LIVING WATERS
For the proclamation of the Gospel and the edification of the Body of Christ
How to Die?
The Itinerary of the Cross
When a Christian prostrates himself before the Lord and decides to do His will, the Lord will guide him along His path. On this path there is a lot of glory, but there is also a cross. Above all, there is the cross.
As the cross is a permanent experience, it is appropriate for the disciple to know how it operates and how he must react each time it operates.
Therefore, the matter before us is this: What is the proper form of dying? To find out, we have to look to the Lord Jesus. How did he die? What was the itinerary of His death?
His death was not only substitutionary, but also the pattern of death for all His disciples. His sufferings also come to be a metaphor of ours; His cross is ours.
Let us review these episodes attentively, so that later, when we are living them, we don't find it strange. If we live them, then it will be a sign that we are going along the correct path.
God will help you in suffering, but He won't keep you from dying.
When Jesus was in Gethsemane (that terrible “oil press”) praying intensely; when his perspiration was like droplets of blood that fell to the earth, an angel from heaven came to strengthen him (Luke 22:43). However, none of the angels that formed the countless celestial legions moved a finger to help Him avoid the cross.
Not one of them moved later on to prevent the nails from being drilled into His hands, nor the lance in His side. None of the angels harmed the Roman soldiers in charge of crucifying him. The power of the heavens was impotent on the day of His death.
God will help you when dying, but He won't keep you from dying.
A friend among the murderers
There is something awful here: there is a friend -a close friend, a relative - among the murderers. "And Judas the traitor was standing there with them." (John 19:5). "He who shares my bread has lifted up his heel against me." (John 13:18). Judas is not the declared enemy, but the underhanded traitor, of whom such a thing would not have been expected: “If an enemy were insulting me, I could endure it; if a foe were raising himself against me, I could hide from him. But it is a man like myself, my companion, my close friend, with whom I once enjoyed sweet fellowship as we walked with the throng at the house of God." (Psalm 55:12-14).
What makes the death more painful is the friend's betrayal; it is the kiss on the face and, at the same time, a stab in the back.
However, how did the Lord receive him that night in the garden? With a furious gaze? No, he tells him: –Friend, do what you have come for? (Matthew 26:50)
His voice is an exhalation of sadness for His friend, welcomed so many times and blessed, now transformed into a traitor.
The stab in the back doesn't cause any reprehension: only a deep pain for the friend that has been lost.
You can escape, but you won't want to
When the company of soldiers came to tie Jesus up, they fell to the earth just by the Lord’s words. (John 18:6). When Peter cut off Malchus’ ear, Jesus restored it simply by touching it. (Luke 22:51). His power was intact, but He didn't want to use it to escape the cross. He had power to heal, but not for rejecting His captors.
Without a doubt, He had could have done it if He had wanted. He said to Peter: –Do you think I cannot call on my Father, and he will at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels? (Matthew 26:53).
So it will be with you. In the difficult moment previous to your death, you realize that you could escape, if you wanted. But you don't. You have some subtlety, some escape at hand, but you look at it and allow it to pass by as though you were a fool. Others, perhaps, tell you to reach out to it, but you know that it is your hour of death, so you don't do it.
You will not carry others with you
When the captors came for the Lord, he said to them: –If you are looking for me, then let these men go. (John 18:8).
The crowd looked for the Lord, so the Lord gave this request on behalf of His disciples. Human feelings look for solidarity with others. One can feel accompanied, encouraged, when their pain is shared with others. The anguish of one’s own death will be mitigated if there is another dying with them (especially if they are guiltier than he).
In this world it is heard to be said: –If I fall, I won't fall alone. That is to say, he who is surprised in some deficiency threatens to drag down others with him. Their vengeance will be to see that others also share the disgrace.
However, it was so different with the Lord! He took our shame alone, loaded with the sin of all. And He asked that His disciples be set free.
When the hour of our death arrives -in this metaphor of the death of “self” - we must not carry others with us. It is us for whom they are searching, we must die. The others will have their hour, if that is the Father’s will. For the time being, the only thing that matters is that we die, and that we die in the proper form.
Death is the Father's cup
In the life of all Christians who want to serve the Lord, the day will arrive in which they realize that God’s will for them and their death are one and the same thing. Then, death won't be a disgrace, nor will there be a desire to look for the guilty, nor a desire to escape from it.
Death is, simply and clearly, the cup that the Father gives us to drink. –Shall I not drink the cup my father has given me? (John 18:11).
Friends abandon you
"Then everyone deserted him and fled" (Mark 14:50). The disciples are the ones who shared more than three years of friendship and dreams with the Lord. Surely, there were countless moments in which they promised him faithfulness, just like Peter (Luke 22:33), or Thomas (John 11:16). They felt called to a great mission, along side their Teacher. However, when the test came, they all fled, like a small flock of rabbits.
