Death Do Us Part

Discovering Jesus’ love is stronger than death

07/22/2019

John 20:1-2, 11-18 On the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early in the morning, while it was still dark, and saw the stone removed from the tomb. So she ran and went to Simon Peter and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, and told them, "They have taken the Lord from the tomb, and we don't know where they put him." Mary stayed outside the tomb weeping. And as she wept, she bent over into the tomb and saw two angels in white sitting there, one at the head and one at the feet where the Body of Jesus had been.

I love the phrase “love is as strong as death” from the Song of Songs 8:6. The following verse 7 continues just as forcefully: “Deep waters cannot quench love nor rivers sweep it away. Were one to offer all the wealth of his house for love, he would be utterly despised.” Every newly married couple on their wedding day is overwhelmed by the truth of a love stronger than death. Do you remember that feeling on your wedding day? And yet, as part of their marriage vows, they stated: “Until death do us part.” That is, they acknowledged that their marriage will end at death, and after death they will be parted in some sense in the next life. On their wedding day, every couple rejects that death will part them; love is stronger than death! Then, after seven years of marriage – and endless arguments, and raising children, and dealing with in-laws – every couple is glad that death will part them. Maybe death is stronger than love!

Who can forget the compelling conclusion of Shakespeare’s play “Romeo and Juliet”? Friar Lawrence, who has just secretly married Romeo and Juliet, has hatched a plot to keep these star-crossed lovers together by playing with death and love, to test which is stronger. But his holy bachelor party backfires when his letter to Romeo is delayed and poor Romeo, believing mistakenly that Juliet is dead, takes his own life by drinking poison. When Juliet wakes up, she says reproachfully to Romeo: “What’s here? A cup clos’d in my true love’s hand. / Poison, I see, has been his timeless end. / O churl, drunk all, and left no friendly drop / To help me after? I will kiss thy lips/ Haply some poison yet doth hang on them, / To make me die with a restorative. / Thy lips are warm” (Romeo and Juliet, 5, iii). Both Romeo and Juliet believed love was stronger than death, that they would see each other in the next life, and be married for all eternity. Which is stronger, death or love?

Today is the feast of St. Mary of Magdala, or St. Mary Magdalene, and Mary would say that love is stronger than death, especially when you’re dealing with the love of Jesus. We read from John 20 and how Mary stays at the tomb of Jesus and is the very first to see the Risen Lord. But did you notice how the reading omitted verses 3-10? I believe those are the really critical verses. Why? Well, in those verses, Peter and John have a footrace to the tomb, both see the empty tomb and burial clothes, have a flickering moment of belief but then return home. They figured: “Well, death is death, and clearly stronger than our love for the Lord. Nothing to do about it but go home.”

The next verse reads, as if to juxtapose Mary’s attitude with that of Peter and John: “But Mary stayed outside the tomb weeping.” It’s almost as if Mary believes that her staying and weeping and loving will bring Jesus back from the dead. How many people have knelt at the graves of loved ones and prayed and wept and loved, hoping their love would be strong enough to conquer death? I know many such people, and I am one of those people. And what happens? It worked! Mary’s love was stronger than death, and she sees Jesus again. When our love for one another is consumed by the love of Christ, that is, when we love Jesus like Romeo and Juliet loved each other, then loves becomes stronger than death. The love of Jesus is the resurrection which conquers death.

My friends, sooner or later we will all face the death of a loved one: a father or mother, a spouse or a sibling, and tragically maybe even the death of a child or a grandchild. In those moments, we face the great dilemma: is love stronger than death, or is death stronger than our love? Some of us are like Peter and John. We visit the graves of our loved ones, have a flickering moment of faith, and then go home. We figure like the apostles initially did: “Well, death is death, and clearly stronger than my love.”

But some of us are like Mary of Magdala and stay at the grave weeping. Our human love is caught up in the love of Christ and we see the Risen Lord, and we have hope of seeing our loved ones again. They will rise like Jesus did. Like Mary, we are convinced that love, especially the love of Christ, is definitely stronger than death. His love is the resurrection that conquers death.

Which is stronger: love or death? On your wedding day you’re convinced love defeats death, but seven years later you hope death conquers love and “death do us part, please!” But if you have the love of Christ, love always wins. We say with St. Paul in 1 Corinthians 15:55: “O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?” Jesus’ love is the resurrection that defeats death.

Praised be Jesus Christ!