Dying Hard II: Mercy and Sacrifice

The Christian is called every single day to die to themselves — but do we somehow use this teaching to persecute ourselves? Do we understand what Jesus meant when he implied this dying, or do we, like the Pharisees of old believe that a sacrifice is needed to please God — that something needs to be put to death, so that we may live?

This is not what Jesus meant when he called for us to die to ourselves. God has been showing us since the time of our ancestor Abraham, that He would provide the lamb of sacrifice. With the Passover, God showed the Israelites what the blood of a lamb could do…and in Jesus, he reassures us that the Lamb of atonement has been slain for all time — so that we may live.

The death that Jesus is calling us to, is a different one.

Death needs to come — but to a self that is full of the things we have done, or want to do, or are afraid of doing.

(Find out why and how in Part I of this article)

A great many Christians, however, might erroneously believe that we need to ‘die’— sacrificing happiness, self-respect, sometimes even our basic needs — in order to live lives pleasing to God. But how does this make us any different from the Pharisees and their burdensome, painful laws?

Perhaps this is why we struggle to be Christian in a world that is more ready than ever to pick up stones — how much do we allow someone to crucify us? Do we draw a boundary when someone wants to take more of us than we can give? A lot of us look to Jesus — and may even feel the weight of wanting to represent him. “What would Jesus do?”, we might ask.

But maybe that’s the wrong question. Jesus himself didn’t die just because his Father told him to. Jesus knew what his Father really wants — and he gave the Pharisees a vital clue quite early on in his ministry —

“Go and learn what this means — “I desire mercy, not sacrifice” [Matthew 9:13]

His Father’s will was not that Jesus be sacrificed — but that we feel loved. It is we who needed the sacrifice.

[To know more about why Jesus’ sacrifice was ‘needed’, check out this article]

Another time, Jesus said, “Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.” [John 12:24] His own death wasn’t just a sacrifice — in it was incredible mercy, arising (as mercy does) out of love. Jesus was keeping the most important of commandments — love for God and neighbour. And while there is a cost to both sacrifice and love — the person who is merciful also makes a sacrifice of some sort — the difference is in the perspective.

Sacrifice calls attention to what is lost. But Mercy — beautiful, generous mercy is defined by what is gained by the other.

Jesus surrendered to the will of his father, accepting death, just so that he could show us our Father’s love and mercy — so that we may be changed. This was the fruit of Jesus’ death — love and transformation.

And so, perhaps, the question we need to ask is not “What would Jesus do?”, but — what fruit will my act of ‘dying’ bear?

When we find ouselves doing something that we might call ‘dying’ to ourselves, we need to see for ourselves what fruit we are bearing. Is it love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, self control? Or is it resentment, regret, expectation, anxiety, impatience, unkindness, or other things that quickly rot?

If I ‘die’, without allowing Christ to live through me…without bearing the good fruit, I am a martyr, yes — but am I a Christian?

Like Jesus, and Stephen, does my sacrifice come with mercy for others and love for God?

I may not be setting my sights on the things of this world, but am I setting them on heavenly things? [Click here to read the first part of this article, to know more about the importance of this distinction] A miser doesn’t spend his money on the things of this world, but if he isn’t buying up treasures in heaven, by using it for good, his sights are still set on worldly things.

Dying for a taste of heaven

Let’s see how Jesus did it.

Jesus understood the will of God. He understood that God’s will was not for him to die, but for us — sinner and saint alike — to feel loved. Who could not love a God who loves like this?

Jesus also understood us. Covered in his own blood, and breathing his last, he said, “Forgive them, Father”, and added, “for they know not what they do.” [Luke 23:24] He understands how difficult it is to be us, as the psalmist tells us, “For he knows how we were made…he remembers that we are dust.” [Psalm 103] It becomes easier to love people when we understand their human-ness.

And so, it is the gift of understanding, given to us by God that makes it easier to do his will…to love God and neighbour.

Where do we find the gift of understanding? This divine gift is waiting to be ours — waiting to be asked for, when we are ready to move our focus away from the things of the earth and set our sights on the things of heaven. When we truly long to see the kingdom of God here on Earth, a place where everyone knows God and his love, God himself will give us the gifts of the Holy Spirit, including understanding, that will help us bear fruit.

The apostle James writes, “You do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive because you ask wrongly, in order to spend what you get on your pleasures.” [James 4:3]

And it is only when our pleasure comes from knowing heavenly things, that we would joyfully give up all that we had, for gifts like understanding — only then that we would say “I’m dying for a taste of heaven.”