Why the World Weeps for Ozzy but Not for Jesus

A World That Worships Dying Men and Rejects the Risen King

The death of Ozzy Osbourne made my heart ache.
But not for reasons you might first think.

I’ve never seen an episode of The Osbournes.
It’s been years since I last queued up Mama I’m Coming Home or Crazy Train.

But still, as a younger man, there was something about Ozzy’s music I appreciated.

I have always had a love for music that has an emotive quality to it, from classical to even some heavy metal. In Ozzy’s music I could feel something raw, something profoundly human.

And I’ll be honest, in my past, I felt guilty about finding something about his music compelling or moving. As a Christian, I knew full well that Ozzy represented much of what Scripture warns against: self-destruction, spiritual confusion, chaotic indulgence.

And yet, the brokenness in his voice cut through. It was theatrical, yes, but it was also deeply personal. I didn’t admire his life. But I felt something in his pain.

He sounded like a man unraveling in real time. A man that was constantly fearful and anxious, and created a larger than life persona to try and protect the scared child on the inside.

And that sound still echoes in his music that lives on.

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The World’s Worship Is Misplaced, But Not Accidental

In the wake of his death, the tributes have poured in. Words like godfather, icon, and legend, thrown around with little hesitation.

• “He held on to give us one last goodbye.”

• “He loved us so much he suffered to give us one more performance.”

• “He was a light in the darkness.”

I don’t question the sincerity. I get the grief. A broken man, that in some way, so many could identify with. He seemed to have a good heart underneath the crazy.

But I also see the spiritual confusion reflected in the outpouring of grief and tributes.

The world knows how to worship.
It just doesn’t know who to worship.

Ozzy could move people with a song.
But he could not save them.

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We Weep at a Final Performance, but Not at a Final Breath

What I find heartbreaking is this:

We will exalt, mourn and worship a broken man pouring out his last breath to entertain us…

…but we will not bow to the Son of God who poured out every drop of blood to redeem us.

Ozzy's final performance is called heroic.

But Christ’s final triumphant cry of “It is finished” is dismissed or ritualized.

Ozzy was rolled out on stage in pain. He was venerated because he refused painkillers, and suffered in agonizing pain to be able to deliver one last performance with a clear mind.

Jesus, after suffering brutal torture, refused painkillers as he hung on the cross, pouring out every last ounce of love, strength and life to complete his sacrifice.

One offered music.
The other offered salvation.

Yet one is exalted in death.

The other is still ignored.

One artist, in tragic irony said about Ozzy: “Your cross around my neck is the most precious thing I own."

I can’t help but think of Jesus weeping over Jerusalem.

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Yes, I Ache for Ozzy, but More So for a Blind World

I don’t mourn Ozzy the icon. I mourn Ozzy the man.

Because I don’t know if he ever found peace.

I don’t know if the man who spoke about hell like a joke ever truly met the One who could save him from it, or just treated Christianity like a safety net.

And deeper than that, I mourn a world that weeps for fading stars but won’t weep for their own souls.

A world that:

• Clings to nostalgia but rejects the New Creation

• Loves the cross as a fashion symbol but not as a call to die to self

• Preaches a gospel of self-love and affirmation but not repentance and resurrection

We cling to nostalgia because it offers comfort. The thought of death and eternity, on the other hand, can be quite overwhelming.

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I Say These Things as a Man Who Still Wrestles

Please hear me on this:

I don’t speak from a pedestal. I’m not immune to the struggle.

I’ve wrestled with destructive patterns in my own life. I’ve tasted conviction and run from it. I’ve spoken boldly for Christ in public, then battled doubt in private.

I love Jesus deeply, and I still feel flawed.

But I’ve come to see that the ache I carry, the one I used to hide, isn’t a disqualification.

It’s a signal. A reminder. A thread that leads back to the cross.

I don’t speak hard truths because I think I’m above anyone.
I speak them because they save me.

Because without the weight of conviction, I never would have come to truly understand the depth of the love and mercy of Christ.

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This Is Why I Reject a Hollow Gospel

People sometimes misunderstand me.

They say I sound harsh.
Too serious. Too heavy.

Why not preach love?
Why not just be kind?
Why bring up things like judgment or sin or the cost of discipleship?

Because I love too much to sell a hollow gospel.
Because caramel popcorn Christianity can’t save anybody.

Because Jesus didn’t die to make us comfortable.
He died to make us new.

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The Cross Is Heavy, But Glory Exceeds It

Yes, we are saved by grace.
No, we cannot earn salvation.

But grace isn’t passive. It calls us into obedience, repentance, and the willingness to die to the old self this world so desperately tells us to protect.

“If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.” — Luke 9:23

That call is hard.

But it leads to something Ozzy could never offer:

Liberty today, through forgiveness of (repented) sins.

But, more than that, the offer is Eternal life.

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I Will Not Preach a Gospel That Leaves People Lost

I ache for Christ. For the constant rejection that still exists today.
And I ache for the lost. Because, salvation is still available.

I ache for people who will pour their worship on men like Ozzy, because his pain felt honest and relatable… but will never bow to the One whose suffering can actually save them.

I will not soften that message. I can’t, because it would be untrue.

And, ultimately, there is a King who poured Himself out in the most unjust death in history, not for applause, but for atonement.

Not to give us entertainment, but to give us eternity.

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If You’ve Read This Far…

…then maybe something in your spirit knows the truth.

Maybe you’ve felt the ache too.

Maybe you’re tired of candy-coated Christianity.

Maybe you want something deeper than sentimental songs and Instagram-ready grace.

Submitting to Christ is not easy.

Taking up our cross is costly.

But, the price we pay, pales in comparison to the price he paid with his cross.

And love?

The love of JESUS is stronger than death, deeper than despair, and more real than any song ever sung by a broken man with a microphone.

Do not look to the past and dying men for comfort.

Look to the one who offers an eternal future, and this day, and every day we have left on earth, sits at God’s right hand, advocating for us.