The celebration of the Resurrection of Christ not only occurs on Easter Day. It is celebrated on every Sunday throughout the year as well. On that day, we commemorate the great victory won by our Lord over all of those things which would deny man's life. "Man's last enemy," said St. Paul, "is death." The Easter hymns stress this victory of Christ over the grave. They mark the release of mankind from the awful dread that hangs over us, which is the fear that death is a means of punishment rather than a means of renewal.

It was our Lord Jesus Christ who brought to our culture the understanding that we can overcome this dark fear that denies human existence. St. Paul teaches in the Book of Hebrews that Jesus Christ came to "deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage." We have been given the confidence to push back the parameters of death, to extend life, to overcome disease, and to alleviate hunger. This confidence distinguishes us from other cultures in the world where death is always seen to be victorious and, consequently, there is no reason to strive to extend man's life by fighting disease and hunger. Christ brought not only the victory but also the confidence that comes with this victory.

However, in our twenty-first century as faith in Christ has declined the fear of death has increased. We have what is almost a conspiracy of silence not to deal directly with this subject. We all have experienced the feeble efforts of morticians to make it look as if death had not really happened. It was the former Bishop of Los Angeles who a few years ago won diocesan-wide recognition by making the comment that the Forest Lawn Cemetery, with all of its statues and mausoleums, was a "Disneyland for shut-ins". In America we tend to gloss over the very natural and normal fact of death, rather than accept it and to thank God for it.

The Holy Bible presents the truth that human life goes on beyond this one. It teaches that the human body is only a vehicle for the expression of the personality.

We have this truth demonstrated to us through our modern medical scientific experimentation which has developed the ability to perform transplants of healthy tissue and healthy organs on the human body. This practice conceivably could be developed by science to the point where we could imagine that the whole body could be made up of renewed and transplanted elements. However, who would then say that if we had entirely new organs and tissues that we would be a different person? Of course not. We would still be the same person.

This is very clear evidence that the body is only the vehicle for the living personality which the Bible calls the Spirit, or the Soul. However you name it, the personality is a separate entity from the body. In support of this truth Benjamin Franklin wrote the following words:

"We are spirits. That bodies should be lent to us, while they can afford us pleasure, assist us in acquiring knowledge, or in doing good to our fellow creatures is a kind and benevolent act of God. When they become unfit for these purposes and afford us pain instead of pleasure, instead of an aid become an encumbrance, and answer none of the intentions for which they were given, it is equally kind and benevolent, that a way is provided by which we may get rid of them. Death is the way."

God's providence and God's wisdom has prepared for us, not only the way to exist in this life, but the way to enter the next.

Our Lord has revealed to us this truth by passing through the grave and the gate of death and returning again to fulfill His words which He spoke to His disciples before this event occurred. He said to them, "In my Father's house are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you and I will come again and receive you unto myself that where I am there you may be also."

We have in these words the understanding that life goes on into a new existence prepared for us by God. If we have doubts about this, if we do not know how to get there, or if we feel that we might lose our way, Christ returns to us as He did to the disciples, to guide us to that place which is prepared for us. Death is not an end, rather it is a beginning. It is not a cutting off of this existence; it is a fulfillment of it.

One of the greatest problems which comes to us as we consider the fact of loss and bereavement is that so often death seems to thwart, frustrate and deny this life. This is particularly true in the death of a child or a young adult who has great promise and ability. We should be encouraged by the example of King David, read to us this morning from the Book of Samuel, who, while his little child was ill, besought the Lord for him that he might live. He fasted and prayed and cut himself off from the daily life around him. However, when the child died, he washed himself, he ate, and joined his companions. He explained his behavior by saying that while the child was yet sick, he prayed that he would be spared. Now that he had died, there was no way that he could bring him back. David said, "While the child was yet alive I fasted and wept: for I said, ‘Who can tell whether God will be gracious to me that the child may live?' But now he is dead, wherefore should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me."

