Living in the Likeness of His Death and His Resurrection

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Our Lord Jesus Christ had the power to raise the dead, heal the sick, return hearing to those who could not hear, and restore sight to the blind. He could calm a turbulent storm on the Sea of Galilee and could effortlessly walk on water to quiet the fears of those He was concerned for.

With such miraculous works, it can be rationally deducted that nails did not bind our Lord and Savior to the death of the Holy Cross. Nails and death were the pains and darkness that temporarily entered into Him and Him through it. Our Lord Jesus Christ endured the weakness of a human body so that we might imitate the likeness of His nature in our present earthly condition.

Our Lord Jesus Christ lived His death and Glorious Resurrection as an example for all to follow. The likeness of our Lord in the Holy Bible was not one of physical description but one of spiritual journey with publicly exposed heart and soul.

Firm Commitment to His Beliefs
Our Lord Jesus Christ's earthly life was full of persecution and prejudice. He did not dwell on it or within it. He was committed to live and die a life of submission. Our Lord Jesus Christ submitted His will to the will of His Father.

There was total submission of His condition upon the Holy Cross. Our Lord Jesus Christ was committed to die for our transgressions. Willingly and without malice, He would suffer and die for the sins of the world.

"Therefore My Father loves Me, because I lay down My life that I may take it again. No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This command I have received from My Father" (John 10:17-18).

He did not condemn those whom sentenced Him to death by crucifixion, nor the crowd who chose a criminal to be released instead of Him. Neither did He harbor ill will against His followers whom had scattered from Him and from themselves. He did not begin to mumble why He chose fishermen instead of shepherds.

Our Lord Jesus Christ voluntarily and willingly commits His life to His Father. His life was not taken from Him by Pilate, by the chief priests, or by the soldiers whom nailed His hands and feet to the Holy wood of the Cross.

"And when Jesus had cried out with a loud voice, He said, 'Father, 'into Your Hands I commit My spirit.'' Having said this, He breathed His last" (Luke 23:46).

What our Lord Jesus Christ was saying is that I am firmly committed to suffer for You, I willingly give up My life upon this Holy Cross. He was defining the epitome of commitment to suffering taking on our sins in order to free us from evilness. Our Lord Jesus Christ was taking on the weakest nature of man to destroy the permanent ominous foreboding of death.

Our Lord Jesus Christ, as they rose up His Cross with His Holy body nailed upon it and His breathing became labored, did not call upon legions of angels to rescue Him from His predicament. Rather He committed Himself to the Holy Cross willingly.

Our Lord Jesus Christ while inflicted with pain beyond measure, grief beyond description, and humility beyond reasoning, was nailed upon the Holy Cross entrusting His Spirit to the intervention and care of our Holy Father. Our Lord Jesus Christ lay down His holy life willing, of His own accord and volition. He was not forced to do anything. He was firmly committed to His beliefs and the inescapable suffering His beliefs would encounter. Our Lord Jesus Christ's determined commitment was firmly fixed upon the redemption of sins.

There was no ram that appeared for slaughter, as was the case with Isaac the Just.

"In place of Isaac the Just, a ram appeared for slaughter, in order that Isaac might be liberated from his bonds. The slaughter of this animal redeemed Isaac from death. In like manner, the Lord, being slain, saved us. Being bound, He loosed us. Being sacrificed, He redeemed us" (Melito c.170).

Calmness that Begot Peacefulness
It was not because He was depressed and despondent that He stayed with outstretched arms on the cross. Immediately at the time of our Lord's betrayal, the apostles did not flee from Him. In the Garden of Gethsemane at our Lord Jesus Christ's betrayal and arrest, St. Peter drew his sword and began to battle in defense of our beloved Master.

"Then Simon Peter, having a sword, drew it and struck the high priest's servant, and cut off his right ear. The servant's name was Malchus. So Jesus said to Peter, 'Put your sword into the sheath. Shall I not drink the cup which My Father has given Me?'" (John 18:10-11).

The Lord Jesus Christ chose arrest, humiliation, excruciating agony, and a violent death peacefully—and then would choose to take it up again. It is notable to recognize that St. Peter's actions could have certainly entailed an arrest for himself as well as that of our Lord Jesus Christ. Maybe our Lord Jesus Christ had this in mind when He immediately sent the disciples from Him. Our Prince of Peace needed to commit Himself to the Cross calmly and ensure the safety of St. Peter and His other disciples.

