By Lamont H. Fuchs, Ed.D.
Scripture references: Psalms 118:17, 1 Timothy 2:3-4, Luke 15:7
I heard a quote the other day that rings true. “What was once shunned and hidden in the dark alleys is now openly displayed in our living rooms and broad daylight on Main Street.”
Dramas and movies about the tragedies of war and catastrophes of nature are sometimes entertaining; they might even be accurate and historically relevant, but rarely do they draw us face to face with our mortality.
Let us talk about real life and death that are relevant to us. Personally. Tragic deaths and tragic stories of death. The ones we read about – Are you moved by the deaths you hear about on the news? The car accidents, shootings, murders, tree fallings, drownings – I mean, even with all the deaths from hurricanes or tornadoes, floods, or those who lost their lives in the California fires. What about all those who died of COVID-19? Did any of those deaths come close to you? Did or do you know any of the victims? Do you have family or friends, or even a friend of a friend, who was affected by one of those kinds of tragedies? Did any of those deaths touch your heart?
My son and his family escaped the dangerous onslaught of a recent storm. They were in a remote beach house on the Outer Banks of North Carolina. But, if they had not heeded the potential danger, and if they had not listened to the warnings, and if they had waited just another hour before they left while the tide and storm surge was rising if they would not have got out and swept by the storm if they could not find gas…IF…IF…IF.
We all have someone we love, and when we see them faced with death, we think about the separation that will come from the death of a loved one, even if it is ourselves – it makes most of us sad to think about that.
And now we are getting close to home. The death we face in Life. The most intimate kind. Actual death – the kind that impacts us personally. Sometimes we face death when it involves a close friend, a loved one, a family member, or someone we knew at work or school who was here one day and gone the next. A classmate, military buddy, or an old friend or relative you grew up with. We know people who have had a close call, an accident, or hospitalization due to an illness of some kind. You know that whoever that person was, they faced death. Some of us may be facing death right now.
So, how do you face death? Maybe we need to realize we are all faced with death every day. God makes no promises to us for tomorrow.
1 Thessalonians 4:13 says, 13 But we would not have you ignorant, brethren, concerning them that fall asleep; that ye sorrow not, even as the rest, who have no hope.
I have hope – My hope is in Jesus. That is how I face death. With hope. Do you have hope? What is your hope?
We have biblical examples of facing death, and one of the best is how Jesus faced death.
I believe He saw it wherever He was, wherever He went. He saw it all around Him. He talked about death as much as He spoke of Life. And like us, when He faced His death, He showed us much about Himself through the Word left for us to see how to face our death. He prayed in the garden.
Jesus faced death because He knew what death was all about. He knew exactly how he was going to die and what he would suffer. And like HIM, some of us no longer fear death as much as we fear just how we might die or how we might suffer.
He loves us, and He grieves with us when we grieve death. The story of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus, when Jesus wept, tells us that He grieves. He shares with us when we grieve, and He is there to comfort us with His peace. He is a compassionate God. But he also grieves when he knows someone dies and will be separated from Him forever.
Jesus knows all there is to know about death. As God, He knows everything about us. His plans for us and His grace to give us are Holy. He is already standing there to welcome us home, or be judged to eternal death once we cross that bridge.
A close call. Can you remember the one you have had? A close call? A close call to this Life? A close call to injury? Or a close call where your life on earth could have gone either way? But, by the grace of God, He saved you from certain death?
Think about that for just a minute because I am about to give you another close call. This invitation is a different kind of close call.
