because God did not make death,
and he does not delight in the destruction of the living.
For he created all things so that they might exist;
the generative forces of the world are wholesome,
and there is no destructive poison in them,
and the dominion of Hades is not on earth.
For righteousness is immortal.
Wisdom of Solomon 1:13-15, 2:23-24; NRSVue
We live on a planet bursting with life, seemingly irrepressible, unending. But we’re also surrounded by death in natural disasters, violence, even elements of earth itself that are not life giving. There’s no escape from death in this life, but neither is there the thought that death is a fitting ending to life. It is not. Even take our beloved pets for example. When one of them dies, we grieve. Humans and relationships with such can be so much more complicated, but when they pass there’s a certain sense of loss and often great grief, especially when one dies unexpectedly or hasn’t lived out their years.
But God created us and all things with something other in mind than death. We find the promise of the resurrection of all things in Christ. And we also see, as the passage above points out, that righteousness is to survive all things, and that what is right includes the end of death. And that we who live in righteousness, doing what is right; and in the gift of righteousness from God in Christ are promised that this mortal existence will eventually be swallowed up by immortality. So that we don’t welcome death as the end of life, but celebrate the life God has given us now, and look forward to the life to come by faith in the promise of God in Jesus.
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