Resurrection Living || Death
Read the intro to this blog here.
In the Church, we often discuss the idea that without “bad”, “good” can’t be “good.” I think the same can be said about “life.” “Life” isn’t “life” without “death.” But also “death” has not meaning without “life.”
This Lent I want to write about Resurrection Living - what would life look like, if I lived as though the Resurrection was real? But we cannot look at life without understanding death.
Death - “the destruction or permanent end of something.” (Oxford Dictionary)
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The first time I watched
The Passion of the Christ, I covered my eyes through the scenes of Jesus being beaten and dying (especially, when the bird poked the guy’s eyes out). My entire life I heard the death of Jesus simplified to this: Jesus wore a crown of thorns and carried His cross. He was hung on the cross and prayed to God. He, then, died.
It’s not inaccurate, but have you read the gory details? Yes, Christ’s Resurrection brought us life, but He had to die first.
Isaiah explained it like this:
We’re all like sheep who’ve wandered off and gotten lost.
We’ve all done our own thing, gone our own way.
And God has piled all our sins, everything we’ve done wrong,
on him, on him.
He was beaten, he was tortured,
but he didn’t say a word.
Like a lamb taken to be slaughtered
and like a sheep being sheared,
he took it all in silence.
Justice miscarried, and he was led off—
and did anyone really know what was happening?
He died without a thought for his own welfare,
beaten bloody for the sins of my people.
They buried him with the wicked,
threw him in a grave with a rich man,
Even though he’d never hurt a soul
or said one word that wasn’t true.
Still, it’s what God had in mind all along,
to crush him with pain.
The plan was that he give himself as an offering for sin
so that he’d see life come from it—life, life, and more life.
And God’s plan will deeply prosper through him.
Out of that terrible travail of soul,
he’ll see that it’s worth it and be glad he did it.
Through what he experienced, my righteous one, my servant,
will make many “righteous ones,”
as he himself carries the burden of their sins.
Therefore I’ll reward him extravagantly—
the best of everything, the highest honors—
Because he looked death in the face and didn’t flinch,
because he embraced the company of the lowest.
He took on his own shoulders the sin of the many,
he took up the cause of all the black sheep.
Did you read that? Like actually read it? If you skimmed, it - go back.
Read the words, again:
Beaten.
Tortured.
Slaughtered.
Beaten Bloody.
Thrown in the grave.
Crushed.
Terrible travail (painful or laborious effort).
Burdened.
And after all of that Isaiah says Jesus “looked death in the face and didn’t flinch” [emphasis mine].
So Church, let’s talk about it. Let’s stop skimming the words of Isaiah, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Let’s stop summarizing His death by highlighting just the things that are easier to embrace.
Jesus (who God) was deemed guilty. His was given the death sentence.
Jesus didn’t get cuffed and shuffled to a cell to wait for His assigned date. He didn’t get to see His friends and family one-on-one in a cell. He didn’t get to pick His last meal to be served to Him. He didn’t get to sit in a chair and have a needle stuck in His arm and slowly fade into the next Life.
The people of Rome chanted (like obnoxious Penn State fans) for Him to die. Pilate agreed and ordered him to be flogged with a lead-tipped whip. As the soldiers whipped Him, one of them had the idea to make a crown for the “King of the Jews” out of long thorns. Another adorned him with a purple robe. He “looked” like a king - crown and robe. The crowds mocked Him and hit Him with their fists
(see Luke 23:23-25, John 19:1-3).
Pilate, again, turned to the crowd to make a decision for him. They chanted for Him to be crucified. Pilate shuttered at the idea, but the Jewish leaders and crowds insisted it is what Ceasar would want. So Jesus, was handed His own cross to carry. They got to Skull Hill and the soldiers stripped Him naked and divided the clothing between themselves. They took the beaten, naked, and STILL BREATHING Messiah and drove nails (not they nails you put into a picture hanging system - historians estimate them to be an inch think and 7-9 inches long) into His wrists and His feet. They lifted His cross into place - between two criminals. The weight of a grown man hung by His wrists. Then a soldier took a spear and stabbed Jesus’ side and water came out of His body (see John 19:6-20,34).
And after crying out to God - He died. He, actually, physically died.
Death - “the destruction or permanent end of something.”
And before you are all tempted to hit the unsubscribe button….stay with me.
Remember life isn’t life without death. The details are important because without death, Life and the Resurrection mean nothing.
I remember in college, after a speaker read Isaiah 53 at a campus service, I was meditating on the image of Christ walking His cross down the pathway of His impending death. I pictured the blood dripping along the path. I pictured the wounds. I envisioned the nails being driven into His flesh. I saw the agony on His face, as His body weight was being held by His wrists. I saw the spear pierce His side. I saw the life draining from His body. And I remembering whispering through tears, “It should have been me.”
Our stomachs churn as we read the details, but what happens when you put your name where it belongs in the story - not as a bystander, but as the accused?
The very sin that deems you guilty could only be washed away by the blood spilled.
Wash - “clean with water and, typically, soap or detergent.” “Typically” with soap. But, Jesus used the water and blood pouring from His body (John 19:34) to wash (to clean) our sins from our souls - for eternity.
It should have been me. It should have been you. It should have been us. But it wasn’t. Because of Love.
