I like funerals! I don’t mean I enjoy them. I mean that I approve of them. I came to that conclusion after burying a person without one yesterday. It was one of those cold, gloomy winter days where the clouds hung like a wet sponge over the earth. They seemed to be waiting for someone to reach up and squeeze the rain out of them. The wind cut to the bone as we stood on the hill of the cemetery. That sad occasion was made sadder still by the fact that no one was there except the funeral director and me. No flowers, no friends, and no family. Just us.
I thought to myself, “This is not right. A person deserves more than this. There should be a service. There should be flowers. There should be friends and family.” This is not the way it should be. Why are funerals important?
1. Funerals are an opportunity to show our respect for the dead. We need to do that. Every person is made in the image of God and deserves to be buried with dignity and respect. I realize that it is the spirit of a person that is made in God’s image. I also realize that at death the body returns to the dust of the earth and the spirit returns to God who made it (Ecclesiastes 12:7). But that doesn’t make the body unimportant. The body is the creation of God. When we become Christians, the body becomes the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit.
The value of the body can be seen in the fact that God created it, the Holy Spirit indwells it, and our Lord will resurrect it. It is important to God. It must be so to us.
2. Funerals are an opportunity to show our love for the living. The way that people respond to death tells you what they think about life. The more we value the living, the more tender and compassionate we are with the dead. In fact, the way people treat their dead is ultimately a reflection of the moral and spiritual principles that dominate their lives. You cannot value life and ignore the dead. A funeral service is an opportunity to express the value and the significance of life through the respect for the dead.
If funerals do nothing for the dead, they do help the living. They are a chance for us to say to people, “We care about you. We share in your sorrow. We count you as important.” There are times we do not know the right words to say. In those times our presence speaks volumes. We are told to “weep with them that weep” (Romans 12:15). The funeral is a time to do that.
3. Funerals are an opportunity to show our faith in God. We Christians do not believe that life ends at the cemetery. We believe Christ who said, “Because I live, you also shall live.” That faith sustains us in hours of sorrow. Paul told us that we should not sorrow “as if we had no hope” (1 Thessalonians 4:13). The funeral is a time to express in words and action our hope in the resurrection and heaven. The world needs to hear that.
I was at the burial that sad day because the funeral director felt someone should be there. I’m glad he asked me. I feel the same way.