That Thing That Goes Bump In The Soul

Some people never think about death. Some of us never stop thinking about it. A lot depends on your age, what you’ve been through or your disposition. I don’t mean to steal your Easter joy – but you do know you’re going to die one day. When life unfolds on the schedule we’ve come to expect, we get eased into accepting the inevitability of our last breath.

First, friends of your grandparents pass away. People you’ve heard stories about but never met. You may know their names but you’re not really connected to them, so when they pass, it’s almost like news from a place you’ve never visited. It matters, you’re sure, but their passing doesn’t really change your world.

Then one of your grandparents passes away. Now, it’s personal. If your experience of a grandparent’s death is anything like mine was, it’s a time of confused emotions, of not knowing what to do with yourself, a sense that you just grew up a little and you don’t like it very much.

If your life proceeds in typical fashion, the next stage will see friends of your parents passing away. These are not just people you’ve heard about. You played in their back yard and ate at their table and caught rides home from school or practice or church. And then they’re gone.

But it gets even more personal; your parents pass. Now you’re the one receiving friends at the visitation, walking behind the casket at the funeral, driving the car at the head of the procession on the way to the cemetery. You’re the one staking a For Sale sign in the front yard of a place once called home.

Then one day you see a Facebook notice that an old classmate of yours has died. Just the other day your grandson was laughing at a story you told about this guy. Slowly, you realize that before long, it will be your turn. And your grandson will grow up a little, but he won’t like it.

Life, however, doesn’t always unfold on a predictable schedule. Sometimes, parents bury children. People pass away in their prime. Someone says, “I’ll see you tomorrow,” and, for them, tomorrow never comes. Death is life’s dark reality, the unavoidable appointment every one of us must keep. It’s that thing that goes bump in the soul. If we let it, it’ll keep us up at night and down the rest of the time.

Peter, who knew how fear can compromise your faith, once explained why death isn’t anything to be afraid of. In his great mercy (God) has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade, (1 Peter 1:3, 4).

Because the tomb is empty, death is not the executioner. It is the executor of the will, the means by which you receive your imperishable inheritance.

Because God raised Jesus from the dead, death isn’t the end of the road. It is the on-ramp to eternity.

Because of the resurrection, death isn’t the period at the end of your story. It is the start of a new chapter.

Because of Easter, death is not your enemy. It is your escort to eternal life.