On England’s south coast, two women who are both named Kate run the Coffin Club. They created this place for people to prepare for their eventual death through selecting and decorating their coffins. Kate’s dad died when she was thirteen, and she said, “It was horrendous. No one wanted to talk about death.” Their club is a way to normalize an experience we will all go through one day.
Death may be “normal” because it will happen to everyone. But those who love and serve Jesus can prepare for their death without fear, as we see in Jesus’ conversation with His beloved friend Martha after her brother had died. Jesus promised her that Lazarus would “rise again” (John 11:23). He told her that He is “the resurrection and the life” and that “the one who believes in [Him] will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in [Him] will never die” (vv. 25-26). Martha responded by making one of the few professions in the New Testament that Jesus was the Messiah, the Son of God (v. 27). She believed.
We may or may not be keen to decorate our own coffins, but we all can prepare for death by placing our hope in God, trusting in the salvation Jesus offers. Knowing that we will continue to live after we die gives us true comfort, hope, and peace. We can join Martha in believing that Jesus is the Messiah, the one who saves.
How do you react to the idea of a “Coffin Club”? What could you do today to celebrate life and eternity with God?
Dear Jesus, You’re the Messiah. Please help me to trust in You now and always.
During Jesus’ earthly ministry, He demonstrated His power over death by raising several individuals from death to life. These included Jairus’ daughter (Mark 5:21-24, 35-43), the son of the widow of Nain (Luke 7:11-17), and Lazarus (John 11:1-44). Christ not only had power over death, but He had within Himself the power of life: “In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind” (1:4). The cross of Christ was the necessary payment to rescue us from our sins, and His resurrection offers to us the way of eternal life (see 1 Corinthians 15:54-58). When we place our trust in Jesus, His resurrected life becomes ours—forever. Because of His resurrection, we can confidently say, “Death has been swallowed up in victory” (v. 54).
