The Death of WormGuy - Damon J. Gray
In the last year, Alean and I have lost only one fish, or so we had thought. Most of the fish in the aquarium are paired. We have Dot and Dash, Stanley and Ollie, Boris and Natasha, Ruby and Tuesday. But there are some single guys in there too, Riley, Winston, and Tim. Unfortunately, WormGuy, our Kuhli Loach disappeared a little over a year ago, presumed dead.
The aquarium gets a cleaning and partial water change every other Sunday. This last weekend I went a little further with the cleaning than I usually do, removing all the plants, cleaning underneath them, and weighting them so they would hopefully stop floating to the top of the water. Everything looked much nicer once this cleaning was completed. The fish were happy with the clean apartment.
Each morning, at around 5:15, I turn on the light over the aquarium and give the fish their morning rations. This morning, when I turned the light on, I was startled by something flying back and forth, up and down, at lightning speed. It was WormGuy!! He was fast!! I hadn’t seen him in over a year, and thought he was dead. Kuhli Loaches are nocturnal, and really don’t like the light. That’s why they usually hide under rocks or plants, but you can find them if you look hard enough. I have no idea where this guy has been hiding for the last year, but it was good to see him alive.
Following the execution of Jesus, the Author of Life, the disciples hid in a locked room, terrified, fearing for their very lives. In the Gospel of John, chapter 20, the resurrected Jesus appeared to them and proclaimed peace to them. While I assumed WormGuy was dead, the Lord Jesus really was dead. He was three days dead and yet raised to life again. I don’t care to debate the historicity of the resurrection. While there are those who claim it never happened, I choose to accept it as historical fact.
Rather than debate it, I want to emphasize its importance to the believer. While there is a debate over who is more responsible for the death of Jesus, the Jews for pressing the issue and crying out for his crucifixion, or the Romans for caving in to the Jews and actually performing the crucifixion, I maintain the one most fully responsible for the death of Jesus is Jesus Himself.
Read it in His own words:
“No one has taken [my life] away from Me, but I lay it down on My own initiative. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again.” (John 10:18) Jesus threw himself on the grenade for you and for me. Then, on His own authority, He raised Himself from the dead, to conquer death on our behalf.
So what? Why does it even matter?
According to the Apostle Paul in Romans 6:5-9, all who are baptized into Christ are united to his death, and if we are united to his death, we will also be united to his resurrection! That’s huge! That matters very much!
“If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection. For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin–because anyone who has died has been freed from sin. Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him”
For the believer, death has no mastery over you. Walk in that confidence! If you have been united to Christ’s death, you are also united to His resurrection. Paul told Timothy, “It is a trustworthy statement: For if we died with Him, we will also live with Him. If we endure, we will also reign with him.” 2 Timothy 2:12. Endure, rise, reign. You are a child of the risen King.
Victoriously in Christ!
– damon
