Alexander the Great once found his philosopher friend Diogenes standing in a field, looking intently at a large pile of bones. Asked what he was doing, the old man turned to Alexander and replied, "I am searching for the bones of your father Philip, but I cannot seem to distinguish them from the bones of the slaves." Alexander got the point: everyone is equal in death. From the greatest to the least, from the most beautiful to the most ordinary, death is the universal equalizer.
Most of us know the shock and grief that comes with the death of a loved one or colleague: the sense of loss, perhaps numbness or anger, perhaps the realization of our own mortality. Jesus - the King of the Jews, the Messiah, and the Son of God - shared the human experience of death. His heart stopped beating, his lungs ceased their constant inhaling and exhaling, and the electrical impulses within his brain slowed and subsided into nothingness.
Jesus shared the common experience of death that we all must encounter. Some die accidentally, others by their own hand; some die deserving death; others unjustly or prematurely - but all die. People die in different ways. Sometimes the spirit leaves peacefully while the person is asleep. Sometimes it is violently removed, and there's an agonizing battle as the sufferer struggles frantically to hold onto life. Yet Jesus' death was unique because it was perfectly timed.
While dying on the cross, Jesus said, "It is finished" (John 19:30). What was finished? The work entrusted to him by his father. It was a cry of victory. I have done it; accomplished my work assigned to me despite temptations, trials and tribulations. Jesus had said, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me, and to accomplish his work.” (Jn 4:34) He came not to condemn the world but to save; to give his life as a ransom for many. That is why even while he was dying on the cross he prayed for those who were crucifying him, “Father forgive them because they do know what they are doing” (Lk 23:34) His mission was to give life and life in abundance. (Jn 10:10) And so he made the lame walk; the deaf hear; the dumb, speak; the blind see; the lepers, clean, even the dead were brought back to life. Even as he hung suspended by Roman nails between earth and heaven, he was in control, bringing his life mission to its ultimate climax. St. Augustine reminds us that "Jesus gave up his life because he willed it, when he willed it, and as he willed it."
Michelangelo, the Renaissance artist of Sistine Chapel fame, was a genius. He excelled as a sculptor, designer, painter and architect. His statues of Moses and David are widely recognized and appreciated. What many people don't know is that in Florence, there's an entire hall filled with his 'unfinished' sculptural works. As great an artist as he was, he left much unfinished. Jesus left no unfinished work - he accomplished everything he came to do. He completed his monumental mission. Hebrews 2:9 says with majestic simplicity, "In that death, by God's grace, he fully experienced death in every person's place". Jesus not only died - he died in your place. He died so you could have life. He suffered so you could find peace. He endured the darkness of Calvary so you could experience the light of the Good News. He endured the curse so you could enjoy the blessing. He was alienated from God so you could be reconciled to God. He who never did wrong suffered under the agonizing weight of your wrongs, so you could be put right with God. "He personally carried the load of our sins in his own body when he died on the cross, so that we can be finished with sin and live a good life from now on" (1 Peter 2:24). What a unique way of dying.
His death was also an act of worship. It is written in the Bible, “Sacrifices and offerings thou has not desired, but a body hast thou prepared for me; in burnt offerings and sin offerings thou has taken no pleasure. Then I said, “Lo, I have come to do thy will, O God.” (Heb 10:5-7) Throughout his life Jesus pleased his Father and accomplished his will. To the Jews who persecuted him Jesus said, "I seek not to please myself but him who sent me" (John 5:30). And Hebrews 9:14 reveals that on the cross Jesus "offered himself unblemished to God." The death of Jesus was not only unusual - it was unique. Unlike the temple priests who first sacrificed an animal to remove their own sins before sacrificing on behalf of the people, Jesus offered to God his own body - his own life - for our sins. In doing so, he demonstrated his complete obedience to God as his Holy Father, and the complete worthiness of God as the object of his worship. In this respect also his death was unique.
In his death Jesus demonstrated God's love for us in the fullest possible way, achieved total victory over evil, and made our salvation possible. “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” (Jn 10:10) Jesus said “Greater love has no man than this that a man lay down his life for his friends.” (Jn 15:12) St. Paul says, “While we were yet helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. Why, one will hardly die for a righteous man- though perhaps for a good man one will dare even to die. But God shows his love for us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us.” (Rom 5:6-8) The Bible tells us that it is not with silver and gold that he ransomed us from the slavery to sin but with his own precious blood.(1Pt 1:18-19) His death was not an example to inspire us but a sacrifice to save us! As John Stott says, "A pattern cannot secure our pardon . . . an example can stir our imagination, kindle our idealism and strengthen our resolve, but it cannot cleanse the defilement of our past sins, bring peace to our troubled conscience or reconcile us to God" (Basic Christianity 1971:89). Some one asked Jesus, “How much do you love me?” He stretched out his hand on the cross and said “this much” and died.
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