Listen here.

In the name of Jesus. Amen.

Three men are tried and condemned as criminals. They are sentenced to be hung until they die. Two of them, the two on the outside, are getting what they deserve. But not the man in the center. He is innocent. But all three share the same execution together. They are brothers in death.

We have followed Jesus’ life through the first half of the church year. We witnessed His birth, just like one of us. We heard as He grew to be a man, a carpenter by trade. Jesus shared His whole life with us. He was our brother in everything, except He did not sin. Jesus’ life was in total harmony with God. Jesus had no life apart from God. He was obedient to God in all things.

So why did He die? Jesus came to go through your whole life with you, and this was completed by His sharing physical death with you. He is with you even when your body dies. As these three men on their crosses were made brothers in death, you are too. Jesus put Himself not only next to the two criminals there on Calvary, but also next to you and next to all rebels against God. Jesus goes through it with you.

Jesus really died. Scripture emphasizes this by telling of His burial. In the Creed we say not only that Jesus was crucified and died, but also that He was buried. His corpse was taken down from the cross by Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus, wrapped in a piece of linen, and put in a grave. Jesus was buried. And so whenever you put the body of a loved one down into a grave, you know Jesus has been there too. That makes all the difference. In Jesus you see how God does things.

In John 12:23-25, Jesus says, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.”

When Jesus said His hour had come to be glorified, He referred to His death. As a seed only bears fruit by dying first, so it was with Jesus. So it is with you. God brings you to that death, to that participation with Jesus in crucifixion (Ro. 6:3-5). As you stand beneath the cross this morning you can say, “As Jesus dies, I die too. From here on out, I will know no life but that which comes from our dying together.”

Jesus dies the big death for you. He carries the awful load of your sin for you. You are spared from your sin by His death for you. Jesus answers for your sin and breaks it’s domination over you. But all this becomes yours only as you die with Him. At the cross, you part company with both your sin and the miserable life that you would make for yourself apart from Him.

The path of life lies only through dying. Jesus’ death was the climax, the crowning glory. It did not appear so, but He committed Himself to the God who brings life out of death.

So your death, your parting company with sin, will seem a loss to you, but it is not so. For when you die, you are cast on God. The God who brings life out of death – only out of Jesus’ death. He died the big death for the sin that separates you from God. With your sin He suffered, with your sin He was rejected and abandoned by God. Sin cannot condemn you again. For the death Jesus died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus (Ro. 6:10-11). Amen.[1]

The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

[1] This sermon is based on a sermon by Rev. Donavon Riley https://thefirstpremise.wordpress.com/2014/04/19/homily-for-good-friday-on-mark-1533-47-the-path-of-life-lies-only-through-dying/