He came...He saw...He SURRENDERED ALL....

He came, He saw, He surrendered all......
- Michael Card, "The Nazarene"

During the Holocaust, there were times when some brave Jews chose to die for their fellowmen. They willingly chose to give up their lives so that others would be saved. In Roman times, during Nero's reign, Christians did the same when thrown to the lions - some willingly laid down their lives for others. In Charles Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities, Sydney Carton chose to die for his friend Charles Darnay. There are numerous times when human beings have chosen to lay down their lives for ones they loved, sometimes even for strangers - like in the Holocaust.

Jesus Christ claims to have laid down His life for us all. What makes His supreme sacrifice different? Is it different at all?

Many times, people do choose to die for others who were in some sense and in their perception, "worth it". That is, the ones who sacrificed their lives really thought that the worth of the person they were dying for, was more than their own worth. "It's probably better for me to die rather than him; he can give the world so much, I cannot give that much. If he can live only if I die, so be it." In one sense, that was the thinking. It is possible that for someone 'good', a few people could be found who are willing to die.

The point is, we as human beings value life very highly. When it comes to death, we value each life equally, even though in life, we might possibly discriminate about the value we place on some lives compared to others. We view the death of a human being as a serious thing. We would all like to avoid or prevent having to die; we might ultimately resign ourselves to it when we have no other option left. But to willingly forfeit our lives for someone else? The cause that makes us choose such a course must be a very, very noble one indeed - an almost sacred, divine thing. And we value the one for whom we might choose to die as precious beyond our own lives, should it come to that.

Would we choose to die in place of a serial killer? Would we choose to die, say, for someone who intoxicates himself with alcohol mixed with the blood of snakes, and then sodomises a 11-month old child? Do we consider it worth dying for so that such a one could be saved? (Saved for exactly what? To do more of the same?)

Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Jesus Christ laid down His life not only for the philanthropist who lives only so that others may be empowered to lead better lives; He laid down His life for the serial rapist, the suicide bomber, for Otto Globocnik, Adolf Eichmann, Heinrich Himmler, Josef Stalin and for Nero.

That is, Jesus placed no premium on the 'worth' (in human perception) of a life. He thought I was precious enough for HIM to die, even if I was a serial rapist or a sadistic paedophile.

Why?

Why would He do that? What could have been gained, for example, if Pol Pot would have been justified and someone died in his place?

Let's look at this from a different point of view. In December 2006, India gave the world something all the serial killers would probably have blushed at. In a lonely bungalow in Noida, a man raped, killed and then cannibalised many young women, over a number of years. Let's suppose I was willing to die so that this man might live. Now the judge said 'you cannot die for this man, you are innocent. Besides, there are others for whom you might possibly have to die who are far more deserving, for whom your dying would be your bounden duty - your immediate family.'

Let's now suppose that this man showed no remorse, and remained unaffected at my offer to die for him. Let's say he was only thinking how many more women he could mutilate, once he was free.

What would I be risking in dying for such a man? The very real danger that he might never change; and due to that, the number of other innocent lives I would be putting at risk, not to mention my immediate family, who need me as a bread-winner if nothing else. Would I risk ALL OF THIS, hoping he may see the error of his ways, swayed by my sacrifice? What would be the odds? Would it, in human perception, be 'worth it'?

Now let's suppose that I risked everything. Willingly, without counting the cost. Let's even suppose I sought this man out specially so I could die for him. Let's go even further to suppose my sacrifice still went in vain. This man walked free, never looked back, and increased his body count.

Would I consider all of this before I actually lay down my life? It's a rhetorical, stupid question. Of course I would! No human being would make that supreme sacrifice for such a man.

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 up again. This command I received from my Father.

Sometimes we miss the fact that Jesus had everything to surrender in laying down His life - all of His heavenly Glory. If I was God, would I die for that man in Noida? Would I even care? Would I risk all of heaven for that man?

I think of our carefully considered, cautious, measured, calculated charity. So much for my needs, and so much for yours. Our vigilant, fully alert preponderances over our giving. We even want to check if our giving is indeed paying off.

Jesus never counted that cost - He wasn't thinking of guarantees, assurances, stamp duty, legalities, when He surrendered Himself on the Cross. He did it with no conditions and no guarantee. And He never checks up to see if His sacrifice was 'worth it'.

