He Died

From the Series—He Came, He Died, He Conquered
April 4, 2007

Throughout human history, we have honored those who die courageously for a noble cause. We write stories and make statues and establish holidays in their honor. And in our culture, especially, we make movies. And what draws us to these movies isn’t just the way a hero lives. It’s the way a hero dies! In a sense, death is the final measure of a man. So it’s not just how they lived but how they died that makes their stories epic.

There is a movie at the box office right now, 300, that critics didn’t expect to do very well, but it is one of the largest grossing R-rated films in history on opening weekend. It’s the movie about the three hundred Spartans, led by King Leonidas, who resisted the Persians in the Battle of Thermopylae and fought to the death. I’m no movie critic, but I think the movie is doing as well as it is because we are mysteriously drawn to a courageous death.

So we watch a movie like Braveheart or Gladiator over and over again. And we are drawn to a William Wallace who scoffs at death: “Every man dies. Not every man really lives.” Same with Maximus Decimus Meridius. He says, “Death smiles at us all. All a man can do is smile back.”

We admire those who live well. But the final test is really how someone faces death. Do they die well? Do they die with their integrity intact? Do they die for a noble cause? Does their death make a difference?

It’s hard to measure the way someone dies, but I think it’s safe to say that no death was more noble or more courageous than the death of Christ. And no death makes a bigger difference!

Then Pilate took Jesus and had him flogged. The soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head. They clothed him in a purple robe and went up to him again and again, saying, "Hail, king of the Jews!" And they struck him in the face. Once more Pilate came out and said to the Jews, "Look, I am bringing him out to you to let you know that I find no basis for a charge against him." When Jesus came out wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe, Pilate said to them, "Here is the man!" As soon as the chief priests and their officials saw him, they shouted, "Crucify! Crucify!" But Pilate answered, "You take him and crucify him. As for me, I find no basis for a charge against him."

The Jews insisted, "We have a law, and according to that law he must die, because he claimed to be the Son of God." When Pilate heard this, he was even more afraid, and he went back inside the palace. "Where do you come from?" he asked Jesus, but Jesus gave him no answer. "Do you refuse to speak to me?" Pilate said. "Don’t you realize I have power either to free you or to crucify you?" Jesus answered, "You would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above.

John 19:1-11

This is a critical statement in the last verse—no power over me. It defines the kind of death Jesus died. No killed Him. Jesus sacrificed his life!

In John 10, Jesus said, “I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me—just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep. The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life—only to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it back up again.”

Four times Jesus says, “I lay down my life.” There is a world of difference between laying down your life and having it taken from you. Jesus said, “I have the authority to lay it down and the authority to take it back up again.”

The word translated authority in English is the Greek word exousia. It means will power.

Let me make an important distinction between two types of power in the New Testament. The word dunamis denotes physical power. In a sense, it is the ability to do something. Exousia is the ability to not do something.

I’m impressed with Jesus’ dunamis. And we looked at it last week. He says, “Lazarus, come forth.” Two words. And Jesus raises the dead. That is some serious dunamis. He stops a funeral procession in its tracks and raises the dead with one touch. That is some serious dunamis.

I’m impressed with his physical power–what Jesus can do. But I’m even more impressed with his will power—what he could do but chose not to.

A few years I saw The Passion of the Christ was one of my distinct memories was the taunting and mocking of Jesus by the religious leaders and the Roman guards. As I sat there watching the movie, I wanted to defend him. But the amazing thing is that Jesus didn’t even defend himself.

In Matthew 26:53 he says, “Do you think I cannot call on my Father, and He will at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels?”

Think about the implications of that statement: Jesus could have aborted his redemptive mission with one call for angelic backup. Jesus could have hit the panic button. And the Father would have sent twelve legions of angels.

A legion was the largest unit in the Roman military consisting of 6,000 soldiers. Jesus was saying, “I have 72,000 angels at my immediate disposal.” He could have resisted arrest, but he didn’t abort the mission. He exercised incredible will power and he laid down his life! And He died a noble death, a courageous death!

The story continues in John 19:25:

Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother, his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, "Dear woman, here is your son," and to the disciple, "Here is your mother." From that time on, this disciple took her into his home.

Even on the cross he’s thinking of others! What does that say about him? What an incredible detail. Even in his death, he wasn’t worried about himself. He was worried about his mother!

And then we have the last words of Jesus.

Later, knowing that all was now completed, and so that the Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, "I am thirsty." A jar of wine vinegar was there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put the sponge on a stalk of the hyssop plant, and lifted it to Jesus’ lips. When he had received the drink, Jesus said, "It is finished." With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

I think every word Jesus said carries incredible significance. But his last words carry special significance because they are his last words.

It’s a little morbid, but have you ever stopped to think about what you want your last words to be?

This week I was in Pittsburgh talking about chasing lions and I was talking with an older gentleman afterwards. I’m not sure how old he was, but he has probably made twice as many trips around the sun as I have. And he said something interesting. He said, “I have no regrets.” It was such a powerful statement. How do you want your life to be encapsulated? No Regrets has to rank right up there in terms of last words!

I think those of us who follow Christ what to hear our Heavenly Father say well done. That is the ultimate validation!

The last thing Jesus says before He gives us up his spirit is: It is Finished. Its three words in English, but its one word in Greek—teleo. And it is one of the most pregnant words in Scripture.

It means goal accomplished. It means mission fulfilled. It means hitting the target that you were aiming at. It means to complete or conclude or finish or execute. It means to discharge your duty. It means you did what you came to do!

