I just finished reading yet another classic piece of Brit lit from the 1800’s. Ever since Great Expectations, I have loved British books from this time period. Admittedly, French and Russian novels also have a place in my heart. But I always come back to the likes of Dickens, Austen, MacDonald, Bronte and Elliot. My most recent read, in fact, was George Elliot’s, The Mill on the Floss. I know…strange title. It is simply about a mill that resides on a river named the Floss. Nonetheless, I enjoyed this book for the same reason that I enjoy all such literature—for its deep insight into human nature.
However,* Spoiler Alert*, the conclusion of this book was nothing like what I expected. To put it bluntly…everyone died. I expect this from Dostoevsky or Tolstoy—Russian literature can be morbid at times. But not in Brit lit. What a let-down to come to the end of 500 pages to find, instead of a blissful denouement, a sad and depressing end. When I neared the end I was wondering how the author was going to tie up so many loose ends in such a short space. Well, now I know…the main characters are swept away in a cataclysmic flood. Wait, what? I felt kind of like Fred Savage’s character in The Princess Bride when his grandpa told him Westley was dead and he interrupted, “Grandpa, Grandpa, Wait, Wait!” Are you kidding me? I read this whole book just for everyone to die? I felt cheated. And yet, that’s life. So often, they don’t live happily ever after. If you’ve lived on planet earth for any length of time, you are undoubtedly already aware that they don’t always live happily ever after. This reality was driven home, yet again, yesterday, as I drove past the spot where a teen died just one year ago. A skateboarder, about the age of my kids, was hit and killed while riding a few hundred yards from my cul-de-sac. I was struck anew by the sadness of that tragedy…for a family who lost a son, a life cut short, the fragile nature of life. Then I got the news, yesterday, that a friend’s relative in Canada lost three young daughters in a freak accident. They were harvesting grain as a family and the girls fell into a grain truck. Only their little brother survives them. How heavy are the hearts of this family today? Unthinkable. Impossible. Death is a very sad, but persistent reality on this planet. Granted, life spans are much longer today than they were in the 1800’s. And yet, in some ways, this makes death all the more tragic. It is hard to even conceive of a story like Adoniram Judson, the first American foreign missionary, whose first wife and three kids all perished, separately, within a few years of leaving for Burma. Yet, ever since Cain killed Abel, death has been a fairly persistent reality. Poets have grappled with the reality of death for millennia, from King David in the Psalms to John Donne in his Holy Sonnets. Sometimes such poetry simply brings out the anguish of death. And yet, it also has the power to put death into true perspective. I think of Donne’s powerful words, “Death, be not proud, though some have called thee Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so.” How can Donne say death is not mighty and dreadful? The answer lies in his conclusion, “One short sleep past, we wake eternally And death shall be no more; Death, thou shalt die.” Donne wrestled with death and won perspective. Where did this perspective come from? How could he view death as nothing but a vanquished foe? The answer is found in the hope found in Jesus Christ. For it was this hope that enabled the apostle Paul to say, “‘Death has been swallowed up in victory.’ ‘Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?’ The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Cor. 15:54–57). We need more of this perspective. Don’t get me wrong, I am not saying that this takes away the grief of the family mourning the loss of three girls this week. But I am saying that instead of grief inconsolable, for those who hope in Christ, there is true consolation. As the girls’ father stated, “As far as where the girls are now, we’re confident they’re with Jesus.” Death does not win. Jesus wins. Jesus has already won. And we who trust in Him will share in that victory forever and may say with confidence, “Death, be not proud!”
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Dan GannonDan has ministered at Renton Bible Church, with his wife Debbie, since 2003. Archives
June 2022
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