“BEAUTIFUL DEATH”

"Jesus called out with a loud voice, 'Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.' When he had said this, he breathed his last” Luke 23:46.

Death? Beautiful? At first glance you may be tempted or even yield to the temptation to ask: “Him lick him head, or what?”  What an insensitive adjective to place beside the word death! There is no denying that death is painful. The one who feels it knows it!! What is beautiful about death? Death is loss. Death is grief and misery. Death is ugly. Or is it? 

While Jesus hung on the cross he shouted (“loud voice”), as if he wanted everyone down through the ages to hear: 'Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.' These words were written by David and are found in Palm 31:5. Jesus would have learnt these words as a young child because they formed part of the evening prayer of every devout Jew. In these words we hear intimacy, trust, confidence and surrender. According to Dr. Luke, these were his final words before breathing his last.

Irrespective of who we are, there comes a moment in the life of every human when we breathe our last. We are confident that there is no certainty when and where this will happen. However, we have some control over the atmosphere surrounding our departure. 

The life of the roving evangelist, revivalist and co-founder of the Methodist Movement, Rev’d John Wesley, was slowly, but surely, ebbing away. For five days he grew weaker and weaker in body but stronger and stronger in faith. On March 2, 1791, 227 years ago, Wesley sang the Isaac Watts hymn: "I'll Praise My Maker While I've Breath".

The hymn says:

“I’ll praise my Maker while I’ve breath,
And when my voice is lost in death,
Praise shall employ my nobler pow’rs;
My days of praise shall ne’er be past,
While life and thought and being last,
Or immortality endures.”

It is reported that his very last words were "Best of all is, God

is with us." Then he breathed his last. That is truly a good way to breathe one’s last.

Death is painful, but it does not have to be ugly. We can decide whether to have a good ending or a bad ending. It is simple. However we spend our life, that is most likely how we will die.

If we spend our days disobeying God, tormenting creation, destroying lives with the jealousy of our hearts, lying, stealing, gossiping, betraying, being unjust and causing misery to others, we will most probably die an unpleasant and ugly death. On the contrary, if we commit our lives to Jesus and his mission and worship God, do good deeds, tend to the environment and animals, honour our parents, feed the hungry and support the orphan and the widow, it is more likely that we will have a beautiful end.

Thought:      Dressed and Ready for a “Beautiful Death”? 

Prayer Focus: Pray for faith, hope and confidence when it is

                     time to breath our last.