Death. It is a long time since I have heard a sermon on death. And that is despite the fact that at most services in my church we profess our faith using the words of a creed – a statement of belief, writes Houston McKelvey.
We recall the birth of Jesus stating he was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary. That is the nativity and Christmas box ticked.
The events of Holy Week and yesterday, Good Friday, follow in our statement of our Christian profession. He ‘Suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried’. This is the summary statement of belief which should have shaped and undergirded every devotional address and informed every prayer and meditation offered throughout the Christian church worldwide over the past week. It economically encompasses the entire cast of the salvation drama which centred on Gethsemane where Christ prayed and was arrested, and the events at Calvary where he was mocked, then killed, and finally where his closest male friends deserted him.
The Gospel accounts tell us that Christ’s dead body was taken down from the cross and laid in a borrowed tomb which was guarded by the Roman army to prevent any attempt to remove the corpse.
The creed however states simply but profoundly, ‘He descended to the dead’. What are we to make of that?
My faith and study informs me that this represents the second major stage of Christ’s work of salvation. The first stage is his birth, his life, his ministry of service, healing, teaching and praying , which is crowned by his work and witness on the cross. This second and, at the very least, equally important stage is ‘his descent to the dead’ – an aspect of the Christian faith which does not receive the same examination as those of his life and death. That is why today, Easter Eve, is very important in the yearly Christian remembrance of the major events in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus the Christ, the Saviour of the world.
To me this day recalls the ultimate and most major attempt to separate Christ from the God who in love gave him to mankind. It is on this work that the resurrection of Christ is based. For certain it was the early Christian faith and belief in Christ conquering death, which gave the first believers the courage to witness and, if necessary, to die confident in their faith. One of the foremost leaders of that early church membership expressed it this way – I am persuaded that nothing on earth or in heaven can separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus.
Quis seperabit? Who shall separate us? Shall famine, peril or the sword? What confidence! What faith! It is based on Christ descending to the dead and by his faith and trust in God rising anew, being born again in a sense, so that we too may enjoy the total fullness of the presence of God when our soul departs from our body in that event which we call death.
I do not write this lightly. I too know what it is like to mourn the death of parents, and I continue to miss their company. Increasingly I am encountering the deaths of contemporaries and close friends. But mercifully and thankfully I do so in the faith of Christ who lived, descended to the dead, and rose again. I will lay claim once more on that foundation of the Christian faith when I join in earthly hallelujahs on tomorrow – Easter Day. Hallelujahs which I believe are but rehearsals for joining the choirs of heaven which welcome every pilgrim soul who has died having faith in Christ.
First published in News Letter, 19th April, 2014