Death Be Not Proud - Random Thoughts for Holy Week

Certainly, this is not Donne. His title though, is appropriate.

In the Garden of Eden, Eve was made just for Adam. Union as it was meant to be from the Beginning. Adam and Eve walked with God in the coolness.

Have you ever gone to an arboretum? Heard the showering of the water fall? Felt the moisture on your cheeks? Smelled the coolness?

Eden. With Aramaic roots: walled, protected. God was there with them. Walked with them. Talked with them.

No kneeling, no rituals, no shushing your children, no pushing away thoughts of an angry encounter.

When Evil entered the Garden, Adam and Eve tried to hide themselves with leaves. Did you ever wonder why? This is what I think. When evil entered, they became ashamed of their nakedness because their very intimacy was shattered. Evil entered deep into their inner core. It destroyed forever the perfect bond and compatibility they had with each other. Evil penetrated every core, every fibre of our being.

God had said, "you will surely die." What Evil said was true, "You will not die!" Partly true. They didn't drop dead at the first bite. The other part, the part Evil hid, was a lie. A lie profound and deep. No, Adam and Eve didn't drop dead right there. They opened the gate to Death.

When I was little, living in Korea, we lived in a home walled in steel and stone. Inside was a lovely garden of rose, forsythia, succulents. There was a knock at the gate and my 5-year old self ran to the latch and opened the gray, steel gate. Forgetting the command never to open the door. A beggar pushed his way past me. A leper. Someone came and grabbed me, pulling me away from his infections. Everybody in the household was frozen with fear. My grandmother said, "You can have anything you want - just, please, leave." Suddenly, we were held hostage by this homeless, pathetic soul. At that moment, he was our Master.

Did Jesus rise again or not? This. This matters. For we must have confidence that this God, this God, has victory over death. When the Jews were threatened by the plagues, that the first-borns must die, they were to sacrifice a blemish-free male lamb and put its blood on the door post. God passed over them, saving them. Jesus is our perfect sacrifice. The Angel of Death will pass over us. We will, one day, walk with God. Talk with God.

Jesus, the lamb, hanging on the cross, He gave Himself for us and is victorious over Death. It is done.

Death, be not proud.

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