"Sorry to See You Go!"

Scripture Passage

2 Chronicles 21:8-20; 2 Kings 8:23-29; 2 Chronicles 22:1-7; 2 Kings 9-10:17; 2 Chronicles 22:8-9; 2 Kings 10:18-31

Scripture Focus

No one was sorry when he died. (2 Chronicles 21:20 NLT)

Observation

Well, the whole passage is disheartening today. Jehoram, King of Judah, suffers judgment from God in the form of a fatal disease, and then God uses a man named Jehu to carry out necessary judgment on the dynasties of both Ahab of Israel and Jehoram’s successor, Ahaziah of Judah. There’s much to be warned by and little to rejoice in.

The saddest verse of all, I think, has to be 2 Chronicles 21:20. Speaking of Jehoram, the Bible says, “No one was sorry when he died.” Is that not a remarkable statement?

My responsibilities as a pastor mean it’s not unusual for me to be around when someone dies. Some people deal with death easier than others, I know, but I’ve never known anyone who wasn’t mourned at all. I’ve seen family members relieved when someone dies, because their loved one’s suffering was ended. I’ve seen friends and families rejoice in spite of loss, because they knew the one they loved was now forever in the presence of the Lord. But even in the worst of cases, where the truth was, everyone knew the deceased had lived an absolutely selfish, hateful, egotistical life, it’s amazing how saintly they became upon their death!

Jehoram doesn’t even get that courtesy. No one was sorry when he died.

I don’t want to be there. While I hope anyone present at my funeral knows the hope I have in Christ, and refuses, then, to grieve “as those who have no hope”, still—I’ve got to admit—I hope *somebody* misses me. And I hope nobody’s happy to see me go.

Seems obvious to me that how people feel about me after I’m gone will have a lot to do with how I love them while I’m here. There’s a pretty good strategy to see that I don’t end up in Jehoram’s condition in words Jesus identifies as the greatest commandment ever:

"'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments." (Matthew 22:37-40 NIV)

Sounds like a pretty good plan.