Sunday, April 12, 2020

Easter meditation: The last enemy is death

The last enemy is death

Easter Sunday is the high point of the Christian year. We celebrate the fact that Jesus triumphed over death, rose from the grave, and opened up the way for us to overcome death. I want to take a few minutes to look at what that means for us today.

In our garden we have a young tree that is blossoming for the first time. The tiny white buds are opening up into little flowers. The tree is covered with white blossom and sharp thorns. It is a hawthorn, but not any hawthorn, it is a Glastonbury thorn – a special sort of hawthorn that flowers twice a year: in the summer and at Christmas. As I grew up in Glastonbury, Joy thought that the tree would make a special gift for me on my 60th birthday.

Growing up in Glastonbury, I heard all sorts of legends. One of them was that Joseph of Arimathea, the rich man mentioned in the Gospels who made his tomb available for Jesus’s body, came to Glastonbury after Jesus’s death and buried the chalice, or cup, that was used in the Last Supper by Jesus and his disciples. There is a spring in Glastonbury called the Chalice Well and the water that comes out of the spring is tinged red by iron deposits, but is said that the red colour comes from Jesus’ blood.

It is said that Joseph of Arimathea planted his staff into the ground at Glastonbury and that it miraculously took root and sprouted, growing into the Holy Thorn which flowers twice a year. And my little tree is a descendent of that one! Now it has to be said that there is no historic evidence for any of that – apart from the tree in my garden – and it is, almost certainly, a load of made-up nonsense.

By contrast, I read something this week about the death and resurrection of Jesus. An academic historian wrote, “Speaking as an ancient historian, I can confirm that the crucifixion of Jesus of Nazareth is one of the best-attested facts in ancient history.” The same historian pointed out that although the resurrection is less well documented, but there are all sorts of lines of evidence that point to it being historically true. 1

As Christians, we are not immune from death and suffering. Death is horrible. I’ve been reminded of that vividly in the last few days, as I have heard news about the deaths, or approaching deaths, of three people.

The first was a lovely old lady called Rosemary who was a founder member of the King’s Church in Uckfield. Rosemary was full of God’s love: she gave thanks to him continuously, was exceptionally generous, and did all she could to help other people. In fact, I was at a funeral about three years ago and Rosemary was busy serving food to people afterwards. Her daughter said to me, “I tell mum to slow down but she won’t. She’ll be serving sandwiches at her own funeral!” Rosemary got ill with the Corona virus, was admitted to hospital, and passed away on Thursday night.

The second was the husband of a colleague of mine. Maureen is a Christian lady and worships regularly at All Saints. She was a member of Christchurch many years ago. Her husband John was not a believer. He was in his seventies and a charming, polite, and generous man. He was very supportive of the people with learning disabilities that are cared for by the homes where Maureen and I work. He was always well-dressed and took care of his appearance. I don’t think that I have ever seen him, in any context, without a collar and tie. John developed a chest infection. After two rounds of antibiotics, his doctor concluded that it was a viral infection and he was admitted to hospital about 10 days ago. He tested positive for the Corona virus and he died on Friday morning.

The third has not died yet but is terminally ill with cancer. Humanly speaking, she has months, or maybe only weeks to live. She is a young woman called Emily. She is married and has two young boys – one six and one less than a year old. Emily’s mother, Sue, is a bit older than Joy and I. She and her husband lived in Sussex and were friends of ours many years ago. She moved to South Africa with her family more than 30 years ago. A few years after they got there, her husband died of a heart attack, and then a couple of years later her eldest son tragically died in a car accident. Over the years, we have lost touch with Sue, although bits of news have reached us. Then a few months ago she got in touch with the devastating news about Emily.

Death is horrible. It causes grief, pain, separation, loss, even despair. Death is vile. It stinks. The Bible refers to death as “the last enemy”.2

The good news is that through the crucifixion Jesus defeated death.3 As he appeared to be at his weakest, as he suffered and died a degrading death on the cross, Jesus achieved his greatest victory. And by his resurrection, he showed the world, and all the powers of darkness, that it is true. By coming to life, by leaving the tomb empty, Jesus has demonstrated that death has truly been overcome. That is the hope that we have as Christians, that though we will die, we will be raised to life at the last day, that we will live and reign with Jesus forever.

But, as I said before, that doesn’t mean that life is always plain sailing. As you read Paul’s writing, especially 2 Corinthians, you realise that he endured great suffering and that it took a toll on him emotionally. In fact his words give the impression of someone who had suffered from depression. He writes, “. . we despaired even of life. Indeed, in our hearts we felt the sentence of death.”4 He’s not talking here about an outward, “real” sentence of death; he had been in court many times and suffered imprisonment and beatings; he could cope with that! No, he’s talking about something he felt in his heart, in his inner being – despair and death.

Later in the letter he writes, “We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body”.5 Jesus humbled himself, became a human being, and experienced suffering and even death – the cruel and degrading death of crucifixion. That’s how he won his victory over sin and death and hell. We are called to follow after Jesus by humbling ourselves and embracing suffering. 6 The upside-down way that God’s kingdom works is that, in order to bring the victory that comes from the crucifixion, we have to embrace the same way of suffering that Jesus himself endured. The victory that was won on the cross must be brought into being through the cross. In other words, if we want to know the victory of the cross in our own lives, we must be prepared to embrace suffering. If we want to bring the victory of the cross to other people, we’ve got to prepared to embrace suffering in our own lives.

But we know that at the last day, the kingdom of God will come in completeness, the victory of the cross will be fully established, suffering will end, and death will be defeated.

As it says in 1 Corinthians –

“Death has been swallowed up in victory”7

“Where, O death, is your victory?
Where, O death, is your sting?”8


1.    N.T. Wright in Christianity Magazine, April 2020, page 69
2.    1 Corinthians 15:26
3.    Hebrews 2:14-15
4.    2 Corinthians 1:8-9
5.    2 Corinthians 4:10
6.    Philippians 2:5-11
7.    1 Corinthians 15:54 quoting Isaiah 25:8
8.    1 Corinthians 15:55 quoting Hoseah 13:14