Many of the most successful people in the world, including Moses, Kind David and of course Jesus, did not achieve success until their second or even third careers. These individuals had to endure a death of the life they had been living in order to live the life they were destined to live. Moses for example, was a prince of Egypt and then a Bedouin sheepherder before becoming a leader of the Israelites. Before he became royalty, David was a simple shepherd, the smallest of his brothers, and then a warrior. And Jesus, because he did not start his mission until around the age of thirty, surely had some prior vocation. As a seed must die to become to a flower, you too must be willing, as Jesus said in Mathew 16:25, to lose your life in order to find it.
He died!
Death is a success secret because endings give way to new beginnings. Sometimes you have to let your hopes and dreams, your accomplishments and possessions, and even your role or persona, die before your true mission and purpose can be revealed to you. If you’ve taken the wrong path, assumed a mistaken identity, or pursued a meaningless goal, to achieve your higher purpose, that part of your life has to come to an end. It must die. You experience suffering, like when Jesus sweat blood in the garden of Gethsemane, when you resist the inevitable. Jesus had to die on the cross so he could fulfil his mission and rise on the third day.
Death is the ultimate mystery. While most dread this event, it is after all a transition, a step toward a new life. While everyone will experience death eventually, not everyone will, as William Wallace said in the film Braveheart, really live. As a caterpillar must die to become a butterfly, you too must die to be born again into something more beautiful, radiant and magnificent. Jesus said, “He who believes in me, though he may die, he shall live.” (Jn 11:25) Death is the secret to rising again.
Conclusion: Jesus the eternal light willingly ventured into our darkness, shouldering our sins. Good Friday communicates to us the death of God’s love and how unique and precious we are to our creator. It was the Father’s unconditional love and compassion for his wayward children that made him give up his beloved Son. Good Friday is a personal gift of the Father to each one of his children to save us from sin and death and bring us to the joy and light of Easter. “Whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” - Jesus of Nazareth.
Rev. Fr. C. Joseph, Counsellor
fr.c.joseph2014@gmail.com
St. Joseph’s College (Autonomous)
Jakhama, Kohima
Nagaland