I also think of our obsessions with careers. What am I going to do with my life? And the answers we want are always in terms of ourselves - our degrees, our accomplishments, our philanthropy, our, our, our. I'm not exactly saying we should risk our careers and lives without counting the cost. I'm just saying that the career and the life of the One who laid down His life for us, was that He should lay down His life unconditionally and with no guarantee. He came into this world prepared to die; we enter the world prepared to live, and prepared to do whatever it takes to preserve our lives. Do we appreciate that that's how we are when we think about our lives? That's all I am saying.

Jesus died - for you, for me, for us all. Whether we knew it or not. Whether we cared or not. Even though we might never ever know. He died no matter how I lived - for others or for myself. He died for me simply because He loved me.

In fact He really doesn't ask anything from me - He doesn't even ask whether I believe Him, whether I consider His sacrifice or not. He only waits for me to think through it......and do what I would have to do, having thought about it.

Maybe I will decide He was a fool to die - He was God, and yet He did it for a worthless person like me. Maybe I will be overcome for the rest of my life when it fully hits me and my life will be irrevocably changed. Maybe I will never ever care and just never think about it.

What do you think?

The Nazarene had come to live the life of every man
And He felt the fascination of the stars
And as He wandered through this weary world
He wondered and He wept
For there were so few who'd listen to His call

He came, He saw, He surrendered all
So that we might be born again
And the fact of His humanity was there for all to see
For He was unlike any other man
And yet so much like me

The Nazarene could hunger
And the Nazarene could cry
And He could laugh with all the fullness of His heart
And those who hardly knew Him
And those who knew Him well
Could feel the contradiction from the start

He came, He saw, He surrendered all
So that we might be born again
And the fact of His humanity was there for all to see
For He was unlike any other man
And yet so much like me

- Michael Card, "The Nazarene"

A safe place

A shadow of a mighty rock within a weary land,
A home within the wilderness, a rest upon the way, 
from the burning of the noontide heat, 
and the burden of the day.
- Elizabeth C Clephane
Indeed, the world we live in is all of those things - a weary land, a wilderness, just a way, the sapping, burning shimmer of noontide heat, a burden every day.
The Cross of Jesus is also indeed all of those things - the shadow of a mighty rock, a home, a rest. The most grisly scene on earth, is still all of those things. It's probably like that, because the Cross of Jesus is the ultimate answer to intimidation, brute power, cosmic violence, unbridled tide of red evil, the hot breath of hatred, and the purposes of the pit of hell itself. Imagine all of these spent over one frail human body. And one human life - mute, resigned, resolute. No talking back, no comebacks, no defense, no rationalising, no duplicity, no making it palatable. Nothing. Just mute resignation.
It amazes me that there were no words from heaven, or from earth, on that fateful day. There was no voice of validation, confirmation, victory or assurance from heaven; there were no words from down here as well. It was mute.
Wordlessness.
That comforts me, because the victory is obtained in silence. In solitude. In loneliness. In one single life fighting alone. No one can really come there with you. Only God can. And in those silent times, God impresses victory. There may never be words. Victory actually needs no words. Neither do joy, or hope, or love, or freedom. Their very power to give life is in wordlessness.
And in wordlessness I come to the cross. It is not the part of me that says things, that comes to the cross. The heart actually is wordless. And it is the heart which comes. And there, what I see shuts out words. Shuts out voices. Shuts out sound. I can imagine what Stephen felt in those last moments. Wordlessness. Soundlessness.
And then, a strange, almost eerie, unreal calm. With a refreshing cool breeze which has the power to soothe and rest. To rejuvenate, refresh, percolate breath and life back into choked veins, and hearts, and minds.
The Cross of Jesus calms me. No earthquake can touch it. Because all the horrors the world can concoct, were met, and neutered, on the Cross. There was no enemy left standing, however loud, however brute, however powerful, however inexorable. No one was left. And this was done wordlessly, soundlessly. In the dead calm of pin-drop silence.
Permanence. Purpose. Resolute resilience. For all time. No marauder or invader would render the Cross a ruin. It can never become just a sign; it will stand for all time no matter who or what came against it. The battle would rage all around it but he who came to its foot would not be molested.
The ultimate, ultimate safe place. The one fortress in this world no one can conquer. Its sanctuary is eternal; its protection irrevocable. No one who enters will ever be taken to his doom by force. The ultimate unstormable citadel.
Come away to the foot of the Cross of Jesus. Let the battle rage around you. Let the heat of the day burn unquenched. Let the burden bear down. None of these will touch you. Because you are in the safest place you will ever find.