Length: 8 Minutes
If someone does pass, what should our reaction be? What is the proper way to react to something like this? Well, you don’t need to ask what the right reaction should be. Just concern yourself with what the truth of the situation is. If you know the truth of the situation, then your reaction will fall in line effortlessly.
We know that Jesus already died in everyone’s stead, so no one is held there anymore. It is finished. Death is old news. Nowadays, we live in the year of the Lord’s favor (Isaiah 61:2). We have nothing but resurrection and life inside of us. In fact, what’s in us is so alive that whatever it touches, lives (Ezekiel 47:9). There’s nothing but beauty and good things inside of us, and we get to share that with all who will receive it, even the sleeping.
Did what I just describe sound sorrowful? Did it sound like you have something to fear? Well, that’s the truth of the gospel that I just summed up, according to all the things that we have talked about until this point. If those are the things that you’re seeing, if those are the things that you’re meditating on, no one will have to tell you how to react. We know how to react to good circumstances.
Your reaction to a circumstance is nothing more than a manifestation of what you’re seeing. If you see your circumstance as dire, you will react that way. If you see your circumstance with levity, because of everything Jesus did, you will react accordingly. The reactions are not the problem. It’s what people are seeing that can be problematic.
Most people see death as permanent. That is not true. Most people see death as a loss of someone. That is also not true. But if you see death as permanent, unsolved, and a form of loss, then no wonder you’re discouraged. I would be too! But Jesus fixed all those things and brought in a new time, of life and immortality. What wonderfully good news! What salvation! What generous help from the Father! It’s everything we ever needed, and more than what most people can even dream up! That’s the truth of our circumstance.
2 Timothy 1:10 (KJV) But is now made manifest by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel:
So just meditate on these things. You’ll automatically start reacting like someone who has received salvation from all the degradation of the world. The more you see these things, the more you will not be bothered by what most people see as dire, because you will recognize that Jesus made it all better!
The problem is not that people get discouraged if someone passes. The problem is the falsehood they’re seeing about their circumstance, which causes that discouraged reaction. Don’t deal with the reaction. Deal with what you’re seeing in the circumstance.
The state of a believer is always an incredibly happy thing (Psalms 144:15). God is not asking you to react happily to a sorrowful situation. He’s not asking you to put on a smile because, “God is good despite the circumstance,” or “Just sing in the rain,” or “Praise God in the storm,”or any other phrase that describes a happy reaction to a sorrowful situation. No, that’s just crazy! One should react sorrowfully to sorrowful situations and happily to happy ones. That’s just being sober minded (Romans 12:3).
God wants you to react truthfully, honestly, and naturally for someone in your state. But the truth about all your circumstances, even if someone passes, is that you have the solution to literally everything, residing inside of you right now, ready to be applied wherever it is needed. So go get ‘em! There’s life to spread around!
Sorrow is for sorrowful circumstances and happiness is for happy circumstances. Thanks to Jesus, the present state of every believer is always a happy one. Always. Most believers just don’t know enough about what Jesus did, to recognize that yet.
Jesus fixed everything. That’s why Jesus seemed so nonchalant and peaceful when a little girl died. Everyone else was wailing, but Jesus walked into a funeral and said, “Why all the commotion?”
Mark 5:38-40 (NKJV) Then He came to the house of the ruler of the synagogue, and saw a tumult and those who wept and wailed loudly. When He came in, He said to them, “Why make this commotion and weep? The child is not dead, but sleeping.” And they ridiculed Him.
God is not asking you to be insensitive to people, only intolerant of their unbelief. But did you hear what Jesus said? Jesus walked into a funeral and asked, “Why all the commotion?” Do you see that? Do you really see what Jesus just said? He saw the weeping and wailing and asked, “Why?”
Why would Jesus have to ask “why?” regarding all the weeping? Why would He even question it, as if it were very strange? Didn’t He see that a little girl had died? Of course, He did. He saw that the little girl had died… and He also saw something else. And whatever it was that He saw in the situation, it caused Him to look at their weeping as a strange thing.
Most people would not think it strange to see weeping and wailing at a funeral, because to them, that is a perfectly compatible reaction. But Jesus saw something they weren’t seeing. He knew that Resurrection and Life just walked into the room. He knew the girl was getting up because He had come to the earth to die in her stead. The death that was owed to her, He came to take away. That’s what He saw. And therefore, He knew there was no problem here anymore.
Only someone with this perspective on the situation would find it strange to see weeping at a funeral. But I submit to you that Jesus’ perspective was the correct one. And I also submit to you that this is something that we’re not seeing in the church today, because we don’t know what we have.
Those mourners reacted the way they did because of what they believed about their circumstance. To them it was permanent, unfixable, and the Messiah’s salvation was not applicable. Perhaps one day they would see that little girl in heaven, but that’s the best that God had done for them. And if that were the truth, their reaction was perfectly suitable.
But that’s not the way that Jesus reacted. He reacted differently. And why? Because He saw something that they did not. When He thought of death, He thought of how it was to be abolished at the cross. When He thought of that little girl, He saw someone sleeping, ready to get up, because life was hers for the taking. He knew this. And that’s why He reacted the way He did.
He wasn’t trying to be strong. He wasn’t putting His game face on. His reaction was nothing extraordinary. He just didn’t see a problem, and that’s why His demeanor followed suit.
The mourners and Jesus both reacted in accordance with what they saw in the situation. They both reacted naturally and suitably for what they were seeing. The huge difference was, One was seeing the truth and one was not.
God’s not mad at you if you shed tears. He only wants you to know that tears are something that Jesus’ sacrifice wipes away. If we cry, we do so because we’re still growing. But it’s that growth in knowledge that God wants, not your lack of tears. Just continue in the truth, believer! That is your only obedience!
God doesn’t want to change your reaction. He wants to change what you’re seeing. People will always speak, act, and react according to what they see. God just wants you to see something more than the physical things that everyone else is seeing. He wants to lift your eyes to realize this has been solved. He’s offered you a feast of good things, and there’s enough life to go around for everybody.
As you grow in this, one day you’re going to lift your head, see people around you that are despairing, and think, “Why all the commotion?” But hold on tight. When you leave the pack, and start believing things like this, you’re gonna get someone raised from the dead.
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