(1)
It should be
no surprise that we fear death in proportion to our interest in power, fame,
and fortune. Death deprives us of our job titles, bank accounts, and every
other possession from which we try to extract happiness. If we have these
things in the proportions we desire, we consider ourselves to be happy. But if
we lose some or all of what we possess and see no hope of retrieving them, we then
easily become unhappy. “FML,” thinks the person focused entirely on ambition
and acquisition, “will I now depart forever from my titles, treasures, beloved
country, friends, bank accounts, investments, and all the good things I like
that can money can buy, which are the joy and delight of my heart? FTS, that
the day should come when I should say goodbye to all that and never enjoy it
ever after!”
Indeed,
Ben Sirach is justified when he writes, “O how bitter and sour is it for a man
lives in peace and prosperity in his own property, living in leisure as he
chooses without trouble, pampered and well-fed, to recall that he must die”
(Ecclus. 41:1).
The
world does not smile upon us all, of course. Some of us suffer because of
poverty, illness, or other adversities. And these unfortunates fear death as
well, because our bodies naturally dislike the prospect of inactivity, decay,
and dissolution which death promises them. Or they fear death because of the
horrible pain often precedes death, particularly during chronic and lingering
illnesses.
These
two reasons to fear death seem big and important to us, yet we should fear
death for a reason much more important than the ones I have given. Our interest
in power, fame, and fortune and concern for the pleasure and integrity of our
body without repenting for our sins and allowing our life to be changed by grace
puts us at risk of a state and condition after death known as “the second
death” (Rev. 21:8), which will come to all of the unrepentant after the first
death of the body. And this is the death that should terrify us, for that death
will bring the irretrievable loss of the grace and favor of God, eternal joy,
pleasure, and happiness. And this is not all. Those who experience the second
death not only lose these eternal pleasures but also are condemned without hope
of redemption to the eternal punishment of hell.
Into this state death sent the unmerciful and ungodly rich man described
in the Gospel of Luke (Lk. 16:19-31), who living in all wealth and pleasure,
indulged himself with haute cuisine
and haute couture and despised poor
Lazarus, who lay at his gate seeking pity while sick, starving, and covered
with sores. Both these men died. Angels took Lazarus, the poor sufferer, to
Abraham’s bosom, a place of rest, pleasure, and healing. But the unmerciful
rich man descended into hell; and cried out for comfort in the midst of his
suffering, complaining of the intolerable pain that he suffered in the flames
of fire. But it was too late. So it is to hell that the death of our bodies
sends all those that have had joy and happiness in this world but have not been
faithful to God or loving to their neighbors and so have died without
repentance and hope of God’s mercy. Therefore, it should be no surprise that we
fear death; many of us have much more cause to do so than we believe.
I have described three
reasons why we might fear death: (1) because death will cause us to lose what
power, fame, and fortune we have gained in this life and the pleasures that
come with it; (2) because horrible pain often precedes death; but the third and
chief reason is fear of the eternal condemnation and punishment of body and
soul, which we fear will follow our departure from the pleasures of this
present life.
The
Scriptures tell us that our very fear of death has enslaved us to the pursuit
of the pleasures of the world alone, so that we fall into sin (Heb. 2:15). But we
should be forever grateful to God that neither one of these causes nor all of
them put together should make Christians fear death, for Christians are the
very limbs of Christ, the temple of the Holy Spirit, children of God, and heirs
of the everlasting kingdom of heaven (1 Cor. 3:16; 6:19).
Instead, there are many significant reasons undoubtedly grounded upon the
faultless and eternal truth of God’s word that should encourage Christians to
have no fear of bodily death. And indeed because of the many benefits and
opportunities created by death, Christians should wish, desire, and long
enthusiastically for death. For death to a Christian is no death at all but
indeed a rescue from death, from all of the pain, anxiety, sadness, and imperfection
of this world, and the beginning of rest, eternal joy, and the tasting of
heavenly pleasures so great that tongue is not able to express, eye is unable
to see, ear cannot hear, nor anyone living in the created worlds can imagine
them (1 Cor. 2:9). These are the exceedingly generous benefits that God our
heavenly Father, out of his one way merciful love for the human species and out
of His love for Son Jesus Chris Christ, has prepared for those who humbly
submit to God’s will, and truly love Him from the bottom of their hearts each
and every day.
