The Answer to Death

John 11:25

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As a pastor’s kid, I went to a lot of funerals growing up. There were so many, and I was so little that most of them just kind of blended together in my memory. But there’s one moment that stuck out and has stuck with me all this way. We were at the visitation when my younger cousin said something that was really profound. My aunt was lifting her up to look in the open casket and said, “that’s great, grandma.” My younger cousin replied, “no it isn’t. Not really. It’s just a shell. She is alive with Jesus.”

Funerals are sad, yes, but they’re also kind of awkward because it brings you face to face with death. It makes you recognize that one day it’s going to be me in that casket. What then? What’s the answer to death?

Jesus once was late to the funeral of his friend Lazarus. Before he goes to visit the tomb, he stops to have a conversation with the family of the deceased. And here Jesus says something that’s really profound. He said,

“I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die.” (John 11:25)

Jesus gives us the answer to death. The answer is himself and what looked like a moment of weakness and defeat. Jesus defeated death by his death on the cross. Jesus is God, life itself. And what happens when death comes face to face with life? Life wins. No contest. Jesus defeated death, trampled it under his feet on the cross, and by his resurrection powerfully proclaimed that victory. We have nothing to fear in death because Jesus, who is the resurrection and the life, has conquered death for us.

For those who trust in Jesus, death isn’t really death because when you die, you don’t really die. Rather, death is a doorway into eternal life with Jesus. Jesus who gives us his victory is the answer to death. Amen.