Now let me zoom in on one meaning in particular. Teleo is a financial term. Matthew 17:24 says, “After Jesus and his disciples arrived in Capernaum, the collectors of the two-drachma tax came to Peter and asked, "Doesn’t your teacher pay the temple tax?" The word “pay” is the word teleo. It means to pay a debt completely. It refers to the final installment on a debt.

I had an interesting experience this week. While I was in Pittsburgh I went to an ice cream place called Dave & Andy’s. We stood in line; ordered our ice cream; licked out ice cream cones; and realized they don’t take credit cards. I didn’t have my wallet. And he didn’t have any cash. And he didn’t know the pin code on his debit card so he couldn’t get money out of the ATM. I’ve always wondered if you can return ice cream. No, you cannot! It was slightly awkward. We had to run and grab some cash and go back and pay for the cones. It’s no fun not being able to pay for something.

But let me flip the coin. There is no feeling like paying off a debt is there? How many of you have ever paid off a school loan or car loan or house loan? How many of you have ever had a bookie breathing down your neck and you pay off that gambling debt? It’s a great feeling isn’t it?

When I was a senior in High School, I got my first ticket on the way to one of my basketball games. I did a left-hand turn and cut off a police officer. She did a U-turn and wrote me a $50 ticket.

I decided to keep the ticket a secret. Like any good son, I didn’t want my parents to worry about it. I was concerned about their well-being! But I made one error in judgment. What I didn’t realize is that the police department, who probably knew that there are lots of good kids just like me who don’t want their parents to worry, sent a copy of the ticket to your home address. My mom always got the mail and when your son gets a letter from the police department red flags go up. She opened the letter and showed it to my dad without me knowing that they had gotten the letter.

Meanwhile, I lived under this cloud of guilt for several weeks. And I didn’t know how I was going to pay for the ticket. To a teenager, $50 is a small fortune. And I was living in constant fear that somehow my parents would find out.

Fast forward a couple weeks. After one of my high school basketball games, my dad came down onto the court and told me that he was going to pay for the ticket. I didn’t even know that he knew about the ticket. And I’ll never forget the mixture of emotions I felt. There was a sense of guilt because I had kept a secret from them and they found out. But there was also this sense of relief. Not only was my dad going to pay for it, but I didn’t have to live in the constant state of fear that they’d find out.

What a lesson in grace! My dad paid my debt! That is what Christ did for us on the cross. Not only did He pay our spiritual debt. We don’t have to live in guilt or fear.

Take a look at II Corinthians 5. Verse 19 says, “For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them.” The word reconciling means “to trade” or “to transfer.”

Every once in a while I do a wire transfer between our checking account or savings account or brokerage account. To be perfectly honest, how the money gets transferred electronically is a mystery to me, but it happens. It is a mystery, but somehow when we put our faith in Christ there is a transfer that takes place. Our spiritual account is reconciled. Verse 21 says, “God made him who had no sin to become sin for us so that we might become the righteousness of God.”

It’s like Jesus says, “Here’s the deal. We’ll transfer everything you’ve ever done wrong—all your debits—to my account. And we’ll transfer everything I’ve done right—all of my credits—to your account. And we’ll call it even.”

What a deal.

Let me close with this. A few years ago I got an email titled The Files. It is a powerful picture of what Christ has done for us.

In that place between wakefulness and dreams I found myself in a room. It was a room filled with small index card files, like the ones you find in libraries that list titles by author and subject in alphabetical order. The files stretched from floor to ceiling and filled the large room. Somehow, I knew exactly where I was. This room with its endless files was a catalog system for my life. Here was written every thought and action, every moment of my life recorded in specific detail.

A sense of curiosity coupled with horror stirred within me as I began randomly opening files and exploring their content. Some brought joy and sweet memories, but others a sense of shame and regret so intense that I looked over my shoulder to see if anyone was watching.

Each file had a title that ranged from the mundane to the outright weird—“"Books I have read,” “Lies I have told,” “Acts of Kindness I have done,” “Jokes I have laughed at.”

Some were hilarious because of their exactness, “Things I’ve yelled after stubbing my toe,” but others I couldn’t laugh at, “Things I have muttered under my breath.”

I was overwhelmed by the sheer volume of the cards. Could these millions of cards really be the record of my life? But, each card was written in my handwriting and signed with my signature.

When I pulled out the file “Television shows I have watched” I was shocked by the size of the file. When I came to the file marked “Lustful thoughts” I felt a chill run down my spine. I immediately thought to myself, “No one must ever see these files. I have to destroy them.” I tried burning the cards but they wouldn’t ignite. I tried tearing the cards but they were as strong as steel. I realized the cards were indestructible.

I’ve never felt so helpless and hopeless. I fell down on my knees and started to cry. That is when I noticed that someone had walked into the room—it was Jesus. I wanted to keep him from looking in the files, but all I could do was cover my face in shame. He seemed intuitively to go to the worst files first. Why did he read every one?

Finally he turned and looked at me with pity in his eyes. He walked over and put his arm around me. He didn’t say a word—He just cried with me. Then he got up and walked back over to the files. He started at one end of the room, took a file out and one by one began to sign his name over mine. I tried to stop him saying, “No, your name shouldn’t be on the cards.” But he just smiled at me. I don’t know how he did it so quickly, but the next instant every card had his signature on it, written in blood. He closed the last file and said, “It is finished.”

We both walked out of the room, but there was no lock on the door because there are still more cards to be written.

I’m not sure what is written on the index card files of your life, but if your files are anything like mine there are lots of files you want destroyed.

The good news is found in I John 1:8.

If we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

As the old song says:

I owed a debt I could not pay. He paid a debt He did not owe.Praise God.