The answer to this is definitive and complete.
When Adam and Eve had the Fall, and lost all those graces associated with it, they gained suffering, death, and concupiscence. If they had not fallen, they would have never “died,” but rather would have been called up into heaven at the proper time.
The same applies for Mary and Jesus. They had no original sin, so they could not “die” in the same way as we do. There is speculation about Mary’s “death,” but what I personally believe is that she just fell asleep and was assumed in her sleep. There was no “deathbed” because she had no sin; this is the same reason why she had no pain in childbirth.
Therefore, Jesus would not have died for this same reason. Of course, he intended to offer up His life, and it’s really stupid to speculate what would happen if God’s plan didn’t carry out (since it always will, unfailingly). If you take a close look at scripture, you can see clearly that it wasn’t the crucifixion that killed Jesus; he released himself into death.
He said, “Father, I commend My Spirit.” He directly permitted His body to die.
My hypothesis that if he had not done this, he would have gone on living, much to the bewilderment of the Roman soldiers.
This is supported by a documentary I watched on the Passion. The host went through a detailed search on the Passion, using the Shroud of Turin for much of his evidence.
I don’t remember exactly how many strokes Jesus received at the Scourging at the Pillar, but I believe it was just under 200 (this is determined by the Shroud of Turin, which has the markings all over His body.)
Going back to the history of the kind of lash that was used for this particular torture, the host of this documentary learned that a *single *stroke from the scourge the Romans used was enough to put a man into shock; a staunch man would not survive over 60 or so lashes.
The fact that Jesus lived through that, then was forced to carry the cross such a long distance, THEN ***SURVIVED ***on the cross for so long, I think is proof that death could not overcome Him without his own choice.
Therefore, if Christ had not died on the cross, He would have gone on to live indefinitely until he chose to pass on.