Fear of Life's Final Moments

Benjamin Franklin said, In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes. Now when it comes to paying taxes, Jesus said, give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar, but give to God what belongs to God. So like it or not, we are called to be good law abiding citizens and pay our taxes – although in a free country we can protest the amount of taxes we pay – but we still have to pay, but what about death? What did Jesus say about death? What Jesus said was, do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid. Now the reason Jesus tells us to fear not is because one of the greatest fears people face is death. People fear death because like Franklin said, it is certain and it is evitable, which means we can’t control and we can’t avoid it. Death comes to us all and to all who we know and it brings with it a finality that unsettles us and brings an element of fear. The philosopher Aristotle says death is the thing to be feared most because it appears to be the end of everything. Death is final, it is inevitable and it is still the great unknown and so for many people it is the thing most feared.

The people in Jesus day faced these same questions and fears. The Jewish teachings on death fell into two categories. There were the Sadducees on one side who said that after death there was no resurrection. They did not believe in a physical resurrection or a spiritual resurrection. Once you died, that was the end; you went to the place called Sheol which was just the land of the dead where there was nothing. The Pharisees, however, did believe in a resurrection, they would argue at times about whether it was a bodily resurrection or just a spiritual resurrection because they weren’t sure what kind of a resurrection it would be, but they did believe in a life beyond death. So in Jesus day there was the same uncertainty and questions and sense of finality about death that we face today and with that uncertainty came fear so Jesus addressed this fear by both his teaching and his example.

The clearest teaching Jesus gives on death comes from John 14. Jesus had been talking to his disciples about his own death and in fact he told them that it was coming soon. With all the talk about death the disciples become uncertain and afraid so Jesus says… (see John 14:1-3)

These words of Jesus offer us the same hope and comfort today that they offered to the disciples because what Jesus makes clear here is that death is not the end, there is a resurrection. Death is not the end of life; it is just the beginning of a new life with Christ which is lived in a new, heavenly and eternal home. The image that Jesus uses here is a powerful one. Whether we call it a mansion in glory, a home in heaven or a room in God’s house, the promise is that there is a place for us to live with God forever, but the image or analogy that Jesus uses here goes far beyond just a home in heaven, it really is the image of a wedding. In Jesus day, when a man and woman were planning on getting the married the man would first go home, fix a place in his father’s house or on his father’s land for he and his bride to live and once their home was ready the groom would return for his bride and take her home where they would begin a new life together. That is exactly what Jesus says here. Jesus is the groom who has gone to his father’s house to prepare a place for us. Once that room or home or mansion is ready Jesus comes back to take us home where we begin a new life with him.

I have to tell you in all my years of reading this passage and using it at many funerals, I never looked at it in terms of a wedding, but when we do – it changes everything. No longer is the focus of death darkness, pain, uncertainty and fear - it is now joy, love and the anticipation of a new life with God. As difficult as it sounds, we almost need to approach funerals with the same joy and excitement as we would a wedding. Now the reality is we don’t and it’s not because we lack faith and it’s not that we fear death is final and that there is no resurrection, the grief and pain at death often comes from the loss of someone we love and we will look at that more in a moment, but for now, let’s just say that our grieving needs to be tempered with faith and our sadness with joy. It says in Psalm 30:5 that weeping may last for the night but joy comes in the morning. Grieving the loss of someone we love has its place, but it can’t last because Jesus tells us that death is the beginning a new life which is filled with love, joy and peace.

So death is not the end - it is the beginning. Jesus has gone to prepare a place for us and he will come back and take us home. It all sounds good, doesn’t it, but how can we know it is all true? Where does the certainty and assurance come from that Jesus teaching here is true – well, it comes from Jesus himself, it comes from Jesus life, as well as his own death and resurrection. Jesus showed us during his life that he had power over death and on several occasions he brought people back to life. In Mark 5 a father comes to Jesus and begs him to come to his home and heal his daughter who is close to death. When Jesus arrives at the home the people run out and tell the father that his daughter is dead, but Jesus goes in anyway and raises the little girl up. In Luke 7 Jesus and his disciples are travelling into a city when they meet a funeral procession on its way out of the city. A widow is on her way to bury her only son and when Jesus sees this he stops the procession, takes the hand of the son and raises him to back to life.

The actions of Jesus show us that he has power over death and that death does not get the final say, but in both of these situations a skeptic might question whether or not the person was really dead. OK, well even if that were true – there is one story of Jesus raising the dead that we can’t ignore and that is the raising of Lazarus found in John 11. Lazarus was a close friend of Jesus and yet when Jesus got word that Lazarus had died he didn’t immediately go to Bethany to see him or his sisters Mary and Martha. In fact, Jesus actually waited 3 days before he went to Bethany to see his friends, so by the time Jesus arrived Lazarus had dead and buried for 3 days. He had been wrapped up in cloth and laid in a tomb for 3 days and yet when Jesus arrives he says to Mary and Martha, your brother will rise again. When they arrive at the tomb Jesus says, take away the stone, this is from John 11:39-44. Now there is no question about Jesus raising someone from the dead. Lazarus had been dead for 3 days, they could even begin smell him, and yet Jesus shows he has power over death and so he calls Lazarus out of the tomb and restores to him life. As Jesus said, he is the resurrection and life and those who believe in him shall never die. While our lives in this world may end, we will never die because there is a life to come, there is a resurrection for us all.

