From Death Into Life

From Death Into Life

Jesus called the crowd with His disciples, and said to them, "If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it."
Mark 8.34-35

I've seen a lot of death and dying in the past year. As a pastor, of course, I've taken part in my share of funerals. Accompanying a family through their grief is a great honor that all of us clergy folks do not take lightly. But I've brushed with death in many ways this year that have nothing to do with my vocation as a pastor – but they have everything to do with my life as a follower of Jesus Christ.

Late last April, my friend and mentor, Pastor Larry Meyer of the Lutheran Student Center at the University of Nebraska, died of esophageal cancer. In August, one of my most beloved seminary professors died of Parkinson's disease. In December, I mentioned to a friend how hard Christmas can be because my grandfather died December 20, 1996 – his wife, my grandmother Ruth Johnson, died on January 3, 2006 of heart failure. My wife's own 'Grandma Ruth,' who married my wife's grandfather late in life, passed away just a few weeks ago. These brushes with death aren't all, either; my mother has fought cancer in the past year, winning the battle for now but with no guarantees for the future. My father and I had a talk several months ago about Grandma's heart condition and his realization that when she died, there would be no parent between himself and his own death. It was a humbling, holy experience to sit with my father and speak so honestly about these things, but it was also a very hard experience, since none of us likes to consider the reality of our mortality.

Yet here we are, preparing for Ash Wednesday, when I'll stand in front of our congregation and mark the foreheads of each worshiper with the ashes of last year's Palm Sunday palm branches. I'll tell these people I dearly love to "remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return." I will ask them to consider their own death as they consider the life of Jesus our Savior and His journey toward His own death. These are not easy things to discuss.

But discuss them we must, for the alternative is worse by far. Jesus tells us that we cannot save our lives, no matter how hard we try. Denying death, as much of our culture seems determined to do, only creates a kind of false life, one focused on the denial of age, focused on the centrality of the self, focused on the 'purchase of happiness' regardless of the cost to self and neighbor. Newsweek has been running a series of articles on the baby boomer generation, and frankly I've never seen a more selfish, arrogant, delusional group of people than those who insist that they can have exactly the kind of life they want at no cost to themselves or those they love. This kind of life is false, it is dangerous, and it is precisely what Jesus is attacking when He says that 'those who want to save their life will lose it.'

As we begin our Lenten journey, consider what it means to admit that you are a dying creature, drawing nearer even at this moment to the end of this life. As you go forward to receive the mark of ashes on your forehead tomorrow, God will call you into repentance for your sins, and God will promise you the forgiveness that is real life. We who are dying are given new life here and now through our Savior's invitation to follow Him. As you remember that you are dust, remember also that God is breathing new life into that dust through our Lord Jesus Christ, that in Him and Him alone we move from death into life.