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Our Desperate Need for Resurrection
A couple weeks ago the New York Times published an opinion piece by an ICU doctor in Boston that made me sick.
“BOSTON — As an I.C.U. doctor I’m used to giving bad news, but I was not prepared for this.
I paused outside my patient’s room to watch her for a moment. She lay on the bed, tethered to a ventilator by the tracheostomy tube in her neck. Her husband sat in a small plastic chair beside her with his hand on her leg, smiling at some silly sitcom playing on the TV. I hesitated a beat. And then I entered.
I had to tell him. There was no way to soften the blow. The hospital is changing its rules, I said. No more visitors. When you leave today, you both need to say goodbye.
I watched their faces shift. My patient’s breathing quickened, and her ventilator alarm sounded. Her husband quickly moved his hand to her shoulder and her breaths slowed; the alarms silenced. He knew how to calm her. He had been there through all of it — hospitalizations for cystic fibrosis, the transplant, the bouts of rejection. When we took away her voice with the tracheostomy tube, he spoke for her.
But now, as we tighten our protocols to protect our patients from the threat of Covid-19, she’s alone. Here in my hospital, as in so many others throughout the country, we’ve banished most visitors. It’s a tough decision that leaves our patients to suffer through their illnesses in a medical version of solitary confinement. And I’m worried for them. Because those of us on the front lines simply don’t have a plan for this.”
The article gets more grim, but you get the point. As I read the article I thought about the possibility of my grandma, my parents, Ashley, Willa, or Ruth being treated alone in a hospital - and the thought horrified me. What if they suffered alone? Died alone? But as I have soaked on that thought the question occurred to me: is that the worst thing that could happen?
For Christians, Death Is Gain
In John 5 we are introduced to one of the saddest scenes in the Bible. Jesus goes to a pool called Bethesda where a multitude of invalids were laying. A man was there who had been an invalid for 38 years. How long had that man - who was once someone's son - been laying there alone with no one to care for him.? Jesus told him to pick up his bed and walk. And he did. And he made a beeline for the temple. Jesus later found him in the temple and said, "See, you are well! Sin no more that nothing worse may happen to you." How insensitive! what could be worse than living alone as an invalid for decades, no one to care and clean for you, eating the scraps people throw at you?
Jesus later says there will be a resurrection of the dead — and those who have done evil will be raised up to a resurrection of judgment. How about suffering alone forever and knowing you chose this?
In the midst of this pandemic, we need to hear and speak reason to the world : living alone as an invalid for decades or dying alone in a hospital is not the worst thing that can happen to you. This is the time to hear and make an urgent plea: sin no more that something worse does not happen.
What is wild about this is that the Bible actually teaches us that death-though a terrible enemy-is actually a means of great gain for Christians. While Paul was in prison awaiting trial he realized two possibilities lay before him — life and death. Philippians 1:21–23 (ESV), “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. Yet which I shall choose I cannot tell. I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better.”
His life was painful, but he knew if he died he would depart and be with Christ, and that was far better. Later, he would say this: 2 Corinthians 5:8 (ESV), “Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord.”
Though they did not know Christ, faithful Jews spoke of a similar hope - alluded to in the Bible and more concretely in intertestamental writing. Our bodies may die, but those who put their faith in Jesus and the God of Israel will still live away from the body and be comforted in the presence of Jesus.
In Revelation John sees a very comforting picture of those who are being killed for their obedience to Jesus. Revelation 7:15–17 (ESV), “Therefore they are before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple; and he who sits on the throne will shelter them with his presence. They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore; the sun shall not strike them, nor any scorching heat. For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of living water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”
What great comfort! Praise God that we can actually in a weird way look forward to the grave.
So, Why Resurrection?
Have you ever wondered why God doesn't just leave it at that? Why raise Jesus from the dead? why not just let him die as a sacrifice for sins and let him go to heaven and that's the end of it? And why the same for us? Why speak of a day when all will come out of their tombs? What is the need for resurrection? The Bible gives us a host of answers to this question. I want to consider two of those reasons with you this morning.
