I recently ran across this obituary in the Minneapolis Star Tribune:
"Purmort, Aaron Joseph age 35, died peacefully at home on November 25 after complications from a radioactive spider bite that led to years of crime-fighting and a years long battle with a nefarious criminal named Cancer, who has plagued our society for far too long. Civilians will recognize him best as Spider-Man, and thank him for his many years of service protecting our city. His family knew him only as a kind and mild-mannered Art Director, a designer of websites and t-shirts, and concert posters who always had the right cardigan and the right thing to say (even if it was wildly inappropriate)… He is survived by… first wife Gwen Stefani, current wife Nora and their son Ralph, who will grow up to avenge his father's untimely death."
It was written by the deceased and his wife in the weeks leading up to his inevitable death following a brain tumor that had been diagnosed 3 years earlier.
While it wreaks of sadness and loss, death is less the victor and more the stoodge. Death may be serious, but it is not above being laughed at.
Hmmm, not bad advice for us… as you and I continue to muddle, grow weary, and be challenged through this persistent time of fear and isolation, how many deaths are we dealing with?
The words of Jesus, that we will hear on Sunday, and throughout the gospels, remind us not just of the presence of these deaths - of sickness and hunger and blindness, and the weariness of human life as we go through never-ending bouts of painful and hurtful things - but they also remind us that Jesus shows up at every one of these events inviting us to see them for what they really are, fleeting and temporary instances that eventually give in to the persistent and ultimate truth of life.
In times like these, the overwhelming awareness of the unpleasant, the unpredictable, and the threatening can cause us to lose hope and lose sight.
Our job is not too. For the truth is, that God is with us, the unseen hand, the calm and steady voice, the soft and gentle heart-felt conviction that while death abounds, grace much more abounds.
Let us stand together knowing that God is at work. Death is not the final word. May we have the confidence to stand tall - not to be discouraged, but have the faith to laugh.
