The Final Doorway

There is an unforgettable scene in Monty Python's 'Meaning of Life' where the Grim Reaper visits a dinner party to inform them they are all dead. In response to the realisation of just who has crashed their evening one of the guests responds, 'Well that's cast rather a gloom on the evening hasn't it?'


This week I am preparing the funeral of a good man who was greatly loved by his friends and family, and it caused to contemplate again the nature of death for those who are followers of Jesus Christ. We are surrounded by death via media, both factual and fictional, yet by and large we are removed from the harsh reality that one day takes every one of us. Every culture and every individual has their own particular way of mourning, grieving, coping and understanding death. Despite all of this, so much of the reality of this most common of human experiences remains a mystery to us. Whether we seek to be accepting of death as the next stage of our journey as Francis Bacon wrote, 'Death is a friend of ours,' or we fight against the ending of our time on earth, 'Do not go gentle into that good night...rage, rage against the dying of the light,' (Dylan Thomas) death is present, confronting and unknown.


As Christians we often, I think, have a distorted view of what our response to death should be. We read and quote the scriptures that speak of death's defeat, its loss of sting, our immediate presence with the Lord etc. but in reality many times our experiences are similar to everyone else's......with one very distinct difference - Jesus. We don't know what happens the moment life departs the body any more than anyone else, the Bible is silent on this. And, to be honest, I place very little credence or have very little confidence in the back-from-the-dead stories I hear. My understanding of my faith comes from the Word of God, the Bible. Believers in Jesus sorrow, grieve, mourn, weep and are in pain when we lose someone we love. But, says Paul, we do not grieve as those who have no hope. (1 Thess. 4:13)


When we contemplate death our hope is firmly placed, Paul continues, in the person of Jesus and his own death and resurrection. The confidence followers of Christ have is based in the historical and unrepeatable redemptive work of the Son of God. His resurrection is the guarantee of my own resurrection, what N T Wright terms 'life after life after death.' We grieve, Paul says, but with hope. Death causes great pain and sorrow for those of us who remain, but our hearts lift and our faith is secure with the knowledge that what Jesus experienced will be our experience and ultimately death is not the victor, he is only another opponent who must be engaged on our journey to the redemption of God's creation at the return of Christ.


So as I prepare this week I do so with faith in Jesus, hope in the resurrection, and love for those who grieve. Death isn't my friend, he is my defeated opponent; neither do I rage against the inevitable, because ultimately Jesus is the Lord of my time on this earth. Death is a doorway we must all pass through (I know, unless Jesus comes back first), a door with no real power because it serves only to unite me with the one who is my life.


Christ has died, Christ has risen, Christ will come again - always the centre of our hope!