Friend, death tagged our family 8/28/17 – 4/3/18. In seven months, we lost four family members and a colleague – three in one week. I want to share with you some truths I discovered in that crucible.
I’ll take you to Colorado Springs for the April 7, 10:00 AM, burial of Ruby, my 97-year old Mom (1/1/1921 – 3/30/2018, Good Friday) – next to Dad (1921-2012) – beside his parents – Louis Theophilus (1893-1961) and Esther Marie (1892-1963). Later, at 1:00, friends crowded a church for Mom’s memorial.
Facing Death
Burial morning was surprisingly cold – 21 degrees in Colorado Springs and Helena. Clouds obscured Pikes Peak’s broad shoulders. Without the panorama, we focused on what was at hand. Hoar frost bedecked trees and shrubs – icicles fringed the tent. On the sunny side, frost melted; droplets fell. And tears.
Praying and Singing
I prayed. We sang: “Ten Thousand Reasons:” “And on that day when my strength is failing, the end draws near, and my time has come, Still, my soul will sing Your praise unending – ten thousand years and then forevermore.”
Speaking
Nineteen family members gathered. We spoke about matters of the heart. After Dad died, Mom moved to Spokane to live with my sister, Judy, and Sam, her husband. At night, Judy often tucked Mom in. Judy likened Mom’s burial to her final tucking-in. Sam spoke about benefiting from Mom living with them. Brother-in-law Paul expressed the debt we owe Mom and her generation. Despite being shaped by the Depression and WW2, they gave us many gifts.
With Scripture
Sara, Gary’s widow, led us in repeating – together, from memory – Psalm 23. Then, I read 1 Cor. 15:20-26. I focused on 15:26 – “The last enemy to be destroyed is death.”
Let’s flashback to March 24, what would have been Dad’s birthday. Via and I drove from Helena to Spokane with our son, Jordan, and his children, Judah (8), and Cora (5). The night before, Mom held her great-grandson, baby Mark. Overnight, she turned a corner. When we entered her hospice room, Mom, unresponsive to us, battled death. This verse sprang to my mind: “The last enemy to be destroyed is death.”
Responding to Enemies
At gravesides, I’ve known people to wail inconsolably – to leap into the grave – hugging the casket. The “last enemy” is not some “fake” enemy. When foes are impersonal forces, like death, they seek to inflict harm. When opponents are people, consider the Latin expression, homo homini lupus est, “man is a wolf to his fellow man.” Enemies express deep-seated hatred, irreconcilable hostility.
How does the Bible suggest we respond to such adversaries?
First, Jesus uses “enemy” when he calls us not to hate our personal enemies but to love them. Jesus, what a wonder you are.
Toward the end of the War Between the States, when Lincoln’s cabinet asked him how he would destroy their antagonists, Lincoln replied: “We destroy our enemies when we make them our friends.”
Some of us have seen God make that radical transformation possible. Remarkably, the second most quoted OT verse in the NT – seven times! – is Leviticus 19:18 – “Love your neighbor as yourself.” So Jesus includes enemies as neighbors. Aha.
But, what if God does not help us make friends of our enemies – and what about impersonal forces like death?
God Taking Action for Us
The OT verse most often alluded to in the NT is Psalm 110:1 – “The LORD says to my Lord, ‘Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool.'” In the NT, we find quotations of or allusions to this verse 23 (!) times. In the NT, God is God. We trust him to make implacable foes – like death – a footstool.
Here – 1 Cor 15:25 – “For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet“ means that, as we gather at a grave, we believe that GOD will footstool death. Picture that!
In Mom’s hospice room, curious about the Greek origin of “destroyed,” I searched my Bible Hub app – expecting to find a word expressing battling a foe into submission. Not so; “destroyed” means not bludgeoning and beating – but “nullifying” – rendering completely inert. The roaring lion not only hushed but – deflated, collapsed – a harmless trophy rug. Death footstooled!
And more – the Greek word for “nullify” is compound. The second part is “argeo” – the origin of our word “argon”- an “inert” element – like krypton. As krypton renders Superman powerless, so Jesus will “nullify” death. Mighty Death will lie terminally invalidated at Jesus’ feet. And still more! The first part of our word is “kata” – a power word. So “katargeo” means “to catastrophically render ineffectual.” Wow!
Because of Jesus’ work, Paul reveals another reality as we face the certainty of death. 1 Cor15:20 – “In fact, Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.” Merely “fallen asleep!?” Yes, the shocking horrors of death are already coming undone!
How good it is to be in Christ. All those born in Adam die – but all those born in Christ shall be made alive! Christian and those who someday will follow Christ, what hope we have for beloved Mom and ourselves. Death, Jesus is Victor!
Praying and Singing Again
Together, we prayed words from the Book of Common Prayer – “Lord Jesus Christ, by your death you took away the sting of death: Grant to us your servants so to follow in faith where you have led the way, that we may at length fall asleep peacefully in you and wake up in your likeness; for your tender mercies’ sake. Amen.”
We sang: “Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost. As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be – world without end. Amen. Amen!”
After the benediction, the spokesman from the funeral home commented: “It’s good to see Christians bury their dead.”