And
we should believe that death, having been destroyed by Christ, cannot keep
anyone that steadfastly trusts in Christ under its perpetual tyranny and
subjection. Those who trust in Christ will rise from death again to glory at
the Day of Judgment selected by Almighty God, just as Christ, our Head rose again,
according to God’s design upon the third day. For St. Augustine says that where
the Head goes, the rest of the Body can trust and be trusted to follow. And St.
Paul says that if Christ has risen from the dead, we will as well (1 Cor.
15:20-25). And to comfort Christians about their deaths, the Holy Scriptures
call the death of our bodies “a time of sleeping” (John 16: 11,13; Acts 7:60; 1
Thess. 4:13-18). Like in sleep, our senses will be taken away from us for a
time, and we will awake with our senses refreshed to a higher state than when
we fell asleep. So, although our souls and bodies will be separated for some
time, yet at the general resurrection of the dead, we will be more fresh,
beautiful, and perfect than we are now. For now we are mortal, then we will be
immortal. Now we suffer from many weaknesses, but then we will be free of every
weakness of body and mind; now we feel so many desires for power, fame, fortune,
and pleasure, then we will become spiritual, desiring nothing but to glorify
God and enjoy Him forever.
Therefore,
the death of our bodies is merely the door to eternal life and is not worthy of
our fear and anxiety, if we think about it carefully. It is a comfort, not a
burden, but the relief of every burden. It is not an enemy, but a friend; not a
cruel tyrant, but a gentle guide, leading us, not to mortality, but to
immortality, not to sorrow and pain, but to joy and pleasure that will last forever;
if we receive it with thanksgiving, accept it as God’s messenger, and bear it
patiently for the love of Christ, who died most painfully for us out of love
for us and to redeem us from eternal death. And thus, St. Paul tells us, “Our
life is hid with Christ in God, but when our Life will appear, then we will
also will appear with Him in glory” (Col. 3:3-4).
Why
then are we afraid to die, when we consider the many comforting promises of the
Gospel and the Holy Scriptures?
St. John tells us, “God the Father has given us eternal life and this
life is in His Son. Whoever has the Son has life and whoever does not have the
Son does not have life” (1 John 5:11-12). And he also writes, “I write to you
that believe in the Name of the Son of God that you may know that you have
eternal life and should continue to believe in the Name of the Son of God” (1
John 5:13). And Our Savior Christ says, “He who believes in me has eternal
life, and I will raise him from death to life at the last day” (John 6:40, 47).
St. Paul says, “Christ has been chosen and appointed by God to be our
righteousness, holiness, and redemption, so that all who boast [of their
merits] should boast instead about the Lord” (1 Cor. 1:30,31). St. Paul
considered everything He had done before he found Jesus to be of very little
value, “appraising what I considered nearly priceless to be worth as much as
shit in comparison to being part of Christ” and having true holiness,
righteousness, and redemption (Phil. 3:7-11). Finally, St. Paul makes a clear
argument on this subject as follows, “If our heavenly Father would not spare
his only Son but offered Him to death in exchange for us, how can He deny us
anything?” (Rom. 8:32). Therefore, if we have Christ, then we possess by Him
and through Him everything good, whatever we can wish or desire in our hearts,
such as victory over death, sin, and hell. We have the favor of God, peace with
Him, holiness, wisdom, justice, power, life, and redemption; we have through
Him eternal health, wealth, joy, and bliss.
(2)
In the first
part, I showed that there were three reasons why people commonly fear death;
(1) because it separates them from their possessions and pleasures in life; (2)
because of the pain and suffering that often comes with death; and most of all,
(3) because they fear extreme misery and eternal damnation after death. And yet
none of these three causes trouble good people; because they soothe their fears
by true faith, perfect charity, and certain hope of endless joy and everlasting
bliss.
