Most often we contemplate on the death of Jesus and treat that as a distinct aspect of his ministry here on Earth. The Holy Week, and Good Friday, in particular is the typical commemoration of this. While this has a great value in our Christian faith, it alone cannot be the essence of our faith.
While the incarnation is something very peculiar and unique, the suffering and death of Jesus is not something unique. No other religious tradition believes in God incarnating as a human being, living as a normal person and then dying like one. That is something special in Christianity. However, there were, and still are, people who suffer greatly like Jesus Christ. Jesus' agony was mostly for three days. There are people who have suffered for years. Both physical and mental torture. Very many died and continue to die after prolonged and intense suffering. Therefore the suffering and death of Jesus alone does not set him apart from other human beings.
Therefore the need to see his life and death as a whole unit, rather than amplify one at the cost of the other. It is only then that we truly recognise the greatness of Jesus, as no other dimension of God and man.
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