Gleanings – The Timely Death of Death
1 Corinthians 15:12-28
“The last enemy to be destroyed is death.”
Death is our enemy. Really? Many people experience death after four score or more years. And for many of them death is friend, relief to those bound by a broken body. Is death enemy in a universal sense?
Certainly the fear of death motivates many. We spend unspeakable amounts of money to hold death at bay at the end of life. My dear grandmother lived 84 years. Much was done to keep her alive in the last year of life even when she, out of deep conviction and great assurance, was prepared to meet her maker. She was unhappy with the decisions of those who could not accept her end. She greeted eagerly what others wanted to deny.
Ernest Becker captures death as enemy in his work Escape from Evil. Death inhibits legacy so many spend a lifetime creating a legacy that will survive their physical death. By what they built or amassed they will be remembered long after they are gone. And too often for Becker they heap evil upon others as they draw a disproportionate amount of resources to themselves. At the very least they often forsake those they should love most in the drive to create legacy.
Death is an enemy in that we are often so consumed by it that we forget to live and enjoy the God given breath that fills our lungs.
This enemy, in whatever form, met its match in Jesus.
Death’s grip isn’t what it once was. The tomb is empty. Physical death does not have the last word on our existence. There is life beyond the grave.
And we have a legacy. Our names are written in the Lamb’s book of life. And the book resides in a realm where neither moth nor rust consumes. Long after winds have erased names etched in stone here on earth, our legacy remains indelibly inscribed.
Alleluia. Christ is Risen!