All
of those that are united to Christ with true faith, steadfast hope, and perfect
charity should be full of joy and fear neither death nor eternal damnation. For
death cannot deprive them of Jesus Christ, nor can any sin condemn those
grafted tightly onto Him, who is their only joy, treasure, and life. Let us
repent of our sins, amend our lives, trust in His mercy and that He has paid
for our sins, and then death can neither take Him from us, nor us from Him. For
in that case, as St. Paul says, “whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord”
(Rom. 8:1). And in another place he says, “Christ died and rose again, so that
he would be Lord both of the living and the dead” (Rom. 14:8-9). Then, if we
are the Lord’s own when we are dead, it follows in consequence that death of
our body cannot harm us but benefits us greatly and puts us in closer
relationship with God. And of the closer relationship to God that comes through
death, St Paul writes, “God has prepared us for immortality and has given us a
security deposit in the form of His Holy Spirit. Therefore, let us be free of
anxiety, for we know that as long as we are in our bodies, we are as far from
God,” as if we were traveling in lands far from home, at risk from many dangers
and “walking without perfect sight” and knowledge of Almighty God, only seeing
Him by faith in the Holy Scriptures, “but we are filled with courage and desire
instead to be at home with God” (2 Cor. 5:5-8) and Our Savior Christ, far from
the body, “where we may behold His Godhead as He really is, face to face” (1
John 3:2; 1 Cor. 13:12) to our eternal comfort.
St.
Paul is comparing life in this world to immigrating as an exile to a strange
country far from God; and that death, delivering us from our bodies, honorably
returns from exile into our native land and enables us to live with God forever
in eternal rest and quietness. So dying is no loss but immensely profitable and
victorious to all true Christians.
What
did the thief that hung on the cross next to Christ lose by his bodily death?
Nothing. His death was only to his benefit. Did not our Savior say to him,
“Today, you shall be with me in Paradise” (Lk. 23:43)? And consider Lazarus, an
utterly destitute man camping out at a rich man’s gate while starving and
covered with sores. Did not death do him good and greatly improve his
condition? For death placed him into the ministering hands of angels, who
brought him into Abraham’s bosom, a place of rest, joy, and heavenly
consolation. Therefore, let us believe that Christ has prepared and made ready
those same joyful and happy accommodations for us that he prepared for Lazarus
and the thief. And so let us cling to His salvation and gracious redemption,
believe His word, serve Him from our hearts, love and obey Him; and let us
repent of whatever we have done contrary to His most holy will and eagerly
amend our lives, being certain that we will find that He is as merciful to us
as he was to Lazarus and the thief. The Holy Scriptures provide us these
examples for the comfort of sinners and those who suffer sorrow, misery, or
calamity in this world, so that that we do not think that God’s mercy is not
meant for us but trust that our sins can be forgiven and life eternal be
granted us, just as it was to Lazarus and the thief.
Thus
I trust that every Christian can see in the infallible word of God that bodily
death cannot harm nor hinder true believers in Christ but indeed benefits and
improves the condition of Christian souls who practice true repentance,
charity, and faith in God’s mercy and forgiveness through the merits of Jesus
Christ, his only Son.
The
second cause of the fear of death is the fear of pain that precedes or
accompanies death. This fear is the fear of our weak flesh and a natural
consequence of being mortal creatures. But true faith in God’s promises, regard
for the extremity of Christ’s suffering on the cross for wretched sinners, and
anticipation of joyful eternal life in heaven should calm and moderate this
fear. Certainly, our fear does not need to get in the way of the healthy desire
and happiness that the Christian soul has to be separated from its corrupt body
and come into the gracious presence of Our Lord Jesus Christ. If we firmly
believe the word of God, we shall view illness, the suffering of death, or
whatever awful pain we suffer before or at the time of death to be the loving
correction of our heavenly Father, which He administers to us: (1) either to
demonstrate the power of his patient children and be made praiseworthy,
glorious, and honorable in his sight when Jesus Christ shall be revealed as the
Judge of all the world; or (2) else to discipline and fix whoever offends his
fatherly and gracious goodness so that they do not suffer eternal death. And
this rod of correction is common to all of those who truly are His children.
