QUEEN
“Thou know’st tis common, all that lives must die,
Passing through nature to eternity”
HAMLET
Ay, madam, it is common.
Hamlet, Act I, Scene II
As Hamlet reflects upon the death of his father, he mourns the brevity of life and the painful triviality of death. We too feel this as we survey what has befallen Paris, Bamako, Brussels, Ankara and Istanbul. These cities and their citizens felt the unnatural commonness of death. ISIS and Al-Qaeda affiliates wreaked havoc upon the unsuspecting families who suffered needless death. With them, we mourn.
Yet, these perpetrators are not our real enemies. They are simply puppets in the hands of Satan, our real adversary — Death, the last enemy to be defeated. These events and others like it are realities of a greater and deeper struggle. A cosmic battle between the present ruler of this world and the rightful King to all of creation — Jesus Christ the Lord.
These battles are the work of a defeated death. A crafty chaos and a cunning catastrophe who writhes and thrashes under the heel of our crucified Lord. It is our Jesus, who, crucified this very day so long ago, was defeated. Yet, in his defeat, he “disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him” (Colossians 2:15). In his defeat, we find our victory and our joyful triumph.
In the midst of this death, we find our hope in the resurrection. We know that we will rise again; death does not have the final word in this cosmic battle. Brothers and Sisters, although the enemy is great and terrifying, our Lord has the victory in hand and his enemy beneath his feet. In his glorious resurrection, he has begun the new creation. “And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new” (Revelation 21:5). Echoing the words of Scripture, John Donne writes, “Death, thou shalt die!”
And now Church, as the old creation, filled with death, makes war against the new creation, teeming with life, we must persevere. The host of heaven and the multitude of witness now look on with eager expectation for the victory of the sons and daughters of God. We must look to Jesus, the Son of God, the fulfillment of our faith, and run the race marked out for us. (Hebrews 12:1-2). May our marching song and our battle cry be simply the Word of God crucified:
“Death is swallowed up in victory.”
“O death, where is your victory?
O death, where is your sting?”
(1 Corinthians 15:54-55)
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