I recently read a fictional story about a detective who was investigating the murder of two women on an island. And just to completely destroy the story for you-It ends with his own fiancee being killed. I didn’t like that ending. They were very much in love and were planning a life together and she’s gone. There would be two funerals. I didn't want another, I wanted a wedding. I know this was a work of fiction so the people don’t exist but I had invested a lot of time in them and that’s not how I wanted their story to go. As I thought about my reaction to the story, I realised I was faced with reality while I was looking for escapism. I didn't just want justice (killer caught), I wanted joy instead I got death.
Have you ever felt that way?
It strikes me that we spend a whole lot of our time trying to distract or distance ourselves from the reality of death.
One of the things that has made this past year so difficult is that death was in the air. We had to really up our efforts to distract ourselves from death. Especially when so many of the things we use to distract ourselves were taken away from us-shopping, sports, socialising.
It was even harder to distance ourselves from death. It seemed to be on every surface we touched and every conversation we had. If only we could keep death 2 metres or more from us and our loved ones. Yet again and again it bursts our bubble. It invades our space.
We’ve been reminded as some of the restrictions are eased that Death comes by many different names. As we are defending ourselves against Coronavirus it attacks as cancer, suicide...Just last week England announced that Covid 19 was no longer the leading cause of death but dementia now was.
That announcement leaves me cold. Covid removed from the top spot only to be replaced with something else isn’t good news. Is it?
Distracting and distancing ourselves from death doesn’t work. we need death destroyed. And that’s exactly what Jesus Christ has done. In what was probably Paul’s last letter before he was killed, he says Jesus has “destroyed death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel”
How has he done that?
He destroys death by going through death Himself and bursting into life.
Look what happened three days after his death. Some of his early followers arrive at his tomb to anoint his decaying body with spices and perfumes in their effort to kill the stench of death. But they soon discover that Jesus' death doesn't bring a stench but the sweet fragrance of Life. His tomb is empty. His body like a seed planted in the ground bursts forth into New Life. New physical life. He is what the bible describes as the first fruit. That first crop of fruit that gives you confidence that there is more on the way.
When a seed is planted in the ground that’s not a time for despair but for great hope. And our hope is a certain hope. Jesus is the first fruit and we know when we trust in him we follow him through death into new life.
Here’s how Paul says it in the bible:
“The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; it is sown in dishonour, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; it is sown a physical body, it is raised a spiritual body”. That’s the path of those who trust in Jesus. we receive a body like Jesus' own resurrected body. A body that will no longer experience disease, decay or death.
That's where the story is going for those who trust in Jesus.
We grab a hold of his hand and he brings us through death into New Life.
So how are you going to deal with the reality of death? Distract yourself, distance yourself or trust the One who has destroyed death. He will bring you through death into New Life. Now that’s a more satisfying ending to our story.