Oct 15 2007
Celebrating Death
A few weeks ago we had to make a quick trip to northeastern Pennsylvania for a funeral. A man I admire had died.
This man fathered my wife’s mother–he is the first Christian in that side of my children’s line. And he was a godly great-grandfather to seventeen little ones, grandfather to sixteen and father of five.
He loved Jesus.
And so we were sad. And because we were sad we celebrated.
We celebrated his life.
Grandpa Rhodes now sits with Jesus. He has no pain and no sorrow and he will serve Christ forever with redeemed arms and legs and energy like he never dreamed of in his final days. And Jesus has shown him his inheritance and said “well done.”
My wife has been greatly influenced by her grandfather. She spent many summer days working beside him in the strawberry fields. She often talks of the hard summer and the hard work of the man who never quit. Retired three times he was always busy until close to the end when his 80+ year-old body failed him. And sin, and the death that comes through sin, became more real to him in that decaying body that lies silent in the grave now.
And so we celebrated. His sister told stories of when they were young, and his brother (who no-one expected to speak) pointed everyone there to the Scriptures that Alan Rhodes loved. This was a funeral he planned himself years ago after his stroke and it was a beautiful reminder of his life and his true life in Christ even as we grieved his death.
So long, Grandpa Rhodes. We will miss you here–but I would not wish upon you one more day in this dark, sinful place. May you enjoy glory forever. We will be there soon and then the celebration will never end. Because in that eternal celebration we will celebrate one death that conquered death forever–and we will rejoice in the life that he bought us. Forever.
