funerals for Jesus
the ways we mourn the Living God
Sitting in church, the Pastor preaches the character of Jesus. Warm tears well up and sting the eye while I listen to the kindness, gentleness, and holiness of Jesus. I’m deeply moved. It is then that it dawns on me: I am not just deeply moved; I miss Jesus.
And it feels as though I miss someone I can’t come back to. I felt as though I were sitting at a funeral, hearing eulogy after eulogy about my Messiah. Oh, how tender He is, oh how He provided, oh how He loved. But my Jesus is not dead.
And within my heart, I sat in my seat hosting a funeral for Jesus, face to face with the irony of mourning the Living.
Why am I mourning the Living God?
What is the sense in missing God as though He is dead? Jesus has living arms with ever-flowing and eternally sufficient blood to run into. Run to the Father.
I thought about how many other ways we mourn the Risen Jesus, though He is alive. I consider every time I have ever needed provision or healing and sat down in fear and crippling anxiety without even thinking that God is a present help in trouble (Psalm 46:1). Or I call to mind the vices I can so easily run to because I feel as though there is no comfort in Christ, when He is alive to be my Burden Bearer, High Priest and Intercessor forevermore. I have felt hopeless and despondent, as though I have been left on my own. In Psalm 42:11 David had to remind his own soul that God is his help
Why are you cast down, O my soul? And why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God; For I shall yet praise Him, The help of my countenance and my God.
But the eternal nature of Christ, His victory over death, hell, and the grave, and His resurrection call for there never being another burial for Jesus. No more funerals. He died and rose and will never die again. Jesus said in Revelation 1:18
I am He who lives, and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen.
Amen means “so be it”. This is the conclusion of the matter. Jesus lives. So be it.
Be touched, yes, moved profoundly by His character and His hand. But do not mourn the risen Lord. There is no need, for He is alive forevermore.
With love,
Rebecca
Well said. 🤍
There was a moment when everything was at a stake. Whole existence was under question. If He had failed, we would be forever doomed in neverending cycle of pain and suffering. I think His temptations were a real danger, He was a human after all. But His character, His love, His kindness prevailed, and He won our freedom from wages of sin forever. We can only mourn the suffering humans today, but you are right, we should celebrate the Living God.