Death is something that we
all know about. For some people, it is
something that seems to follow them every day.
People who live on the street, who don’t have much of the support of
society; who seem to have none of the things that we all know that we need,
such as food, shelter and clothing, sometimes have the sense that death is not
far away. Many of you know some of these
people and how difficult it is to live like this.
But we don’t often think this way. We approach death as something to be infinitely
feared and at all costs to be avoided. We
worry when we contemplate it. But the reality
is that death will come to all of us. What
is important though, is as Paul says, we don’t grieve as others do who have no hope.
We have the certainty of eternal life that
has been promised to us by our Lord Jesus. That is a life beyond that which we know here,
safe in the loving arms of our God who created us and will sustain us forever.
Grief is that thing that comes to us when we have a loss.
It isn’t easy to deal with and sometimes
causes extreme pain. I have been with a lot
of people when they have experienced the death of a loved one. Sometimes it seems to go easily; but more often
there is racking sadness, tears, anxiety and pain. I have felt all of these things myself. When my parents died, I grieved. It wasn’t easy getting through those days. I needed the support of my wife and my kids. It was great to have someone close who understood
how I felt. My experience of this heightened
my concern of people who grieve but have no one to share that grief with.
I know that is one of the reasons that we have a church community.
When our church community suffers a loss,
every member is involved in it. The grief
isn’t only individual, it is something that everyone experiences, and it isn’t easy.
When Princess Diana died, I watched on television
people on the streets of London fighting tears for a woman that most of them knew
only as a newsworthy person of the realm, with whom they had little personal contact.
These tears were decried as “crocodile tears”
by one correspondent who had little understanding of what grief can mean to a community.
I don’t think that grief is something that
we can write off lightly. It comes out of
the relationships that all of us form and that we value. What is terrible is when our grief isn’t valued
and we are belittled for it.
When Jesus died on the cross, his mother and a few disciples
stood by and wept. When Jesus rose from the
dead, one of the first things that he saw was Mary Magdalene standing by the grave
weeping. Weeping is something that comes
naturally to all of us at our time of grieving and it needs to be understood and
accepted. We are not weak because of our
tears. We are simply giving our love an outlet
when it is lost to death. Wouldn’t it be
a terrible world if we didn’t cry over what we have lost? It would diminish the lives that have been lost
and make our grieving meaningless. I value
the tears that I have seen shed by those who have lost a loved one. I know that they come from a time of great love.
In Paul’s first letter to the Thessalonians, he speaks to
them of what death means. He says:
We
do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about those who have
died, so that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. For since we
believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring
with him those who have died. For this we declare to you by the word of the
Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will by
no means precede those who have died. For the Lord himself, with a cry of
command, with the archangel's call and with the sound of God's trumpet, will
descend from heaven, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are
alive, who are left, will be caught up in the clouds together with them to meet
the Lord in the air; and so we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore
encourage one another with these words. 1 Thessalonians 4: 13-18
good post, thanks
ReplyDeletepemimpin