Death
is a headline in many newspapers and a tragedy in recent cases such as the
shootings in the United States and tensions in the Holy Land escalating into
conflict. When we hear such news we feel sorry for tragic losses of lives.
However the grief and loss that death brings hurts us most when it’s one of our
own on a personal level, and it seems as everything is turned upside down. It
is then that we realise how difficult it is to struggle against hopelessness
and despair, and to be able to come to terms with death. But we are comforted
by Jesus Christ. Paul showed the Christians of Thessalonica what the grounds of
their hope should be, as they face the death of fellow believers. It has to do
with what the Lord Jesus Christ has done for us in the past and will do for us
in the future. Verse 14 tells us what Christ has done. “For if we believe
that Jesus Christ died and rose again…” In the next verse he adds
what Christ will do: “For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord,
that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord…” From
this we understand that there are three important things that can make a great
difference not only to the way we live, but also to the way we die: The death,
resurrection and return of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Met Christus in je leven heb je Eindeloze Hoop, maar zonder Christus zul
je een Hopeloos Einde hebben. Welke van deze heb je? Een eindeloze hoop of een
hopeloos einde?
Mark van Eker
Attribution
Christ shows himself to Thomas, Resurrection Chapel, Washington Cathedral
| By LeCompte, Rowan and Irene LeCompte. From Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. http://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=54879 [retrieved December 1, 2018]. Original source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/maryannsolari/5119341372/. |
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