In America, our view of aging and dying
has shifted throughout the generations. Due to continuous medical advances and
economic influences, individuals are living longer as medical interventions
promote recovery from illness, even major illnesses, and slow the eventual
decent to death. Care for the elderly has been relegated to hospitals and
nursing homes as family systems have morphed over the years. Independence in
aging is a goal to be achieved, but the weakness that comes with its gradual
breakdown is an embarrassment to be managed.[1]
This embarrassment flows over into death and burials, where Christian burial
rituals have shifted from hands on care for their loved ones in their last
days, and accompanying them with singing to their final resting place, to passing
off the dead to funeral directors, removing the deceased from funeral services,
and replacing the funeral ritual with a “disembodied, quasi-gnostic cluster of
customs and ceremonies.” In short, since the late 19th century, many
Protestant Christians “lost their eschatological nerve and vibrant faith in the
after life,”[2]
and are failing to embrace the mysterious journey into the Eternal. This lack
of eschatological nerve is also seen in our burial practices, as many Christian
Americans are processed in funeral homes to ensure a “pleasant look” for
friends and family to view, and as the deceased lie in a metal casket
impervious to the elements, both in its initial structure and then furthermore
in its burial structure within a cement vault. With such extreme measures taken
to ensure one’s remains never touch the dirt, I can only wonder what are our
core theological beliefs about death?[3]
Many Christians espouse belief in Jesus
Incarnate. We celebrate His birth, emulate his life, and desire to love God and
others the way he did. Our greatest hope lies in the victory because the tomb
is empty. Celebrating the empty tomb is the pinnacle of Christian worship. It
is the hope we cling to. It’s the theology most preached. While it is accurate
the tomb is empty and death has been conquered, I wonder if we miss an integral
part or God’s redemptive plan when we fail to embrace the mystery and beauty in
Christ’s actual death? While I am still formulating the scriptural and
theological details, I firmly believe Jesus redeemed even the physical act of
death when he died on the cross.
Examining creation, it is evident that
whether on land, sea, or air, life flows in a cycle: reproduction, birth, life,
decay, and death. We see this cycle represented in plants, animals, and humans.
It is the natural order of the created realm. Physical death did not simply
enter the world through sin. Death was already present, but it did not have the
spiritual separation component and the painful sting that accompanied the fall.
Jesus life is evidence of this truth, in that he came, fully human and lived a
perfect sinless life. That life included death. His redemptive work began in
the womb and flowed through physical death into resurrection. Not only did he
achieve victory over sin and spiritual death, he achieved redemption over
physical death in and through his death on the cross. His submission to his
Father’s numbering of his days is a model for us. His burial, carefully
conducted by loved ones, is also a model for us.
Jesus showed us how to both live and how to die as human beings. If we
begin to see his redemptive work through his complete willingness and trust in
his Father’s plans, which includes death, maybe we can stop side stepping death
by moving to the empty tomb, and begin acknowledging his redemptive reality for
every aspect of our eternal humanity? Maybe we can begin embracing end of life
deterioration as normal? Maybe we can once again embrace and care for our
elderly, honoring them in life and death? Maybe we can embrace our dust origins
and our eventual return to dust, in a more holistic way that avoids toxins,
invasive medical procedures, and vacuum sealing of our dead so as to avoid
deterioration into the earth? Maybe we can begin asking the challenging
questions and engaging in taboo topics so as to more fully embrace a robust
perspective of redemption? Maybe then, we can begin living the abundant life
Jesus promises, while no longer fearing the deterioration and resting of our
bodies as they await their resurrected state upon Christ’s return? I have to
believe that as we begin to wrestle with these hard concepts, pastoral care in
life, dying, and death will enable a richer and fuller experience of God’s
abiding presence in the lives of Christ’s followers.
[1] Atul Gwande. Being
Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End (New York: Metropolitan Books,
2014) 21, 22, 28.
[2] Thomas G. Long. Accompany Them With Singing: The Christian Funeral (Louisville, KY:
Westminster Press, 2013), 72.
[3] Mark Harris. Grave
Matters: A Journey Through The Modern Funeral Industry to a Natural Way of
Burial (New York: Scribner, 2007), 7-47.
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