It is a help to think of the life and death of Jesus as sacrifice, but the word needs to be used with care.

In the world of religion a sacrifice is either an offering to the ultimately holy or the giving up of something in devotion to the holy. The two ideas can blend in a single instance but it is wise to keep them apart because the first meaning is infinitely important, the second infinitely dangerous.

To give is at once expressive and liberating. To give up suggests reluctance; it implies that one needs or is perhaps particularly identified by this thing which is to be surrendered for some laudable reason.

There was nothing about Jesus that he wanted to keep. He found his identity in giving.

from Five for Sorrow, Ten for Joy