A Christian’s Response to Death

It’s interesting to see how we all feel the need to respond to death, especially deaths of public characters. What’s even more interesting is how shaky our theology gets as we try to find something to say.

Responding to Farrah’s death yesterday, one person said, “There’s another Angel in heaven today.” Hmmm, got a verse for that one? Of course this time she really was an angel, Charlie’s version. But generally that statement doesn’t make sense.

It seems like the more public the death the more critical the American Christian response is. When a family friend dies no one says, “Well now they know wealth and fame mean nothing.” But if it’s a celebrity the gloves come off.

For some reason, anytime a celebrity dies Christians seem to think we should point out that the celebrity died in spite of their fame, power, or wealth. It’s like we think any time someone important dies they died because God’s making a point for us – proving us right. But any time a culturally acceptable person dies it’s another story. No one said Ruth Bell Graham’s death proved that her popularity meant nothing when she died.

We’ve all sat in church and heard the sermon that lists the famous deaths, right? Marilyn Monroe, Jimmy Hendrix, Curt Cobain, John Belushi, and lately we’ve added Heath Ledger, Anna Nicole Smith and maybe even Michael Jackson. It’s no surprise that Christians nudge each other smugly when someone the world regards as important dies. We learned it in church.

But people don’t die to prove us right about anything. Death is the enemy. Jesus came to conquer death. Every time someone dies – every single time – the universe is ripped. Not one of us was created to die. Those people in that list above were unique iterations of God’s creative nature. They were meant to live forever but sin intervened as it will for all of us.

We Christians, of all people, should never be so comfortable with our enemy (Death) as to claim he is doing God’s work. We should never try to explain or minimize the horror of any death. Instead, we should offer the love of the God of Life who has made a way to escape death’s eternal grip.

If the Church wants to impact my city or yours we need to stop lecturing those who grieve and start serving them. What would it look like if Christians were at Jackson ’s home in Gary , Ind. , or on the Walk of Fame in L.A. , or anywhere the grief-stricken have gathered? How different would it be if we were listening to their words, affirming their sadness and offering comfort?

I think it would look like Jesus . . . and it would turn the world upside down . . .