Why did Jesus die? Because he was killed. He was killed by people not basically different from you and me. Some were jealous; some were fearful; some were filled with hatred; some were too filled with pride to accept what he had to offer. You and I know what it is like to be afraid of losing our status. We know the experience of jealousy and what it does to people. We have hated. We know how our pride can spite us.But Jesus was also killed because of some very commendable human attributes: the loyalty, obedience, patriotism, and self-sacrifice represented by the soldiers who carried out the orders of crucifixion. There was also the Governor's legitimate desire to avoid an uprising and keep peace. And then there were those priests who had genuine concerns over what they perceived as his blasphemous claim to be the Son of God.
So the death of Jesus confronts us with two things about human nature and, hence, about ourselves: (1) Our sins, such as selfish fear and foolish pride can be the source of the worst kind of evil. (2) So can some of our most admirable human qualities.
Just as importantly, the death of Jesus, the Christ, confronts us with the truth about God. It means that God would spare nothing to save us - to complete the work of creation within us and bring us to eternal life in fellowship with God. God was in Jesus Christ so that whenever we see Jesus healing people, it is God that we see healing people. Whenever we hear Jesus teaching his followers how they should live, it is God we hear giving guidance for life in the Kingdom of God. Whenever we see Jesus despised and rejected by humankind, it is God that we see despised and rejected. And whenever we see Jesus loving his enemies and forgiving his crucifiers, it is God that we see loving every single human being and redeeming everyone who will turn and come to his embrace.
As painful as it may be to face the truth about ourselves, to fail to do so is to live in a fantasy world that is destined for oblivion. Only what is true is eternal. So we come to see that what Jesus did on the cross to confront us with the truth about ourselves and about God was an expression of the greatest love imaginable. It is, in fact, the love of God for those whom He created in His own image and whom He desires above all else to redeem.
HEM, 2002
