Perspectives on Death
The pain that comes from the death of a loved one is something that can’t be prepared for or easily described. But what do people do when they encounter death? And what does that show about how they think about death itself? Many consider death to simply be a part of the circle of life: a release that shouldn’t be feared but rather embraced—or at least tolerated. Many people believe in ghosts. Some celebrations like Día de Los Muertos have the dead coming to visit the land of the living. Others see death as frightening and hope to escape its inevitability for as long as possible or to ignore its severity. And still more simply ignore the severity of death, putting off thinking about it because it is too difficult to understand.
However, the truth is death can’t be ignored. We humans do our best to address what we don’t understand: funerals, celebrations of life, spreading a loved one’s ashes in a place they loved, etc. All of these things serve to help people process death and each one shows whether they perceive death to be something good, something bad, or something in between. However, as much as these things can help people deal with the feelings of losing a loved one, they don’t help people grapple with the reality of death itself—the wrongness of it.
Even Christians attempt to understand death in a conglomeration of ways. Some might say it is something sad, but only for those left behind by a loved one’s passing. After all, isn’t it good if the one who has died was a believer because they are now with Christ (see 2 Corinthians 5:8)? On the other hand, we believe it is the worst thing if an unbeliever passes away because of what awaits them in the next life. And still others believe we should use the mourning of our loved one to fuel the fire to preach the gospel to the survivors who haven’t accepted Jesus yet.
It is in perspectives like these that Christianity and the world try to help people deal with death. But none of them deal with the wrongness of death in and of itself—death as an evil enemy. Whether we mourn or rejoice at the death of a loved one, there seems to be something vital missing from our understanding of death. Alexander Schmemann, an influential priest, theologian, and dean of St.Vladimir’s Orthodox Seminary, wrote in his book For the Life of the World, that this is because most of Christendom has the tendency of being “life-affirming,” but in a way that doesn’t “refer this affirmation to the death of Christ and therefore to the very fact of death.”1 And so we find that for all our Christian talk of eternal life, many of us know very little about how to think about the gateway to eternal life: death.
The Final Enemy
Paul tells us that “the last enemy to be destroyed is death” (1 Corinthians 15:26). The reason that death feels so unnatural and wrong is because it is. We often forget that things were not supposed to be this way. Death is a result of sin, part of the curse of the fall. It is our enemy. As Christians, we should not try to reconcile ourselves to death. Schmemann explains, “Christianity is not reconciliation with death. It is the revelation of death, and it reveals death because it is the revelation of Life.”3. Not simply day-to-day life, but rather true Life. “Only if Christ is Life is death… the enemy to be destroyed, and not a ‘mystery’ to be explained. Only Christianity proclaims [death] to be abnormal and, therefore, truly horrible.”3
Rejoicing that a loved one is now with Christ does not deal with death itself or the fact that death has not yet been destroyed. It is just a repackaged form of ignoring the reality of the wrongness of death. It doesn’t acknowledge that Christ wept at the grave of Lazarus or sweated blood when he thought of his own death that was coming (see John 11:35 and Luke 22:44). Yes, death is truly, inevitably horrible.
Overcoming Death
How then ought Christians approach death when we encounter it in close proximity and when we one day experience it ourselves? When we encounter it in various instances, like the tragic death of Liam Payne, we can know that the reason it feels so wrong is because it is. There is no point trying to ignore it. But we should let that point us to the one Man who submitted to death but came back to life (see Revelation 1:18). We shouldn’t reconcile ourselves to death, but we need not fear it either.
In going through death and rising again, Jesus brought his Life to death (see 1 Peter 3:18-19, 21-22). We needn’t be afraid of death because when we die, we know that we are entering a place where Christ has gone before us. “In him death itself has become an act of life, for he has filled it with himself, with his love and light.”4 Though Death is our final enemy, Christ has filled even that with his Life. And because we know that Christ conquered death and rose again, we too can be set free from this greatest enemy (see 2 Timothy 1:10).
This is why 1 Thessalonians 4:13 reminds Christians that believers don’t have to grieve the death of their loved ones as those who have no hope. Because we need not fear where Jesus has gone before us. Instead, we can rejoice knowing that Christ is risen from the dead. That he tramples down death—and upon those in the tomb, he bestows life.
We know that one day, after Christ has returned, “death shall be no more” (Revelation 21:4). Until then, we keep these things in mind. We look for the resurrection of the dead, and the Life of the world to come.