Later that day the merchant himself was at the market and spied Death in the crowd. The merchant went over to interrogate him. “Why did you make a threatening gesture toward my servant?” he demanded. “That was no threatening gesture,” Death replied. “It was simply a start of surprise. I was startled to see your servant in Damascus, for, you see, we have an appointment tonight in Samara.”
Only a legend. But like many folk tales, it contains a profound psychological insight. The fear of death is the motivating force behind much human behavior. Psychologist Ernest Becker, in his book The Denial of Death, points out that humans continually create strategies to keep death at bay. It turns out that the tyranny of death is not limited to life’s end, but permeates deeply into life itself.
What are some of the ways we try to run away from death? They include philosophies that deny the finality of death--such as spiritism, with its comforting claim that all who die automatically graduate to a higher plane of life where there is no such thing as divine judgment and from which they can communicate happy messages through channeling to those they left behind. The main message is: “Death is nothing to worry about!”
Another strategy to repress the fear of death is materialism. Like the rich farmer in Jesus’ parable, we build bigger barns to secure the future. We think our growing investments and insurance policies will be a hedge against the undertaker by protecting us from recessions, unemployment, medical emergencies, and natural disasters. We hope our fat pension plans will even buy us time when we retire. But human history has proven time and again that such material security is fleeting.
To avoid the skull that keeps peeking in through the window, some turn to drugs, or become engrossed in a sensual lifestyle. We live for the moment because we have no assurance of the future. We pickle our brains with loud music and one-night stands and video games. In popular movies and novels, death-defying heroes offer us another strategy to mask the fear of death. The modern preoccupation with entertainment is a vain attempt to anesthetize us from the pain of mortality.
The obscene problem death poses for human aspirations is illustrated by a lengthy mathematical calculation that is finally multiplied by zero. Why go to the trouble if the calculation ends in zero? Anything that ends in nothing is itself nothing. If we don’t repress our fear of death it leads to absolute despair. The French painter, Gauguin, once painted the cycle of life. He began with a beautiful young girl in the bloom of youth and continued until he pictured an old, emaciated and decrepit woman about to die, with a vulture circling overhead. Struck with the seeming futility of existence, the artist attempted to commit suicide after completing the picture.
Without God’s intervention, death influences everything we do, hiding in depression, in hopelessness, and in the feeling that the universe is without purpose. The power of death affects not only individuals, but whole societies and nations. It leads nations to try to preserve themselves by pursuing insane and perpetual warfare. All such attempts to flee the tyranny of death only prove that we are hopelessly dominated by it. Regardless of the route we take from Damascus, it is ironic that death is controlling us like puppets.
But Jesus has brought immortality to light through the gospel. He has good news for all who are fleeing on the road to Samara, and that is the theme of my next post.
