Into the Fire

For those of us who’ve seen death up close, the coined phrase “Death with dignity” doesn’t exist. Death is an ugly thing. It takes the last breath of a body and leaves that body empty. While it’s possible to die in quietness and “peace”, the only real peace comes from knowing your eternal residence following the moment when human life no longer exists.

And isn’t that the ultimate beauty of the Savior of the world? He took a brutal death and transformed it to real Life. He proved that eternity exists and invited us to spend it with the triune God.

We read (or view) the horrors of death daily. Some professions experience it daily. While the reasons for it are too numerous to explore from the aged passing to the victim-ology of serial murders, to those of us who know Jesus Christ, death is a constant reminder that “The wages of sin is death.” Inescapable in one form or another.

Jesus died a brutal crucifixion after being beaten to an unrecognizable form. Is there any dignity in the death of the holy God-man who gave his life as a sacrifice for those who killed Him? If ever there was “dignity” in it, His death was it. Once for all He took upon himself the sins of us all and bore the punishment for them. Metered out over the slow process of being thrashed and spat upon, receiving the horrors of painful spikes through his hands and feet, and afterward being thrust up on a penalizing cross to endure a slow and suffocating demise. Surely the most painful part was to take upon His sinless self every perversion known to man, the sins of the world. Allow them to kill him. Trust that His father would resurrect Him . . . as it is written.

As many of the hymns read: death could not keep Him in the grave. Real Life awaited Him. Resurrection guaranteed. As He told his disciples: “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” The only holy sacrifice ever given. The only pure sacrifice ever offered. The only real sacrifice ever accepted. For us.

There’s no dignity in death: it’s a reminder of sin. But Life given through the death of Jesus, the sinless One, is the only true life we can own for eternity. Through Him and Him alone.

Happy Resurrection Day.