Jesus was Not a "suicide by cop"

Note: In what follows; I take the Fourth Gospel ("John") as my eyewitness source for the life of Jesus final years. 

If we are to regard Jesus's life and behaviour as, in significant ways, exemplary; we should notice that he did not cling to his mortal life - did not try to delay his death. 

This has sometimes been taken to mean that Jesus did not value mortal life, and that we should not value it.... 

That because Heaven is eternal, and mortal life is finite; "therefore" mortal life has not ultimate value except insofar as it leads to Heaven. That "therefore" we should live now, as-much-as-possible, as if we were already resurrected, immortal, and in Heaven. That "therefore" the sooner we die, the better...

But it is equally important to recognize that Jesus did not court his death: that Jesus was not in any sense a "suicide by cop" - nor was Jesus (as-it-were) using the Jewish and Roman authorities in order to bring about, as speedily as possible, the kind of death that was prophesied, ordained, necessary. 

Instead; the way we should think about this; is that Jesus knew when it was "time to die". 

He knew when it was time to stop struggling against the dying of the light, and prepare for transformation and the next phase of our existence. 

And this is something that we can learn from his example; we also need to recognize when it is time for us to die, and when the time has arrived to choose and prepare-for what comes after.

And "what comes after" depends, substantially, on what we personally believe is possible; and of these possibilities - which one we personally most-want.