Lent 2011: Learn of Jesus Christ to die. (1)

There is a hymn we often sing during the Lenten Season that makes this statement in the final verse: “learn of Jesus Christ to die.”
The verse reads as follows:

Calvary’s mournful mountain climb;
there, adoring at his feet,
mark the miracle of time,
God’s own sacrifice complete;
it is finished, hear him cry;
learn of Jesus Christ to die.

It sounds like such a sombre topic to learn about – to learn how to die.
Yet, it remains a hurdle we all will have to face, only some of us sooner than others.
It may be the one obstacle before entering God’s paradise eternally that we feel the most uncertain about, and because we do not how it is to die, may be feared more than any other milestone in our journey with God.

And so, because we all are faced with the reality of our mortality, and because it is one of only a few things absolutely nobody can avoid, it is not only important to learn of Jesus how to live, but also to learn how to die.

"Father, into your hands I commit my spirit." (LK 23:46) These were the words Jesus said when he died.
We cannot hear these words without remembering how he suffered. Without remembering three awful hours when the perfect fellowship between the Father and the Son, was broken and Jesus cried out loud: "Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?" — which means, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" (Mt 27:46).

Up to these three hours of darkness, there always had been perfect fellowship between the Father and the Son. During the institution of the Lord’s Supper, Jesus could pray to the Father saying, "All I have is yours, and all you have is mine ... you are in me and I am in you" (Jn 17:10,21).

And then all his work was done. "It is finished," Jesus had said on the cross. The cup of God's wrath was drained and the darkness was over. "Father," Jesus said, "into your hands I commit my spirit."

This last word on the cross shows Jesus to again have fellowship with God the Father and once again calling him Father too. The Saviour was once more in peaceful, loving communion with the Father. He could once more speak to the Father, because the Father was no longer removed from him.

He whom Jesus calls Father is also our Father. What comfort we find in being able to call God our Father, once we are not anymore removed from him. I call God Father because he loves me, cares for me and supplies all my needs. "How great is the love the Father has lavished on us," says John, "that we should be called children of God!" (1 Jn 3:1).

"Father, into your hands I commit my spirit." This is how Jesus died. In fellowship, yes in union, with a loving Father. Those who know God as Father, as Jesus knew God as Father, will be able to die as Jesus died: at peace, without fear, feeling safe without uncertainty and content that we achieved God’s purpose with our lives.

What a comfort that we who learned of Jesus how to die, will call God "Father” at the last breath.

(Next Wednesday we will learn from Jesus going from the hands of men, into the hands of the Father.)