These are my own reflections as I pondered on the unfathomable mystery on why Jesus, the Son of God Himself, must die in order to save us:
• To show us God’s face, so we would know what true goodness, love, holiness, righteousness, gentleness, goodness, perseverance, patience, meekness and mercy is, even to the very point of selfless suffering and death.
• To bear upon Himself our iniquities, to pay for a debt we could never pay. To be the sacrificial Lamb that would once and for all be the Perfect Sacrifice for all our sins, paving way for forgiveness without measure and infinite mercy for all who would accept such sacrifice and humble oneself as one who deserves to be punished instead. To reconcile God and man once and for all by the cross such that when the Father looks down upon earth, He would see it through the cross of His Son.
• To reach us at our point of greatest pain and affliction, even to death, so we’d never feel alone even in such moments.
• To reach us at our point of greatest pain and affliction, because that is the point where He could really meet us, not at the point of greatest bliss, for we do not know that, that belongs to heaven after our life here. Here on earth, what we know is pain and darkness, and He has met us right there even if it would cost Him so much a price! For how else could you lead someone out of the dark other than by going into that darkness also and accompany those who were lost into the light?
• To show both His infinite justice (by showing death as the price for sin) and His infinite mercy (by showing how He bore that price for all sinful men).
• To be able to obtain for us, through that most unjust suffering of the most innocent and most holy, not only the model to follow to live a perfect life, but the GRACE to be able to live such a life.
• To give us hope and show us that though we may suffer so much here on earth, though we may die, there is a triumph and a new life that awaits us if we continue to trust in God and believe in His wisdom, love and mercy.
• To show us perfect humility and obedience to the Father’s will, which alone can save us and yield the most abundant fruits not only for our life but for the lives of many.
• To ‘redeem’ our suffering, that is, to not merely eradicate suffering as though it never existed or to wipe our memory as though we never knew pain, but to give value to our suffering, exceedingly more value than the damage that it caused, a value that lasts for all eternity for the momentary pain that we have gone through.
• To show us what GOD’S LOVE really is, that kind of love that is willing to suffer even death for one’s beloved, unworthy though she may be. This is that love that is being offered to us for all eternity, that pure love which alone can give us satisfaction and joy, fill our hearts, heal our wounds and save our dying souls!
Jesus not only died to give us ETERNAL life, but to give us a LIFE that is worthy of eternity.
The thing about hope is that it’s a positive force that shines the most when it’s dark. When everything’s going well, we hardly notice it’s there. But when things go against us, when our dreams fade and when we see no immediate reprieve from our troubles, that’s when hope does its best work for us.
"Where Hope Can Be Found"