Warnie & the Question of Mortality.

The death of Shane Warne from a heart attack linked to a weight loss regime, has rocked the sporting world and our nation.  You only have to look at Facebook and Instagram to see the tributes coming in from people all over the world.  It’s not just sports stars, Michael Parkinson, sharing his personal anguish, has spoken of Shane Warne as “a dear friend of mine”.  Music royalty like Ed Sheeran , Chris Martin and even Elton John were quoted this week saying they’d make plans to get to his State Funeral which will be held at the MCG on March 30th.  It could well turn out to be the largest State Funeral in Australia’s history.

Warnie’s death has evoked all sorts of responses.  Conversations about his achievements, “I was there when” or “I remember watching THAT Gatting delivery”.  I was at his last test at the SCG in 2007 when Australia tore through England on the 5th morning to take a clean sweep in the Ashes.  Warnie was cheered off the ground that morning (alongside Glenn McGrath and Justin Langer) on that last day like a cult hero.

We feel like a piece of us is missing.  A friend of mine on Facebook half expected (jokingly) for him to pop up the next day as if it was all some kind of bad joke. We loved him for his sporting prowess, kids wanted to bowl like him. Aussies loved him because of his larrikin side and were seemingly able to look beyond his misdemeanours and flaws.

What I have noticed throughout the week in the conversations and opinion pieces is how it has struck a chord when it comes to people’s mortality. The Sydney Morning Herald published this piece within 48 hours, “Warne’s untimely death a wake-up call for men in their 40s and 50s”. Josh Gordon wrote, “Shane Warne’s death from a suspected heart attack at the age of 52 has come as a wake-up call for middle aged-men across the country, many of whom took to WhatsApp groups Saturday morning to question their sense of mortality.”

It was an interesting article calling on men to book in that GP visit, take stock of their health, because, in the end, none of us knows how long our innings will last.  But the article, I think, touched upon something else.  That is, deaths of much-loved or well-known public figures in recent times has shone the spotlight on our mortality.  Have you noticed we’re talking more about and being reminded of the issues of mortality?  Even the conversations surrounding COVID-19 were about how awful death is and how we want to avoid it.

In ministry, I’ve lost count of the number of conversations I’ve had surrounding death & mortality, whether its with a grieving family or someone on their deathbed or youth who ask questions about it.  I think this is because as the writer of Ecclesiastes puts it, God “has also set eternity in the human heart”. (Ecclesiastes 3:11) 

This is why people have an inkling - they reckon there’s something more than this life.   I’ve seen that in my Facebook feed the last week which has been filled with ‘RIP Shane Warne’ and ‘RIP Rodney Marsh’. When a person dies we often resort to this simple and hopeful phrase.  

The actor Kevin Costner expressed this when he said:

“I desperately desperately want to believe in eternity. I want to believe that a part of me will continue on after this life and that there’s more to me and this life than just what’s on this earth. Yes I want to believe”

What people express as an inkling, the Bible explains is reality:

“Just as people are destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.” (Hebrews 10:27-28)

There’s no better time than the present to evaluate our mortality, and help people navigate the questions they may have in these moments particularly when it’s someone they’ve looked up to, or someone who they think was taken, ‘far too young’.

As we talk about it with people, we want to show them that there’s One who died and went to the grave, only to defeat death with resurrection life.  And that person is Jesus.  Jesus answers the questions and fears we might have about our mortality, because he has conquered the grave and death so there needs to be no fear in our eternal future.

He’s the one who can guarantee for us our place in eternity with God in his mansion. He says there’s more than enough room and that He can put your name on the door.  In fact that’s exactly what he said to his disciples the night before he would be led off to be crucified.  Read these comforting words Jesus had for his closest friends:

'Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, trust also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.’ 4 You know the way to the place where I am going.” 5 Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?” 6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. (John 14:1-6)

Jesus has the answers. He’s the one who can bring us through death and judgment into heaven. He’s the one who can guarantee for us our place in God’s mansion. And the way he has secured that future is by his own death on the cross. 

Young and old, men and women, cricket devotees and those who should be, if we are serious about answering the question of our own mortality, then believe the One who has gone ahead of us and conquered death for us.