Dependence and Death with John Stott
Drawing from the writing of the late John Stott, Caleb Yap reflects on how all Christians are called to a life of following and depending on God, even in death.
It may be hard to imagine the great preacher and church leader, John Stott, when he described himself as “spreadeagled on the floor, completely dependent on others” after a devastating fall in 2006. The fall shattered his hip and left him incapacitated and unable to walk, much less preach.
Stott was in his early nineties when he wrote The Radical Disciple. Of the experience of ageing and infirmity he wrote strikingly, “this is where, from time to time, the radical disciple needs to be. I believe that the dependence involved in these experiences can be used by God to bring about greater maturity in us.”
Following Jesus as we age
The Radical Disciple marked the end to Stott’s prolific writing career. It spanned such classics as The Cross of Christ and Between Two Worlds.
He identified eight characteristics of the radical follower of Jesus: non-conformity, Christlikeness, maturity, creation-care, simplicity, balance, dependence and death. The final two of these hold much wisdom for all who wish to finish well in Jesus.
We can easily think, as many do, that the stages of life where we lose mobility and independence may mean we lose something fundamental to ourselves. This is understandable. Being unable to exercise freedom and autonomy, we may be tempted to close our minds to new lessons God is teaching us.
Through Stott, those in our eighties, seventies, sixties and below have an admirable example to consult. But these lessons of dependence, of course, apply to others besides the elderly.
They could speak to someone ill, feeling ill, or someone differently-abled. It may also have wisdom for those who serve as caregivers or in caring professions. They challenge the very way we think about what it means to be human.
Following Jesus in dependence
The “dignity of dependence”, Stott argues, is manifested in the full humanity of Christ. In His incarnation, Jesus Christ, the God-man, was born through a birth canal as an infant entirely dependent on the care and service of others. In His crucifixion, Christ Jesus was just as helpless, bound to the beams by cruel nails and by divine love, for the sake of sinners.
“In the person of Christ we learn that dependence does not, cannot, deprive a person of their dignity, of their supreme worth.”
(John Stott)
Stott writes, “in the person of Christ we learn that dependence does not, cannot, deprive a person of their dignity, of their supreme worth.”
After reframing a life of dependence for us, Stott goes on to challenge us to think hard without shirking about what comes next.
Following Jesus in death
Death, he argues, must be seen in relation to salvation, discipleship, mission, persecution, martyrdom and mortality. He concedes that “death is unnatural and unpleasant… it presents us with a terrible finality.”
“The radical biblical perspective is to see death not as the termination of life but as the gateway to life.”
(John Stott)
Yet he insists that “the radical biblical perspective is to see death not as the termination of life but as the gateway to life.”
As he turns the readers’ eyes away from what we lose in dependence, Stott asks us not to look at what we lose in death, but what we gain as we follow Jesus into both:
Our salvation in Jesus makes us alive to God as He gives up His life for us.
Discipleship to Jesus means we put to death our sins as we live to the Spirit.
Our death in Christian mission is radical sacrifice to live without ease and comfort for the sake of Jesus’ gospel.
We embrace persecution, even unto death, for Jesus’ sake.
Even martyrdom is not loss, but the gain of a “special honor… accorded to them in the new world”.
Indeed, mortality is the only thing we give up in death as resurrection ushers into immortality in Christ.
Praise God for the testimony of The Radical Disciple and the model of a senior saint who even unto the end, teaches us to follow the Master.
If you’d like to read the two chapters on “Dependence” and “Death”, you can do so here.