Therefore,
“let us throw off the burden of sin that weighs so heavily” on our necks and
return to God by true repentance and amendment of our lives. “Let us with
patience run the race” suffering all sorrows, the pain of death, and death
itself (when God sends it to us) for the sake of Him who died for our
salvation, “having our eyes fixed and firmly set upon the pioneer and perfecter
of our faith, Jesus Christ; who considering the joy into which He would enter”
disdained the shame and pain of death and willingly bent and fit his will to
His Father’s will “patiently suffering the most shameful pain and death of the
cross” being innocent and harmless. Now therefore He is exalted in heaven and
sits eternally at the right hand of God the Father (Phil. 2:9). Let us recall
therefore the life and joys of heaven that are kept for all those who patiently
suffer here with Christ and consider that Christ was tortured painfully and put
to death by sinners and yet these things were done for the good of sinners; and
then with patience and greater ease, we will suffer such sorrows and pains when
they come. Let us not despise the Lord’s correction, nor form a grudge against
Him, nor turn away from Him, when He corrects us, for the Lord loves all those
whom He corrects and chastises every child He acknowledges (Prov. 3:11-12).
“Has anyone heard of a child”, St. Paul says, “who is loved but is not
disciplined by his or her father. If you are without God’s correction, whom all
his dearly loved and true children have, then you are illegitimate [lightly regarded
by God] and not his true children. In this world, our earthly parents
disciplined us and we came to fear them and respect their discipline. Should we
not have greater respect for the discipline of our heavenly Father, through
whom we have eternal life? And our earthly parents sometimes disciplined us
unwisely and unfairly, but this Father justly disciplines us, so that we repent
of our sins and amend our lives, but also to make us wealthy spiritually by
participating in His holiness. Moreover, all discipline which God uses in this
present time seems to lack all joy and comfort and only contain sorrow and
pain; yet it brings with it a taste of God’s mercy and goodness toward those
that are disciplined and a certain hope of God’s everlasting consolation in
heaven ” (Heb. 12:1-11).
If
then these sorrows, diseases, and sicknesses, and also death itself, are
nothing else but the way that our heavenly Father disciplines His naughty
children and through which He assures us of His love and gracious favor, tests
and purifies us, gives us holiness, and certifies us as the children of Our
merciful Father, shall we not then humbly, as obedient and loving children (1
Pet. 1:14) embrace Our heavenly Father’s discipline, and echo in our hearts the
cry of Our Savior Jesus Christ, “Father, if this anguish and sorrow which I
feel, and death, which I see approach, may not pass, but it is your will that I
suffer them, let your will be done”? (paraphrase of Matt. 26:42).
(3)
In this
Homily against the Fear of Death, I declared two reasons why we might fear to
die and argued that these reasons should not trouble faithful Christians when
death comes but rather give them much reason to rejoice, because they shall be
delivered from the sorrow and misery of this world and be brought to the great
joy and happiness of the life to come.
Now
the third and special reason why death indeed is to be feared is the wretched
condition of the ungodly after their death. This is, of course, no reason why
godly and faithful people should fear death; but, on the contrary, their godly
behavior in this life and belief in Christ, clinging continuously to his
merits, should give them an almost painful desire for the life they shall have
after the death of their bodies. The Holy Scriptures clearly discuss an
immortal state after the changes and chances of this life, where we shall live
eternally in God’s presence joyfully and at rest, having been made victorious
over all sickness, sorrow, and death. These parts of Scripture should
strengthen the doubtful against the fear of all grief, illness, sin, and bodily
death, calm our trembling and ungodly fear, and encourage with the comfort and
hope of a blessed state after this life. St. Paul prayed for the Ephesians,
“that the God and Father of glory would give to them the spirit of wisdom and
understanding that the eyes of their hearts would be enlightened to know Him,”
to see how great were the things to which He had called them, and the richness
of the inheritance He had prepared after this life for those who love Him (Eph.
1:17-18). And St. Paul himself declared that, “the desire of his heart was to
be dissolved” and separated from his body “to be with Christ,” which he said
was “much better for him, although it was more necessary for his auditors that
he should live” a situation he accepted for their sake (Phil. 1:23-26). Indeed,
St. Martin of Tours felt the same way and said, “Good Lord, if I am necessary
to do good to your people, I will not refuse any task, but if not, I ask you to
take my soul.”