The most faithful denies you
Peter was the one who took the initiative in everything. To offer and to serve. In the same way, in the hour of the cross, he was the first to call curses on himself and swear that he didn't know Jesus.
Peter was in the intimacy of the transfiguration, in the house of the resurrected girl, and in Gethsemane. To deny him was the greatest low. But Peter could not escape it.
We also deny Him in Peter. Will we find it strange, then, that our friend, our most intimate friend, denies that he knows us? Or that he is embarrassed to acknowledge that he know us?
Go hand in hand and mouth in mouth
After the Lord Jesus was captured, he was sent to Annas who interrogated him. Then, he sent Jesus on to Caiaphas, the high priest who, after hearing him, declared that he had blasphemed and was worthy of death. Then, Jesus is taken before Pilate, to the palace
Pilate receives him, interrogates him, takes him out to the people, and returns him again to the palace. Then, he takes Jesus out again. He negotiates largely with the Jews. When Pilate knew that Herod was in Jerusalem, he sends Jesus to him. Herod wanted to know him, but instead He reproached him.
Jesus is then turned back over to Pilate, who, after washing his hands, gives him over to the soldiers for his execution.
In all this coming and going, Jesus is subjected to the greatest abuse and the most humiliating insults. The religious and political authorities plot against him. And because of him, two enemies become friends from that day. But he is sent to the cross, as a criminal.
When Paul was arrested, he had some defense and could demand some rights, because he was a Roman citizen, but our Lord and Teacher was not entitled to either. Thus, he went taken away, passed from one hand to another in humiliation.
It may be that this will happen to you -in some small measure – at some time. You must be aware of this.
Because you are Jesus' friend.
It is not known who nor how the nails were put in
There is no reference in the gospels about Jesus' reaction in the moment when the nails were driven in. There is no description that might awaken some feeling of compassion in us. The story is scanty, precise and even cold.
When you are on the cross you must not make a great scene. Nobody should know how much you are suffering. And later nobody should know the name of the person who drove the nails into you (you will know them), nor the form in which they did it.
The crucifixion must be seen by God, because it is He who demands it, and it is pleasing to Him. Men must only be informed of this by the life that flows from your death.
Ah, and don't forget this: If you die quickly (if you are obedient enough to die in the first place), nobody will break your legs.
Don't look for refuge in your mother, but rather look for refuge for your mother
When Jesus saw his mother next to John at the foot of the cross, he told her: –Dear woman, here is your son.
And to John: –Here is your mother.
When dying (and dying of an unjust death), sentiments appear and claim their place. This was not the case with Jesus. There is no claim, no self compassion. He didn't think of Himself, but in others, and also in His mother.
That woman had a sword pierce her soul (Luke 2:35) seeing her first-born die, without being able to do anything to avoid it, even knowing who He was. Added to that, she probably didn't have her husband at that stage in her life. She needed comfort, and a son to replace the one that she lost. Then, the Lord offered her to him from the cross.
You must die, but you must ensure your own remain well cared for.
From your mouth comes blessing, and water from your side
When Jesus was on the cross, he said: –Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do (KJV Luke 23:34).
And later, when He had already died, one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and at once blood and water flowed out together (John 19:34).
To be willing to die is not enough. The demand is to die blessing the murderers and interceding for the enemies. The will of God is that, because of our death, the water of life washes many.
It is not enough to die; it is necessary to die as Christ died.
Those that sympathize
After the Lord died, Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus came to anoint His body and to bury him. They were not part of the intimate circle of His disciples, but in that moment they wanted to help. They could not avoid His death, but at least they wanted to honor him after His death.
The same will happen to you. Other people, who are not intimate but are compassionate, will want to help you. You will see their hearts filled with a great nobility, and they will try to mitigate a pain that they have not caused.
The resurrection
After you have died, things change: secret friends are manifested, and they favor you. Even angels accompany you.
Your body has changed: now you can arrive to places where you never thought. Your former-friends are surprised by you, and they follow you with renovated spirit.
The blood brothers that rejected you before, might now honor you (James 2:1; Jude 1:1). God will multiply your life in many others through you, because the Holy Spirit will have descended to fill you up until you are overflowing.
There are then three almost simultaneous processes that you will experience: there is a change from a cry to a laugh, because the dawn of the resurrection will have arrived (John 20:11-18); the amazement will turn to joy, because you will see that you live again, but in a more glorious and even more real dimension (20:19-29); and shortage will turn to abundance, because Christ Himself has multiplied His gifts in you (21:1-14).
When you see this, then you will say with your over-flowing heart: –Thank you, Lord, because you didn't remove your hand until achieving your purpose! To you belongs all the merit, and all the glory!