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25.04.2010_Living in the face of death
| 27.04.2010, 14:33 | |
| Rev. Tatiana Cantarella Psalm 23; Revelation 7:9–17; Acts 9:36–43; John 10:22–30 4th Sunday of Easter LIVING IN THE FACE OF DEATH Death has been on the new a lot last few weeks. Most of the time as a result of tragedies, terrorist actions or horrible accidents through which death entered our lives like a thief that comes and takes away something so precious. But other deaths were not supposed to surprise us for people left us having lived a long life. However, even such deaths often "shock” us. When three years ago Eltsin died, someone said: "we were so shocked by the news of Boris Yeltsin’s death!” But what does that mean, "we were shocked"? It sounds as if he was one of those people that were supposed to tread this earth forever. Human responses to death are often so absurd, we get "surprised” when someone dies, we exclaim, "how could have that happened?” while we very well know that death is an inescapable reality which all of us will face. Scriptures says that death and its various causes are the consequences of sin in the world and an inseparable part of life in this sin-infested world. Hebrews 9:27 says, "it is appointed for men to die once”, but we neither like to think, nor talk about it. Death is an enemy as Paul says, it is not "natural”, otherwise Christ’s sacrifice on the cross and the victory of resurrection were pointless. Besides death being inescapable and hostile, it is also not appealing and not happy. And although some people talk about "honorable death”, in itself, death is ugly no matter how peacefully it comes. On Easter Day we boldly proclaimed that Christ has overcome death and this victory transformed everything, having given God’s children hope. But so often God’s children continue to look in the eyes of death and live in hopelessness and fear. Shortly before his untimely death Raymond E. Brown wrote: "The finality of death and the uncertainties it creates causes trembling also among those who have spent their lives professing Christ...” However, having noted that death makes even the followers of Christ fearful, he continued saying, "but when confronted with the reality of the grave, all need to hear and proclaim the bold message that Jesus proclaims...‘everyone who believes in me shall never die at all!” It is this truth that all of our Scriptures proclaim today on the 4th Sunday of Easter: death is still a reality in this world, but because of Christ’s resurrection we can live fearlessly in the faith of death and even when we die we don’t "leave forever”. Resurrection life is a life despite death, a life that is fearless even in the face of death. An unusual story in the book of Act tells us today that God is still the source of life even in the midst of death. To be honest, we don’t quite know what to do with stories like that. Peter was traveling all around, constantly preaching about Jesus but was called to come to Joppa where Tabitha, one of Jesus’ followers, a woman of great compassion and good deeds, has died. Many people were mourning her death showing Peter the robes she made for the widows (those who were one of the most socially vulnerable people of the time). Here death was a great loss for this Christian community in Joppa. Peter’s actions remind us of what Jesus did raising Jairus’ daughter, he prays for Tabitha and tells her to "rise” and the woman comes back to life. When we loose someone, we wish we could also bring our loved ones back and although church history has many testimonies of God bringing people back to life, we don’t really see that happening a whole lot around us and don’t know what to do about the story. Why is it important if it’s not an example of what God does always and everywhere? One important detail might help us. Peter tells Tabitha "rise” – the same word that he uses in his Pentecost sermon when he says, "God raised Him up again, putting an end to the agony of death”. In essence, Peter called on God to also now give life to Tabitha. This revitalization (and I purposefully don’t call this event resurrection, since Tabitha’s physical life will have to end again) happened in light and as a result of Jesus’ resurrection. This story is a testimony of the power of Christ’s resurrection over all people, not in a sense that our bones and flesh will rise before the teary eyes of our loves ones, but in a sense that risen Christ has power to give new life to people and that life flows out of the life God gave Jesus on that first Easter day! About that life, flowing from God and about God’s providential care speaks today also our favorite 23rd Psalm. However, an image of the Shepherd, meeting every need of His sheep is often misunderstood as if God must respond to our every whim, to give us everything we want. You see, the world constantly convinces people that they absolutely must have this and that and really to have just a bit more for happiness. And in the midst of this conviction, the author of the Psalm proclaims his radical trust "I shall not want, if I have God, for it’s the only thing that I really need/want”. Expanding on that conviction, verse 4 proclaims that even in the moment of greatest danger, "walking through the valley of the shadow of death I fear no evil” because God is with me and takes care of me. Christians often read this verse on their deathbed, proclaiming in the face of death that they do not fear it for God who conquered death is with them. The author of the Psalm is not afraid of death’s breath because he knows that His "goodness and loving-kindness will follow him all the days of his life”. ALL the days: days of joy and sorrow, days of plenty and of want, days full of strength and days of weakness, days when everything goes the planned way and when circumstances crash us. The Lord is with him ALL the DAYS, even on the day when the shadow of death falls over him, yet he fears not because even if his physical life will end, God is already waiting for him and welcomes him in His eternal Home. The whole Psalm shines with proclamation: "Life fully depends on God, life is in His hands and because of that even in the face of death, I cal live without fear!” The Gospel of John also uses the image of the Shepherd but in relation to Jesus. Earlier in chapter 10 Jesus told the people that He is the Good Shepherd and will lay his life down for his sheep, He will give it but then will take it again and we know that it’s exactly what happened on Easter morning. Many Jews who were listening to Jesus were divided in their opinion, didn’t understand what He was saying and demanded: "stop keeping us in perplexity! If you are the Christ, just tell us”. They want to know whether he conforms to their prejudices of how God or Messiah, or God’s Son is to act; they want to know whether He complies with what they think of