The
holy fathers of the old Law, and all faithful and righteous men who died before
our Savior Christ’s ascension into heaven, did escape their troubles by death
and enter into rest, and fled from the hands of their enemies into the hands of
God, from sorrows and sicknesses into joyful refreshment. The Scriptures
clearly tell us that they entered the bosom of Abraham, a place full of comfort
and consolation. The Book of Wisdom says that “the souls of the righteous are
in the hands of God and torment can touch them. In the eyes of the unwise, they
appeared to die, and their death was counted a misery and their departure from
this world seemed wretched, but they are at rest” (Wisd. 3:1-3). And in another
place, this book says, “the righteous shall live forever. Their reward is with
the Lord and their minds are with God, who is above all: therefore, they shall
receive a glorious kingdom and a beautiful crown at the Lord’s hand. And in
addition, Wisdom says, “The righteous, though they die suddenly, will be at peace”
(Wisd. 4:7). We should not doubt that Abraham’s bosom existed, Christ’s words
are so obvious that a Christian needs no more proof of it (Lk. 16:22-25).
Now
then if this were the state of the holy fathers and righteous prior to the
coming of our Savior and His glorification, how much more should we all have a
steadfast faith and sure hope of this blessed state and condition after our
death? Indeed, our Savior has performed the whole work of our redemption and
has gloriously ascended into heaven to prepare dwelling places with Him and
said to His Father, “Father, I desire that wherever I am, my servants shall be
with me” (John 14:2-3; 17:24; 12:26). And we know that, whatever Christ
desires, His Father desires the same. Therefore, there is no other conclusion
we can make but that our souls will be with God after our departure from this
present life, if we are His faithful servants.
Consider
St. Stephen. When he was stoned to death and in the midst of pain, what was he
thinking about? The Acts of the Apostles says, “When he was full of the Holy
Spirit, having lifted his eyes toward heaven, he saw the glory of God and Jesus
standing at God’s right hand.” And when he had proclaimed what he was seeing
boldly before the enemies of Christ, “they took him out of the city and stoned
him there as he cried out to God, saying, ‘Lord Jesus Christ, receive my
spirit” (Acts 7:55-59). And does not our Savior say clearly in the Gospel of
John, “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes in Him
who sent me, has eternal life and comes not to judgment but shall pass from
death to life” (John 5:24)? Should we not consider death to be precious,
because it is the way to life? Therefore, the Prophet truly said, “Precious in
the sight of the Lord are the deaths of his servants” (Ps. 116:15). Holy
Simeon, after he had checked off the chief item of his bucket list in seeing
our Savior, for whom he had longed his entire life, he “took Him in his arms
and said, ‘Now, Lord, let me depart in peace, for my eyes have seen the Savior
whom you have prepared for all the world to see” (Lk. 2:28-31). It is true
therefore that the death of the righteous is called peace and the benefit of
the Lord, as the Church says in the name of righteous departed from this world,
“Turn, O my soul, to your rest, for the Lord has been good to you and has rewarded
you” (Ps. 116:7). And we see in the Holy Scriptures and the ancient histories
of the Martyrs, that the holy, faithful, and righteous, ever since Christ’s
Ascension, did not doubt at the hour of death that they would go to be with
Christ in spirit, who is our life, health, wealth, and salvation.
John
in his holy Revelation saw 144,000 virgins and innocents, of whom he said,
“These follow the Lamb [Jesus Christ] wherever He goes.” And shortly thereafter
he writes, “I heard a voice saying to me, ‘Write, “blessed hereafter are the
dead who die in the Lord, for they rest from their labors, says the Spirit, and
their works do follow them”’” (Rev. 14:1-5, 13). So those who sowed with labor and
pain will reap their crop with joy and comfort, for “those who sow in the
Spirit, shall harvest eternal life through the Spirit. Let us therefore never
tire of doing good, for when the harvest time arrives, we will reap without any
exhaustion” eternal joy (Gal. 6:8-10). Therefore, as St. Paul encourages us,
while we have time, let us do good to all and not accumulate treasure on earth,
where rust and moth consume (Matt. 6:19), for that rust, St. James tells us, will
testify against us at the Day of Judgment and shall torture our flesh like the
flames of a fire (James 5:3).
