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