Death Must Die

A simple truth: if this life is all there is, than the scope of our existence here is quite arbitrary, even meaningless. If there is not some future end drawing all life and history together, than death is the enemy: the end of things only to be avoided.  

But the Psalmist rejoices that God “will not abandon him to the realm of the dead” (Ps. 16.10). The statement shocks the entire Hebrew scriptures. Life does not end when we stop breathing. There is, apparently, life beyond the grave. 

Of course, the Christian faith is literally built on this fact, on the resurrection of Jesus (and the ensuing reality that we too can be raised physically from the dead). Paul says succinctly: “The last enemy to be destroyed is death” (1 Cor. 15.26).  Death must die. 

It’s a profound and world-altering truth, a stern refusal to believe in the finality of death.  It’s a stubborn hope, one that does not resign to only what is here now, what is visible.  It understands, even in nature, what is sown must die in order to come to life again.     

But the profound effects of resurrection do not merely effect the individual. Resurrection must, eventually, affect all things. Or it is not real. If there is personal human redemption for me, then what for others? For nature? For the earth? The universe? Th cosmos?

The implications of resurrection are enormous. The same promise made to me is made to all. Everyone, AND every living thing, has a chance of physical redemption.  Everything. And what are the conditions? How do we get to this potential new life? 

These are the right questions. The universal implications have been overshadowed by the the privatization of faith and confused with the exclusivity claims of Christianty. If faith is reduced to my personal self-fulfillment only, we miss something essential.

And if Christ’s salvation only benefits a small group, why does all of creation rejoice?

What comes out of the ground with a life sown in faith? What is resurrected? What kind of life? What are its attributes, its passions, its heartbeat? Christianity claims a death and resurrection happens to everyone who enters its baptismal gate. Does it?

One thing we know: all must die. It’s the sentence. One that is universal. It even applies to nature. Everything alive is dying. Sooner or later, we die too. We all die. We are all dying. Nothing can stop it, even it may be delayed for a time.

Random acts of crazy happen all the time. A person is here, and suddenly they are gone. It happens all the time. Death is arbitrary in that way. It is the great equalizer. From the richest kings in the world to the poorest peasants, death will take us all. 

There is nothing we can do to stop it. Ultimately. And yet, we have a culture that either avoids death like the plague, or longs for it in an unhealthy manner. Both extremes are dangerous. Our relationship with death, at best, is troubling and paradoxical.

Still, we must to relate. Death can be our ally. That’s part of the resurrection reality.  Death has no sting now. We only sleep. We temporarily exit, but our bodies are sowed.  They will come back new. Get acquainted with death if you have not.  

Make friends with it now. Laugh with it later.