John 11.25

The recent death of Wes Leonard, Fennville High’s basketball star, who collapsed and died after scoring the winning basket for a perfect season, was a true case of a fallen hero.  At the age of 16, he possessed all the traits of heroism: Tremendous courage; commitment to task and refusal to succumb to defeat.   Even after death, his family remarked, “He’s looking down upon us and smiling”.

his matter of life after death, even for the casual observer, is tremendously important.  All of us want to believe, need  to believe, that there is something beyond the grave.  None of us are willing to accept the fact that “this is it”.  And yet Jesus has insisted that He is not merely the way to eternal life, He is the only way. John 14.6.             

That more persons who are interested in life after death do not turn to the One who has promised it, it is an interesting phenomenon.  Jesus himself is a fallen hero, who even on the cross, refused to succumb to defeat.  We celebrate that refusal by His Resurrection, as He escaped the grave “and made ol’ death behave”.  Our hero.  Our Savior.  Our Friend.  Jesus.