Why death is bad even for Christians

Something that has always unsettled me is when churches say they are having a “going home party” for an elderly person in their church that dies. It usually goes this way: “Well, Mrs. [fill in name of elderly saint here] went on home last night at the convalescent home. She served as a Sunday School teacher for 25 years, loved her husband, served her children, and was a great saint in the kingdom of God. We will be having a celebration of her homecoming Tuesday at 1pm in the fellowship hall. What a privilege it is to celebrate this.!”

When I hear something like this, that we should quell the emotions felt when someone dies, but I still have the feeling of discomfort and pain. I know she is with Jesus, but existentially I don’t like it. I have never lost someone dear to me, but even if a Christian friend of mine dies, I don’t think I will feel good knowing that he is in a “better place.” There is still pain.

Then someone brought to mind the familiar passage in John 11 when Jesus weeps. Jesus was obviously grieved at the death Lazarus. But why? He is Jesus. He knew he was going to raise Lazarus from the dead. But even if Jesus didn’t know, should not he been joyful because Lazarus was in heaven? Should not Jesus, instead of weeping, be breaking out the party hats and cake for a “going home party” for Lazarus? He didn’t. Jesus wept.

We need to remember that Jesus wept before he was at the tomb and at the tomb. John says that Jesus “had not yet entered the village, but was still at the place where Martha had met him” when Mary came to him. Jesus was outside the city when he cried. So, it was not the sight of the tomb that invoked Jesus’ tears. It was the tears of Mary and Martha that stirred Jesus so.

Jesus then went inside the city. It say that Jesus “once more deeply moved, came to the tomb.” Jesus wept outside the gate with Mary and Martha and he was again “deeply moved” (aka wept) at the tomb. Was it because Jesus was still emotionally disrupted and just could not keep his tears in? The reason Jesus cried two separate times shows us two separate reasons why death is still bad, even for a Christian.

Before this is explained, let’s talk a little about God’s ideal. In the Garden of Eden we had a perfect relationship with God. It was God’s plan for the world. But God did give us Genesis 2:17: “but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die.” Therefore death was not an existential reality in Eden. People did not die and neither did animals, bugs, birds, etc. There was no death. God’s plan for the world was a deathless existence. But, due to Satan’s coazing, Eve plucked the fruit and Adam stood idly by, sin and death entered existence.

Rom. 5:12 Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned—

Jesus’ first crying episode was outside the city gate. He cried from seeing Mary and Martha grieve the death of Lazarus. Jesus cried because he knew the pain that is associated with death. When a Christian dies, all those around him grieve that person’s death. People hurt from the effects of death. Every time someone dies, people feel pain and grief. This process of death to pain to grief was not in God’s original plan.

Jesus’ second crying episode was outside the tomb of Lazarus. This is a little more enigmatic, for immediately after his crying Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead. Why is Jesus still struggling with his emotions? It is for this reason: anyone in a tomb/casket/urn is a proclamation that, due to sin’s effect, God’s will is not fully done. The fact that Lazarus was dead in the tomb is Satan proclaiming his impact on God’s children and God’s world. Death is a portent and sign that God’s will is not fully done on earth. Death has lost its sting and its victory, but it still taunts.

Glorious Jesus died on the cross for you and me. He nullified death and Satan on the cross and gives us life by way of the empty tomb. Though death has no final victory it still has temporary victories. Paul says in 1 Cor 15:26 “The last enemy to be destroyed is death.” That enemy has yet to be destroyed, for it still has the power to separate friends and family members, and death still taunts God. Satan knows he has no hope, Death knows he will be destroyed. It is like a man on the executioner table taunting the executioner.

The assurance we do have is that Jesus will come again for those dead and those still living. I Cor 15:52 “For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.” When Jesus comes again we will be deathproof, just like God originally made it.

Jesus shows us that death is bad because: 1) it causes pain in God’s children, and 2) it is a proclamation of sin.

So, when your grandmother dies, know that the sad feelings you have are right and good. For though you will be reunited with your grandmother in eternity and Jesus did defeat death and sin, death is still bad, even for a Christian.


Soli Deo Gloria.