since the children have flesh and blood in common, Jesus also shared in these, so that through His death He might destroy the one holding the power of death—that is, the Devil— and free those who were held in slavery all their lives by the fear of death.
a lot of ' death ' in those few words ..
' we ' evangelical protestants have managed ( both in the sense of arriving at, and in the sense of working to that end ) to refocus the obvious injustice and wicked manipulation of the human state by the satan into a future-focus, an ' it-will-be-alright-in-the-end ', which, while creditable in its own right, reduces death to a doorway to paradise
it is, after all
but we dare not undermine that disruptive force that dogs us on this liferoad, moreso in our later-in-life period ..
Jesus' ministry of the cross drove hard at initiating reconciliation for us, and that reconciled recreation of the human state deals with death, not by suppressing it or otherwise by-'passing' it, but by facing it head-on in all its horror as it sucks life out us, the very imago dei
modern theology tends to avert this admission at a huge cost to itself, for only by taking up our cross, our own place and instrument of death, can we finally be disciples of Jesus
he didn't use those words lightly; he wanted us to see the reality in all its darkness, understand that sobering end, embrace a life soaked in atrophy and decay, a worldlife of death that was never God's intention
that's the balancing act that must take place in me ..
while seeing my state and that of all humanity as currently wrapped in burial clothing, we for sure see too the hope, by faith, of God's re-creation, life out of death, out of nothing
surely Jesus is our forerunner and faith-full high priest, and ours is to trust him, hope in him, see his life through the death that is ours
we do see Jesus —made lower than the angels for a short time so that by God’s grace He might taste death for everyone— crowned with glory and honor because of His suffering in death. For in bringing many sons to glory, it was entirely appropriate that God ( all things exist for Him and through Him ) should make the source of their salvation perfect through sufferings. For the One who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one Father. That is why Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters ..
see the progression: Jesus is exalted because he suffered death, suffered in dying, suffered in the path to that dying death, and that was appropriate for him who embraced our humanity; we are his siblings ..
thus, the implication is that we too suffer, must suffer, as humans
he honoured that condition by immersing himself in it, and then using it as a referent for following him
we look forward to the recreation, certainly
but that's only one side of our lifecoin
as NT Wright often avows, we are in the ' not yet ' stage
the kingdom awaits; it is our hope; but the twisty debilitating road that leads there is fraught with distress at our own human condition, and the required compassion that accompanies that as we look to recognize Jesus in the faces we meet and to be Jesus in their eyes and lives .. no greater calling exists
there is death, and there is the embracing of death, the alter ego to the recreated life that sings sweetly in Jesus-tone
we might well be careful not to downplay or dumbdown the 'value' of that, for ultimately it is in dying that we live .. anyone that will save their life will lose it, but anyone that will lose their life for my sake, finds life .. Jesus
apostle Paul, a much-denigrated apostle in modern theothink, once said that his is to fill up in himself the sufferings of Messiah Jesus for the sake of Jesus' Body, the Church ..
who are we to take any lesser view of life in this deathlife we call ' life ' ?
and so .. when i see death in my life, the death of my life, the death of what i thought was my life, even the seemingly to-me laudable and commendable lifethings that i thought were Jesus things ( and maybe was right in seeing them to be so ) - when those things die i must embrace their dying as a part of my journey into life for Jesus' sake, for mine is not to be overly sorrowful or regretful, but balancing - take and embrace the death of them in hope of new life, tomorrow .. or the next day
God is still working on reconciliation; i need to be involved in that work as well as open to the reconciliation of me
may my dying be seen as life to someone else, in someone else
may Jesus be exalted and may God get the glory
.. .. .
O Love that will not let me go, I rest my weary soul in thee;
I give thee back the life I owe, that in thine ocean depths its flow may richer, fuller be.
O Cross that liftest up my head, I dare not ask to fly from thee;
I lay in dust, life’s glory dead, and from the ground there blossoms red Life that flows from Thee.
[adapted from an old hymn]
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