Jesus Comforts Our Fear of Death

If you're afraid to die, you're not alone. And by not alone I don't mean you're not the only one who is afraid, I mean you're not the only one who has to die. We are all sliding off this assembly line relatively soon. And nothing we've built is going with us.

This can either be a terrifying thought or a comforting thought. If you've accumulated a lot of power and stuff, death may be a bit of a let down. I suppose you could be buried with your stuff but lets face it, that's creepy. And it's hard to enjoy your stuff when your skeleton hands can't get a firm grip on anything.

Death can be comforting, though, when you realize the stuff you are worried about simply won't matter after you die. If you've lost your job, it's comforting to know you were going to lose it anyway, when you die. How's that for a bright side?

In John chapter eleven, Jesus has a peculiar view of death. His friend Lazarus has died and Lazarus' sisters send word to Jesus. Jesus hears the news and says "This illness does not lead to death. It is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it." Jesus is most likely talking about the fact He is going to raise Lazarus from the dead and display that He and God the Father are indeed one so that others will trust Him. Regardless, death isn't a concept of which Jesus has any fear.

I'm asked often why God would let terrible things happen in this world, mostly things that involve unfair and unjust death. Its a good question, and one of the things I'm reminded of when I'm faced with it myself is that God knows what happens on the other side of life and we don't. Sure we have vague ideas, but most scholars assume they know much more than the Bible lets on. Scholars do this about many things because it gives them job security (and perhaps the illusion of control).

But God doesn't tell us everything about the afterlife. If death is a door through which we walk, God is on the other side of the door, and apparently God isn't all that worried about what's happening in the other room. From our perspective, what seems atrocious and terrifying is perfectly fine to Him. Perhaps the terror is all ours for not trusting Him. He can't be responsible for unreasonable fears created in our imaginations. Still, Jesus has compassion. Jesus sees his friends weeping over the death of their brother and friend and is troubled, the Bible says. And he even weeps with them. Some say Jesus weeps because He is about to bring Lazarus back from paradise, but nothing in the text confirms this. I think He was weeping because these were his friends and they were devastated.

Jesus gives a great deal of comfort to Martha saying "I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?" and Martha said to him "Yes, Lord; I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who is coming into the world."

Jesus is asking Martha, and all the rest of us, to trust Him with our lives and even our deaths. But that's a tough thing, isn't it? To trust Jesus with our lives and our deaths, we have to give up all control. Then Jesus shows them, and those of us who believe, the power He has over death. He goes to the tomb and has them roll the stone away. He yells for Lazarus to come out, and Lazarus, still bound in funeral linens, stumbles out, the linens wrapped around his hands and feet and even his face. People rush to him and unwrap the linens so he can breathe.

So the question to us is pretty clear. Do we trust Jesus with our deaths? Do we trust Him with our lives? Some will, some won't. I do. I find Him trustworthy. Perhaps because he weeps when us when we are devastated. Whatever He's got going on on the other side of the door is where I want to be. As long as He's there.

Jesus Comforts Our Fear of Death is a post from: Donald Miller's Blog