Him. Little has changed today, many want the Lord to conform to their conception of Him: a superstar, healer, guarantor of happiness, of peaceful existence. But it is not enough to decide whether Jesus complies with our views of how God is to act. That’s why only those who "hear His voice”, who are of His sheep, who follow Him, understand His words: "and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand. My Father… is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand.” For those who are not among His sheep the life He talks about makes no sense, it doesn’t meet their expectations. He gives eternal life to those who accept it from Him on His terms: hearing His voice and following Him. But for many, Jesus words "and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand” mean the same as living comfortably, having no need of anything, never having any problems, never suffering illnesses, losses or death. But as we observed often, earthly life is rarely that cloudless. I heard a joke about that: "a believer comes to a pastor and complains about his life, how everything is bad and how unhappy he is. His pastor suggests putting a sign over his doorstep that says "it will not be always like that!” After awhile the same believer comes back to the pastor but joyful and with a shining smile. Everything is great with me now! Can I now take the sign down? Nah, says the pastor – let it stay there for a while…” Life with God is not always a happy and problem-less existence and we need to remember that Jesus’ words about eternal life and that "no one will snatch them out of my hand” refer both to the present and the future. The Lord, the Shepherd of His people cares for them already now, gives them necessities of life, protects and blesses. But He doesn’t free us from all the problems and stresses of life, yet He gives us the Spirit and the power to stand against one cannot stand in one’s own strength, He gives grace even before the face of death. But more than that, Jesus says that He and the Father hold our lives in their hands in such a way that even in the even of death or suffering, no one or nothing can separate us from God or take away eternal life that we’ll have in Him even after we die. The word "to snatch” implies something sudden, unpredictable and dreadful, taking things away forever. If I put a coin on my palm and let you try to snatch it from me, most of you won’t be able to do so, but someone just might. But if I cover it with my hand or close my feast, it’s impossible to "snatch” it. Jesus says that the life of those who believe in Him and hears His voice and follows Him are also securely hidden in His hand. And even when we face tragedies, when people are "snatched” from this life…those who trusted Him, who was in the hand of the Savior while treading this earth, were simply taken from it; their lives were not "snatched” from His hand. The lives of those who followed Him continue with Him even now. His sheep live even when death swarms around them; they live in the face of death and continue to live even after they die! The same optimist in the face of suffering and death is shed by vision of John in Revelation. Last verse of chapter 6 is a question: "who can stand on the day when life on earth will be over and everyone will stand before our just God?” Chapter 7 that we read today gives the answer: "God’s people will be saved from wrath and only they will not need to hide from God’s face”. It will be people from everywhere, from all nations and tongues but all of them are described as clothed in white robes, waiving palm branches and exclaiming: "Salvation belongs to God and to the Lamb”. They experience what Jesus promised His followers. They came out of the "great tribulation”, their earthly lives were not void of problems, they knew hunger and thirst, they were exposed but they stood firm for God and the Lamb held them in their hand. And even physical death couldn’t separate them from Him. They remained faithful, despite their earthly suffering and now they entered life where they will not suffer no hunger, no thirst, no exposure, they will be forever in the presence of the one who gently "shepherds” them and takes them to the streams of water and wipes their every tear. What a great promise! These promises are true, for Christ conquered death and rose from the dead. He gives life eternal to those who believe in Him, and this life starts already here and now. It’s not a life that is free from suffering or death, but a life that neither suffering nor any enemy (even death) can take away from us. It’s life in the face of death, life that continues despite death. Yesterday I watched a cute film in which a mother dies in the accident while her six-year-old daughter Ponette survives with only a broken arm. How this child accepts the death of her closest person is shown in her dealing with other kids who don’t know the rules of propriety and convention. They say what they think. They feel sorry for Ponettе, they are curious about death but their understanding of it is simpler than that of adults and comforting her they say things, which would be shocking for adults. Adults in the best case tell her about Jesus and that her mom is in heaven. In the worst case, like her dad, that mom didn’t believe in God and wouldn’t want Ponettе to seek comfort in Him. It’s already hard for dad and he just wants her to start smiling again. Her aunt in the mountain area takes her in for a while, so Ponette can play with kids says that everyone will be raised but doesn’t know why. And Ponettе desires one thing – that mom would talk to her every day. At the end of a movie mom appears to her when this little girl takes a long walk to the cemetery. Her mom explains everything to her and asks her to be happy with daddy; she explains that life is for living. Mom says: "you must live”, "you can die but when you die, die full of life”. And it is exactly what Christ’s resurrection allows us to do – to live in the face of death, so that when our last hour comes we can die full of life! Today, as the culture of death seems to envelop our lives from the killing fields of political, ethnic and religious wars, through plagues and pandemics, and even takes up residence in schoolyards, the promise of present and future eternal life seems fragile. But our risen Lord promises that not a single human life is meaningless and forgotten by God, for "neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing (I will also add – neither hunger, nor thirst, nor valley of the shadow of death), will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord!” All of God’s Word today gives us enough reasons to live in the face of death knowing that our life is in the hand of the loving God and the Good Shepherd who gave His life for us but rose from the dead. Christ is Risen! | |
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