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When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: \u201cDeath has been swallowed up in victory.\u201d

\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 \u201cWhere, O death, is your victory?
\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 Where, O death, is your sting?\u201d

The sting of death is sin,\xa0and the power of sin is the law.\xa0But thanks be to God!\xa0He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. (1 Corinthians 15:54-57)

These too, are words often heard at funerals.\xa0 \u201cWhere, O death, is your victory?\xa0 Where, O death, is your sting?\u201d\xa0

It can feel strange sometimes to hear them at a funeral.\xa0 Because, isn\u2019t the sting and victory of death obvious there?\xa0 How can Paul speak so confidently?\xa0

Our congregation has faced a lot of death this past year.\xa0 Today we\u2019ll face it again at a funeral as we grieve Henry\u2019s death.\xa0

But funerals aren\u2019t the only place we feel the sting of death.\xa0 We also feel it as we\u2019re once again ordered to stay at home and as we watch the case counts in our Province rise.\xa0 We also face down death as we feel and witness the impacts, not just of the virus, but also of the lockdowns themselves.\xa0 Jobs lost, inequities revealed, again, and mental health incidence rates, substance abuse, and other forms of abuse once again on the rise.\xa0

So how can Paul say that \u201cDeath has been swallowed up in victory\u201d?\xa0 Well, he says it, because he believes in the resurrection of Jesus.\xa0 Jesus defeated death.\xa0 Jesus rose from death to life.\xa0 He won the victory over death.\xa0 And Jesus promises that that victory will be ours as well.\xa0

We too will live in the resurrection life of Jesus.\xa0 Just, not yet. \xa0It\u2019s not a question of \u201cif\u201d it will happen.\xa0 Paul quite clearly uses the word \u201cwhen.\u201d\xa0

So yes, today death remains: all around us.\xa0 Today, we find ourselves still waiting and longing for the day when our perishable bodies will be clothed with the imperishable, and our mortality with immortality.\xa0 But, Jesus\u2019 human body was, the sure promise that ours will be too.\xa0

And so while we wait, we remind each other of this, our hope in Jesus Christ.\xa0 We remind each other each time again in the face of death, as we\u2019ll do again today: that the day will come when the perishable is clothed with the imperishable and the mortal with immortality.\xa0 The day when we will have finally received that promise we\u2019ve waited for and believed all our lives.\xa0 The day when it can truly and finally be said:

Death, where is your victory? Death, where is your sting?

Thanks be to God!\xa0He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

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