Friday of the Fifth Week in Lent

Momento mori is a Latin phrase that means, remember death or remember that you will die. It is good to remind ourselves of this fact—that we will die, and everyone we know and love. Let me explain.
The story of the raising of Lazarus is a meditation on death. The story is one of the most emotionally-charged stories in the Bible. Worry, anxiety, fear, courage, doubt, anger, hope and grief are all implicitly or explicitly on display. In verses that are difficult to capture in translation, Jesus is described as “”being deeply moved in his spirit””, “”greatly troubled””, and then He weeps (11:34-35). Every grieving person understands these emotions.
 
As we meditate on death, the vitally important question is whether or not death will have the last word. Will everything and everyone be consumed and forgotten in the eternal darkness of death? Is Lazarus lost forever?

I am sure that many of you reading or listening to this meditation are grieving in some way. For some, that grief is recent and raw. You are feeling the emotional anguish of the death of a loved one. Or, perhaps you personally are going through a serious and life-threatening illness. The questions surrounding the reality of death can no longer be avoided. Momento mori.
 
So, without trying to sugarcoat the bitterness or place a religious band aid on a broken heart, can we look into death’s darkness without falling into what Martin Luther called, “the great and shameful” sin of despair? In the darkness, can we begin to see the eternal Light of God because we have come to know that God’s love is stronger than death?
 
The story of Lazarus is a meditation on death. But, it is also a meditation on the love of God revealed in Jesus. In Christ Jesus we see the light of divine love which is stronger than the darkness of death. Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the life” — and everything is changed when we meditate on darkness of death in the light of Jesus. Momento mori.

Prayer: “O eternal and most gracious God, You permitted darkness to be before light in the creation, and yet in the making of light so multiplied it that it enlightened even the night: Grant that by Your light we may see that no sickness, no temptation, no sin, no guilt can remove us from the determined and good purpose which You have revealed in Your Son and sealed by Your Holy Spirit; who live and reign with You, one God, forever and ever. Amen” (The Rev. Dr. Philip H. Pfatteicher, from prayers by John Donne, Devotions XIV and VII).

Devotion written by the Rev. Dr. Eric M. Riesen