Rev. Peter J. Haugen
St. Paul Evangelical
Lutheran Church
Death is a dread foe, stinging us, separating us from those we love. Death hurts. And that hurt is often sharpest when he swoops into our lives suddenly, without warning, seemingly out of nowhere. We must be ready.
But we so often aren’t – especially we who are left behind. There is no easy fix for Death’s sting, no quick solution, no salve to make it all better. Part of love on this side of glory is pain. Death is not peaceful or natural or “just a part of life.” Death is unnatural, invasive, violent, painful, destructive. And we suffer.
No one has ever known this so well as our Lord Jesus Himself. He says to Martha, “I AM the Resurrection and the Life; he who believes in Me shall live even if he dies” (St. John 11:25). He is the Resurrection and the Life because He Himself dies. He calls Lazarus forth from the tomb so that He can take the place of Lazarus in the tomb. Death consumes Him… and is destroyed.
“I AM the Resurrection and the Life; he who believes in Me shall live even if he dies,” our Lord says. But that’s not where He ends. He also says, “Everyone who lives and believes in Me shall never die” (St. John 11:26). How can this be so? We see and feel the effects of Death all around us. And yet our Lord says, “Everyone who lives and believes in Me shall never die.”
And reality is not determined by our perceptions or by our understanding or even by our belief. Reality is shaped and formed by the very Word of God. And the Word of God is this: “Everyone who lives and believes in Me shall never die.” That is reality. And that is also why Holy Scripture repeatedly refers to the death of the Christian as sleep. Why? Because “everyone who lives and believes in Me shall never die.”
Our faith seizes hold of that promise and says, “Amen. Yes. That is truth. I may not be able to see it. I may not even be able to understand it. But our Lord Jesus has said it. And therefore it is so.”
Do we who are left behind still suffer? Of course we do. We have not yet had every tear wiped away. We still live in this Valley of the Shadow of Death. But our suffering does not define reality. Our Lord Jesus has said, “I AM the Resurrection and the Life; he who believes in Me shall live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me shall never die.” That is what defines reality.
So we suffer. We mourn. But we Christians mourn with hope, knowing that our mourning is but for a time, is but for a season, and that we, too, shall join those Christians who have gone before us, shall join them where there are no longer tears or sorrow or suffering.
Amen.
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