WHAT GOOD IS A FUNERAL? -- Devotional for August 12, from "Good Seeds"

In the year King Uzziah died I saw the Lord. (Isaiah 6:1)

After officiating at the funeral of my friend’s father, I found myself wandering through the back halls of the mortuary. I came across a beautiful plaque on a table with these words inscribed on it (No, I didn’t steal it…at my request a secretary made a photocopy of it for me!)

THE FUNERAL…
#1 is a sociological statement that a death has occurred.
#2 helps confirm the reality and finality of death.
#3 provides a climate for mourning and the expressions of grief.
#4 allows the sorrows of one to become the sorrows of many.
#5 is one of the few times love is given and not expected in return.
#6 is a vehicle for the community to pay its respects.
#7 is a celebration of a life that has been lived well.
#8 encourages the affirmation of religious faith.

I showed this list to another friend who will be burying his mother tomorrow. As he looked it over he said, “There’s one more that you do, Steve, that seems to be missing from this list…
#9 is a perfect time and place to share the message of salvation. The list did mention the affirmation of religious faith, but that sounds more like a church service than a funeral. At a Sunday morning worship time you can pretty well expect the majority of the people to be in agreement with the preacher. It would be a little different in the case of an evangelistic service held at the local fairgrounds, or a street meeting with a brave soul shouting out his testimony of Jesus against catcalls and traffic noise. A funeral is like that: you have people in the pews or at the graveside who have come out of a sense of duty to pay their respects to the deceased, or out of love to say goodbye to a dear one, but who never intended to subject themselves to a Bible sermon. They would never purposely go anywhere near the preaching of the gospel – and yet, here they are, sitting, hopefully listening, to what the preacher has to say. What is he saying, anyway? Well, any pastor worth his calling had better be talking about eternal things, and not just things of this earth, and about one of earth’s residents who has just taken up residence elsewhere! There’s nothing wrong with the above list (even if it was written to boost the undertakings of the undertaker!), but any funeral that stops short of giving clear directions to the heavenly gates, and how to get off the road to perdition, that talks about man’s goodness but neglects God’s grace, might as well stop at #1: “Yep, sure enough: looks like someone has died!” The funeral preacher’s job is to help turn the eyes of the grieving ones away from their King Uzziah, and onto King Jesus!