Death: a meditation for Good Friday

"Then they spat in His face and beat Him with their fists, and others slapped Him."  Matthew 26:67
Jesus endured so much.  He patiently allowed Himself to be barbarically treated, when He could, as He said, " appeal to My Father, and He will at once put at My disposal more than twelve legions of angels."  Can you imagine?  More than 72,000 angels could have come at any point in the Passion narrative, and Jesus could have done whatever He willed.  He could've even destroyed all of Jerusalem, with its fallacious Pharisees and rebellious rabble.  But He didn't.  He stuck to the plan, fulfilled the prophecies, and allowed himself to die.  Die.  Death.  Crucified.  Asphyxiated.  Jesus had nothing to gain by coming to earth to die.  But He did so willingly.  Why?  He did it for the four-year-old orphan in Japan whose parents were swept away by the tsunami.  He did it for the English Royal Family, who, though they have it all, have nothing if they reject Him.  He did it for the prostitute in Las Vegas, struggling to find meaning.  He did it for the druggie in Chicago, whose only existence is measured by the next high.  He did it for the stock-broker on Wall Street, whose materialism has become so oppressive that he doesn't know what life is even about anymore.  And He did it for me.  And He did it for you. Did what?  He died.  Jesus died.  Is that in your head yet?  First He was pummeled by fists, spit upon, and slapped.  Then He was flogged so hard that He couldn't carry His cross.  And then He was nailed, yes, nailed to the cross.  Big, thick nails were hammered into His hands and His feet.  Can you feel His pain yet?  Do you see His anguished face?  He could have said it was too much at any moment, but he didn't.  He kept going for you.  He endured the most brutal torture and death.  He was lifted up above the hill on a cross naked, for the whole world to see, and He hung there in agony.  With probably more pain than you can even imagine experiencing, Jesus died.  The earth shook at the death of her Maker.  Does it affect you?  Do you understand?  Jesus died.  God died.  For you.  Because of your sins.  The source of all life, the maker of life--He died.  And he forgave those who did it to Him.  Do you accept this?  Are you cognizant of the enormity of His sacrifice?  The sinless perfect Man, the One who did no wrong to anyone, died.  He died for all the wrongs that you and I have done.  He even died for all the wrongs that Hitler and Stalin and Mao and Paul Pot did, if they had only accepted His sacrifice.  That should make you completely humbled in His presence.  The Author of Life, in the prime of life, died.  Jesus died.  The earth produced a blackness for three hours in the middle of they day while He hung in agony.  Then it shook when He breathed His last. The curtain in the temple which separated the people from God's presence was torn in two from top to bottom by God's unseen hand, because Jesus' death forged the way to Him.  He sacrificed His life.  He died.
Death.
Death.
Death.
Death.

Death.

Death.

Death.

Death.

Death.