This promised fulfillment which is prepared for us shines through all of the teachings about death in the New Testament. The life beyond is the crown of this one, which completes what is only imperfectly begun in this existence. Whether it is a matter of age, or promise, or ability, all will come to fruition in the life beyond this life. We can have great anticipation and hope as we look forward to joining those we love who have gone before us. Hear what Victor Hugo, the great French author said on the subject.

"I feel in my self the future life. I am like a forest once cut down. The new shoots are stronger and livelier than ever...You say the soul is nothing but the resultant of the bodily powers. Why then, is my soul more luminous when my bodily powers begin to fail? Winter is on my head, but the eternal Spring is in my heart. I breathe at this hour the fragrance of the lilies, the violets, and the roses as at twenty years. The nearer I approach the end, the plainer I hear around me the immortal symphonies of the worlds which invite me. It is marvelous, yet simple. It is a fairy tale, and it is history. For half a century I have been writing my thoughts in prose and in verse; history; philosophy, drama, romance, tradition, satire, and song. I have tried them all, but I feel that I have not said the thousandth part of what is in me. When I go down to the grave I can say like many others, ‘I have finished my day's work.' But I cannot say, ‘I have finished my life.' My day's work will begin again the next morning. The tomb is not a blind alley; it is a thoroughfare. It closes on the twilight, and opens on the dawn."

It is this faith brought to us by the power of Jesus Christ which gives buoyancy and confidence to our culture and to our way of life. It is this faith which can restore hope and expectation to an individual whose life has become burdened and made difficult and painful by the gradually approaching fact of death.

Actually, the major problem behind the fact of death is not uncertainty about the continuation of life. The problem is on another level entirely, a level which the great apostle St. Paul understood and dealt with. St. Paul said that the real sting of death, the real fear of death, is not death at all. It is produced by sin. This fear lies lurking in our subconscious minds that once we pass through death we will not find acceptance. Rather, we fear we will find rejection and punishment. This fear causes us to dread the approaching fact of our own end. What St. Paul proclaims is that it is Jesus Christ through the cross who atoned for the sin of the world. He has atoned for the wrongs, weaknesses, and mistakes of each one of us. He paid the price for our sins and wrought our forgiveness and, therefore, we can have the fullest confidence and expectation and hope of being accepted with open arms by our heavenly Father. We can expect to be forgiven and greeted like the prodigal son who has returned home.

This is the victory that Jesus Christ has brought to us over death and over sin. That is why our Lord was able to promise His disciples that He was going to prepare a place for them and that He would receive them unto himself. When one of them said to Him, "How can we know the way?" Jesus said to him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life." It is through Christ that we pass safely through the grave and gate of death. It is through Him that death and sin are overcome for us.

Jesus went on to say that no one comes to the Father but by Him. Jesus Christ is the universal means of salvation for all mankind. The meanest, the most despicable, the lowest outcast is saved through the grace of Jesus Christ as is the most respectable, the most proper, and the most prominent person. Let us rejoice that He has brought this new life to the world. Let us give thanks that He is risen, that He has been victorious over death and sin, and that He lives with us through His Holy Spirit.

He walks with us each day through this life. Whenever we face moments of doubt, discouragement, fear, or despair, He comes to dispel those moments by the power of His Spirit. We can rely on Him and count on Him. We can have the same faith, the hopeful confidence of Benjamin Franklin who looked upon everything in its most practical form. When the body is no longer useful, it is far better to be without it, and to be able to look forward to a new and hopeful existence.

We can share in the passionate feelings of Victor Hugo, that the eternal spirit in his heart is only partially expressed in this life and will be brought to bloom in the great life beyond this one. Let us never doubt the words of our Lord who understood our feelings when He said, "Let not your hearts be troubled." They are going to be troubled and they are going to be sorrowful and they are going to be questioning. Do not let them stay that way. Let your hearts turn to Him and recognize and realize the power of His presence. It is this hope and this confidence which the risen Christ brings to us. Let us join with St. Paul who said, "Thanks be to God, who giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ."