World Cup - Final

World Cup Final – Death

July 23, 2014

Okay, so maybe it’s a stretch to combine the end of the World Cup with death, but it seemed good to have three essays in a group about the World Cup, so go with me for a minute or two and I will get there!

My family and I are heading to Michigan next week for our annual pilgrimage to visit my parents, siblings and their children.  It is a trip we have made many times over the past 30 years that my wife and I have lived in Dubuque.  It has consistently been one of the highlights of my children’s lives.  But this year, the trip has a slightly different color to it.

Last January, my father’s mother – my grandmother – passed away.  She was 99 and thanks to the care of her daughter and son-in-law, she had been able to live in her two homes, one in Michigan and one in Florida up to her passing.  As many family members are either still in Michigan or often travel there during the summer, the decision was made to have a memorial service in Michigan in July rather than trying to get everyone down to Florida in January.  Saturday will be my grandmother’s memorial service.  As I told people about our upcoming trip and the fact that it would end with the memorial, people would naturally say, “Oh, I’m sorry about your grandmother.”  To which I would typically reply, “Thanks, but she was 99.  At least no one will be saying, ‘It’s such a shame she died so young.’” 

Of course, I was just trying to diffuse any tension – no one likes to talk about death.  But the truth is death is never right.  As people, we are never comfortable with death and even when our 99 year old grandparents pass, we wish that they could be with us just a little longer.  We want things to stay the same.

At the other end of the spectrum, my daughter, who teaches violin lessons, had one of her young students not show up for a lesson last week.  The family had recently gotten a puppy which was only four months old.  It was discovered that the puppy had an untreatable internal organ condition and they had to put it down.  They had only had the puppy for a couple weeks, not 99 years.  And anyone can tell you that there are lots of dogs that need homes, so they can easily get another.   Anyone can tell me that my grandmother was 99 years old and had lived a great life.  But death is never right.  We want things to stay the same.

But things don’t stay the same.  And when circumstances change, we are faced with the reality that no matter how much we want to be in control or think that we are in control or work to be in control – we are not in control.  The ultimate evidence of this is death.  But we face all kinds of “death” experiences, when our hopes and expectations are changed by circumstances outside our control.

The entire nation of Brazil had a “death” experience in the semi-finals of the recently completed World Cup (I told you I would get back to the Cup!).  The host nation with a glorious soccer history losing in embarrassing fashion to Germany.  Brazil’s worst defeat ever at the worst possible time.  Those who follow this event could almost hear the collective voice of the stunned Brazilians crying, “It’s not supposed to be this way!”  But the scene of weeping children, and not a few adults, in their beloved national team’s jersey was repeated just a few days later except this time the children were wearing Argentine jerseys.  In the World Cup, only one team doesn’t “die.”  Spain and England had their death experience early.  Brazil and Argentina had theirs late.  Only Germany didn’t – this time.

And we have these death experiences in so many ways.  I have a friend whose wife was diagnosed with cancer.   While the battle continues, he has struggles with all kinds of issues related to this situation which he can’t control.  He told me one story of a young relative of his who was trying to comfort him and said to him, “She’s going to be okay.”  These are fairly common words in situations like this.  I think they reveal what our real hopes are.  Translated, I think these word mean, “Everything is going to go back to being the way it was before.”  We so much want things to stay the same. 

My Christian world view is not surprised by this.  We were created to be eternal as was the world.  There was this really nice garden with everything that people needed to be content and satisfied.  Everything was meant to be the same forever.  Death and all its related complications were the consequence of people rebelling against the perfect order that God had created for us to enjoy. 

Some people ridicule this idea by taking it too literally and saying things like, “I would have gotten bored living in a place like that.”  And “People can’t be content in a place with no challenges like that.”  They imagine gardens that they know and the whole idea doesn’t make sense to them.  I understand that but the promise of the garden isn’t about the physical garden.  The promise of the garden is that things never changed.  It wasn’t just about food and drink and peace and being naked without shame – although those are all good things that most people want.  It was about a much deeper need that people have.  A need for things to be in control, predictable - for there to be no death.  We can’t imagine it.  We can only know that we know that death is never right.  We know it isn’t right because even when our 99 year old grandmother’s pass after living relatively healthy lives in their own homes.  We wish things could go back to the way they were before.

I mentioned the promise of the garden because I believe it to be a promise of restoration which God has given to all people.  As I go to my grandmother’s memorial, I will be more thankful than usual for scriptures such as:

“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)

“God, who has saved us and called us to a holy life, not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace.  This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time, but it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior, Christ Jesus who has destroyed death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.” (2Tim 1:9,10)

Death in little forms and in the ultimate form is a billions times proven reality for all people.  I am grateful to be aware of one who has destroyed death and given me the promise of the restored garden where there will be no more death.  There is no other solution to this problem.