We can be fairly cavalier about death when we're young, but once you feel it brush past you the first time, you're never quite the same.

For me, it happened in 2001, in a hospice in southern England. My mother died at the age of 63, stomach cancer.

It was the morning of September the 15th, 2001 when she died, and of 63, stomach cancer. It was the morning of September the 15th, 2001, when she died,

and of course, four days before that, it was 9-11. I remember there was a little TV at the end of her

bed, so I sat there beside her watching in disbelief as the Twin Towers turned to dust right in front of my eyes, and then immediately to my left,

despite my best efforts, my own mother was effectively turning to dust with them.

And obviously, this is a cliche, I'm almost embarrassed to say it, but when something like this

happens to you, you realise something.

No one lives forever. Not even the ones you love the most. Not even the ones who love you the most.

Not even the young, the rich, the powerful, those men and women who got up as usual that

Tuesday morning to go to work in New York and had no idea

that their lives would be over by lunchtime. The Gospels tell us that Jesus' life was over by

3pm, 2,000 years ago, on a hill outside Jerusalem. The execution was very public. It happened

on a cross, right in front of his loved ones, and also his enemies.

The religious leaders shouted up at him. He saved others, but he can't save himself.

Let him come down now from the cross and we will believe in him.

But as we know, Jesus did not come down from the cross. He died. A Roman soldier thrust a spear deep into his side

just to make sure he was dead. An expert Roman executioner pronounced him dead. His corpse was taken

down, anointed with spices, was wrapped tightly in strips of linen and finally buried

in a tomb. So were the religious leaders right? I mean, if someone can't overcome

death himself, how can he possibly offer life to anyone else? But the historical account

doesn't end there, because Jesus didn't end

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