Calvin Synod Herald, 2010 (111. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
2010-03-01 / 3-4. szám
4 CALVIN SYNOD HERALD Easter: It’s All About Life and Death At a Reformed seminary, an elderly professor told his new students preparing for the ministry these simple words: “Preach as a dying man to dying men.” That may seem premature to most young church members who are so busy living for today that they have no time to think about dying. But the fact is - with every breath we are one more moment closer to our deaths. When we are bom, our DNA includes determiners of our possibilities in life, including those that favor long life or reduce its probability. Whether we like it or not, with every minute we are one moment nearer to eternity. And the sign posted by the Amish farmer’s cornfield may trouble some: “Where will you spend eternity?” I At Easter the churches blossom with fresh flowers. These are not th*; flowers a young man gives to his girl- friend or a husband to his wife on their anniversary. These flowers do not brighten the Christmas table. No, these are of the funeral parlor type and as lovely as they are, many elderly do not want them taken from the church to their homes after the Easter Service. They remind them of death and they are un-nerved by them. It’s too close! After all, this is serious stuff. As the apostle Paul reminds us, “The last great enemy is death.” Beautiful flowers can be a coverup, like makeup over a blemish. At the cemetery the workers often screen the open grave with the flowers. In many places, the mourners leave before the casket is lowered to its last resting place. The Scriptures view death as tragic. Facing His imminent death, Jesus was troubled and prayed, “My Father, let this cup pass from me....” There are no false heroics here and He sought the comfort of His disciples nearby - who slept. As we read on, we are caught up by His torment, suffering and tortured last breaths. Death was no friend to Him - and not to us! Yet the insufferable does not end even there. In God’s revelation to John, we find that those who do not die in God’s favor are relegated to the anguish of that underworld we have come to call variously Sheol, or Hades, or Hell. Jesus, who comforts us with a promise of eternal life, has warned us about that time when the wicked shall weep and gnash their teeth in the abyss of Satan. They again at the Last Day, with those yet unredeemed and still alive, still must face the terrors of the Second Death, before annihilation forever by God. II Flowering Easter lilies are placed in the churches because their presence after the long winter reminds us that God’s power overcomes Satan and death. Jesus had descended with sinners into Hell but because of His faith, Satan could not keep Him and God raised Him from death. As Christ told the thief on the cross, “This day you will be with me in Paradise.” Easter flowers, replanted in the ground, are pregnant with new life. When members wouldn’t take home their memorial lilies, I would take them out and replant them in the church yard. Some would bloom again late in the summer. And after the cold of winter, the warm spring sun would force their leaves through the barren ground and new flowers would burst forth in renewed beauty. Once I forgot to replant them soon enough. The hot sun had gotten to them in their flower pots and dried them out. Although I put the bulbs in the ground, nothing came up. So too the souls who are not entrusted to Christ and die without faith, are too late for new life and the glories of Heaven. III In these latter days, God still speaks through the Holy Scriptures that we hear in the Resurrection Service on Easter Day and the Eastertide Sundays that follow. We are comforted, as were the persecuted Christians of the Church’s first days, with the witness of the Revelation: “Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord henceforth.” The key words are to die “in the Lord.” They reflect all that Paul wrote so soon after Jesus’ resurrection, “As in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.” This explains the resurrection of Jesus’ followers, “Christ the first fruits; and then at His coming those who believe in Christ.” It is essential for salvation that our souls be “in Christ” in the inbetween time, either while alive in this world or in Paradise if we die earlier, until that Last Day of His coming again. Then God shall raise the living and the dead. IV Our “only comfort in life and in death” is belonging to Jesus, to be “in Christ.” But with all this said, how can we know with certainty that we are “in Christ,” and will be when He calls us into His divine Kingdom? The great Reformer John Calvin taught that the way we have lived and served God is a sure indicator of where we stand with Jesus Christ as recipients of His merciful grace. This is not as a reward for what we have done, rather as the living proof of a sanctified soul. We can find encouragement for this kind of life in Paul’s words, “Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.” At Easter we remember the faithfulness of God, who kept His promise to grant life everlasting, first to Jesus and then to all whom the Savior has gathered into His Church. God has spoken! But it follows that we too must speak and give God our answer, to resist temptation, and with all our hearts to walk with Jesus every day. If we do, we also are heartened by God’s promise to His people: “To him who conquers I will grant to eat of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God. .. .He who conquers shall not be hurt by the second death.” On Easter Day we can talk the talk, but in the days that follow, let us walk the walk of true Christians, all those who are “in Christ.” Keep, O keep us, Savior dear, Ever constant by Thy side; That with Thee we may appear At the eternal Eastertide. Rev. Albert W. Kovács
