What a strange instruction. Choose a funeral over fun? Really? It seems so counter-cultural. It’s definitely not how we usually live. We live for the craic. We are drawn to the laughter of others. Comedians can fill stadiums. They’re the new rock stars. Yet for the last 10 days their voices have been silenced. Silly has been replaced by somber. This is a rare moment for this nation. Our minds have been focused on death. People have queued for hours to pause briefly at the coffin of Queen Elisabeth 2.
By the end of today (I’m writing this the morning of the Queen’s funeral) the period of national mourning will have come to an end. Death will again become a taboo subject and we will again hurry to the house of feasting. But let’s not hurry too quickly from the house of mourning. Have we really benefited from our time there? Have we felt the better for being there? But you may ask what benefit is there to all this gloom? How can tears of sadness be better that tears of joy? The rest of the verse tells us,
Did you hear the benefit of being in the house of mourning? As we spend time there, we are reminded that death is the destiny of us all. You and I will die. Is it any wonder that we would choose the house of feasting over what would remind us of our death? But before you rush away, allow the full benefits of that thought to soak into your bones.
To live without any thought of your death is not wise. To think that you would escape the destiny of all is beyond wishful thinking. It’s a fantasy for any of us to expect that we will not go the way of all the earth. The death of the Queen should wake us from the fantasy that riches or fame will keep death from our door.
Whether it is a castle door of hovel without a door, death will come.
What a somber thought. If death is our destiny what’s the point? Why should we not just eat, drink and enjoy life while we live? Is there not a case to be made for distracting ourselves with feasting for tomorrow we die? That might a good course of action if death were the end. But it’s not. We are eternal beings and we know it.
Death comes to us all because we are all of the same family. For all that would separate us from the Queen, be it politics, nationality, wealth or status we share a common connection. We are all of Adam’s family. By our birth we inherit death from him. But (and here’s where real feasting can begin) in Jesus Christ we will be made alive. That’s the wonderful joyful point of the first passage read at the Queen’s funeral by Baroness Scotland (I thought she read it like she believed it).
Jesus’ death and resurrection from the dead has transformed the house of morning to become the house of feasting for those who trust in him. The drawn blinds have been flung up. The black clothing replaced with bright colours. The deadly silence with shouts of joy.
It’s as if when you walk into the house of mourning, you are shown through it to the party in the garden out the back. Death has been swallowed up in victory. When someone dies in Christ the pain and grief is real for their loved ones yet in this house of mourning you can faintly hear the music coming from the party out the back. Through death, then feasting for those who are in Christ.
While next door in the house of feasting, the music and laughter is turned up so high to drowned out the noise from eternal grief and pain out the back of that house. Through frivolous feasting to eternal mourning for those who don’t trust in Christ. We are in danger of amusing ourselves to death.
Let’s not waste these more somber moments. Let’s not just think of the Queen’s death but our own death. On that day it’s very unlikely there will be a state funeral with thousands crowding the streets but there will be a funeral. There will be a house of mourning. Tears will be shed. The question is: will the faint strains of joyful music and shouts of joy from the feast out the back of that house be heard. Through death then feasting for those who are in Christ.
“For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive”
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