I never spoke one word to Tucker to my memory. I saw him play church basketball a couple times and saw him at some social gatherings in high school, but he probably would not know who I was if you had asked him.
All day I have been asking myself the question, "If I didn't know him so well, why is this situation so troubling to me?" I wasn't this distraught when my grandmother passed away. I wasn't even close with many of his friends.
Here are a few things I have been able to wrap my head around.
1. Tucker was young and it is always sad to see someone die so young
2. I wasn't horribly close with my grandmother and she was old when she died. Her funeral was a celebration of her long life, while Tucker's will be one of sadness and mourning.
3. Because I grew up in the general area he did I see the outpouring of emotion all over social media.
This outpouring has been more than local. Yik Yak, a social media outlet normally used to bully people and post crude things anonymously exploded with updates and support for the family, friends and school. My cousin who attends Florida State University said the news had reached her Yik Yak.
Clemson started a hashtag called #Orange4Tucker encouraging students around the state to wear orange on Tuesday, to honor his life.
So in my thinking about this today I asked myself
A: What does our society tell us about death?
B: What does Jesus have to say about death
C: And How should we react?
A: The most common fear among people around the world (along with public speaking) is death. People do not want to die. Most people do not wake up in the morning thinking they might die that day. In fact, scientists everyday do everything they can to expand the life span of humans, to avoid death. Death is sad, sudden and in no way just.
I have not had anyone extremely close to me pass away before so I cannot completely know how any of his close friends and family are feeling. Tucker's death is a tragedy, happened incredibly quickly and in no way just. The people closest to him will not get to hug him again or hear his voice and it's just not fair. And I hurt for those people.
B: With that in mind I turn to what Jesus has to say about death and bring it back to the most important event in the history of mankind, Jesus' death on the cross. Jesus' death was also tragic, sudden (but prolonged), and in no way just. Three days before his death, on Palm Sunday, he rode into town with people praising him.
John 12:13 "So they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him, crying out, Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel!"
6 chapters later in John 18 Jesus is betrayed by Judas and arrested.
(I'm sure many of you have heard this story before but bear with me).
He is then betrayed by the same people who had praised him the previous Sunday, who chose to free Barabbas the robber instead of Jesus.
Bear in mind, while Jesus (in his human form) walked on the Earth he did not sin, but temptation and the sin of the world was still all around him. Jesus was tempted in the desert by Satan for forty days (Matthew 4:1-11)and betrayed by one of his disciples and people who had previously praised him.
At this point I imagine Jesus felt in a sense a little bit abandoned and hurt by those people, but he put his trust in his Heavenly Father and trusted him.
Even before his arrest Jesus prayed to his Father that he might not have to bear the cross.
Matthew 26: 38-39 "Then he said to them (Peter and the two sons of Zebedee) 'My soul is very sorrowful, even to death; remain here and watch with me.' And going a little farther he fell on face and prayed saying, 'My Father if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless not as I will, but as you will."
God is silent in this passage, which in some way may have made Jesus feel distant from him, which in turn is also how many of us feel a lot of the time.
Jesus then takes his place on the cross and bears a gruesome, torturous death full of mockery and pain during which he bore the sins of mankind. The sin on him became so ugly God the Father turned his back on his Son, leaving Jesus dying and completely abandoned.
Matthew 27: 45:46 "Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour. And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice , saying, 'Eli, Eli, lena sabacthani?' that is, 'My God, my God why have you forsaken me?"
But as we all know the story doesn't end there. Three days later Jesus rose, finishing all remains of sin and death.
C: From all accounts I have heard Tucker was a good Christian guy. His death comes as a story of sadness and it is completely to understand and question why God would take Tucker. But more importantly, to ask those questions understanding that God is sovereign and powerful and loves us all very much.
One of my favorite songs that I have come to learn in recent years at school is called From The Depths of Woe from Psalm 130. The last verse reads.
5. Though great our sins and sore our woes
His grace much more aboundeth;
His helping love no limit knows,
Our upmost need it soundeth.
Our Shepherd good and true is He,
Who will at last His Israel free
His grace much more aboundeth;
His helping love no limit knows,
Our upmost need it soundeth.
Our Shepherd good and true is He,
Who will at last His Israel free
From all their sin and sorrow(All their sin and sorrow)
From all their sin and sorrow(All their sin and sorrow).
From all their sin and sorrow(All their sin and sorrow).
It is times of pain and sorrow where Jesus works the most and where we can learn to grow in his grace and love.
In John 16 Jesus says to his disciples "Truly, truly I say to you, you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice. You will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn into joy. When a woman is giving birth, she has sorrow because her hour has come, but when she has delivered the baby she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world. So also you have sorrow now, but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you.
Tucker's death was in no way just and as his death is grieved and many people may be questioning God, rest in the fact that he will be seen again someday. Rest in the fact that God is loving and sent his Son to destroy sin so that one day we may live in joy with him.
