It is a general truism that people die as they have lived. Those who come to the end of life with bitterness, regret, and harshness are often those who have lived lives characterized by those same qualities. Alternatively, those that approach their final years and months with faith, humility, and gratitude have likely exhibited those virtues in the decades prior.

In the nineteenth chapter of John’s gospel, the Apostle details the events surrounding the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. It’s a horrific scene littered with plotting, suffering, mocking, screaming, crying, and bleeding. But, beyond all the brutality and injustice, readers are shown the Saviour dying as he lived, full of contagious compassion and selfless love, both of which his followers are called to mimic. Disciples of Jesus Christ are to be need-seeing and need-meeting people because they belong to a need-seeing and need-meeting God.