The Day of the Living

I was recently in a store’s Halloween section, looking for some fake vampire teeth to wear when I go to the dentist – which appointment happens to be on October 31st. There I noticed some gaily colored ceramic skulls, clustered in a display that bore the label, “El Día de los Muertos” – The Day of the Dead. When I see such displays, or see videos of parades which celebrate that day (as in the opening sequence of the James Bond movie, Spectre) I think to myself, “How macabre and ghoulish! Skulls and skeletons!” (Unlike fake vampire teeth, which are absolutely normal and sane . . .)

“El Día de los Muertos” is a holiday celebrated in Mexico and in Mexican communities in the U.S. The holiday is celebrated for the purpose of helping people remember and honor their deceased ancestors and loved ones. It’s also a chance to dress up in costumes and party, and I believe, it performs one other function: it lets people laugh at death, thereby allowing them relief from death’s tragedy and inevitability – if only for a short while. Like Halloween, which lets people mock death and all kinds of scary, nightmare-inducing monsters (like vampires), the Mexican holiday seeks to control death and its scariness by an in-your-face attitude. What we can laugh at or reduce to manageable decorations and activities, can no longer frighten us or harm us . . . or so we think.

Of course, death is a reality. Since becoming a pastor, I have conducted 161 funerals, and assisted with one before that. I have also said good-bye to my parents, Karen’s father, and all my aunts and uncles. I led services for seven of those family members. Even today, as I write this, we received word that one of our church members we have known for a long time just passed away. Death is, as said by Ben Franklin, as inevitable as taxes. (This from a guy who supposedly flew a kite in a thunderstorm with a metal key attached to the string.)

Of course, we didn’t need old Ben to teach us that. It has been the human experience throughout history, and when we seek God’s Word on the matter, we read that the inevitability of death fulfills the warning given to our first parent, Adam, in Genesis 2:17, “but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” As we know, Adam and Eve broke that one prohibition, so judgment was pronounced on them and all their descendants: “till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return” (Genesis 3:19). That God’s curse has continued is taught in Scripture: “For as in Adam all die” (1 Corinthians 15:22); and “Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned” (Romans 5:12); and “[I]t is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment” (Hebrews 9:27).

So given death’s hold on mankind and all other living creatures, how do we “laugh” at death? Do we dress up and wear vampire teeth or place ceramic skulls around the house? (Vampire teeth, maybe yes; the rest, maybe not.) The answer to how we deal with death is to recognize that Jesus Christ has overcome death, and is alive today, bodily risen. Death could not hold him (Acts 2:24), nor will it hold those who are in him. When I quoted the above verses on the inevitability of death, I intentionally left off some portions of the verses. The Corinthians passage which says, “For as in Adam all die” continues with, “so also in Christ shall all be made alive.  But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ” (verses 22-23). Likewise, the Romans 5 passage continues a few verses later by saying, “For if, because of one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ.” We affirm our faith in Christ’s resurrection, and our own future resurrections whenever we proclaim the Apostles’ Creed: “I believe . . . . in the resurrection of the body, and in the life everlasting,” or the Nicene Creed: “We look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come.”

A lot can be found in Scripture about our resurrections, but let me just read what Paul wrote in his first epistle to the Thessalonians: “For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord” (verses 16-17). Likewise, 1 Corinthians 15:25-26 affirms Christ’s victory: “For [Christ] must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death.”

Given our eventual victory over death, how do we respond to that good news? I have a suggestion: instead of celebrating “El Día de los Muertos,” why not celebrate “El Día de los Vivos,” or, “The Day of the Living”? I would love to take credit for that clever suggestion, but the truth is, we already have such a day. It’s called, All Saints Day, and the Church celebrates it every November 1st. On that day (or the Sunday closest to it), Christians remember all the saints (that is all believers in Christ) who have died and have already gone to be with their Lord. Those departed saints are alive and living in Christ’s presence, waiting for his return and the great day of Resurrection to come. With those living on earth, those living in heaven will be clothed in everlasting bodies, free from all illnesses, pain, sin, or death. In some churches, the list of the year’s departed is solemnly read. In others we pray, not to get the dead into heaven, but to thank God for their lives among us and for the promise of eternal life.

Yes, we have such a day – but actually, we have a lot of “Days of the Living.” Every Sunday is a celebration of Christ’s resurrection and therefore his victory over death. Every Sunday, we celebrate what that means for us and for our beloved saints who have gone before us: that eternal life awaits all who are in Christ.

That’s why death does not frighten us. That’s why we don’t laugh at death as if it doesn’t end earthly lives, break up families, and cause so much pain and suffering. It’s not our bravery that gives us hope – and peace – in the face of death, but the promises of God fulfilled in the resurrection of the One who came to pay the price of our forgiveness and future glory. 

That’s why I can enter the Halloween and Muertos season without worry! That is, except for my dental visit . . . maybe I shouldn’t play around with those vampire teeth; what if the dentist decides to pull them . . .

Now may the Lord bless you and keep you, the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you, the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. Amen.

Read: 1 Corinthians 15, 1 Thessalonians 4