Between the quick approach of Easter and our reminder of Christ’s passing (followed by his resurrection), and a recent family reunion, death has been on my mind.
Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.” “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
1 Corinthians 15:51-57 ESV
1 Corinthians 15:51 (shared above) allows me a deep sigh of relief, it provides me with hope and comfort when I feel as though I am staring death in the face.
I have been incredibly fortunate in my life, I have had the opportunity to know, love and be loved by my grandparents and their siblings. I have seen loved ones grow, age, and pass on. But overall I have had very limited experience with death in my life, and for that I truly am thankful.
Attending the reunion forced me to see even more clearly that my position in the family has changed. Grandparents have passed on, my parents and family members in their generation slide into the positions their parents once held while expressing how they can no longer do things that used to be simple, and in turn myself and family members in my generation slide into what had been our parents places. I am reminded of the frailty of life, and the reality that my time with my parents and other older family members is limited, that my time is limited.
Corinthians reminds me that while life is in face short, when we do life with Christ, eternity is on the other side of it.
When Lazarus passed away Jesus didn’t blow it off as not a big deal, instead he acknowledged the pain that death, as the consequence of sin in our world, brought to the loved ones of the deceased, and it was Martha, not Jesus, that in her grief said that she knew her brother would return at the resurrection, while Jesus offered her nothing more or less than truth, that true life is found in him, both in this world and into eternity.
In the Garden of Gethsemane, prior to being arrested, Jesus expressed a desire to have the cup of death pass from him, he stared death in the face and didn’t skip into it without care, he acknowledged that it wasn’t going to be a pleasant experience, then he followed the will of the Father and broke every chain that death has over us, destroying the hold of sin and freeing us from an eternity under bondage.
Life as we experience it currently is limited, and sometimes the prospect of death is a little bit scary or sad. If we view death through the lens of pain and loss the future can become an increasingly lonely, negative landscape. But, if we look at death through the lens of Jesus, and in particular the work he completed at the cross, death isn’t an end to life at all, instead it marks the end of pain and suffering, it signifies victory and relief, and, as shared in Corinthians above, it is when those who are in relationship with Christ get to throw off the sin of this world for the final time and receive the promise of a future with him.
Karla