As we approach Easter, we find ourselves confronted by death. Before the triumph of Easter morning, there is the descent into darkness, the approach to the cross, the suffering and sacrifice of our Lord, and the journey to the tomb. Every year, Christians undertake this same spiritual journey as we remember Jesus’ passion and death for our sins and the sins of the world. But after this darkness and sorrow, light dawns on resurrection morning. We awake once again to the knowledge that death could not contain the living Christ. He is risen and seated at the right hand of God in heaven, and we too have been reborn into an eternal life with him.
But as Easter approaches this year, death feels closer than ever. As time passes, the final vote in the United Kingdom on assisted suicide comes ever closer. After Easter, it will be just a few weeks away.
In the face of the resurrection, death is passing and temporary. That is not to say that we are not pained and troubled by death – after all, it is a result of fallenness and sin. God created us to be eternal beings. But we know that death is not all-powerful in the face of a life-giving God.
That is not the message of assisted suicide. To those who are for it, death is the end. They promise that if you can just be helped to die earlier, you will be able to escape pain and suffering. That you will leave life with your head held high and your dignity intact. That the life you left behind will bear witness to who you truly were, because you died before illness was able to take away your autonomy, your self-reliance and self-image. You will finally be able to be at peace.
This is a lie.
Assisted suicide does not deliver the dignity it promises. Many people who take the deadly drugs die paralysed and in pain. Many people who are told they have only six months to live may actually have many more years of life left. For those who feel pressured into committing suicide, the act of doing so takes away their autonomy.
Fundamentally, it is a lie because death is not the end. It is only the beginning.
It is what happens to us after death, not before, that is the source of lasting suffering or lasting hope.
For those who die without knowing Christ, eternity does not hold the promise of peace and hope. It is dangerous and painful. It is an eternity of being cast away from God.
What is a month of suffering in the face of an eternity of joy?
What is a ‘good death’ in the face of eternal death?
At Easter, we are most reminded of the fullness of life that Jesus came to bring us. The eternal life that he promises is rich and abundant, as he comes to share the full bounty of his sonship with his people. We are raised from death to participate in the perfect love of the Father, who will wipe the tear from every eye. With God, there will be no death or mourning or crying or pain, for the former things will have passed away. (Revelation 21:4) It is this incredible fullness of life that we should be proclaiming over our nation.
Helping people to kill themselves deprives them of this incredible promise. There is nothing compassionate about the false promise of assisted suicide, because it takes people away from the only true source of healing and hope – and away from Jesus, the only one who can provide true, eternal relief from suffering.
This Easter, let’s fight even harder for life. For this is Jesus’ undying promise to us: ‘I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full’. (John 10:10).
