I am one of three boys in my family. I being the middle of the three. However, all that remains are my younger brother, Paul, and myself. My Dad passed away in 1986 of lung cancer, my older brother in 2011 from a cerebral hemorrhage and my Mom in 2015 at the age of 90. All three are buried together in a cemetery in Toms River, NJ. My parents are buried in a crypt and my brother with them, but he was cremated.
Elise has been after me over the last several years to let her know where I would like to be buried. It seems in the last few decades it has become sort of “cool” to be somewhat flippant about what an individual would like to have done with their bodies after death. Generally people profess to want cremation and scattering of ashes in some unusual location. In essence, downplaying the significance of their death. I assume it coincides with the general drifting away from a belief in God. No reason, in their mind, to occupy space where no one will ever visit. No need for permanence.
But in reading today’s section from Genesis 49 and 50 we get some insight as to how choosing a resting site is a “grave” matter (pun intended). Jacob is lying on his death bed and his foremost thought, after blessing his sons, is where he will be laid to rest. He tells his sons to bury him in the field where his ancestors are buried. It is the field and cave that Abraham purchased from Ephron the Hittite (Chapter 23 of Genesis). Abraham was residing in the land of Canaan. The land God had promised to him and his descendants. But he was a stranger in the land at this point in the story. And now, Sarah has died. Where is she to be laid to rest? No funeral pre-panning in Canaan apparently. Abraham was a nomad. He travelled with his family, flocks and herds. It is typical for nomads to bury their dead where they lie. And move on continuing in their wanderings.
But Abraham believed in what God had promised in the covenant. To bring him to a land flowing with milk and honey and there He would establish a people with Abraham as the Father of all. In Chapter 23 (worth reading) Abraham goes into lengthy negotiations with Ephron for the land. Why? Because of hope and trust. Hope Abraham has in God’s word and God’s plan. If he did not trust what God promised there would be no need to set up roots in Canaan. And there are no deeper roots then when you bury your loved ones in a place. He was not just buying a plot for Sarah. He was also establishing, with firm certainty, a future home for the Israelites.
Sarah and Abraham, Isaac, Rebekah, Jacob and Joseph, along with their families, would be buried here. For the Israelites, the graves of their ancestors symbolize the hope and trust they had placed in God and His faithfulness to His promises. The promise to bring them to this land, to make for them a great nation, to have an eternal king spring up from the line of David. But here is the irony. It is the full graves of Abraham’s descendants that eventually lead to the empty tomb of Christ’s resurrection. Our hope no longer lies in where the bodies of our relatives lie but in the fact that God lived as a Man, died as a Man and rose from His tomb to eternal life. That is now our hope and promise. Our roots ultimately lie in our reunion with God in heaven because of Jesus dying and rising for us.
And my answer to Elise about what my wishes are after I die (she obviously ASSUMES that I am dying first)? While my ultimate destination does not rely on where my body lies, I would still like to follow in the ways of Jacob. To lie with my ancestors…my immediate ones anyway. A reunion in body with the hope of a reunion of souls.
