Mark 15:44

And Pilate marvelled if he were already dead: and calling unto him the centurion, he asked him whether he had been any while dead.

If the place of the crucifixion was the skull-shaped hill mentioned earlier, even an ordinary messenger in the employ of the governor could have covered the distance in less than five minutes; so the time factor here is of no great importance. Pilate's surprise was due to the fact that crucifixion was designed as a slow death; and for Jesus to have been dead so early, evidently at a time after Pilate's order to break his legs, and before such an order could have been carried out, was certainly phenomenal. A couple of important deductions hinge on the revelation here. The request of Joseph, coming after Pilate's order to break Jesus' legs and before the order was executed, resulted in Pilate's demanding a conference with the centurion in charge. This key fact accounts for the independent action of the soldiers in changing their orders by not breaking Jesus' legs and, instead, thrusting a spear into his side, conduct which would have been impossible had the centurion been present. Therefore, the absence of the centurion was providential.

The second deduction from the event here is that the death of Christ so quickly was almost unbelievable to the governor, even to the extent of his rejecting the report as false until he checked it with his centurion. The conclusion is reached that Christ did not die of crucifixion at all, there having been insufficient time for it, but that, as he said he would do, he laid down his life of his own accord. This also harmonizes with Mark 15:37, which see.