They Saw Him Die

They Saw Him Die

“And when the centurion, who stood there in front of Jesus, heard his cry and saw how he died, he said, “Surely this man was the Son of God!” Mark 15:39 NIV

The Christian faith is strange. We rejoice in the fact that an innocent man was brutally murdered in order to pay the price for the wrong that we do as human beings. And to make it worse, Jesus chose to do it. He chose to become the only appropriate sacrifice to atone for the sin of humankind. It’s a strange faith. And yet it seems to be the only way that things can ever change in this world. What do I mean?
Jesus walked around for three years healing people, forgiving sins, performing miracles and teaching people how to live a new life. Teaching people how to walk out the Law that the Father gave to the Jews through Moses. He was the total fulfillment of everything that could possibly be considered good. He walked as God among them, and they still had no idea who he was.
But something happened when Jesus died that caused people to understand more about who he really is. The centurion who was standing at the cross and watching the whole process finally exclaimed that Jesus was the son of God after watching him die. It is not recorded that he said that while watching him live. He said it watching him die. The centurion watched Jesus lay down his life for the sake of all of us and forgive us even while he was being crucified. He never cursed them out, never unleashed his power to wipe them all out, never used his power to skip the whole crucifixion process, never used his power to block the pain, nothing. He just took every hit, every insult, every nail, every bit of the pain it took in order to make sure that we all can have access to life without the burden of sin weighing us down. All so we can know what forgiveness looks like.
And this is our faith. That out of this death comes life for us all. And that even out of our death comes life for someone else. If we are to be conformed into the image of Christ, then we have to embrace this irony. It’s not just a physical death that I am speaking of. Paul said that he dies daily for the sake of Christ. It was Paul’s love for Jesus and his faith in who Jesus is that gave him the strength and courage he needed to face the obstacles that he faced. And he did that so that other people could see this and know that this Jesus is worth it. That the life that Jesus gives is worth the sacrifices that Paul was making. He loved Jesus that much. Jesus was his inspiration for that, considering Jesus loved us that much that he, too was willing to make this ultimate sacrifice to bring us into relationship with Himself.
When we glorify God, it is not in us simply having a “good life”. People don’t change because they see people who have the “good life”. We have plenty of celebrities and business people who reveal that to us. That might create a desire for money or fame or power, but it doesn’t always inspire people to change their ways for the better. Sometimes it inspires people to change their ways for the worst. Now the other side of the argument is that people who see their conversion to Christianity as an opportunity to oppress other religions or people and declare that Christians are right and everyone else is wrong have it all wrong, too. These types of Christians are responsible for some of these holy wars and destruction and ignorance throughout history. They, too need to see the crucifixion with new eyes..
We have to be able to truly see the death of Jesus in it’s proper context in order to be inspired to change anything in our lives. When we see Jesus for who he really is, then we will have no choice but to exclaim that surely he was the Son of God. No other explanation for why he would choose to lay down his life the way that he did will do. It makes no sense for him to choose to be brutally murdered for crimes he didn’t commit if he wasn’t who he said he was. And if that is true, then we have to admit that there is power in this crucifixion to make even the hardest person change their ways. What kind of God can make you want to give up everything you consider to give you life in order to love someone else and help them get to know Him? It would have to be a powerful God. A God who can make you fall in love with Him over and over again. And who can make you give up the things you consider valuable because you know that He’s worth it. That is the God that we serve. That is the God Jesus knew. And that is the God that the Centurion got a revelation of when he saw Jesus die. This is the God we are called to proclaim to others. But in order to do so, people will have to see the death in you.
It’s not a popularity contest. God doesn’t need to give you a bunch of stuff so people can be manipulated into wanting Him. That’s like someone trying to buy your love with material things. You never actually love the person. You just love what they can do for you. When you truly love someone, if they never get you anything, it doesn’t change how you feel. The gifts are a bonus. But you know when you truly love someone by the things that you now do, that you didn’t used to do. Live can make you crazy. Or at least seem like you’re crazy. It makes you want to give up old habits and old ways and old mentalities in order to show the one you love how you feel. And it’s true love when you choose to do that versus them making you. You know you don’t have to and they know you don’t have to, but you do it anyway. And somehow love is revealed in that process of death. You die to yourself and find new life in love. Crazy. So, if you love Jesus, then how are you going to choose to die?