Who wants to die right? Not me. What makes death bearable for a lot of us is that we don’t have to think about it most of the time. It always seems so much further off than things that are happening day to day and we can put off thinking about it. I’ve often wondered if people who are closer to death, like people in their 70 and 80s, do mental calculations about the short amount of time they have left and if it frightens them. I wonder if it will frighten me when I reach there (if I reach there).
Harold Crick is a man who’s like most of us, just going through life and not really thinking about death, until one day his life is invaded by a voice from the heavens that begins narrating his life. The voice is scarily accurate and he wonders what is going on. One day his watch stops at the bus stop. He resets it to the time on one of his fellow commuter’s watches and the voice says “Little did he know that this simple seemingly innocuous act would result in his imminent death.” Harold yells “What? What? Hey! HELLOOO! What? Why? Why MY death? HELLO? Excuse me? WHEN?”
This scene sets off a chain of events where in absolute panic he tries to find a way out of his fate. Harold is thinking “I’m not ready! I haven’t thought about it, I’m not prepared! I’ve got the rest of my life to live” even though his life had actually been pretty rubbish up to that point.
To not fear death like Harold does, seems stranger than fiction. But this is the very gift that Christians have; of being able to look toward death with hope.
Hope in death? Yes, the hope that death is not the end, but only the beginning of something much better than what this life has. In this life we struggle with sin; sin that others do to us, sin that we do to others, sin that happens on the news and sin that torments us inside. Life is a battle that is hard and full of temptations, heartache and then you die. The hope the Christian has in death is that we will not be forgotten after we are eaten by worms, but that we will be raised again and made into something new. New life in a resurrected body that will not sin or ache or break down but will go on forever in a place that will have no more pain, sorrow or death and we will be with our great saviour forever!
The more Harold Crick investigated his death and what it would mean, the more he came to terms with it, and when it was time, he was ready. (spoiler alert!!) At the end of the movie, the author of the book about Harold’s death explained why she changed the ending; “Because it's a book about a man who doesn't know he's about to die. And then dies. But if a man does know he's about to die and dies anyway. Dies- dies willingly, knowing that he could stop it, then- I mean, isn't that the type of man who you want to keep alive?”
There is something noble and beautiful about someone who gives up their life for sake of others. Watching Harold willingly go to his death just for the sake of a good story brought a tear to my eye.
And then I thought of Jesus.
He was not corrupted by sin as we are; he did not have to die. He could have lived forever on earth making our lives better by constantly doing miracles and helping others but ultimately it would do us no good, we would still die in our sin and receive God’s just judgment. Jesus willingly went to his death to give us so much more than a good story - forgiveness for our sins and life with him after death. Three days later He rose again and waits to receive us into his eternal kingdom when our heart gives out or we are hit by a bus.
- best romantic pun of all time in this movie too.
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