So Jesus shows his power over death in the raising of Lazarus, but let’s not forget that he also overcome death and the grave himself. That there is not a grave in Israel with Jesus name on it, that there is not a tomb that holds the body of Jesus shows us that Jesus has not just defeated death for himself, he has defeated death itself. But it’s not just the empty grave of Jesus that gives us hope; the risen Jesus also appeared to many of his followers. Look at 1 Corinthians 15:4-8. These post resurrection appearances of Jesus were to proclaim to the world that Jesus is alive and has defeated death. All these eyewitnesses can’t be wrong – they proclaim to us and to the world that Jesus did in fact rise from the dead and if Jesus defeated death for himself then he defeated it for us all. We do not need to fear death because we place our faith and trust in the resurrection of Jesus, this is the witness and teaching of the church.

See:  1 Corinthians 15:54b-57
Romans 8:37-39
2 Corinthians 5:1
1 Thessalonians 4:13-18

As we can see, if there is one thing that the early church was clear on it was that through the death and resurrection of Jesus, death itself had been defeated. Death does not hold the final say and even though we may die in this world – there is a heavenly home and an eternal life that waits for us all. It is this promise of new life that allows us to face death with peace and hope and yes, even joy. We have even seen that this week. At the funeral services of Mary Louise Halderman and Roy Williamson we didn’t just celebrate and give thanks for faithful lives lived here but we celebrated the hope of eternal life and while those moments were sad as we said good-bye to ones we loved, we also celebrated the new life we know they experience. Like a parent at a wedding we said good-bye and with joy we sent them off to live a new life and experience a better life.

Jesus doesn’t just give us hope in the face of death; he brings us certainty, but let’s be honest, Jesus doesn’t answer all our questions. The question I am asked most often when it comes to death is, what happens when we die? What actually happens in those moments after we take our final breath? Are we taken up immediately into heaven to dwell in that heavenly home – or is there a period of waiting until the end of all things comes? A good question without a very good answer because the answer is – we don’t know. What happens after we die is still a mystery that Jesus did not clear up for us. In fact, the Bible gives us two different images about this.

This first comes from Jesus on the cross. Moments before his own death Jesus turns to the thief and says, today you will be with me paradise, so there is a sense that the moment we die we are taken to that new home in heaven, but we heard earlier from 1 Thess. 4:16 that the dead in Christ will rise up to eternal life, which leads us to think that maybe they aren’t already in heaven with God, and then we find this teaching in Rev. 6:10-11. Here we have saints who have died, who have been killed for their faith and trust in Christ actually, who are told to rest and wait. They weren’t taken directly up into heaven and so there seems to be an idea that there might be this period of waiting until the final end of all things. So which is it? Do we go directly to our heavenly home, or is this period of waiting? The truth is we don’t know, but here’s what we do know. Both passages assure us that when we place our faith and trust in Christ then when we die we are safe and secure in the presence of the living with God. Jesus said that the thief would be with him in paradise and where are the saints in Revelation? They are under the altar; they are safe in the presence of God, the throne room of heaven, so in both cases death has brought these people to a place of safety where they can rest in the presence of God. They are in a place where God’s love guards and protects them.

And now back to an issue we touched on earlier. For many people of faith, the fear in death isn’t because we question an eternal life with God it’s that we can’t imagine a life here without those we love. Whether it is a parent, spouse, child or friend the fear in death often isn’t for them, it’s for us. How will we be able to carry on with such a hole in our hearts and in our lives? We fear the emptiness, the loneliness and the void that death creates. There is no escaping the reality of this situation and while family and friends can help fill the void, the truth is there is only One who can bring the fullness and healing and love that is needed when we are in so much pain, and that One the Jesus. God is the only one who can wipe away our tears and fill us here and now with a new life. Death has touched all of us in some way and if that loss still brings pain and emptiness that needs to be healed and filled then I want to invite us to ask God to simply come and bring us the comfort and the peace and the love that we need because he alone can fill the emptiness or the loneliness or the void that death has created.

Prayer

While death is still shrouded in mystery, here is what we can say with certainty - when we trust God more we can fear death less. When we trust God more we can fear death less because we know that death is just the beginning of a new life lived in the safety of God’s presence.

When we trust God more we can fear death less because while death is inevitable - it is not final.

When we trust God more we can fear death less because while death still brings questions - God provides assurances and promises that can and will see us through.

So do not let your hearts be trouble and do not be afraid because death has been swallowed up in victory – in the victory and love of Jesus Christ (and because He lives we can fear less).