King Uzziah, as Jewish kings go, was a good king, up until he went into the Temple and usurped the priest's role. Then he became a leprous recluse until he died. Death has a way of shaking things up. It leaves a void, a vacuum. You can imagine what death does when it claims the life of your political ruler.
Much like our presidential elections, the people wait and wonder what will come with the new. But they must wait. They must wonder. There is nothing they can do to hurry the process or to change its ultimate outcome.
I was thinking about death this week, especially today as we remember the death of Jesus. What a roller coaster of emotions it must of been for his disciples. Feasting, then hours later fleeing for their lives. Feasting, and then falling back into a new normal as Jesus' life changed them and Jesus' death held them captive.
I liken it to pastoring for over twenty years, seeing God work first hand in the lives of his people, and then without notice being called back to the farm. I loved the farm but I loved being a vocational servant of God more. I could go back to farming but I would also have, lingering in my spirit, a hope again of something lost. This is what death does. It robs us of something and stays around as illusive hope. It produces a new normal with a lingering spirit of loss that does not go away. Death steals and reminds you each day that it has taken.
Tonight we remember Death. We must.
