Of all the words to describe the process of death, victory would be the last one on the list for most of us. Death to this life is hard to witness under any circumstances, even if a loved one lives to a ripe old age and dies while sleeping. The nature of the proverbial beast, from where we sit as survivors, is to see death as the ultimate defeat.
Jesus and Lazarus
When Lazarus died, Jesus shed real tears. No teaching or preaching, no words of comfort, just the short sentence: “And Jesus wept.” The full account is as follows:
When Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said to him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” When Jesus saw her weeping and the Jews who had come with her weeping, he became perturbed and deeply troubled, and said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to him, “Sir, come and see.” And Jesus wept. So the Jews said, “See how he loved him.” But some of them said, “Could not the one who opened the eyes of the blind man have done something so that this man would not have died?” (John 11:32-37)
Jesus, knowing that death does not have the final word in human existence, shared in the grief of all present before performing the miracle of bringing His friend back to life. It is important to note that Lazarus was not resurrected, but rather restored to his previous state. He would go on as before as one who would experience the death that awaits us all.
The Sting of Death
As a deacon, I am occasionally asked to provide words of comfort at a funeral. My response if asked directly is that there are no words that will suffice to take away the grief and that I hope that words of faith will provide some measure of God’s peace during an extremely difficult time. There is a little room to incorporate Church teaching about Christian death and the passage into eternal life in a funeral setting, but quite a bit of room in writing an article on the subject. The victory that is ours through Christ is summed up beautifully by St. Paul:
This I declare, brothers: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does corruption inherit incorruption. Behold, I tell you a mystery. We shall not all fall asleep, but we will all be changed, in an instant, in the blink of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For that which is corruptible must clothe itself with incorruptibility, and that which is mortal must clothe itself with immortality. And when this which is corruptible clothes itself with incorruptibility and this which is mortal clothes itself with immortality, then the word that is written shall come about:
“Death is swallowed up in victory.
Where, O death, is your victory?
Where, O death, is your sting?”
The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. (1 Corinthians 15:50-57)
The Victory Over Death
The victory over death, then, is realized through, with, and in our Lord Jesus Christ through a process that is governed by God, and unique to every individual. In the days, weeks, months, and years following the loss of a loved one, the divine wisdom that awaits the seeker can manifest itself in sacred scripture and Church teaching. The following quotes from the Catechism of the Catholic Church shed light on what occurs at the moment of death and beyond:
Death puts an end to human life as the time open to either accepting or rejecting the divine grace manifested in Christ. The New Testament speaks of judgment primarily in its aspect of the final encounter with Christ in his second coming, but also repeatedly affirms that each will be rewarded immediately after death in accordance with his works and faith.
Each man receives his eternal retribution in his immortal soul at the very moment of his death, in a particular judgment that refers his life to Christ: either entrance into the blessedness of heaven—through a purification or immediately,—or immediate and everlasting damnation. At the evening of life, we shall be judged on our love. (CCC 1021-1022)
Let us pray for the grace of a holy death at the evening of life, and the victory that is our entrance into the blessedness of Heaven.
