By Fr. Jools Amamangpang, msp

Recently Fr. Jools Amamangpang, msp had several scrapes with death. It got him to reflecting and he shares his reflection here.

From time immemorial many people wonder whether there is life beyond the grave. Philosophers, sufis, pundits, monks, (and even sorcerers, I guess!) tried to provide a shadow of hope that eternal life is possible. For others who don’t acknowledge that life hereafter is possible, death is a frightening reality and a major cause of anxieties and uncertainties.

Resuscitation or Resurrection?

For Christians who fully accept that Jesus is Lord, death is not final but only a transition to a fullness of life. This holds true if by saying that “Jesus is Lord” one puts no limits to this dominion and includes death in it. “Christ must reign until God has put all enemies under his feet, and the last enemy to be destroyed is death.” (1Cor. 15:25-26) St. Paul, in his letter to the Romans, made it clearer when he said”...if you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart” are synonymous. “That Jesus is Lord” and “that God raised him from the dead” mean the same, because Jesus lives a life over which death no longer has any power. Here one can find a vital difference between the resuscitation of Lazarus and the resurrection of Jesus!

Three brushes with Death

In this season of Lent, Christians are called to reflect on the Lord of Jesus. St. Paul beautifully describes it by saying: "None of us lives as his own master and none of us dies as his own master. While we live we are responsible to the Lord, and when we die, we die as his servants. Both in life and in death we are the Lord’s. That is why Christ died and came to life again, that he might be Lord of the dead and the living.” (Romans 14:7-9)

That Jesus’ Paschal victory has very pertinent consequences in my personal life and also for my death. It has become very real for me recently. The reason is very glaring: for the month of February alone thrice I have had near-death experiences.

Who will separate us?

As a Christian I believe that death separate me from Jesus over any power in this world: “Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Trial, distress, persecution, hunger, nakedness, danger or the sword? I am certain that neither death nor life, neither angels nor principalities, neither the present nor the future, neither height nor depth, nor any other creature, will be able to separate us from the love of God that comes to us in Christ Jesus, our Lord.” (Romans 8:35, 38, 39)