“Hey, I’m going to a funeral , do you want to come?”
I’m not surprised by the answers I got from my kids and you
wouldn’t be either.
I said it jokingly (is that wrong to joke about a funeral?),
knowing they are here to celebrate a newborn baby, whom they will love forever,
not to mourn the passing of a well-lived long life of a Christian whom they (nor
I for that matter) never knew.
While the humor may be a tad morbid, it is ironic that we
Christians can puzzle over a Biblical truth that says the day of one’s death is
better than the day of one’s birth.* Irony is also found in that the most
cynical and pessimistic book of the Bible, Ecclesiastes, is written by one of
the most celebrated, richest, indulgent and even wisest human in the Bible.
Irony and but not surprise is fond that even today, we see a
man who just a few years ago claimed he was winning when he clearly was not now
has HIV and a mess of legal problems. My
prayer is that he will now seek and find God and truly be winning.
Not all will give birth to a baby, that blessed event. Not
all births are joyful nor are all lives blessed or even at the end thought to
be worth living. Or even worthy of living. Some deaths of notoriously evil
persons are indeed celebrated. You yourself may have even envisioned driving
hours to dance on a grave of someone who has hurt you.
But a funeral message for the believer can be surprisingly uplifting.
And someday, from heaven’s perspective, we may see the wisdom of Solomon after
all. And truly be …
… surprised.
