In this American culture, we rarely discuss death from a serious perspective. Gallows humor is acceptable, but just don't get too close to the ultimate fate awaiting us all. We don't consider the subject suited to polite conversation. In the unusual circumstance that the topic can't be avoided (usually when someone close to our circle dies) we conjure up all manner of deflections to avoid grappling with the grim truth of death. I often hear the comment: "Well, death is just a part of life." This is a preposterous statement.
Death is certainly not "just a part of life," because death is the antithesis of life. The comment makes no more rational sense than to say "Well, darkness is just a part of light." In truth, darkness is the absence of light, and death is the absence of life.
While I am not certain of the source of the fallacious conclusion, I have my suspicions. Some time ago, this culture began jettisoning many of the long-held tenets of a western world-view that was based, primarily, on a Judaic and Christian understanding of reality. We substituted for it a watered-down, dumbed-down version of a more eastern philosophical stance.
Some of the foundation of this alternate thought appears to be based on the rejection of truth as absolute. Just a few of the corollary ideas that flow from such a premise are—"there is no such thing as good and evil," "all religions are basically the same," and, probably, "death is just a part of life." The logical and philosophical responses to such nonsense are considerable and clear-cut, but that is not the purpose of this article.
Death, indeed, waits patiently for each of us. And, though patient to the extreme, it is never satisfied.
It reminds me of hippo-feeding time at the zoo. The gargantuan, bloated body floats serenely in the cool, shaded end of its pool, appearing to hold not a care in the world, or to have the least desires or wants. But when the assigned keeper shows up at the set time of day, pushing the large cart with the squeaking wheel and loaded with a mountain of over-ripe produce, the voracious appetite awakens. A hurried exit is made from the pool, the hulking frame draws as near as possible to the cart just beyond the railing, and the unexpected, cavernous maw opens, daring the universe to fill it.
Death waits to separate us from our lives in much the same way. It is happy to lie hidden and content in the shadows of our lives, knowing that when feeding time comes, it won't be denied, and the feast will be ample. It must devour our lives in a desperate attempt to fill its bottomless stomach. It may not consume every one of us today, but there is always tomorrow.
And we are happy to play along in this game of deception. As long as it lies asleep, it seems not to threaten us. The monster seems far away at the other end of the pool, and even if we chance to look in that direction, its form is mostly camouflaged from sight in the water and dappled shade. We try not to pay it any attention, and it returns the gesture—for a time.
Death is not only not a part of life, it is anti-life. While true and complete life is to be found in the context of connection and relationship to other life, death is found in separation from all life. At death, we are not only severed from our own living bodies, we are also dissociated from those other lives (family and friends) we leave behind. Finally, death stands as expulsion from the things of true life—everything good, pure, and of intrinsic value. That we have always feared death is no wonder.
It amazes me that the God of All—the source of all life—is intimately acquainted with death. Although warning His creations (Man and Woman) of the potential of death, He witnessed the tragedy of them walking into its grisly embrace.
To counter this desperate condition, which continues to stalk us, the mercy of God set in motion a plan that would draw Him yet deeper into contact with death. He would take the ultimate insult of death upon Himself.
God the Father would send His only Son to absorb all of the painful reality of living life as a human—including the final pain of death. This Son set before Himself the task of experiencing the same death that lies before us all. And much more than simply looking toward separation from His physical body, He also foresaw the endeavor would completely cut Him off from His Father—the true ground of Life.
This is the highest paradox, that the Author of Life (and Who is the Perfect Life) chose to be divided from life, that we dying creatures could again have life in Him.
While Death the Destroyer yet remains our universal destination, a great twist of irony now fills its gut—death has fallen to defeat– and at the hands of death. Death crept toward the torture tree, upon which Jesus—the Way, the Truth, and the Life—hung in our place, and it salivated with anticipation of the feast which stood before it. With supreme confidence, it leapt upon the Lamb, devouring Him without mercy. Yet, little did it know it swallowed a time-bomb with a 39-hour fuse.*
As this space-time continuum draws its final breath and is near to being swallowed up by its own timely death, “…then will come about the saying, ‘Death is swallowed up in victory.’” And as God declares through Hosea:
“I will ransom them from the power of the grave;Some seven centuries later, the former blasphemer Paul clarified and answered Hosea’s questions as he wrote to those in Corinth: “The sting of death is sin, and the power of death is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” When one stands in the full victory over death won by Christ, death need not be feared.
I will redeem them from death.
Where, O death, is your victory?
Where, O death, is your sting?” (Hosea 13:4)
To cap it off, the author of the letter to the Hebrews writes:
“Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also partook of the same, that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death...and might free those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives.” (Hebrews 2:14-15, NASB)Now taxes are an entirely different matter, but, when compared to death, seem utterly without significance. For that discussion, you should navigate your way to the nearest water-cooler.
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*– Speculation has swirled for centuries concerning the exact length of time Jesus spent as a dead man in the tomb. While a few have argued forcefully for His execution placed on Thursday, most understand the "day of preparation" stated in the text as referring to Friday. With His death occurring at "the ninth hour" (3PM in current parlance) and His raising again to life just prior to dawn (probably about 6AM) on "the first day" of the week (Sunday, to us), this computes to the 39 hours mentioned above.
Image is detail from William Blake's "Behemoth and Leviathan," about 1826.
>>> Unless otherwise attributed, all text and images are Copyright, Bill Brockmeier, 2015. All rights reserved.
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