My grandad recently died what was a really good death, on paper. At the age of 86, surrounded by loved ones who had been constantly by his side for his final weeks and days, he passed peacefully from this earth. He had a steadfast faith in God and after years of cancer treatment was eager and ready to leave this life and meet Jesus. He had lived a full life, being a dad to four children and several grandchildren and great-grandchildren, enjoyed many hobbies and had stayed fit and active right up until the last few weeks of his life. Everyone who loved him had had the chance to say goodbye and tell him all the things that you want to say when someone is near the end. He did not die in pain.
Theoretically, death doesn't often get better than this. The contrast to a phone call in the early hours with news of a car crash, or a sudden heart attack, or a suicide, is overwhelmingly different. No surprise, a good innings, and peace.
Yet for those of us who had to say goodbye to grandad, it still feels all wrong. As my great uncle said, "Death is so bad!" It is. No matter how much we dress it up with thanksgiving services instead of funerals and clothes in a favourite colour instead of black, death is awful. It feels unnatural because it is; the grief of that relationship being over and missing that person is a corruption of humanity's history. Watching my grandad's body edge closer to death was very upsetting. His strength draining from him, weight falling off him, his ability to eat, speak, move and eventually losing consciousness, was complete anathema to the tall, strong man who had made his great-grandchildren scream with delight by rocking them on his knees. And still, the nature of his death is the best that we can hope for in this broken world.
There's a reason it feels so bad. Our bodies were not originally designed to die. Our souls and bodies were created to be united. We were created to live in perfect unity with the world, with God, and with each other.
One look at the news and it's pretty obvious that didn't work out. So now we have to deal with the terrible, terrible reality that our lives come to an end. Our souls and bodies are wrenched from each other at the moment of death.
My great uncle didn't stop there. He said, "Death is so bad! Good thing it's been sorted!"
What does that mean? Because from where the rest of us are it can look like NOTHING is sorted right now. And whoever becomes our new Prime Minister on Monday will have a hard job sorting people's energy bills this winter, let alone the problem of death and decay.
The Bible says that death has lost its sting (1 Corinthians 15:54-55). What is the sting of death? The eternal separation of body and soul, the eternal suffering without God's presence and without human connection, traditionally known as "hell" (minus the cartoon pitchfork devil, because he'll be destroyed then too).
That sting is gone, if we believe in Jesus. He took on the rot and stench of physical death, and dealt with the consequences of all of our mess and sin and guilt on the cross. And, crucially, death could not hold him. He came back to life because he is God incarnate and by the Holy Spirit's power, he took the sting out of death. While our earthly bodies may die, our souls can go to be with Jesus, until he comes back again to transform our world into the new creation where we will be united with our renewed, imperishable bodies, and experience no more mourning, or sin, or sickness, or death.
It doesn't ultimately help to try and take away the sting of death by sanitising it with white feathers and trite wall hangings and memes that rhyme, any more than I can bring grandad back to life by putting a plaster on him. But there is a real cure for it. And while death still hurts us, it doesn't have the victory any more - praise God.
The last time I saw my grandad, we stood around his bed singing his funeral hymns to him. Eyes filled with tears, he raised his fists in the air triumphantly at the lines, "When the Lord in glory comes... his voice when he appears, will be music to my ears." He lived well, he died well, and he's now in glory with God. He would have been the first to say he was a flawed man, who'd made many mistakes - he was by no means perfect. He would be the first to tell you that Jesus' death is for you, for everyone, no matter how messy, especially the messiest of us.
"Christ... was not abandoned to the grave, nor did his body see decay. God has raised this Jesus to life... Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.
Repent and be baptised, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off - for all whom the Lord our God will call." - Acts 2:31-39
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