Love is considered to be the greatest of all virtues, and the highest expression of love is self-sacrifice. Furthermore, there is no greater sacrifice than to lay down one’s self for the sake of another. Some say a mother’s sacrifice for the child is great. Some others say a person giving up his life for his lover, just as ‘Jack’ gave up life to save ‘Rose’ in the movie Titanic, is equally great. Still many others believe a soldier dying for his nation is the most laudable of all sacrifices and rightly so. But is there a sacrifice that supersedes these great sacrifices?

The dictionary defines sacrifice as “destruction or surrender of something for the sake of something else,” and that “something” is generally something precious and worthy. People will very rarely give up their lives for another. Even if they do, they do it for their own - those who love them or for something/one worth dying for. But will someone die for his enemies? Will they die for criminals? Will they ever die for someone like Kasab? Why? Simply because they don’t deserve it! But the Holy Bible says, ‘Jesus died for us while we were still sinners’ (Rom. 5:8). In other words, Jesus died for us when we were still His enemies, when we still jeering at him with clenched fists. He died for us criminals who deserved nothing less than death. He died for those who blatantly deny even His existence. He died even for those who put Him on the Cross. He made the greatest sacrifice of all in that He, who knew no sin, became sin for us, by dying the ugly and horrible death of the cross—a sentence reserved for the worst of criminals.

Furthermore, even if people lay down their lives, they do it for another human being, not for Cockroaches. No human being will ever want to become a Cockroach and die in its place to rescue it. But that is exactly what Jesus did for all humanity. Philippians 2:6-8 says, “Though he was God, he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. Instead, he gave up his divine privileges; he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being. When he appeared in human form, he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross.” He did not have to do that but He did it!

The sacrifice of a person must be acknowledged and honored every year; but the only right response to the sacrifice of Jesus is not just remembering it once a year, but living a life of complete surrender and gratitude, giving Him praise, honor, glory and worship for all eternity. For this is the ultimate ‘qurban’ the world will ever see.

By Vineeth Kumar