Sometimes I think of a dear friend and it hits me afresh that that friend has passed away. Although we know that in the end death comes to all of us, it’s not a truth that we really “know”. We live as though we will live forever unless a debilitating disease cripples us and brings home the reality of our mortality. As we grow older, we will attend more funerals. I am on various alumni chat groups and now these groups inform us of who is ill and who has passed away. So, once in a while, briefly, we reflect about death.
Followers of Jesus will think a lot about death this week as we remember His death. While we believe that Jesus has defanged death (1 Corinthians 15:54–55), the Bible does not sugar-coat the pain of losing loved ones to death. In one of the shortest and most poignant verses in the Bible, we are told that “Jesus wept” (John 11:35). Whatever He may have known about the ultimate defeat of death, Jesus wept at the tomb of His dear friend. Those of us who have lost loved ones know this weeping. It is loss, and the finality of that loss, that gets to us even if we believe that we will be reunited at some point.
So while believers of Jesus believe He gives us life after death (John 11:25–26), that truth should not lead to a denial about the pain of death. The apostle Paul tells us not to grieve like those who have no hope (1Thessalonians 4:13). He doesn’t say we should not grieve. We tend to avoid pain as a protective mechanism. We tend to avert our eyes and our hearts to things that cause us pain. Yet, if we are to follow Christ on the path of life, we must first follow Him on the Via Dolorosa (The Way of Suffering). No short cuts.
Are you scared of death? Most of us will say that we are more scared of a painful dying. But death? I suspect most of us are anxious about death since it is a journey of no return. Good Friday reminds us that this is a path Jesus has walked. And it is a path we too must walk. But now Jesus is our guide into death. And beyond. And more and more of our friends await us.
