阅读经文 

你可能会困惑为什么这个默想的标题是《荣美的死》。《圣经》是肯定生命的价值的，那什么样的死会被认为是荣美的呢？在某种程度上，这个标题类似于“受难日”（Good Friday）这个名字，我们用它来指代耶稣受死的这一天。

从某些层面来说，那一天一点儿都不美好。我们哀悼耶稣的死，我们对导致祂死去的罪恶感到难过。但在其他层面，这一天确实非常好。耶稣的死对世界来说是个好消息，因为藉着受死，耶稣打破了神与罪恶的人类之间的隔阂。现在我们可以因着耶稣的死而与神联合。所以我们可以说，耶稣的死是荣美的。

《马太福音》还说，在耶稣死的那一刻，“殿里的幔子从上到下裂为两半”。那幔子挡住了通往圣殿中最神圣空间的道路，它代表了圣洁的神与祂有罪的百姓之间的隔绝。但因着耶稣的死，这块幔子就再也不需要了。人们可以再次与神和好。神爱世人，甚至将祂的独生子差来为我们受死，使我们与神和好——这何其美好！

You might wonder why the title of this meditation is "Beautiful Death." The Bible affirms life, so how could any death be considered beautiful?

But, in a way, this title is similar to the name "Good Friday," which we use to refer to the day of Jesus' death. In some ways that day was not good at all. We mourn the death of Jesus, and we regret the sin that caused him to die. But in other ways the day has been very good indeed. The death of Jesus is good news for the world, because in his death Jesus tore down the barrier between God and sinful humanity. Now we can be united with God because of Jesus' death. So we can say that the death of Jesus was beautiful.

The book of Matthew adds that at the moment of Jesus' death, "the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom." That curtain barred the way to the holiest room in the temple. It represented the separation between the holy God and his sinful people. But because of Jesus' death, the curtain was not needed anymore. People could be united with God again. God loved the world so much that he sent Jesus to die, uniting us with himself again—and that is beautiful!