After an illegal trial filled with false witnesses and contradictory testimonies, the group that had convened to proclaim judgement on Jesus finally stumbled, blindly and accidentally, on a true statement - “He is worthy of death”, they all shouted in one voice, never realizing just how right they were. Christ was worthy of death. He had fulfilled His mortal mission. There was nothing left on this Earth for Him to do but to voluntarily lay down His life for His friends. The Sanhedrin and the Roman governor could try and condemn and even attempt to execute Jesus, but none of them had the power to actually take away His life. He could have remained nailed to that cross for weeks or even years if His work had not yet been finished, but it so happened that His work was done. He had passed His test and was worthy to end His mortal trial. To all of us who have lost loved ones, almost without exception, we can't help but feel a deep pain of regret that our loved ones died too soon. The sting is especially sharp for those whose full potential does not to our view seem to have been fully realized. But because of our Savior Jesus Christ, the only Being to have ever lived that we can say with utter confidence that He was truly and fully worthy of death, having fulfilled the measure of His creation to the uttermost inch, thanks to His selfless sacrifice, there is no sting in death. None of us will have truly died too soon. Whatever hopes and dreams that languished unfulfilled in this life will finally come to fruition in the life hereafter thanks to the Atonement of Jesus Christ. We can't comprehend all things in this mortal life but whatever our thoughts and feelings regarding those that we have lost, our Heavenly Father considered each and every one of them worthy of death, worthy to receive a reprieve from the pain and struggle of their mortal experience, worthy of finishing their tests. I have no doubt that when we are reunited with our loved ones on the other side of the veil, we will see with perfect clarity that none of their deaths happened randomly or prematurely or unavoidably, but that in every case they had learned all they could from this mortal experience and were ready for the next adventure.
