4 years ago today, on January, 26, 2020 which was a Sunday, Kobe Bryant woke up, quickly got his 13-year old daughter Gigi ready, and rushed to catch the 7am mass service at their local parish, Our Lady Queen of Angels in Newport beach, CA. They snuck in and stayed towards the back to remain unnoticed and minimize distraction as was Kobe’s habit because of his celebrity. After they took communion, they rushed off before the service ended to John Wayne Airport to catch a helicopter flight to Thousand Oaks, where Kobe had his Mamba Academy basketball school, and he was the coach of his daughter’s team. Conditions were so foggy that even the LAPD choppers were grounded that day, but they were cleared to fly.

The Pilot Ara Zobayan was an extremely experienced, reputable pilot with thousands of hours behind him. He knew the area like the back of his hand. In fact, he’d just made the exact same flight the day before. The flight took off just after 9am, foggy conditions meant unexpected delays, they even had to circle around LA Zoo area for about 15 minutes due to heavy air traffic. During that delay, the pilot requests to fly by Special Visual Flight Rules (SVFR), which would allow him to fly by sight rather than the flight instruments on the helicopter. Air Traffic Control approves his request at 9:33am and they continue pushing through.

But the fog seems to be getting worse as they’re following their course along the 101. 11 minutes later, at 9:44 they’re flying at 1100 feet, and begin a quick 40 second climb to 2150 feet. Suddenly, the helicopter appears to be turning around as though the pilot looks like he’s turning back, and it starts plummeting fast—800 feet in 15 seconds—straight into the hillside at 184 mph. One eyewitness said he heard a helicopter sputtering and flying really low, and then suddenly a big bang, followed by a massive fireball a few seconds later. \”No one could survive that,\” he said. Kobe Bryant, his 13-year-old daughter, Gianna, John Altobelli, his wife Kerri, and their 13-year-old daughter, Alyssa, Sarah Chester and her 13-year-old daughter, Payton, Christina Mauser, and Ara Zobayan, the pilot, killed. 9 lives gone, instantly, and unexpectedly in a horrific helicopter accident that will live on in history because of the celebrity it was carrying.

I remember we’d just finished our worship service that Sunday, I walked off the stage, and a young man in our church walks up to me, and I could see something was wrong on his face as he’s approaching, tears welling up in his eyes and he says, \”Kobe’s dead.\” I thought he was joking—a sick—very early April fool’s joke—I said, \”what do you mean Kobe’s dead?!\” And then I look at my phone, and see all the breaking news notifications that were pouring in. This couldn’t be true—how could the guy whose career/life I’ve followed for 20 years be dead? The guy who I idolized as a kid and came to admire as a man?! The guy who I started following the game of basketball because of when I was in the 6th grade?! A man who became a worldwide legend because of the body of work that he put into being the best basketball player in the world. His competitive drive and relentlessness to outwork his opponents and to do anything to win not only gained him 5 championships with the Lakers, MVPs’, scoring titles, and countless records, but legions of adoring fans around the world.

In China the next day, in two hours alone there were 2.4 billion mentions of his death on Weibo—which is their equivalent of Twitter. His mental toughness made him a legend—the Mamba Mentality—which now lives on in a generation of players who’ve been mentored by him, and by fans all around the world. He would do anything to beat his opponents on the court—to take the life out of them—and he did—he was an assassin—last minute game winners with defenders draping all over him—record scoring streaks—buckets—he left no stone unturned on the court in his career. And what makes his sudden death a million times more heartbreaking is the 8 other lives that were lost. There are no words to describe what kind of pain the loved ones of those who died experienced in that moment, and no doubt continue to experience through today.

But the thought I just can’t seem to shake about this shocking tragedy is how a guy that was able to beat any obstacle that stood between him and winning on the basketball court—a guy who sucked the life out of opposing teams and players, a guy who beat anyone and everyone, 1 on 1, 1 on 5, even when all the odds were stacked against him—could not beat death. He could not beat death. Because no one can beat death. However it comes for you and whenever it comes for you—it’s humanly impossible. It doesn’t matter how physically strong you are, it doesn’t matter how mentally tough you are, mamba mentality or not.

But there is someone who did beat death. There is someone who did conquer the grave. There is someone who rose again from death to life and promises the same to everyone who comes to him by faith and it is Jesus the Son and Savior of God. And that’s what we’re gonna see this morning as we look at this story in the Gospel of Mark.

Jesus is compassionate and merciful not only to heal, but in his rich mercy, to even raise the dead, physically in this case, but more importantly in final resurrection glory for all those who believe in him—including your loved ones who’ve died in him—all who believe have and hold this hope in their hearts. But you must trust him and trust in him. You must believe him and believe in him. You must have faith in him.

You don’t need to have a perfect faith, which is impossibly humanly speaking. But you need some measure of faith, true faith. A true faith in Jesus which can only come from a true knowledge of his person as God and of his work as substitute in your place for sin.