Remembrance

 DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW

REMEMBRANCE

Matt 23:29-32

29 "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You build tombs for the prophets and decorate the graves of the righteous. 30 And you say, 'If we had lived in the days of our forefathers, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.' 31 So you testify against yourselves that you are the descendants of those who murdered the prophets. 32 Fill up, then, the measure of the sin of your forefathers!

NIV

It was not uncommon to decorate the tomb of someone in an effort to give them honor for the life they lived, for their character of righteous living. Jesus is condemning their actions in doing this because by their actions they are also saying that if they had lived during those times they would not have taken part in the shedding of the blood of the prophets, but in fact, that is exactly what they are going to do. This is what Jesus meant by telling them to fill up the measure of the sin of their forefathers. They were going to take part in the shedding of his blood, a prophet, yet more than a prophet, the Son of God, the prophet of all prophets. How does that, if it does, apply to us? We as a people certainly honor our forefathers in some ways. The more famous of them have statues built in their honor. Of course, in more modern times there has been turmoil in our nation with some folks thinking those memorials should be broken down and have done so to dishonor those forefathers, thus judging their lives as sinful and broken. They would want to rewrite the history of our nation, judging those of the past by their standards of today. Yet, in their acts of dishonoring those individuals by smashing their memorials, they have taken part in the same hatred and prejudices they judge those forefathers of. But do we take part in any way in that kind of thinking? Certainly, we do not want to dishonor our dead forefathers who belong to our lineage. It is interesting that we have always heard of the goodness of that person in the coffin at viewings or some would call a wake. It does not matter if that person was sinful, or even a Christ-follower, they were still a great person, deeply loved and appreciated by all. It simply would be bad taste to dishonor the dead by telling of their sin, yet by honoring their memory, do we take part in their ungodly behavior? Surely, those of faith, members of the community of faith should be honored for their lives, yet they did not live a sinless life either, nor do we. So, is it right to claim their godliness and honor them, a sinner saved by grace? Yes, for that is true and we face the truth about ourselves as well in doing so. However, it is still not up to us to judge the lives of any of those who have lived before us, that is reserved for God. Those who dishonor and destroy and those who honor and decorate those who died before us make those judgments based on man’s views and not on God’s view. It is right to remember those who lived before us, especially within our family, but let us not judge their lives, but simply acknowledge their part in our lives. Even those who have had statues built in their remembrance played some role in the formation of our way of life, whether through good or bad deeds, as judged now. However, the dead are still dead, and we who are still alive will also be remembered at some time in the future. The teachers of the law and the Pharisees have been remembered as those who had Jesus killed, although in doing so they accomplished the will of God so that we would be reconciled to him and redeemed by the blood of Jesus. Still, the question remains, how will we be remembered?