Station 12
Jesus Dies For Us
““Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” When he had said this, he breathed his last.” Death is never something I like to think about. At funerals, I don’t even go near open caskets unless that person means a great deal to me. Yet this passage constantly reminds me of my grandfather’s death. It was a sudden death from an aggressive cancer. He struggled to breath throughout his stay at the hospital as his lungs filled with what I think was pneumonia even with the help of oxygen and a BiPAP machine. And when it was finally his time, his last breath sounded more like a sigh of relief like peace was finally truly his.
There is a sense of surrender and finality when thinking about death. I guess that’s why I don’t like thinking about it too much. Everything I was taught about life was to leave a mark in others no matter how little. If you leave those little marks in others, would you truly be dead if your little marks lived on in others?
Jesus was given a mission from the Father to come to earth and free us from sin. By coming to earth, Jesus lived with us, struggled with us, and finally died for us. His mission was not just to die for us. His life here was God sending his compassion to us. To let us know we are his beloved. From Jesus’s life and death, God left His mark in all of us. My discomfort with death may very well lie with surrendering to that finality, but until then, I’ll try and find comfort in all those marks left around me.
Lord, in the final weeks of Lent, I pray that I may see more of the graces and compassion you have left and nurtured around me. I pray that you may be with me through all of my days.
Huy Nguyen