In memory of
Xavier Jonathan Hohnberg
A loved son, a loved brother, a dear friend and a child of God.
22nd April 2007
to
11th June 2022
What colour do you wear to a funeral? Or to a Thanksgiving Service? Black or very, very dark grey? For death has won. Or, bright colours because you want to celebrate the person’s life? At my son’s thanksgiving service, I wore a very blue suit. You suck death and I defy you with, my really blue suit.
But are not both right and wrong? Xavier, our dear son has passed away. He is not with us. His cheeky smile, His quick wit, His super sharp intelligence, His love of new flavours and His love of cooking, His compassionate heart, His love for his brothers, His love of exploration and discovery, His capacity to solve problems and think ahead and His introversion, where he didn’t want too much attention. All of them are lost to us.
He is lost to us. It is right to wear black or very dark grey.
And yet, if you knew Xavier, then you know it is wrong as well. Not because Xavier was happy to push against convention – though he certainly was sometimes, but, because Christians grieve with hope. Those who have died in Jesus will be raised to a new life.
Xavier was a Christian. He had given his life over to Jesus as his king.
According to the Christian belief from the teaching of the New Testament. Death has won but it is only a temporary win. For every Christian, death is a sleep. Life will win.
The apostle Paul writes to the Christians in the city of Thessalonica,
Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope. 14 For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him (1 Thessalonians 4:13-14)
You can visit Thessalonika today. Here's the Wiki Entry: Thessaloniki is a Greek port city on the Thermaic Gulf of the Aegean Sea. Evidence of Roman, Byzantine and Ottoman history remains…
You can even find the ruins of Roman Emperor Galerius’ 4th-century palace, part of which has been used as both a church and a mosque. Paul was writing to real people who lived a real history.
He wrote to them about those that had died. People in the town of Thessalonica had become Christians. And they had been taught that those that come to Jesus and submit to him as their ruler and trust him as their saviour would have eternal life.
But there was a problem, these Christians, who had eternal life were now dead! What do you do with that? So, Paul writes to them – it is a timing problem. Can you see it?
For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him.
Because of the death and resurrection of Jesus, all those who trusted Jesus but died will live again. When he comes again. They will live again in real bodies – new bodies without sickness and disease and cancer. They will live in a new creation – a creation that is perfect and no longer broken. They will come with Jesus when he comes to claim the world as his own.
The logic is this:
Because Jesus himself rose from the dead (because he was holy and sinless).
He has broken the power of death
He is stronger than death.
Therefore, all those who are his will conquer death with him.
They are his and so they will be with him.
So they will never die again.
Nor be ravaged by all those things that exist because of death.
One of my favourite passages in the New Testament is in Mark chapter 5 about a woman who is the living dead and a girl who has died. Jesus is on his way to save a young girl, who is 12, but on the way, he is delayed. When Jesus continues, we discover that the girl has died. But Jesus enters her room and takes her by the hand and speaks to her, ‘Little girl, I say to you, get up!’ And she does.
The passage is there to show us Jesus’ power over death. A time will come when he will say to all those who are dead in him. I say to you, get up. And they will. Jesus will say to Xavier, ‘I say to young man, get up!’ And he will.
SLEEP
This is why Paul uses the word asleep. Or he describes Christians who have died as those who sleep in death. Those who have put their trust in Christ, are merely asleep. Those that are asleep are those that will wake up again.
This is the Christian hope – that those who have trusted Jesus, as the one who died for them and the one who rose for them, 2000 years ago, will wake up again.
How do you wake up? Like death warmed up – creaking body, creaky mind? Desperate for the elixir of life… caffeine in any form? Or do you wake up like those people on the ads that they used to sell mattresses? Leaping out with radiant joy. The promise of the resurrection of the dead is this: All those who have trusted in Jesus will wake up with radiant joy.
HOPE
This is why Christians have hope. The Apostle Paul says, that Christians don’t grieve like the rest of humanity. The resurrection of the dead was and still is an incredible and radical idea.
