But I couldn't help noticing as I flipped through the pages of the daily I subscribe to, buried deeper in its pages was the news of a 17 year old teenager who was killed in a bus accident on the way back from a leadership camp school trip. On the very next page was a report of yet another fatal accident involving a mom and her 2 toddlers. Further flipping brought news of 6 dead in a fishing boat that caught fire off some overseas island somewhere. The very next day the foreign news section reported a devastating mud-slide in Arlington, Washington USA with initial 8 confirmed deaths and an unknown number of persons missing. And I suddenly recalled mind-numbing stats of 200,000 dead swept away in the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. There was a lump in my throat - 1 dead, 3, 6, 8 dead, 200,000 dead, 239 'presumed dead' - the grief in each case, no matter the how, why or wherefore of each different event is the same - it cuts so deep into the human heart it literally and physically hurts. I know because I have been there, up close and personal to death of a dearly beloved spouse. It occurred to me the magnitude of death lies not in the number of body- count in a single occurrence though numbers do make for spectacular news head-lines, but in its intrinsic horror. Even if it's only 1 dead, it's bad enough.
But there was 1 death which stands out in history as exceptional; its echoes reverberating throughout all time. 1 Man died on a cross meant for common-place criminals, although He was perfectly innocent of any wrong. That was bad enough, but the magnitude of His death wasn't in its horror, although it was indeed undoubtedly horrible. The magnitude of the death of Jesus Christ 2014 years ago was in death's own destruction, swallowed up in His resurrection from the tomb. There can be any number of mysteries, which man's intelligence and scientific advances may solve by the by. But this one, the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, remains uniquely unexplainable. Because like God, it can never be deduced nor understood by human logic; it's meant simply to be believed and received as a blessing of the highest Love. Apostle Paul after pondering the mystery exclaimed, "O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?" (1 Corinthians 55). If only we realized the awesome magnitude of the proclamation of Jesus' last words as He died on the cross, "It is finished" (John 19:30) It wasn't "I am finished", but 'it' -death, sin, hell, His mission to save the world - is finished, then perhaps more would choose to believe Him that there can be....fantastic good news in the face of something as bad as death. It won't stop the tears or the grief, but it certainly comforts my heart, that I do not need to grieve, as the Bible puts it "like the rest of mankind, who have no hope" (1 Thessalonians 4:13)
Anyone who has gone through the loss of dearly beloved will know the empty yet acute ache that weighs upon the heart that's beyond description. They say time heals every wound. That's not quite true, at least for me. Time only takes some edge off the pain, but it's always there, for the memories of one who is 'gone' out of sight remain forever embedded in the soul, cemented by something inexplicable called love. To this day 12 years on, I remember my husband with a certain wistfulness. I miss him, I always will on this side of earth. But like the saying goes, life must go on for those still living. I don't mean to be crass or insensitive, but after awhile even as great a mystery as MH370 will no longer make headlines if there are no more new angles to report. It will be superseded by the next 'great' event. Actually we don't have to wait long, even now, interposed within the reports of other local and international tragedies, there are pages of smiling models, latest fashion updates, slimming and cosmetic adverts, movie reviews, sports highlights, and funny cartoons. What a juxtaposition of contrasts.
We laugh and we cry. We rejoice and we mourn. We live and we die. The only difference is for the one who follows Jesus Christ all the way - yes, even to the cross of death - there is something infinitely better beyond to look forward to than even life on earth.
"....And so we will be with the Lord forever..." 1 Thessalonians 4:17
"....thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ" - 1 Corinthians 15:57
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