christian is something you have inside you and through you, then your life will reflect that.  This book is how you can see various aspects of the Christian life in the works of Dorothy L. Sayers, mystery novels, plays, letters, and essays.

After the Introduction, it starts with Whose Body?  The editor’s attribute of a Christian that she focuses on is “Conscience.” Whose Body? is her first detective fiction novel featuring her main character, Lord Peter Wimsey.  Then in Death Must Advertise, we find Lord Peter has a couple of middle names.  His full name is Lord Peter Death Bredon Wimsey.

But we will stay in the Introduction for more than a week.  There are at least a half dozen quotes just in the introduction that look interesting.  I am not in a hurry to speed through this book.  I was not in a hurry to start it with me being over a year since I promised to make it into a mini-series.

But I would hope people could read my short stories and see the gospel being acted out in the characters in my fictional stories.  Deviled Yeggs grew up in a family of safe crackers, robbing from others.  He set out as a policeman, and then homicide detective, to redeem the family name but learning each person must have Christ redeem them individually.  Deviled’s wife, Trinity Naomi Tesla (TNT) Yeggs, was nicknamed “Nitroglycerin” (Glyce for short) by her parents because she was explosive when shaken.  But she found calm and peace in her husband’s arms, and eventually she found the same comfort and peace in the arms of Jesus as she faced “shaky” experiences.

Even when not writing about Jesus directly, the Good News (Gospel) appears in many ways in what a Christian writes.  Let’s enjoy this journey with possibly my favorite author (outside the Bible with C.S. Lewis in a tie with her), Dorothy L. Sayers.

Discussion

D.L. Sayers poses the idea of Mary Magdalen being an entertainer, of sorts.  She has been called a prostitute.  But what is known of her that she was among the women who followed Jesus and provided funds when necessary.  Mark 16 says that Jesus had cast out seven demons from her.  Many demon possessed people were used as fortune tellers, for example Acts 16.

But otherwise, I can find little fault in her story. Okay, I would not refer to Mary, mother of Jesus, as virgin at this point.

She invents the idea that the soldiers wanted to keep the crowd moving and no one standing at the foot of the cross.  Since the Romans invented this type of corporal punishment, they wanted people to see it.  But that could be from a distance.  The Assyrians are known for impaling their victims on a pole, but other empires did similar things.  The Persian empire followed Assyria and Babylon.  In Esther 7, Haman is “hung” and probably that was impaled.  The Philistines hung Saul’s dead body on a wall in 1 Samuel 31.  In 2 Samuel 21, relatives of King Saul were killed by the Gibeonites and left on a hill.  Artists have shown them impaled as Rizpah fights off the scavengers, but they could have simply been laid on the hill for scavengers to devour.

But crucifixion was the Romans way of delaying the death.  They wanted the people to see the suffering.  Their idea was crucifixion was to be a deterrent.  But, with a riotous crowd, I could see the point Ms. Sayers is making here.  Have everyone see the crucifixion from a distance.  Too many right there and the rioters could tear down the cross and preserve the life of Jesus.

But after Mary Magdalen sings a song about soldiers who need to go home, the centurion allowed the three to go to the cross.

Odd, Ms. Sayers set this up so that Jesus could tell John to take His mother into John’s house to care for her.  That is in the Gospel of John, but the John version of the crucifixion has John with Mary, Mary’s sister, Mary Magdalen, and Mary mother of Clopas.  Maybe Ms. Sayers did not have enough actresses…  Or why have them and then not give them lines to say, yet there are many of those women in the Bible.

Again, Ms. Sayers must go toward extrabiblical information to fill in the gaps.  Not that she is wrong, but there is more needed to provide a play with adequate dialogue.

But the play or movie should never have the horrors of that day without the thought of Jesus suffering in that way to save us.  Yes, the suffering was horrific, but that suffering would be meaningless if we had not separated ourselves from God with our sin.

Closing Prayer

Father, guide me.  Jesus came to earth to suffer for the sins that we commit.  We cannot pay You back in return, except to love You and show our love toward other people.  Thank You, Lord, a million times thank You.
In Thy Name I pray.
Amen

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.