Learning To Die (Part 3) -The Mystery of Life

Life is an interesting thing. On one hand, we who have it hold onto it like it is our last refuge. It is understandable. After all, this life is all we have known. We intellectually ascend to a life eternal, but the way we live out this life shows that we do not fully embrace eternity. After all, if this life is, as James says, but a vapor and Jesus has promised us a glorified body in eternity, then this body is merely a temporary shell. In fact all of life as we know it is temporary. Heaven and earth shall pass away and a new heaven and a new earth will be created. Therefore, all we see is destined to parish. We see this atrophy in nature. All things die. Therefore, all things are temporary. The physical law of attrition kicks in in such a profound way that there is no one of sound mind that denies its truth. Everything is dieing. God has promised to replace this temporary existence with a permanent one at a date to be announced. With all that in mind, we still cling to this life (actually life in general – not just our own) like a drowning man clings to a life preserver. We see it as our last hope. Even Christians view this life as their last hope. We Christians hold on to the things of this earth with to tight a grip for people who believe that their hope is in eternity.

We see Jesus kill (or curse, but the effect is the same) a fig tree for no apparent reason and we are appalled. Why? Are we members of the society for the prevention of cruelty to fig trees? Do we owe a debt to fig trees? Or trees in general? Why is it disturbing to us that Jesus killed a fig tree? Our senses are shocked at the indiscriminant or senseless destruction of life. Life is, to us, a precious gift. We cannot make life. We can nurture. We can sow life. We can water and feed life. But, we cannot create life where none existed. Even a seed is the promise of life. Try making a seed from stuff in your kitchen. Try creating a seed with all the science and chemicals know to man kind. Try making a baby with out an egg, a sperm or a cell. To “make” life, we first must start with life. Therefore, we cannot truly create life. We can only foster and nurture the life that is already there. This is why death is such a shock. It is the end of a mystery that we cannot understand. The magic of life, in death, is gone and cannot come back. When we see people (or even Jesus) kill something that is alive, part of us (at least any warm blooded person) senses loss to some degree. Even if it is a flash, we all feel the finality of the loss of life.

But, when God takes life, it is different. For him, He is the creator. Life is not a mystery. He created it and knows how to created it from the stuff in your kitchen. He has created life in many forms. For many purposes. Some life is created to supply us with food. Some life is created to help us work. But ultimately, God gives life. We can take life away, but God is the only one who can truly give life. Therefore, when God takes life, it is a different thing, then when we take life. It is the difference between us destroying a Michelangelo marble statue with a sledge hammer, and Michelangelo destroying his own statue with the same hammer. We would be absolutely horrified if someone did that. But, I am sure that the master did destroy some work of his for his own reasons. And why not, he created it.