DEATH!

HPVII (aka Harry Potter VII: The Deathly Hallows, Part 1) was released the other day, the celluloid version of the seventh and last of J. K. Rowling’s books in this marvelous series.

Each of the seven movies released has grossed, worldwide, almost $1 billion! Blockbusters, all of them!

My older nephew, John, was the one to turn me on to the books which began coming out in the late nineties. I was smitten, and have since been an ardent HP fan, even haunting the local Barnes and Noble at midnight with friends the day the new books came out. (And, yes, I went disguised in a cloak.)

The first movie (Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone) came out in 2001. I flew to South Carolina on its opening night to see it with John and Jacob. We were all so excited. (My brother who came with us slept soundly through the movie—his first and last HP film. Then again, he does that with any movie, so his soporific actions are not a commentary on quality.)

The next year, on opening night of HPII (Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets), I arrived at their door without warning and surprised the lads.

I had missed sharing HP with the kids for the last two or three releases, since I was in bonnie Scotland at the time. So it was a delight to attend the latest offering with the two guys. The younger one drove us. And the boys paid for popcorn and soda. Times have changed and I’ve gotten old!

Anyhow, I was struck by the byline of HPVII: “The last enemy that shall be destroyed is Death.” The last enemy, indeed.

I must say I agree.

John Donne (1572–1631) wrote about it in a sonnet:

Death be not proud, though some have called thee
Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so,
For those whom thou think’st thou dost overthrow,
Die not, poor Death, nor yet canst thou kill me.
…
One short sleep past, we wake eternally,
And death shall be no more; Death, thou shalt die.

But way before J. K. Rowling, and way before John Donne, one inspired Jewish rabbi scripted this line in the first century AD.

The last enemy that will be abolished is death.

1 Corinthians 15:26

Yup, the HP franchise stole that line from the Bible!

Paul, that Jewish guy, was explaining the consequences of the resurrection of Jesus. Because Jesus paid the price for sin, fully, finally, and forever, sin is no longer an issue between God and the believer (who trusts in Jesus’ death and resurrection). And so, for them, death has already been defeated.

Thanks be to God,
who gives us the victory
through our Lord Jesus Christ.
1 Corinthians 15:56–57

The resurrection of Jesus Christ is the foretaste of the resurrection to glory of every believer. Death defeated. Finally. Grief abolished. Forever

For this perishable must
put on the imperishable,
and this mortal must
put on immortality …
then will come about the saying
that is written,
“Death is swallowed up in victory.”
1 Corinthians 15:53–54

And then, one day, we’ll exultantly proclaim:

“O death, where is your victory?
O death, where is your sting?”
1 Corinthians 15:55

Until that day, even when we grieve for those temporarily distanced from us by death, …

… my beloved brothers and sisters,
be steadfast, immovable,
always abounding
in the work of the Lord …
1 Corinthians 15:58

Hang in there. The fight is over. The victory’s already won.

Thanks be to God!