Death : How will you die? Choosing how you die

FOCUS SCRIPTURE

John 11:1-16

DAILY BYTE

Lent comes to a close this week, and as Jesus faces his death, so do we face our own.

The movie, When Harry Met Sally, begins with a hilarious scene where Billy Crystal (Harry) and Meg Ryan (Sally) are driving a car from Chicago to New York after college. Because the trip is long, they begin to ponder the facts of life together. Harry asks Sally: Don’t you have a dark side? No, you’re probably one of those cheerful people who dot their i’s with little hearts. Sally replies: I have just as much of a dark side as the next person! Harry: Oh really? When I buy a book, I read the last page first. That way, in case I die before I finish, I know how it ends. That, my friend, is a dark side...Do you ever think about death? Sally: Yes… Harry: Sure you do - a fleeting thought that drifts in and out of the transom of your mind. I spend hours. I spend days. Sally: And you think this makes you a better person? Harry: Well...I’m going to be prepared, and you’re not. Sally: And in the meantime, you’re going to ruin your whole life waiting for it.

We tend too often to push thoughts of death into the dark, morbid, depressed part of our minds. We find it painful and awkward to think and talk about it - our own and other peoples’. And so instead of choosing to think about it seriously, we either joke about it, live in fear of it, or callously try to ignore the possibility that it exists. But death is real, and although none of us can be certain exactly how or when we will die, we know it will happen, and we do, to a certain extent, get to choose how that death will be for us and for those around us.

As we read the passage from the Gospel of John for today, we realize that we can decide if we want to choose the path to death that leads to a death with Christ - a path that doesn’t ruin our life but only makes it more purposeful and beautiful.

Jesus chooses to go to Judea, even though, as his disciples point out, the Jews have just tried to stone him there. Why on earth would he want to walk back into an ambush? But Jesus chooses to walk a path that brings life to others, knowing that it would also bring death to himself. Seemingly unafraid of the presence and threat of death, he chooses to go to his friend, Lazarus. And his disciples must choose whether or not they want to go with him. They know the dangers that walking with Jesus might bring, and yet, we find Thomas - the one we usually label “doubting” in an accusatory way, Thomas is the one who says to the other disciples, “Let us go too so that we may die with Jesus.”

He chooses the path to the cross.

We know that when we choose the path of death on the cross - dying to ourselves - with Christ, then we also receive new, resurrected life with Christ. But Thomas didn’t know that. He only knew that no matter what the cost, he wanted to follow Jesus. Are you preparing yourself well for death? Will you choose to follow Thomas’s lead, risking a path that goes to die with Christ? Will you lead others with you?

Questions for reflection:

1. Take some time to contemplate the fact that one day, you will die. Try to reflect without fear or morbidity - simply looking for deeper understanding. Knowing you will die, do you choose to die with Christ? Are you allowing Christ to lead you and work within you in your life now? How might you want to follow Christ’s leading more closely in life and death?
2. What sins in your life may need to die in order to follow Jesus in the path he chooses?
3. What practical steps can you take in planning your own funeral and burial that might help others who are left behind to grieve well and now that you are with Christ? What songs would you have them sing? What prayers would be prayed?

PRAYER

Jesus, help me not to shy away from acknowledging my humanity and mortality. Show me how to face life and death unafraid, choosing the path that you walk and leading others to follow you. Amen.