Every shepherd has the unpleasant and unenviable task of warning the people of God that they will die. Ashes to ashes and dust to dust is not mere metaphor. Death will come. It will come for the young, the middle-aged, and the elderly. It will come for those who welcome an end to suffering and to those who have a whole future they are planning. It will come for those who are prepared for it and for those who have their lives stolen when they least expect it. Death will come and steal away every soul including the people of God so the faithful shepherd will help his sheep prepare for that day whether they can see it coming or have no thought of its arrival. What we are talking about is not simple honesty about the inevitability of death but how to meet death.
We are so shy about talking of death. At times I have asked the dying point blank if they are ready to die -- while their families shuddered at the thought of mentioning the unmentionable. But no pastor is faithful who refuses to speak death's name or prepare the people of God to meet it. Indeed, the whole goal of our pastoral work is to prepare our people so that they may die well, a good death not defined by a lack of pain or death waiting until we are ready for it but by the faith to endure this last sting before receiving the victory. The goal of the pastor is to help the people of God lay the foundation in life for the reality of death.
We think that the job of religion is to help us live a good life but none of that has any meaning unless we are prepared for death. We think that faith helps make life better and I suppose it does in some ways but the chief end of faith is to prepare us for death and to be found worthy of eternal life in Christ. This is why the Christian faith is such a novelty to some. They have forgotten about death or chosen to ignore it and they concentrate instead on the present moment as if that was all there was or needed to be. The Bible tells us to "Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account” (Hebrews 13:17).
Lent is a whole season seemingly devoted to the subject of death. It treats death within the context of repentance, within the arena of confession and absolution, and within the framework of the Word and Sacraments. Those who live only within the confines of the world and this moment are never really ready to die no matter what they might say. Death is most comforting to them when it offers nothing except an end to what they desire to have ended. But the heavenly-minded and those headed to the life that death cannot overcome are prepared for death. In sorrow, they have joy. In pain, they have comfort. In loss, they have hope. Christ gives to us all that we need to meet death and He brings us through the valley of the shadow and raises us up on eagle's wings to rise to meet the dawn of the eternal day. Those who are “faithful unto death… [Christ] will give the crown of life” (Revelation 2:10). Death is the ship on which we must sail if we are to brought to the shore of everlasting life. But Christ is at the helm, the only One who has made this journey and the only One who can lead us through it. This is the center of Lent -- every bit as much as sin and the atonement of the cross. For those who live in Christ by baptism and faith, death is merely the boat that brings us to everlasting life. And once the boat is full and all those who live in Christ have been brought safely to the shore, the boat will be destroyed so that there is no connection anymore between what was and what is.
The more the shepherd can help the sheep find this confidence and joy in Jesus, the more they will be prepared to follow Him in life through death to everlasting life. This is why the feast is a foretaste, the glimpse and promise of the fullness of what is to come. Preach this. Teach this. Help the people sing of this in their hymns and pray this in their prayers. It is for this you have been set apart.



