An old friend of mine recently died of COVID-19. He was someone I knew back in my college days, someone I’d lost touch with over the years but was able to reconnect with on Facebook.
He would’ve been about my age, which is to say, much too young to die. But in this age of pandemic many have died who shouldn’t have. Add my old friend now to the list.
While death always brings sadness, my friend’s death was particularly disheartening due to the positive impact he’d had on so many people. He was a middle school teacher and coach, one respected and loved by the many young people he worked with over the years.
Seeing the many comments on Facebook in the wake of his death leaves one appreciative of the many lives he touched, but it also leaves me wondering how many more lives he would’ve influenced if not for his untimely death.
I feel empty inside. I wonder: What’s the point?
The answer to that question is found in Holy Scripture, particularly 1 Corinthians 15, where St. Paul says:
“If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep (i.e., died) in Christ have perished. If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied” (verses 17-19).
In other words, if all we have to live for is this life — with everything, including our hope in Christ, ending for good when this life is over — then what is the point? What’s the point of keeping the Christian faith? Why be a Christian? How can we hope to live on after death, if Jesus isn’t risen?
How can we hope that, if Easter wasn’t real?
But Easter was real; Jesus IS risen. As Paul goes on to say:
“Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep … For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at His coming those who belong to Christ” (verses 20, 22-23).
Christ is risen. And because Christ is risen, those who belong to Christ will rise too, when Christ comes again in glory. Death has been conquered.
The lives we lead in faith are not futile or pointless, because they serve One Who lives forever, the One Who will welcome us to live forever with Him when this life of death is over.
My old friend from college knew that, and one day he will rise again, as did Jesus. All those he influenced, he influenced because of Jesus. All those he helped, he helped get to know Jesus.
How many people will live forever with Jesus because of my friend? Quite a few, I’d imagine.
His faith was not futile. His life was not pointless. His life had meaning, because of Easter.
It still does.
The Rev. Dan O’Connor is pastor of Faith Lutheran Church in Greenfield. This weekly column is written by local clergy members. Send comments to [email protected].
