Everyone has had the childhood experience
of trying without success to go to sleep in a room filled with frightening
shadows.
The shadow of the tree outside is cast on
the bedroom wall looking like a giant with outstretched arms.
The shadow of the cute teddy bear is
cast onto the floor, looking like a grizzly bear ready to kill.
The shadow of a belt becomes a snake.
The shadow of small toy becomes a rat.
Shadows can be frightening
things.
And the reason why these
shadows can become so frightening is because these shadows reflect something
that is real.
But they are frightening
because we are not quite sure what is real that is represented.
Even the youngest child would
never be afraid of a cute teddy bear. But the shadow cast onto the floor of the
child's bedroom doesn't look like the teddy bear, and the child, uncertain of
what creates the shadow, becomes afraid.
Parents take these childhood
fears seriously. I know a few parents who have been called into the child's
room, for the child has seen a monster lurking in the shadows. And a common way
to get around that is to take a can hairspray, which to an illiterate 4 year
old is
MONSTER SPRAY, and you spray the monster
away. Parents often take these fears seriously because the fears are real. The
monster is not, but the fear itself is very real.
The 23rd Psalm has that
wonderful verse, "Though I walk through the valley of the Shadow of Death,
I will fear no evil, for thou art with me, thy rod and thy staff, they comfort
me."
Many people are afraid of
death. This fear is real. And so is death. But it is very much like being in
that child's room late at night. We see
the shadows of death, but we really don't know what is behind the shadow. We
really don't know that much about death and what it is like, as so we are
afraid.
We see the shadows of death.
This shadow comes to us as a prolonged illness that slowly robs us of our
strength and energy, and finally our life.
This shadow walks the highways
of our nation and without warning takes some of the finest young people out of
twisted steel and broken glass.
This shadow sneaks into
nurseries and in the silence of the night takes a newborn infant.
The shadow comes from the drugs
sold right down the street.
The shadow comes on the weather
channel as we watch the ever changing cone of the predicted path of a tropical
storm or hurricane.
We see the shadows every day.
And we are afraid.
It is easy to be afraid of the shadows of death because death comes so
unpredictably, coming with great suddenness or with agonizing slowness.
Death comes with pain or with
grief. It always means the end of a life. It usually means an absence of a
loved one for those who continue to live.
And it so unknown. What is
death like?
We see the shadows. We see the
illness or the funeral home or the body on display, or cemetery. But these are
shadows. We do not see death itself.
Like the child who is afraid of
the teddy bear because the shadow in the late night bedroom seems so vicious,
we fear death, because the shadow seems so vicious.
We see the shadows of death,
now what is death itself like?
When we die, what do we see?
I'm not asking what the living people see when we die. They see the corpse. I'm
talking about what WE see when we die. What do we hear? What do we feel? What
do we do? What happens to us?
The Bible has a lot to say
about death, but not nearly as much to say about what happens to us after we
die.
We get a glimpse, but only a
glimpse.
We want details, lots of
details.
Do we know our friends in
heaven? Do we sleep and wake up and go
back to sleep in heaven? Do family ties
mean anything? Are there books to read?
Stories to tell?
Is there food in heaven? More importantly, is there chocolate. And even more importantly, are there
calories?
We want to see beyond the
shadow of death, and get a glimpse beyond.
We are told that for the
Christian, death is not an end. Nor is it a sleep.
But there is a consciousness
that we will have that continues forever. We live beyond our death. We know
this to be true because we are told time and again about the promises God has
given us in Scripture regarding the eternal life that we have through Jesus
Christ.
In the 11th chapter of John's Gospel, Jesus said, "I am the
resurrection and the life...whosoever believes in me shall never die."
Our bodies, of course, may die,
but our souls do not die. The essence of who we really are lives on.
A few years ago, I shaved my
beard. After having it for 19 years, I
decided to see what I would look like without one. So I shaved it.
Now, in spite of the fact that
I no longer look like the photo on my driver's license, the essence of who I am
remained.
My beard was gone, but Maynard
Pittendreigh was still here. Now I had some trouble with this with the younger
members of the church that I was serving at the time. Some of the very young
children weren't quite sure who I was. I had to tell them that the beard is
gone, but Dr Pittendreigh is still here.
Sometime in January, I will
finally be able to cut my hair!
YES! It’s actually long enough
now to send to a charity to contribute to wigs for cancer patients, but I
promised I wouldn’t cut it until everyone was back for the season. I suppose I’ll look different. But the essence of who I am will not change.
And in the same way, there will come a time when not just my beard, but
my whole body will be gone. But Maynard Pittendreigh will still exist.
So the first thing that we can
say is that for the Christian, there is a death of the body, but not of the
soul. There is a death of our physical
life, but who we are will continue.
What else can one say about
what death is like? In Revelation (21:4) we are told that for the Christian it
is a state in which there will be no further death, neither shall there be any
sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain."
In fact, most of the passages of Scripture that address themselves to
the subject of death and heaven are just like that one in that they do not give
details of the day to day routine of what we will do in heaven, but rather the
Scripture gives us descriptions of what the substance of our life beyond death
will be. We are not given descriptions of our way of life in heaven, but rather
of our quality of life after death.
And the most important fact of
this quality of life is that God is with us, Christ is beside us, and the Holy
Spirit never deserts us in our death. All of the passages that describe death
and heaven have this to say. That God is with us.
And that is the thrust of this
passage in the 23rd Psalm. "Even though I walk through the valley of the
shadow of death I will fear no evil because YOU ARE WITH ME."
We all walk through this valley of the shadow of death eventually.
We may walk through it when we go to the doctor and we hear him say,
"Your tests are in. I'm afraid the news is not good."
We may walk through this valley of the shadow of death when we stand at
the grave of our best friend.
We may walk through this valley when we struggle with a loved one who is
ill.
Or in a moment of intense fear we may suddenly become aware of our own
mortality. We walk through the valley of the shadow of death.
We all walk through that valley of the shadow of death, many times. Any
time we become aware of the reality of death. And the tendency is to become
afraid. To fear the reality of death.
But you see, the Christian doesn’t
have to be afraid. The promise of the 23rd Psalm is true. God is with us to
comfort and to protect us.
Recently,
I came to a conclusion. The hardest
funerals I do are for those who have no faith.
The first funeral I did was 38 years ago. It was for a friend of our family and I was
still a student. I’ve done funerals for
children. I remember one was for a child
who, at the time, was the same age of my son.
The casket was so tiny. I’ve done
funerals for close friends. I did my
Dad’s funeral.
But
the hardest are for those who have no faith.
It
always hits me in the middle of the service.
Every funeral has tears, but at the funerals of those who have no faith,
there are so many more tears and sobs.
There is always grief – always.
But at funerals for those who have no faith, the grief is terrifying.
I’m
often reminded at those funerals of what Paul said in his New Testament Letter
to the Thessalonians – “Do let us grief, as those have no hope.
Copyright Maynard Pittendreigh, 2012
All Rights Reserved
