#145 Victory

This past weekend I conducted a funeral for one of our church members. After the service in the church building, we drove to the cemetery on the west edge of town. A light mist was falling through somewhat chilly fall air—pretty miserable weather.  I stood by the casket and looked out at the family of this dear woman whom I had the privilege of visiting in the nursing home many times over the past few years, and—among a few other things—I said, "Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting? Thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ."

I've done that same thing with every funeral I've conducted. I think this practice captures something that's at the heart of the Christian faith.  Death is a horrible thing. Death makes us so afraid. Death is sometimes so painful for the person dying, and is pretty much always excruciating for those who are left behind. For all of our human advances, the best we can do is delay death. We can't prevent it. It just seems so final. And right there is where our Christian hope comes in. We believe that death isn't final, because God has raised Jesus Christ from the grave, conquering death forever. Because of Jesus, in the great struggle between death and God's people it's God's people who have the victory. What an incredible blessing that is!

I think these moments by the grave are some of the most special moments in the life of a pastor. I have the privilege of standing beside the soon-to-be-buried body of one of my brothers or sisters in Christ and essentially spitting in the face of death. I have the privilege of looking at grieving family members and comforting them with the words of Jesus: "Your [loved one] will rise again." Of all the benefits of being a Christian, I think this victory over death is the greatest as well as the easiest for us to communicate to those who aren't Christians. Not everybody understands sin or evil or love or the presence of God. But I think everybody understands the threat of death. Yet we Christians know that, for those who belong to Christ, death cannot defeat us. We already have the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Thanks be to God!

Grace and peace,
BMH