The Good Goodbye

We Christians have a strange relationship with Death.

Whoever is from God hears the words of God. The reason you do not hear them is that you are not from God." The Jews answered him, "Are we not right in saying that you are a Samaritan and have a demon?" Jesus answered, "I do not have a demon; but I honor my Father, and you dishonor me. Yet I do not seek my own glory; there is one who seeks it and he is the judge. Very truly, I tell you, whoever keeps my word will never see death." The Jews said to him, "Now we know that you have a demon. Abraham died, and so did the prophets; yet you say, 'Whoever keeps my word will never taste death.' Are you greater than our father Abraham, who died? The prophets also died. Who do you claim to be?" Jesus answered, "If I glorify myself, my glory is nothing. It is my Father who glorifies me, he of whom you say, 'He is our God,' though you do not know him. But I know him; if I would say that I do not know him, I would be a liar like you. But I do know him and I keep his word. Your ancestor Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day; he saw it and was glad." Then the Jews said to him, "You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham?" Jesus said to them, "Very truly, I tell you, before Abraham was, I am." So they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple. - John 8:47-59

Everyone dies.  We know that.  But we also know that we will have eternal life.

How does that work?  And does that make death easier to accept?

We go through life expecting to be alive tomorrow, and that's important for us and for humanity.  Imagine if we all thought today we would die.  What chaos we would have.

So long as we feel life coursing through our veins, we plan, we deal with disappointments, we plod on, believing it may get better.

If we plot out the timeline of our lives and look at it in total, from the proverbial 30,000 foot level, we can clearly see the effects of age and disease, but, luckily, in the moment, with yesterday's pains and disappointments as our most current benchmark, we can see flickers of hope, tiny glimpses of progress, and we hang on.

It is not that we fear death.  Christians believe there is life after death.  It is the dying and leaving that bothers us.

We want to continue to be there for the ones we love, and we want to enjoy their lives with them, not from some unreachable distant resting place.

So, the irony is that knowing we will be in a better place is not going to make us want to get there any sooner than necessary.

We are creatures of love, and we love to be in company with those we love.

There will come a time when we find ourselves unable to sustain ourselves and these bodies we have can no longer be kept useful, when we will come to welcome death with peace.

But until that moment comes, don't expect us to hasten that moment.

It doesn't mean that we don't believe.  

What we hold onto is the love that keeps us alive, and knowing that our passing will cause others pain.

What we long for is a good goodbye, one where we get to go in the company of those we love who also believe we will be with them forever in their hearts, minds and souls.  

More to come.