“I am Resurrection and I am Life, says the Lord. Whoever has faith in me shall have life, even though he die. And everyone who has life, and has committed himself to me in faith, shall not die for ever. As for me, I know that my Redeemer lives and that at the last he will stand upon the earth. After my awaking, he will raise me up; and in my body I shall see God. I myself shall see, and my eyes behold him who is my friend and not a stranger.”
This is the beginning of our funeral service from the book of common prayer. If it sounds familiar, that is because you just heard it as it comes from the book of Job. Despite the pain that has been inflicted upon him, Job rests sure in the knowledge that after his death he will be resurrected.
My grandfather died when he was 18. When he would speak of the experience, he would tell of a bright and warm light that enveloped him. He became aware of the presence of his mother who had died 3 years earlier. She hugged him and told him, “Lawrence, it is not your time yet. You must go back.” He awoke in the hospital, and went on to live a full life, of which
I am very glad as I am part of 4 generations since then. Had he not returned; I would not be here today.
Father Chris tells of his encounter with death a bit differently. He talks about being in a place that feels instantly familiar, like you are returning to a place you know intimately. It was bright and warm, and he was blessed with a remarkable sense of belonging and acceptance. Yet in his experience it was very different from here, without the presence of others. He didn’t meet loved ones or pets but knew that the place was where he came from and he knew it was perfection.
Two different stories from people I have known, and there are many, many others. The internet is full of stories of people who have had a near death experience, and their stories vary about what they saw. But there is one thing that each and every story has in common. Whatever their experience was, upon their return to this world, each person says that they no longer fear death. Death no longer holds power over them, as they now know what to expect.
We humans have an innate fear of death. As a priest I have been privileged to walk the path with many people who are dying. I say privileged because there is beauty and holiness in death. For those who would prefer not to think about it, please remember that humanity has a 100% mortality rate. Even Lazarus died the second time. But death is a natural part of our
human experience. So why then is it the source of so much fear?
Jesus is confronted by the Sadducees in the gospel this morning, and we are told that these particular ones did not believe in resurrection. As usual, their aim is not to learn, but to trip Jesus up. So, they develop an extremely far-fetched scenario to see if they could get Jesus to make a mistake. Jesus is not willing to play the game by their rules. Instead he teaches them about the resurrection, which was their real question all along. “they are like angels and are children of God, being children of the resurrection. And the fact that the dead are raised Moses himself showed, in the story about the bush, where he speaks of the Lord as the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. Now he is God not of the dead, but of the living; for to him all of them are alive.”
Jesus is telling them, and us, that the resurrection is real. So real in fact, that resurrection life is a great deal more than we experience here on earth. We cannot think of heaven in terms of this earthly existence. When life here is over, it is not an ending but a beginning. A beginning of a life so much more than we can hope for; a life that makes our experience here nothing but
prologue. With that in mind, we have no need to fear death. For death is not an ending but a beginning.
But what of dying itself? A wise person in the last stage of their life put it to me this way. “I am not afraid of death,’ she told me, ‘as much as I am of dying. I know that I will go to a better place, but I don’t want it to hurt.” If we can get ourselves over our fear of death itself, it is much harder to confront our fear of dying.
Jesus helps us with that as well. For God came into the world, took on our human form, and then embraced a humiliating and painful death. Jesus accepted this torment willingly, for he knew that we needed to see his example. His embrace of the cross showed us that no matter how painful or demeaning the death, the resurrection that follows is so much more. Death is but a moment, but it is a moment that leads us to a resurrected life, and that is the true victory.
Jesus then went on to show us that as well, for on the third day after his death he was resurrected and came to show us that death no longer has any power over him, nor over us. The resurrection of Jesus showed once and for all that we will have life beyond our current existence, and it will be full and abundant beyond measure.
It is no accident that these scripture readings follow so closely on the heels of our All Saints celebration. For the saints who came before us have already experienced the beauty of the resurrection and they are at peace. May we rest secure in the knowledge that, when our time comes, we too will be in that place of light and warmth where we are blessed with
completeness and belonging.
For them, and for us, let us pray. Father of all, we pray to you for all those whom we love but see no longer. Grant to them eternal rest. Let light perpetual shine upon them. May their soul and the souls of all the departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen.