Living Death

In Johannesburg, South Africa in1993, 24-year old, Sipho William Mdletshe, was involved in a traffic accident and declared dead. His body was placed in a metal box and taken to a mortuary.

Forty-eight hours later, after drifting between consciousness and unconsciousness, Mdletshe slowly became alert enough to realize he was trapped in a box. Terrified, he began screaming for help. Workers in the mortuary heard his shouts and let him out.

I have known a lot of people, who lived their lives like Sipho William Mdletshe. They may not have been placed in a metal box in a mortuary, but they lived their lives in a stupor. Some, literally, dulled their senses with drugs and alcohol and basically lived their lives as sleepwalkers.

Others, like Mdlestshe, suffered injuries in wrecks. Instead of being hit by automobiles, they were hit by people. Humans inflicted abuse upon them. Unlike Mdlestshe, they never cried for help and chose to remain trapped in their boxes.

Jesus is all about death, but it is death to the old life. After that, Jesus wants to create a new life and a new identity rooted in him. Jesus calls you out of the box of death and into life, “I came so that everyone would have life, and have it in its fullest.”