Playing down death’s grimmer side
Why is it people feel the need to make death seem more palatable? In Terry Pratchett's Discworld series, Death keeps a library full of hourglasses (one for each human being), speaks in “in small capitals”, rides a horse named ‘Binky’ and has an almost unhealthy fascination with life. In Neil Gaiman's Sandman comics, Death is a young woman with curly black hair and pale skin who dresses like a goth and who spends one day every century as a mortal.
Now a small Mexican fringe group that worships Santa Muerte (or ‘Saint Death’) have given the object of their veneration a makeover. According to this SMH article, instead of sporting a long black cloak and carrying a scythe, Death is now represented by a brown-haired woman with a “porcelain” face wearing a gold dress and a veil, and holding a rose. Traditional Mex-USA Archbishop David Romo claims that “This image is one of justice, of freedom, but above all one that reveals the face of God”.
But it seems to me that, in the Bible, death is all about injustice and the restriction of our freedom. Death is the tragic end of human existence—a reminder of the effects of the Fall. It limits our sinfulness so we cannot offend God for all eternity. According to 1 Corinthians 15:26, it is our “enemy”. It separates us from our loved ones, and renders our lives temporary and fragile (Is 40:6-7). Why worship it?
Why not, instead, worship the one who defeated it (1 Cor 15:20-26)? As Paul writes,
When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written:
“Death is swallowed up in victory.”
“O death, where is your victory?
O death, where is your sting?”The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. (1 Cor 15:54-57)