"He is man, yet also God. He is the last Adam, yet, He is also the Primary Word. He is flesh and blood, yet purer than ours, and He will 'descend in like manner as He ascended into heaven.' That is, He will be the same both in substance and in form (as the angels affirmed). Jesus will even be recognized by those who pierced Him" (Tertullian c.197).

Tertullian wrote many apologies and works against heretics. He states that our Lord Jesus Christ will be recognized by those who pierced Him, Tertullian did not say our Lord will be "feared" by those who pierced Him.

"But the souls of the righteous are in in the hand of God, and no torture will ever touch them. In the eyes of the undiscerning they seemed to have died, and their departure was considered to be misfortune, and their passage from us to be their destruction; but they are at peace. For though in man's view they were punished, their hope is full of immortality" (Wisdom of Solomon 3:1-4, OSB).

Goodness
Upon the Holy Cross our Lord Jesus Christ cried out,

"...My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?" (Mark 15:34).

Our Lord is asking His Father in Heaven for the welfare of humanity, not to forsake us in our distress and suffering. With the painful sensations of the piercing bleeding wounds He bore and near suffocation and asphyxiation that was inherent of the inhumane crucifixion process, our Lord said these words as the difficulty of bearing our sins became humanly excruciating and intolerable.

It identified us in the present sinful condition that existed at the time near His holy death and was to be defeated as His Glorious Resurrection would proclaim the eternal future of mankind.

Our Lord Jesus Christ was perhaps earnestly telling His Father in Heaven suffering was difficult, painful, and in all His humility upon the Holy Cross, He was at His weakest human moment of life. This may have been the weakest of moments in the life of our Lord Jesus Christ and yet perhaps the strongest moment of His human life. Certainly His cry was one of the poignant moments of time eternal.

Our Lord was not saying this is painful let it be finished. He was not saying this is not fair, let it be over. Our Lord Jesus Christ's poverty of speech was saying let this Lamb that was slain exemplify ALL GOODNESS and He was very credibly.

"Remembrance of wrongs is the consummation of anger, the keeper of sin, hatred of righteousness, ruin of virtues, poison of the soul, worm of the mind, shame of prayer...You will know that you have completely freed yourself of this rot, not when you pray for t he person who has offended you, not when you exchange presents with him, not when you invite him to your table, but only when, on hearing that he has fallen into bodily or spiritual misfortune, you suffer and weep for him as for yourself" (St. John Climacus, The Ladder of Divine Ascent).

Our Lord Jesus Christ took the Holy Cross not among His disciples but among thieves. He was not overtaken with the trials and tribulations of an earthly life. Our Lord Jesus with unshaken commitment, a peaceful calmness, and death defying goodness walked a straight line to the Holy Cross and entered into the Narrow Gate.

"God sent down from Heaven his incorporeal Son to take flesh upon Him in the Virgin's womb. Thus, He was made man—the same as you. He came to save lost man and to collect all His scattered members. When Christ joined manhood to His Person, He united that which death had dispersed by the separation of the body. So Christ suffered that we should live forever...He suffered shame for man's sake to set him free from death" (Alexander of Alexandria, c. 324).

St. John the Beloved in the Holy Book of Revelations explicitly describes the conviction of great and peaceful sacrifice and ensuing goodness in glory...

"Now when He had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each having a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. And they sang a new song, saying:

'You are worthy to take the scroll, and to open its seals; for You were slain, and have redeemed us to God by Your blood out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation, and have made us kings and priests to our God; and we shall reign on the earth.'

Then I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne, the living creatures, and the elders; and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice:

'Worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom, and strength and honor and glory and blessing!'" (Revelation 5:8-12).

All suffering should be done with commitment and conviction to be worthy of the One who died upon the Holy Cross. He opened the doors of life everlasting for us all with utmost calmness and peacefulness. Our Lord Jesus Christ did not die upon the Holy Cross against His desire to do so. He was not forced to accept His sacrificial earthly fate. It was of and through His exceeding goodness that He willingly opened the doors to Hades, defeated death for us all, and gave us a glimpse of a Heavenly day of Glory.

A Heavenly day of Glory where they will be no more prejudice, no more persecution, no more injustice. It will be a new day, a day that is eternal.

"'And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.' Then He who sat on the throne said, 'Behold, I make all things new.' And He said to me, 'Write, for these words are true and faithful.'" (Revelation 21:4-5).

Praise be to God, He is Risen!

Bishop Youssef
Bishop, Coptic Orthodox Diocese of the Southern United States