Ready or Not to Die
Good Friday
April 17
Luke 2: 29-30
Years ago, I was preaching at a Lutheran Home in Cabot, PA. After the service, several old saints expressed the same sentiment about the message. Their words went something like this, “Pastor, we are not afraid to die. It’s the process of dying we fear.”
I understood. Only later would I appreciate more fully that concern first hand. With my daughter’s acute cerebral palsy, we had seen her grow through struggle, but reach an apex of joy and engagement and relative pain-free living about the time she was 18. The 5 years that followed were a difficult process for her and us, as health complications escalated and became complex to manage. Her awareness waned, and discomfort increased. Late in the summer before she would rest in the arms of Christ, I herniated a disk in my back, and I could no longer care for her in the way necessary to maintain her respiratory status and help her breathe easier.
My anguished prayer was, “Lord, call Your child home, or heal me, or heal her.” Watching her struggle was so very hard. I also prayed that the Lord call her quickly.
Simeon would get to hold a bouncing baby boy in his arms, the antithesis of struggling and death. But the promise of life wrapped up in that boy held a peace for that man, so he said: “Now, Lord, You are letting Your bond-servant depart in peace, according to Your word; For my eyes have seen Your salvation…” Departing in peace is first about the assurance of salvation. Christ gives that first in forgiveness.
Saint Augustine, despite his strong faith, had a torrid and spiritually devoid past. When he was on his deathbed, he had Psalm 32 inscribed in paper on the wall – “How blessed is he whose wrongdoing is forgiven, whose sin is covered!” Augustine was a saint, not because of being good, but by being forgiven by God. Jesus truly was “good,” but His death was filled with pain, and He suffered the abandonment of His Father, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” (Mt. 27:46) His process of death was horrific, suffering the loneliness of hell. Jesus was covering Augustine’s sin. But Scripture also says that Jesus could not lose His faith, “He could not deny Himself.” (II Timothy 2:13) Therefore, in faith, Jesus said, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” When He had said this, He breathed His last. (Luke 23:46) He died in peace.
My daughter Jennifer did die quickly. She died spiritually in peace, but it was a physical struggle. We all hope for an easy death, but, in Christ, we all have a peaceful death. Like Simeon, we hold by faith the innocent Christ in our heart. (By the way, this is Jesus’ faith, a divine gift given to us by the Lord.) It is this faith that will make a physically difficult death, a “departing in peace.” Like Augustine, we are assured by God’s Word of His mercy.
PRAYER: Lord Jesus, You are our “Passover.” You are the Good in “Good Friday.” Help us to not fear the process of dying, the same way we need not fear death itself because You are the assurance of forgiveness and “The Resurrection and Life.” Thank You for covering our sin and giving us salvation. Amen.