The Farmville herald. (Farmville, Va.) 1957-current, 1961-03-24
How He Died
Lesson for March rs, 1861

If you will take time to count
the pages of the four Gospels.
and then count the pages of the
chapters telling Of the trial.
death and resurrection of Jesus.
you can see for yourself that the
events of those last days are
hours are given space far be-
yond what is given to any other
part Of Jesus life. It can even
be said. as a paradox, that moth
ing stands out in the life of
Christ as it was first written, as
does his death. Not only in the
Gospels but in the thinking of
the church. the death of Christ
looms large. Look at the pic
lures of statues of Christ in Prot
estant or Roman Catholic
homes: how often he appears as
a dead man!
II Thirst"
At first this seems strange. Do
not all men die? All men do, to
be sure, but not always in the
way. nor ever with the purpose,
which the church has always
seen In the death of Jesus. If on
Good Friday in many church
three full hours will be set apart
for meditation on the memory
and the meaning of the Cross, all
we can do here is barely to sug-
gest some of the thoughts which
that tragic and glorious story
suggest to a sympathetic read
err. One is that Jesus died by
violence, died under torture,
died in disgrace, for the penalty
of crucifixion was inflicted only
on slaves and savages. Jesus
himself. looking forward to this
event. had used the pain words
die" BE killed" He did not
use any Of the pretty words that
have been thought of. like a
blanket of flowers over a corpse,
to conceal the face of death. 1t
was real death that afternoon,
death in the midst of youth.
death with much to say that
could not be said, death without
friends. Like a red underscoring
of the mental distress and spiri-
tual agonies. was the physical
agony Of being crucified. Bleed
ing slowly for hours beneath the
hot sun. the sufferers whole
body cried out for water. The
one cry of personal physical dis
tress that was wrung from Jesus
during those six terrible hours,
however, was just that deSper-
ate II thirst"
So we have to say Of Jesus
that he died in torture. But the
last word from the cross which
John records is not a word Of
pain but of power: 1T is finish
ed" This does not mean IAN is
overt" as an admission Of de-
feat. It is the shout of the VIC
torious fighter after the battle. it
is the cry sent up by the noun
tain climber who after many
perils sets his foot on the top
most pinnacle never before
scaled, it is the outburSt Of the
engineer who after months of
planning and years Of working
sees the span over the great
river complete at last. He had
said something very like this the
night before John l7:4D, so that
we must not think of the Cross
as the one and only achieve
ment of Jesus. The cross was the
browning accomplishment. Je-
sus' life and death were all of
one piece, his death was lin
character" with his life. Every
man leaves his life unfinished in
some respects. We leave behind
us friends, children, new gen
Grafton. plans unfulfilled, words
unspoken, work undone. Even Je-
Sus knew what it was TO wish to
say things that could not be
said. And even his perfect life
has not had its full effect with
out other lives welded together
into his living purpose. Never
the-leSs there was once fOr-all
quality about Jesus. He had fin.
ished what no one else could
have done.
For Us
| This is true. because. as the
Christian church soon came te
see, Jesus death was much
more than every-nlan's death
Alone and uniquely it was on be-
half of all men. This in turn
would not have been so if Jesus
had lived a selfish life; and i,
could not have been so, even il
our Lord had wished. unless his
life was more that Of one man In
history. For the church makes
two great affirmations Of faith
about Jesus Christ the Lord
first. he is not only a partcula,
man. but he is Man. he sums ur
in himself all the human race
he ,S the NHop Tho other offir