Turn back one chapter to Revelation 6:9-11. I have always focused on one picture of the saints who have died, but ignored the other. Revelation 6:9–11 (ESV), “When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the witness they had borne. They cried out with a loud voice, “O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?” Then they were each given a white robe and told to rest a little longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brothers should be complete, who were to be killed as they themselves had been.”
These saints willingly died on the altar for Christ. In one scene we see them praising God and being comforted. In another, they still cry out "how long? How long till you do something about what happened? About what is still happening?" Are they comforted? Yes. Is it way better to be with Christ? Yes. Does that solve the problem? Does that end the persecution still happening on earth? the injustices? The indifference of the arrogant? The lawlessness? The cursing of God's name? I don't know exactly what it's like for the dead, you don't either, all we have are pictures. They are comforted with a comfort I long for so much, but it doesn't seem they are given a blue pill or a flash of light to make them live in total ignorance about the dark state of reality: the wicked are still having their day and the saints are still preyed on.
There is the need to set things right, to deal with all that has gone wrong. Later in the book as judgment is poured out on the beast the altar bursts into praise. Revelation 16:7 (ESV), “And I heard the altar saying, ‘Yes, Lord God the Almighty, true and just are your judgments!’”
So, why resurrection? Because even the dead seem to not be fully at peace until sin and injustice are dealt with. This shouldn't be surprising since we even see angels in Zechariah that aren't pleased with the state of things on the earth (Zech. 1:12). Being in heaven before the end doesn’t mean we won’t still be disturbed by some things. And while God's temporal judgments are praiseworthy, Paul tells us Jesus' resurrection is the signal that there is one big day when the world will finally be judged in righteousness. Acts 17:30–31 (ESV), “The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.”
The world thinks everything will continue as it has from the beginning. Even the righteous wonder this at times. Paul says Jesus' resurrection is God's message to all: think again. "I am going to do something about all of this." And the final resurrection is the “when.”
But resurrection day isn't only needed to deal with all that has gone wrong from the perspective of sin and injustice — it is needed because of what death has done to our relationships.
When Paul spoke of himself dying he spoke of it as gain. The very next chapter in Philippians he speaks of how Epraphroditus' death would have caused him sorrow upon sorrow. Because we have accepted death as normal, it is one thing for someone to die after a "full life," strung up on morphine, surrounded by loved ones; it's another thing for a dear friend, a sibling, a parent, a spouse, a child to die before their time. They had plans, a whole life in front of them.
Even more, those who die leave the living in the dust, carrying all the pieces of life they left behind, with constant reminders of life as it should have been. Yes, we may join them one day, but to do so we have to leave the next generation with the very same problems-broken hearts and broken lives. As John has often said, “Death may be normal, common, but it is not natural.
This is why Jesus' resurrection and the promise of the day when all in Christ will be raised is so important. 1 Thessalonians 4:13–18 (ESV), “But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. Therefore encourage one another with these words.”
This day is so important because 2,000 years ago someone's son, brother, and friend was ripped from this life "before his time" and then three days later God raised him again. And since we believe Jesus died and rose again, we know the dead in Christ will rise and we will be caught up together with them to meet the Lord in the air.
Conclusion
As everyone around us is terrified of sickness and death and what it may mean for them and their families, we need to remember and to remind: death isn't the worst thing that
will happen to you.
There are reports that when epidemics spread through the Roman world, many people fled, but Christians stayed behind, risked their lives, and cared for the sick. They probably looked foolish when it was all happening, but afterwards people realized who really cared about them.
John 13:35 (ESV), “By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
John 15:13 (ESV), “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.”
What gives us love like that is Jesus 'death. What gives us fearlessness like that is his resurrection. Let us trust him and sin no more that this may be our confidence. Let's spread that love and boldness through the good news in a time filled with bad news so the worst thing doesn't happen to our friends and neighbors.
- The_Importance_of_the_Resurrection.mp3 (18.21 MB)
