In the Newness of Life

by DanWolgemuth on January 23, 2009

Then Jesus, calling out with a loud voice, said, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!” And having said this he breathed his last. ~ Luke 23:46

Jesus, roughly thirty-three years old, had His life snuffed from Him at a point of highly effective, deeply impactful living. Jesus had established a level of relational depth with His closest followers and friends that made this death, this act of injustice and pain, an unprecedented act in human history. Yet Jesus, the sinless Son of God, not only showed us how to live and love, He also showed us how to die and sacrifice. As He dismissed His spirit to His Father, His departure gave witness to the depth and quality of His soul.

And when the centurion, who stood facing him, saw that in this way he breathed his last, he said, “Truly this man was the Son of God!” ~ Mark 15:39

Eyewitnesses to His death were moved and changed. Their sense of duty was undermined by the dignity and grace of this messenger of hope. In life Jesus reveals the way, in death He comforts the broken, in resurrection He establishes victory that no power can ever overcome and no evil can undermine.

January 21, 2009, Ray Fitzgerald breathed his last, and in doing so, he showed us the way, in life and in death. In living and in dying. He did what Jesus said to do, to “follow me.”

And in doing just that, he has now been ushered into a place where Jesus alone declares him victor.

Ray Fitzgerald, a follower of Christ, in living, in dying, and now, in newness of life. We honor you, commend you, mourn our loss, but commit to live differently because of you.

Faithful in life, courageous in death, now united with your King.

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