Acts 2.14a,22-32, John 20.19-31
The Second Sunday of Easter, 16 April 2023, Austwick, Clapham, Eldroth
“God freed him from death, because it was impossible for him to be held in its power.”
And death shall have no dominion. Or in other words the power of death is too weak to overcome us; the effect of death is not enough to defeat us; there are greater and brighter powers at work in the world and in the heavens than death. Death shall not dominate us. This is the meaning of eternal life.
We can know this through nature. In the deepest depths of winter looking at the bare leafless trees, the empty flowerbeds, the frostbitten grass: all looks deathly. The earth itself seems to have been overcome by death; the birds struggle to find food, and many creatures just disappear to hibernate, which is like a sort of death in the middle of life, a switching-off, a being-overcome-by-darkness.
But death has no dominion in nature. And even in the deepest depths of winter we know this and it warms our hearts. We know that before long the spring will come, that those hibernating creatures will crawl out of their little tombs and begin to move and mix and mate again; that the trees will blossom and the birds will sing because the earth is budding with food for them; and all around, life has overcome death. And we too, being nature's creatures, find our winter blues begin to fall away as the sun comes back and the dark nights fade. We know that death has no dominion because nature tells us.
And we can know this through scripture. The scriptures tell us that, in Jesus, God himself has been through death. Luke wrote, “God freed him from death, because it was impossible for him to be held in its power”. And that means that God’s promise is true: that everyone else who goes through death with him also experiences what he did: a rebirth, a resurrection.
And we can experience this first, not at the end of life, but at the very start. St Paul wrote, ‘We have been buried with him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.’ [2] Baptisms are about new beginnings.
When we attend a Christian baptism we are assured that the person whose baptism we celebrate is now living a new life. A life blessed by God, in the presence of God’s Spirit. We who have been baptised can be raised each day to new beginnings because he is with us. We know that death has no dominion because scripture tells us.
And we can know this also through each other. Now, it is undeniably hard to go through a bereavement. It is a terrible thing to endure, the loss of a loved one, a companion in life perhaps for many many years, or one who has died young, long before our hopes and dreams for them had time to come about. When they go the gap they leave behind is enormous, it seems like it could never be filled. It seems like their death puts an end to the life of the loved ones left behind, as we say, 'how can I live without you?'
The bereaved go through what may feel at the time to be a sort of permanent winter: when they look out on the world all they see is an empty landscape without joy or possibility; where once they had the friendship of their loved one to enrich them, now bereaved they are like winter birds searching for scraps to keep them going; some will seek escape for safety from a world which has deeply hurt and scarred them; some will go into hibernation, turning their backs on a world which seems to no longer hold anything for them.
And yet, time and again, we see people who've lost loved ones gradually finding their way out of these dark days, re-emerging into light. Perhaps a new friendship will come along and surprise them, perhaps the dedication and love of family members will give them new hope and direction, maybe they will find faith in those promises that all who have been through death in Christ will have a resurrection. Resurrection, you see, is not just for the deceased in heaven: it's for us here on earth: God is always looking to bring new life to us. Every day. God will answer our prayers. Jesus said, "anyone who comes to me I will never drive away."
And while it may take years, and be a slow painful experience, we know, because we've seen it over and over again, that, in Christ, death will have no dominion over the bereaved. In time we will enjoy some form of resurrection.
It was St Paul who coined the phrase, 'And death shall have no dominion’, and Dylan Thomas who popularised it in his poem of that title. Thomas felt the death of his father very keenly. As he saw that once-strong man seeming to give up the ghost on his deathbed, Dylan wrote the angry, passionate poem 'Do not go gentle into that good night - rage, rage, against the dying of the light.' The emotion Thomas most felt at that time was anger, an emotion felt by many people in their time of loss. I remember angrily shaking my fists at God when my beloved Nan was dying in pain and distress... Remember the anger of Jesus on the cross: "My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?" I think that God responds to angry people with grace, and invites them to walk, in hope, with him.
So after his father's death Thomas's anger turned to a strongly-expressed faith that his father’s death and his bereavement, would not defeat them. The poem he wrote to express this is astonishing in its imagery and its strength of feeling, and it includes these words:
Though lovers be lost love shall not;
And death shall have no dominion. [3]
Death has not defeated those we have lost, and death will not defeat us. This is the power of the resurrection. This is the meaning of eternal life. As Jesus said, ‘This is indeed the will of my Father, that all who see the Son and believe in him may have eternal life; and I will raise them up on the last day.’ [4]
In this way, God frees us from death. It is impossible for us to be held in its power.
Notes
[1] An abridged version of John 6: And death shall have no dominion preached at Bridestowe, 2012 and Croxteth, 2008.
[2] Romans 6.4.
[3] Romans 6.9; Dylan Thomas, And death shall have no dominion. Dylan Thomas reading the poem: YouTube.
[4] John 6.40.
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