‘He
made my mouth like a sharp sword, in the shadow of his hand he hid me; he made
me a polished arrow, in his quiver he hid me away.’ (Isaiah)
‘After
Jesus had said this, he departed and hid from them.’ (John)
Jesus
knew that the time for him to die was drawing very near. Of course, as
Christians we believe that his death has, somehow, resulted in spiritual life
for us. But this year I have been struck by something else. I find myself arrested
by the question, how does the way in
which Jesus approaches his death help us to approach our own? Because we
will all die; and death is always with us, however hard the society we live in
tries to ignore that. Tomorrow, I want to consider something Jesus does for
those closest to him. But tonight, I want to consider something Jesus does for himself. At the end of our Gospel
reading we heard that Jesus hid himself
away. He wasn’t hiding from death, or hiding from God, but hiding from the
crowd. Hiding from all the people who wanted more from him, hiding from the
distraction, hiding in preparation for the work that only he could do, the work
of his death.
And
while your death and mine will not result in the salvation of humankind, our
death is also a work the Father has for us, through which he may be glorified.
A work no one else can do for us, and in which they can accompany us only so
far.
What
does it feel like to withdraw, to pull away from family and friends—perhaps to
pull away from this congregation—to turn from living to dying? In a sense, only
those who have done so know. Some have drawn apart through serious illness,
only to be given their life back again: their time to die had not yet come.
Others have gone before us into the glory of God’s presence: you may call them
to mind.
It
is right and proper, of course, to visit the dying. There are other aspects of
the work of death that must be attended to: giving and receiving forgiveness;
expressing love, and thanks; saying good-bye. To enable the place of hiding is
not the same as abandoning someone to face death alone. Yet, this being hidden
in the shadow of God’s hand is part of the process by which our dying
participates in the victory over death. Following Jesus, may we release one
another into that mystery. And if we should find ourselves drawn by the Spirit
to the hidden place, may we find Jesus there hiding with us, prized possession
of our heavenly Father.
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