Lent XIV: Death

Deliver me from death, O God.

 - From Psalm 51

Lent and Easter are inextricably woven into the subject of Death.

The opening chapters of the Bible, in Genesis, portray a great drama resulting in the first human tragedy: death itself. And now . . . as we look ahead to the Cross, we are looking ahead to Death itself.

The Psalmist knew that he would die someday. We all know that. We're going to die.

Doctor, Doctor, will I die? Yes my child, and so will I.

And we all want to be delivered from that death. We want to live forever. Christ made it possible for us to live forever, but he had to make a decisive stand against Death. He had to stare it in the face and prevail.

But the Psalmist is talking about early death, sudden death, young death. Unprepared death. That is perhaps what terrifies us the most: death at someone else's hands - which is unnatural, inhuman, ghastly.

Next to immortality, we seem to want maximum power in this finite life. Money will do that. Fame comes close. And in Scripture, we have seen that responsible decisions, and even humility, are the paths to true power and influence.

But some people want impatient power. They want faux power - - - the ability to control others; and the evil person defines that as taking from others; making them unhappy. A loving person of power will bestow nice things upon others. But an evil person may conscript power criminally, in the form of harming others. And the taking of a life is the ultimate form of evil power.

The Psalmist want to be spared that.

In Lent, we join the Lord on his journey to the Cross. We will face Death down with Him. We will not shy away from it. We will not let it get to us. We will not let it cause debilitating sadness and defeat for us.

We will hope, and pray, for deliverance from Death that is criminal and evil.

Lent is a serious time. It's peaceful. It's reflective. It's realistic. And it moves forward.