O Death, Where is Thy Sting?

As many of you are aware, this has been a difficult week for my family. We count ourselves very fortunate that our children have had all four of their biological grandparents throughout their childhood and, for some, into adulthood. I don’t think that happens very often.

But this week that changed. My wife, Cyndii’s, mother passed away on Monday. She had been ill for some time, so it was not entirely unexpected, but, as so many of you are aware, it is never completely welcome.

I want to thank all of you for your thoughts, prayers, and expression of concern for my family and me. It is truly a blessing to be surrounded by such loving and caring friends.

This event, as well as other deaths and funerals we have experienced in the life of the church recently, have made me think, perhaps a little more deeply, about life and death and what they mean both to us and for us.

When preparing a funeral service, ministers often reference the verses which Paul quotes in his First letter to the Corinthians when he says, “So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?” (15:54).

In this context, it is a fair question to ask whether death has retained its sting. There is a very real sense in which it does. No one can doubt that the death of a loved one hurts, and hurts deeply. Grief is very real, and it often takes months or even years to get over it. Some would say we never actually get over it, we just get used to it.

So how can Paul, quoting the Old Testament prophet Hosea, ask the rhetorical question, “O death, where is thy sting?” For most of us, that sting is clearly recognizable.

It seems to me that the pain, the sting, is not experienced by the person who has died. He or she is at peace, finally at rest. The pain and sorrow are for us to bear. But even that pain is lightened when we reflect on the joy that our loved one is experiencing right this minute, in the loving arms of our Savior.

Paul’s point is not that there is no sting in death, but rather that the sting of sorrow and loss we feel at the death of someone we hold dear is “swallowed up,” it is overcome and completely subsumed in the knowledge of the joy and peace the one we love so much is experiencing right at this moment.

All of us know the joy we feel when we give a gift to someone we love. Their happiness becomes our own happiness. Even if we are not responsible for the gift, it warms our own hearts to see our children, our friends, or anyone we love, filled with joy and happiness. We experience their joy vicariously, and the experience is compounded by love. The more we love someone, the more we are filled with joy when we know they are filled with joy.

It makes us smile when we see our children happy and running around on a playground. It should fill us with a similar vicarious joy when we know that the one we have loved so much is now immensely happy and at peace with our savior.

I don’t mean to negate pain, especially when it is still fresh. But I do believe that the sting of death is truly swallowed up in the victory of God’s love and peace which was won for us by Jesus Christ.