Mad at Death: Grief, Anger, and Christian Hope
David Faust reflects on why death rightly stirs both sorrow and anger, while pointing believers toward the hope of resurrection. Drawing from Scripture and the teaching of Dr. Jack Cottrell, he reminds readers that death is an enemy Christ has acted to overcome.
- Death brings sorrow, but it can also rightly provoke anger because Scripture calls it an enemy.
- Jesus’ response to Lazarus’s death shows his indignation toward death itself.
- Believers can face present suffering with confidence in the glory promised through Christ.
by David Faust
Recently a friend at work received a phone call from his mom, who lives in a distant state. She had bad news. Her husband (my coworker’s 59-year-old dad) had died suddenly of a heart attack.
I felt sad for my friend and his newly-widowed mom. I prayed for the Lord to comfort them, and I thought about how sudden, unexpected events interrupt and re-direct our lives.
But I also felt another emotion. I was angry.
Pesky and Persistent
As a minister, I have presided over many funerals. I have written the names of the deceased in the “Funeral” section of my pastoral record book.
What names appear on this sad list? Babies whose parents didn’t get to see them grow up. Young adults who died by suicide. Middle-aged adults whose families depended on them. Old men and women who were surprised their lives passed so quickly. A professional athlete with a room full of trophies and a body full of cancer. Retirees in their early 60s who had looked forward to traveling and spending time with grandkids. Brilliant professionals who spent their final years in the grip of dementia.
Death makes me mad. My heart aches for widows and orphans. I’m tired of news stories about murders, deadly storms, and fatal accidents. When young soldiers die in the service of their country, I’m grateful for their sacrifice but I grieve because their lives were cut off far too soon.
Death is pesky and persistent—an inescapable enemy that won’t go away on its own. And we all must face it. Even on the sunniest day, death hovers over the horizon like a dark cloud that signals an approaching storm.
Suffering and Glory
Years ago, I took a seminary course called Basic Theology taught by Dr. Jack Cottrell. The course syllabus included an article about death. Jack wrote, “The most obvious feeling elicited by an encounter with death is sorrow or sadness,” but he acknowledged, “Another feeling evoked by the event of death is that of anger or rage.” After all, Scripture portrays death as the consequence of human sin and calls it our adversary—the “last enemy to be destroyed” (1 Corinthians 15:26, New International Version).
If death makes you mad, you’re in good company. When Jesus’ friends wept over the death of Lazarus, “he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled” (John 11:33). The Greek text literally says Jesus “was enraged” or “moved with indignation.” Dr. Cottrell pointed out, “The emotion pulsing through the human heart of Jesus at this event of his friend’s death was no less than rage—rage against death itself. Jesus knew death for what it really is, namely, the enemy of man, a usurper who reigns unnaturally over the human family.” My professor advised, “That death should continue to arouse feelings of rage should not surprise us. Let us take care, however, to direct such feelings towards their proper object, death itself, and not towards the God who himself is enraged at death and who has acted to overcome it.”
I visited Dr. Cottrell at his home a few weeks before he died. I thanked him for his impact on my life, and we shared a few memories. Before leaving I said, “Jack, you have spoken and written a lot about death over the years. What do you think you’re going to experience when you die?”
Immediately he opened his Bible to Romans 8:18 and read, “I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.” When believers die, he explained, we will enter a glorious realm that has always been there, but we don’t see it on this side of heaven.
I miss sitting down and talking face-to-face with wise advisors who have gone on to glory. But I’m thankful they taught me to trust the greatest Teacher of all, who said, “I am the resurrection and the life” and promised those who believe in him will live, even though we die (John 11:25).
Death still makes me sad—and mad. But one day our present sufferings will give way to indescribable glory, and that makes me glad.
Author: David Faust
David Faust serves as contributing editor of Christian Standard and senior associate minister with East 91st Street Christian Church in Indianapolis, Indiana. He is the author of Not Too Old: Turning Your Later Years into Greater Years.
