Living and dying for someone else

By Darlene Smith
RR Ministerial

Death does not seem to be a miracle, but it was that day.
You would think that God would come up with an alternative way to fulfill His plan than to allow His own Son crucified, known to be the cruelest form of death. What it must have been like for His disciples to watch. What it must have felt like for His own mother to experience the waiting for her Son to take His last agonizing breath.
What it must have been like for the Father to watch His Son go through the humiliation and anguish Jesus experienced just because of love for His Father. It was love that benefitted us, but it was the love Jesus had for His Father that led Him to it.
Hebrews 12:2-3
Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
NIV
Many theories have been written about what that ‘joy’ set before Him was. I believe it was because this Son wanted His Father’s plan fulfilled.
John 3:16-17
16 “For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. 17 God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him.
Holy Bible, New Living Translation
Our Heavenly Father loved us so much that He sent Jesus, not to judge us but to pay the only price it would take for us to be returned to Him; death.
There was another way but it was keeping the law perfectly and we couldn’t do it. So, Jesus did it so His Father’s desire would be fulfilled. It was all part of the plan since before the beginning. [Revelation 13:8]
We could not have possibly earned this no matter how good we were. How many have lived a perfect life?
With the completion of Passover, this is fresh on our minds. It reminds us of those moments of the last hours of Jesus life before He was resurrected.
I cannot imagine the disillusionment of His disciples not knowing fully what was going on.
Yet, Jesus did this mostly for His love for His Father. He stated:
John 5:19-20
19 So Jesus explained, “I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself. He does only what he sees the Father doing. Whatever the Father does, the Son also does. 20 For the Father loves the Son and shows him everything he is doing.
Holy Bible, New Living Translation
All the miracles, the forgiveness given to desperate sinners, the wonderful words spoken were not Jesus’, but the Father’s. Jesus just fulfilled His Father’s desire. He literally lived for the benefit of someone else.
The question is; who are we living for? Who are we willing to die for?