Let
us beware of managing our money like those sad, grasping, and wretched people,
whom St. James exhorts to mourn and bewail their greedy accumulation and
ungodly hoarding of property (James 5:1-4). Let us wisely take a page from the good
example of the wicked Steward (Luke 16:1-9). Let us wisely manage the
possessions God has given us for the brief span of our lives that we may truly
hear and obey this commandment of our Savior Christ : “Truly, I say to you, use
worldly wealth to make friends for yourselves, so that they may welcome you
into eternal dwellings.” He called wealth wicked because property can be abused
in a variety of wicked ways, even though it is otherwise the good gift of God
and a means by which God’s servants can truly serve Him. He commanded His
disciples not to make rich friends, to obtain high offices or titles of honor,
or to give great gifts to rich people who do not need them but to make friends
with poor and wretched people. Indeed, the gifts they receive, Christ regards
as if they were made to Him. And Christ in the Gospels gives great honor and
preeminence to the poor and wretched, for He says that they will welcome their
friends into everlasting dwellings. He does not mean that the poor will reward
us for the good we do them, but that Christ will reward us, accounting whatever
good we do to such friends as done for Him. Thus if we make the poor and
suffering our friends, we make Our Savior Christ our friend, for they are his
hands and feet, whose misery He bears as His own misery and whose comfort,
relief, and help He regards as His comfort, relief, and help. And He will thank
and reward us for the good we show to the poor and suffering just as if we had
done the same good to Him, as He testifies in the Gospels, saying, “Whatever
you have done to the least of those who believe in Me, you have done it to Me”
(Matt. 25:40; 10:42; 18:6).
Therefore,
let us diligently ensure that our faith and hope in Almighty God and Our Savior
Christ neither shrink, nor our love for Christ grow cold, but let us eagerly
each day show ourselves to be the true worshippers and lovers of God by keeping
His commandments, doing good deeds to our needy neighbors, relieving their
poverty with our abundance and plenty to the best of our ability, their ignorance
with our wisdom and knowledge, and their spiritual weakness with our strength
and authority. We should steer all from evil deeds by our godly advice and good
example, persevering in doing good as long as we live. And if we do this, we
will not need to fear death for any of the three reasons I have mentioned or
for any other reason that can be imagined. On the contrary, we will view our
lives as they really are: full of many sicknesses, troubles, and sorrows; a
perilous pilgrimage in which our spirits are weighed down heavily by the
sinfulness and fragility of our bodies; exposed to the many sorrows and
dangerous frauds of this world that assail us on every side, the temptations of
pride, greed, and lust in time of prosperity as well as the impatient whining
of all that is worldly in us in time of adversity, which never stop dragging
and snatching us from the life, wealth, and everlasting joy and salvation we
have in God in Christ Jesus; full of the countless assaults of our spiritual
enemy, the devil, with all of his fiery arrows of ambition, pride, lust, vanity,
jealousy, malice, slander, and the other numerous tricks, schemes, and traps he
uses to enslave human beings “like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour” (1
Pet. 5:8). And when we consider these miseries, dangers, and inconveniences to
which we are subject as long as we live in this world and compare them to the
blessed and comfortable condition of the life to come and the sweet condition
of those who die in the Lord, we will not fear death. When we compare being
subject to the weaknesses of our body and the assaults of the world and the
devil to being free from all of it to live in peace, rest, and eternal quiet in
the fellowship of the angels (Heb. 12:22-23), Patriarchs, Prophets, Martyrs,
and Confessors and in the presence of Almighty God and Our Savior Christ, we
will not fear death. When we reflect on these things and believe them
wholeheartedly, standing firmly in this true faith in God and having a quiet
conscience in Christ because of firm hope and trust in God’s mercy extended
through the merits of Jesus Christ to obtain this quiet, rest, and eternal joy,
we definitely will not fear the death of our bodies when it comes but indeed we
will share with St. Paul the happy and heartfelt desire to die when God wills
it (Phil 1:23), so that when God calls us out of this life, we will be free of
every opportunity to do or suffer evil and live eternally to please God and
perfectly obey His will, along with our Savior Jesus Christ. May the Lord in His
infinite mercy and grace bring us all into the gracious presence of Christ to
reign with Him in eternal life. To Christ with our heavenly Father and the Holy
Spirit be the glory forever and ever. Amen.
Notes
27 January 2015: Mac Stewart points out the 1549 Prayer Book explanation of illness. It is unsurprisingly identical to that in this Homily.
