Death and Resurrection

Jesus is still talking in that upper room with His friends. He has had much to tell them before the end comes. In this part of their conversation Jesus explains the next few days in order to prepare these friends of His for what is coming down the pike. So, He tells them,

A little while, and you will see me no longer.

Then, to fill that out, He gives them this sobering news.

Truly, truly, I say to you, you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice. You will be sorrowful.

'Weep' 'lament' and 'sorrowful' can be fairly strong words, especially when you put them together. But they are the right words for Jesus to use. Understand what is going to happen. These men will feel as if their world has come to an end. This man in whom they have invested their lives, this man whom they have known as the promised Messiah, this man is going to be conquered by His enemies and destroyed. He will be crushed by the powers that be who will then celebrate their victory. And as a result, the dreams of these eleven men will crumble. That's what Jesus means by 'weep', 'lament' and 'sorrowful'.

But Jesus doesn't leave it at that. He also tells them,

… and again a little while, and you will see me.

And, again, He fills that out and does so with striking promise.

… your sorrow will turn into joy.

Do you see what Jesus is doing? He gives them some bad news, but then He gives them a reason for hope. He makes a promise. And as we know, He kept that promise. But they really did have to experience that weeping, lament and sorrow first.

What Jesus is describing isn't something that was unique to these eleven men. The dynamic that He is talking about is a recurring theme in Scripture. It's down and then up, bad news and then good news. Or as some have labelled it, it's death and resurrection. Consider some examples. Joseph was stolen from his father's love, endured pain and injustice in Egypt. But then, he became second in the kingdom. Moses had a corner on the good life as an adopted member of Pharaoh's household. However, he was exiled to the wilderness, probably resigned to live out his days as a shepherd in the desert. But then, God called him to be a mighty weapon to defeat Egypt and to lead the people of God to freedom. We also have David. He was anointed to be king of Israel. And what happened next? He was chased throughout the desert of Judah by Saul who wanted to kill him. But then, David replaced him as king. It was down and then up for all of them. Death but then resurrection. And that's what happened to those eleven friends of Jesus.

But this is more than just a noteworthy pattern in the Bible. This describes your life. Down and then up. Death and resurrection.

This speaks, on the one hand, to the big picture of your life. A good template to use here is Psalm 23. You 'walk through the valley of the shadow of death'. And that shadow covers everything. It's down. It's death. But how does the Psalm end? How does it describe your future? 'And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.' Up. Resurrection. This dynamic of death and resurrection describes your big picture.

But this also captures the smaller, daily experiences of your life. Aren't they filled with the same down and up? Good days followed by bad days followed by good days? Or maybe it's even one bad hour followed by a good one, and on it goes. It's down and then up. And while some of those downs aren't anywhere near overwhelming, there are a few that feel something like what those apostles felt: weeping, lament, sorrow.

Maybe you've found yourself in one of those downs, and you've asked, 'Father, why don't You just stop this from happening? Why don't You keep me from the weeping, the lamenting and the sorrow?' Well, that seems like a reasonable request. Let's apply it to the situation with Jesus' friends. The Father could have made sure that the lives of those men went on as well as they had been; no weeping, lamenting or sorrow. But for that to happen there could be no Cross. Those men would have avoided all of the down if Jesus had not died. But while that would have been more pleasant short term, what a mess long term. Sometimes the Father brings death, and its short term sorrow, into your life so that there would be the longer term joy of resurrection. Sometimes there has to be the weeping, lamenting and sorrow if there is going to be rejoicing. There will be no up if there is no down.

Jesus tells His friends what is going to happen before it does. Why? He wants to prepare them. Similarly, He has told you what is going to happen before it does. Your life is going to be down and then up. But how does this help? If you know what is going to happen, you can prepare for it and thus deal with it well. You will face lots of downs. It's going to happen, and it's going to hurt, sometimes to the point of weeping, lament, sorrow. That’s life in a fallen world. You will do well to keep that in mind.

I'm not saying this so that you can adopt some stoic attitude. 'Well, life's hard, and what are you going to do?' Where's the Gospel in that? No, my goal is for you to be able to respond well by believing the Gospel. You've been warned that driving in the snow can be a little dicey. In fact, you just might find yourself in a skid. Why did they tell you that? So that you could be prepared for that possibility. When you find yourself in a skid on some snowy road, there are things you can do to get out of that skid and avoid ending up in the ditch. Knowing that life is down and then up will help you when you find yourself in a down. There are things to do so you can avoid ending up in the ditch.

What might those things be? How do you respond well and avoid the ditch? Here's one thing to do. Hold on to hope. Remember that hope is not about wishing. Hope is waiting for God to keep a promise. Jesus provides hope for His friends when He tells them,

You will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn into joy.

Jesus offered those men a reason to hope. He told them that their sorrow would be transformed. It would become joy, immense joy. Jesus does the same for you. He gives you a reason to hope. He gives you His promises. And there are so many. Here are a few of my favorites.

He has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” So we can confidently say, “The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?” Hebrews 13.5,6

Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning. Psalm 30.5

For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. Hebrew 12.11

So, hold on to hope. The Father has promised an up, a resurrection. He has promised joy. Remind yourself of His promises. Maybe you need your own list of favorite promises to return to from time to time.

Having said all of that I also need to say that waiting for God to keep a promise can be hard, especially when there is much weeping, lamenting and sorrow. In those situations it's good to remember that He really does understand the pain that you feel. He knows it by experience. The Son experienced the pain of the Cross, the down before the resurrection. At the same time, the Father also felt the pain. He was the one who gave His only begotten Son to die on that Cross. How would you feel if it were your child? Your God gets it. He knows what it means to hurt. So, He is not making you wait because He is unfeeling. He knows about the pain. It's just that He thinks that delaying the up is the wisest way to go.

Now, if you would have hope, the kind of hope that waits for the Father to keep a promise, you will need to trust. While you wait for the day of resurrection, while you are in the grip of some aspect of death, the most important question for you to face will be, 'Do I trust Him now? Do I really think that He knows what He's doing with my life?' An honest answer to that question is so important. If you would be able to hope, to wait for the Father to keep His promises, you will need to nurture trust. That is not something you can do when you are in the midst of the evil of death. You nurture trust when life is going relatively well. Then you can depend on that trust when life is going badly.

And that, of course, leads to this. You need to pray. Pray that you will be able to trust the Father. Pray for that in the smaller experiences of the down, the smaller disappointments of life. As the Spirit teaches you how to do that in the smaller things, you will be able to trust the Father when life is one big lament.

Also, think about what the Father has promised. This is what Peter does in his first letter. He reminds the people about their living hope, the inheritance that awaits them. Grasping something of the beauty of your future will help you to deal with the ugliness of your present. Pray to be able to look forward to when the sorrow will be turned into joy. If there is death, there will be resurrection. Pray that you will believe that.

And then, there's this. Let others help you. We cannot do this alone. It is something that we do together, as a church. So, when someone asks how you are doing, be honest. If life is one big down, say so. And if no one is asking, then take someone aside and tell him or her.

And after you have done all of that, pray some more. You can use the Psalms. Some of them are the prayers of those who are in the midst of weeping, lamenting and sorrow. Read them to the end when they rejoice over the resurrection experienced. You might start with Psalm 23.

What I have tried to do is give you some tools to understand your life. There are lots of downs, many experiences of death. Label them as that. But then remember that just as Jesus' experience of resurrection was a sure thing, so is yours. Where there is death there will be resurrection.