No Life Without Death

Extract from this week's church bulletin:

It is Jesus himself who reminds us that unless a seed falls to the ground and dies, it remains a single seed. "But if it dies, it produces many seeds." (Jn 12:24) And the Apostle Paul, when reflecting on the resurrection of the body says, "What you sow does not come to life unless it dies." (1 Cor. 15:36) This is a fundamental principle of life. There is no life without death. Even in the process of human reproduction, many cells die in order that the one cell might live and be strong and vigorous.

And so we come to this high point of the Christian year, when we remember and celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ. But it does us well to remember that the Christian faith is not all about triumphalism and victory. There was a long night of the soul for Jesus as he prepared for, planned and went through with the process of painful death. Jesus showed in the hours leading up to the cross that he was willing to do what had to be done, but troubled in spirit as to what it would mean.

There was a desire for the cup to be taken from him.

There were signs of stress as he chewed the disciples up for not staying with him while he prayed.

There was some anger as he rifled through the Temple and threw out the money changers, and those who were opposing God's rule.

There was disappointment as two of his friends let him down big time, one in betrayal and the other in denial.

These were not easy days.

There was suffering in the heart and mind of Jesus as he owned the fact that he was a seed about to be buried in the cold dark earth, and there he would stay until the light of God's power would touch him and bring him back to life.

We find it difficult to stay with death for too long. When we are confronted by the power of suffering or sorrow, tragedy, sickness and death, there is impatience, sometimes within us, but most times in those around us, that wants us to get over it, to get on with life, and to put the reality of sadness behind us.

But the events of the Easter weekend teach us well that it is not necessarily a good thing to brush over the process of death and the presence of suffering. Like the seed, we need time to grow in the experience of the circumstances that surround us.