When I was young, my dog Sparky “passed away.” She did not survive the cold night as a family member dog sat her. She was a very intelligent little dog. And, she was the cure for a lonely boy.
It was not too far before Sparky’s death that my grandfather “passed away.” He did not survive the depression that he had sunk into. He remains in my memory the greatest fisherman I have ever known. And, now I alone hold many of those fishing memories. Without me, they no longer exist. When my life ends, those memories will too pass away.
A number of years later, my grandmother “passed away” from an extremely rare and very fast moving cancer that overcame her in just three weeks. She loved to cook and bake, and she loved her grandchildren; and those things, cooking and baking, and grandchildren, go very well together. But, her food has too “passed away.” Those Sunday roast beef dinners with hot, freshly baked cinnamon rolls as dessert shall be no more.
“Passed away,” those two little words are loaded words. They are the words we use instead of “death,” because “death” is either too hard to say, or it carries just a little too much reality. But, let us make no mistake, when we say “passed away” we mean “dead,” and “no more,” and “I’m really going to miss him or her,” and “I don’t know what I am going to do without him or her,” and “is it possible to survive after so much pain?” There is nothing happy about the term, “passed away.”
Well, there is almost nothing happy about the term “passed away,” but there are a couple of exceptions. The first is the day that, at age 13, my brother and I were told that our super cool, fits the whole family and the kitchen, “boy I hope we drive right down main street right past our friends," Ford LTD “passed away.” That sad occasion was marked with cheers and celebration, until we saw the Ford Pinto that drove into the yard to replace it. The other exception is in the book of Revelation.
In the book of Revelation, these words ring out from the throne:
"See, the home of God is among mortals. He will dwell with them; they will be his peoples, and God himself will be with them; he will wipe every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; mourning and crying and pain will be no more, for the first things have passed away."
What is surprising about the book of Revelation is that the term “passed away” means the opposite from what we think. We think that “passed away” is what happens when death comes, but Revelation says “passed away” is what happens when death, and mourning, and crying, and pain have disappeared. Those first things, those painful things have “passed away” and are no more. The first world, where dogs freeze to death in the snow, and grandfathers kill themselves in the garage, and grandmothers die from ferocious cancers, is no more.
This text is read at a lot of funerals, but it is not a text intended for the funeral of any person; it is the primary text of the great funeral at the end of existence when death itself has “passed away” and all that is left is God. And, just like the demise of our family’s Ford LTD, we will rejoice and be glad when we hear the news that was promised through the cross and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, that the world where pain and death has the last word, has “passed away.” “Give thanks with a grateful heart, give thanks for the Holy one….” (Sung). Yes, we will rejoice and be glad.
And, the best thing about the passing away of the first things is that it will not be replaced by a Ford Pinto. It will be replaced by a new heavens and a new earth where the river of life flows freely for all to taste and be washed clean body and soul. There will be the tree of life that bears fruit for every season so that no one in the world will go hungry. The oil of its leaves will heal the nations, making us one. War will be no more. And, this new world will not be led by some corrupt, inept, power hungry world leader, CEO, pastor, or military general. God, will personally come down to the world, and things will be made right. The vision is beautiful.
Of course, the vision is not here yet. We see glimmers of it as it creeps into the world, but it is not here yet for good. As of right now we still have pain and death, they have not yet “passed away.” And, we will still mourn and cry, and tears will still flow…as they should when we lose someone close. But, because of this vision in Revelation, our tears will serve a dual purpose. They will express both: sadness at the death of a loved one; and, at the same time, as they stream down our face, they will remind us of the river of life that flows and makes all things new. They are a cleansing tear that reminds us of our hope in Jesus Christ our Lord who makes all things new.
All Scripture quotes are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyrighted, 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A., and is used by permission. All rights reserved.
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