Memento Mori ...

Friday, June 13, 2014. Humans can be influenced strongly by the difficulties we face in our life. Illness and death is an important part of our existence. Already Psalm 90, 12 urges us to know: “Teach us how short our lifes are. Then our hearts will become wise.” In ancient history, the “memento mori” is one of the important streams of wisdom.

Let us die with him …

We may react differently, when we face illness or death. We might try to ignore it. We might weep and cry. We might be frustrated and paralysed. And we might turn to the Lord and be led by him. In Chapter 11 of the Gospel of John we find a broad variety of reactions, and we find Jesus in the middle of all of this, with his special view of faith. Let us read John 11:

1 Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. 2 It was Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was ill. 3 So the sisters sent to him, saying, “Lord, he whom you love is ill.” 4 But when Jesus heard it he said, “This illness does not lead to death. It is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.” 5 Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. 6 So, when he heard that Lazarus1 was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was.

7 Then after this he said to the disciples, “Let us go to Judea again.” 8 The disciples said to him, “Rabbi, the Jews were just now seeking to stone you, and are you going there again?” 9 Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours in the day? If anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world. 10 But if anyone walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him.”

11 After saying these things, he said to them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I go to awaken him.” 12 The disciples said to him, “Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will recover.” 13 Now Jesus had spoken of his death, but they thought that he meant taking rest in sleep. 14 Then Jesus told them plainly, “Lazarus has died, 15 and for your sake I am glad that I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.” 16 So Thomas, called the Twin, said to his fellow disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.”

Reaction Patterns …

Thomas is really on the frustrated side here. He seems to identify himself with Lazarus in a strong way, such that he wants to join him in death. There is no hope in his words, no future, nothing. The other disciples also see the danger in a visit to Judea. Jesus has been threatened there, and now he wants to go back?

I can fully understand Thomas. He saw the danger - and if you have an open eye, you might well see all the difficult things in the world today. There are millions of deaths every day on our planet - deaths from hunger and mal-nutrition, deaths from war and conflict, but also from simple accidents on our busy roads. It is a question of realism to see that we will also die at some point - which might be quite soon. Memento mori!

Have a look at the first sentences. Jesus claims that the illness does not lead to death. But then, Lazarus has died, and it is stated by Jesus himself, while he is still far away from the events. So there is death involved, but death will not have the last word here. I believe that we can learn something from this: even if God promises us help, it might be that things become worse first, since he wants to teach us more than just the help. He is aiming for faith, for real faith.

And a second lesson: Jesus has a clear plan for us, a good plan, a good future. He knows that there will be challenges and pain. But they are not the end. He is the light of the world, and all what happens is for the glory of God. He is fantastic. He is wonderful. And he does not let us down. (Roland Potthast) ... more texts