Let me tell you what it isn’t:
It isn’t reincarnation – an endless cycle of death and rebirth hoping to escape the agony of existence.
It isn’t becoming a spirit or a ghost.
It isn’t floating about with wings like a little angel and playing the harp.
And it isn’t ceasing to exist… just dying and that is the end.
What it is – is best shown in the resurrection of Jesus himself. When Jesus got up, after being dead, he took off the linen bandages and walked out of the tomb. He ate with his disciples, he spoke with his disciples, he taught his disciples and he let them touch him. He had real life again – yes, he had changed – he had changed ready for the new life he now had.
The resurrection is life again! It means full-bodied, full-blooded, full-colour life.
Compare that with the other options: Reincarnation, becoming a spirit or a ghost or ceasing to exist. If you think about it for a while, you start to realise, that none of them has any hope. Not hope for life. Not hope that you would see the person again, face to face and be with them. No hope that a family will be reunited. No hope that I’ll be able to hold Xavier’s hand again and hug him and marvel at his sharp mind, and his quick wit.
The hope of the resurrection of Jesus and all those in him is the hope of full-bodied, full-blooded and full-colour life. This is the outrageous claim of Christianity – those who trust in Jesus, who bow to him as their king and saviour will live again. So, Christians grieve with hope because those who have died in Jesus will be raised to a new life.
Let me put it another way: Those who have thrown their lot in with Jesus and have died are merely asleep and will wake again.
What is the evidence for the resurrection of Jesus? That is an excellent question. For if there is no evidence then there is no hope! I have a foolish hope, based on nothing but wishful thinking.
But I think there is extraordinary evidence for the life of Jesus, the teaching of Jesus and the resurrection of Jesus. And many, many people when they have taken the time to examine the historical evidence of the New Testament books have come to the same conclusion.
We’ve thought about death and hope but let me touch on life.
LIFE
The resurrection is proof that God cares about sickness and disease and suffering. God cares about our deaths. God cares about disease and sickness and cancer. And he will not let them win. The Resurrection is God’s vindication of life! And his overthrow of his enemies: illness, sickness, sin & death.
God will not let death, disease and sickness and war and famine win. All those who are his through Jesus will conquer disease, sickness, war and famine. They will win, for they will live again. And so, this is what Christians believe.
So, a word to my Christian brothers and sisters, we ought to live in a sense recklessly for others. We can throw away our lives for we won’t lose. We can only win. If you’re a Christian, are you living recklessly for others?
DO YOU KNOW THIS HOPE?
It can be hard to know what to wear to a funeral. Sombre clothing for death has struck? Or bright and wonderful colours to affirm his life?
The resurrection is a powerful truth that both are right. The resurrection says that death is wrong. It is not natural. It is not the way things should be. That’s why God plans to overthrow death with the great resurrection of the dead. All those who have lost a friend, a son, a daughter, or a lover know the truth that death is not natural. Death is an enemy that robs and takes and wounds. It is an enemy to be defeated. So, to acknowledge its power, its horror and our loss, is right.
But the resurrection of Jesus also says, embrace life. The overthrow of death is planned by God because he is the God of life. Life is what God wants. Life is what is good. Xavier’s life is more important than death. And so, by the power of Jesus, Xavier will live again.
Xavier would want you to know this hope, the hope of the resurrection. I know this because on his last day alive he was talking with someone he cared about and asked them ‘Are you a Christian?’ They replied, ‘No, I’m not.’ Xavier’s reply, ‘You should give it a try.’
I do not want you to face death without the hope of the resurrection. And neither would Xavier.
Look to Jesus and his resurrection from the dead.
* This is a lightly edited scripted from my son’s Thanksgiving Service. We give thanks to God for him in the midst of our grief and we look forward to the day when we will see Xavier again.
Related
Jesus raises a little girl from the dead - Mark 5
Why did Jesus rise from the dead?
A explanation of the resurrection of the dead from the Bible - 1 Corinthians 15
How the resurrection changes everything
10 Things you should know about resurrection (written for Christians)
Photo by Jackson David on Unsplash