And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up his spirit. – Matthew 27:50

Did you notice the words used to describe the death of Jesus? It doesn’t say “He passed on”; it doesn’t say “He expired”; it doesn’t even say He died” — even though that is certainly true. [I can remember how confusing it was for me as a child to hear the words from the King James Version (of Mark) that said: “He gave up the ghost.” I have never seen those words used in any newspaper obituary!]

Matthew’s description tells a far deeper truth. It says that Jesus “yielded up His spirit.” Those words emphasize that Jesus’ death was voluntary. As Jesus declared in John 10:18: “No one takes my life from me, but I lay it down of my own accord.” Jesus wasn’t actually double-crossed (by Judas). That very moment on the cross was part of the “definite plan and foreknowledge of God” (Acts 2:23).

What was that plan? [Jesus:] “What human beings cannot accomplish because of sin, I have fulfilled, first, by my holy life, and, second, by my sacrificial death. What the Father sent me into this world to accomplish – and His will has been My will – is complete.” To the world (and Jesus’ disciples) the cross was a tragedy, but for you and me it is a triumph – the devil defeated, death conquered, sin vanquished.

So, Jesus chose the time of His death. It came only when He could declare “It is finished.” Jesus did not die as a local martyr, but as the world’s Savior. He came to “give His life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45), and you and I take comfort in the fact that we are included in that “many.”

Prayer: “Jesus, may our hearts be burning With more fervent love for You; May our eyes be ever turning to behold Your cross anew Till in glory, parted never From the blessed Savior’s side, Graven in our hearts forever, Dwell the cross, the Crucified.”
– Jesus, Refuge of the Weary, LSB #423, verse 3

Daily Reading: Matthew 27

– Contributed by Rev. Paul Peckman